'31 QJorneU HniocrHttg ffiibrarg THE GIFT OF Au-tkor. The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to tiie librarian. HOME USE RULES » All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow , books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college ■ year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be re- turned within the four week limit and not renewed, Students must return all books before leaving town. " * OfiGcers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as • * possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time, Borrowers should not use their library privileges for " the benefit of other persons. B ooks of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it , are not allowed to circulate. — •• Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books - marked or mutilated. ^ Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library BL2775 .C32 A witness testifies. 3 1924 032 556 189 olin Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032556189 A WITNESS TESTIFIES A WITNESS TESTIFIES BY CAPSHAW CARSON PRICE $2.00 1918 CARSON BROS. PUBLISHING CO. 62S-a89 SO. WABASH AVE. CHICAGO A.3^??^1 coptbiqht, 1918 Bt Cafshaw Carbon THE FACT Mates Must Love Each Other Unselfishly PREFACE The subject here taken up is highly complicated and covers a very broad field. Be assured that this work is filled with errors from beginning to end. It could not be otherwise. I believe that the subject has never been approached in the same manner before. If it is a new thought, as I be- lieve it to be, it should prove interesting and in that case I shall be delighted; should it prove to contain anything of real and lasting value I shall be overjoyed indeed. No one man can hope even to approach accuracy in a work of this nature. This work should be taken with a pinch of salt, as it were, until it has been threshed out by thinkers capable of handling the subject. Indeed, it may never claim such serious consideration. However unworthy and lacking in value this book may prove to be, its object is of the very highest. There can by no higher purpose in life than the will to be of service to humanity, be that service little or much. It is my hope, then, that you will be very liberal in your judgment of me, as I am only human, and of a very modest type. In fact, the subject is so big and I so little that if anything at all has been accomplished it has been really a great feat on my part. Since it is evident to all men that humanity is suffering terrible trials and pains, I believe that any aid, from what- ever source, high or low, should be accepted. Therefore, I consider it my duty to present my paper for your con- sideration. It may be valuable. If it prove to be, I should be committing a great wrong by permitting my modesty and my humble position in life to keep me from letting my thoughts be known. Hoping, then, that you will consider the overwhelming odds against me, and that you will realize my very difficult position, I present the following pages for 7 8 PREFACE your perusal — and I dare to hope, under the existing cir- cumstances, for your approval. The need of the present hour is undoubtedly a clearer understanding of our position and relation to each other and the pin:poses of our life from a standpoint of the divine will. The Germans claim to respect nothing but might. I wish to state plainly that I have no respect for anything except truth, whatever it may be. The pursuit of truth is not altogether such a pleasant undertaking as some persons seem to think. You will find in this writing some rather startling disclosvu-es, and some accepted opinions rather ruthlessly attacked. It is not my purpose or intent to discredit or injure anyone. My sole purpose is to seek out the truth so that we all may come to a more favorable view of each other and a clearer understand- ing of what we really are trying to accomplish in this world. As far as I am able to tell, I have irrefutable evidence to substantiate me in my conclusions. However, it would be very improper for me to pronounce my conclusions correct. They may be. They may not be. If the best minds in the world should pronounce them correct, then I should say that the evidence put forth is irrefutable and the conclusions established on a basis proved and demonstrated by the facts in the case. Capshaw Carson. Chicago, January, 1918. CONTENTS PART I Page Preface 7 Introduction 11 In Explanation 21 The Fact Explained 33 My Proof that There is a God, and that It Is His Will that Man Should Love His Mate Unselfishly 43 Evil . 55 The Simple Life 63 Physical Culture . . 71 The Diet Problem . . 75 The Procreative Function 85 Secret Vice . 89 Gambling . 93 Drugs 99 Religion .... ... . . 115 The Parallel of the Bible to the Real Truth 137 An Allegory . . . . ... 149 Immortality . . 157 War 167 To Europe ... . . . 183 To the People of the United States .... 189 Myself . 197 To Sum Up, First 215 To Sum Up, Second .221 In Conclusion . 225 Supplementary Notes 243 9 10 CONTENTS PART n The Oath 257 What Is God? 263 Facts 267 To the German People 271 The Aim of the Allies 275 TheWab 281 The Doom 283 Trisect Ant Angle 295 It Is Just as Far In as It Is Out INTRODUCTORY The purpose of this work is to explain a fact and a law not hitherto perceived by any one. There are two infinite intellectual minds which control the universe, this world and everything included in it. One of these infinite intel- lectual minds is of perfect intelligence and Love; the other is an infinite intellectual mind of perfect intelligence and Hate. One is a perfect infinite power of love and intelligence for which I will use the term God throughout this work. The other is a perfect infinite power of hate and intelligence for which I will use the term devil. Then my fact is this: God exists and the devil exists. The law which I shall explain is the relation we bear to these two infinite intellectual minds. The law is this: God commands that lovers shall be true to each other in all things; the devil commands that lovers shall not be true to each other in anything. In other words, life is : lovers must love each other unselfishly. Every thought expressed in the following pages will be an effort to prove that the fact cited is the truth, and the law cited follows as a necessary consequence. No effort will be made to explain how the world came to be or how man came to be in it. But, given the world and the men and women in it, this discovery clears up many mysteries, and it is very important that we should know it. We will assume, to begin with, that it is a fact that God exists, and that one of his inexorable laws is that lovers or mates must love each other unselfishly. We will assume that the devil exists, and that one of his inexorable laws is that mates must not love each other unselfishly; or that the devil, in other words, deceives the minds of men and women to make them unfaithful. 11 12 INTRODUCTION We assume that a perfect power of infinite love and sense exists in every brain. We assume that a perfect power of infinite intelligence and hate exists in every brain. If our assumption is correct, it follows, then, that the ruling passion in every person is the wish to mate, in unselfish love. If one does not, then one is falsely led from doing so by some deception of the perfect power of hate. It follows, also, that the perfect infinite mind of love and sense loves every person unselfishly and does everything in its power to bring lovers together in a perfect world. It also follows that the perfect infinite power of sense and hate hates every person selfishly and does everything in its power to separate lovers in a perfect world. The devil deceives man with some false love. A cross between lovers, then, is something that takes the place of that love. If the fact and the law cited prove to be true, then what do we know from their significance? What is explained by the new truth? What light does it shed on our lives? In what way and manner are we benefited? What is the whole connection with our lives? What practical benefit do we derive from it? In what ways does it change our views of life? In the following pages I will explain, in the clearest and simplest manner I am capable of, the whole theory. We can only prove a truth by the results it produces. How do we know that a man must have food? Because he will die if he does not have it. That proves that he must have food. I can prove without the shadow of a doubt that mates or lovers must love each other unselfishly or get into trouble. From the proof it follows that the devil is a perfect mind and God is a perfect mind, which are the things to be proved. Then this discovery has brought to light the long looked for philosopher's stone — the key to the mysteries of life. To know and understand this new truth is to see God as he is, partly. Some persons have thought that to see God INTRODUCTION 13 means to die. This new truth explains to us that we must see God or die. To make clear to you the meaning of the terms God and devil, I will define both as I understand them. My con- ception is the true one as far as it goes if the truth of this fact is truth. God is the infinite positive power, the universal mind of infinite intelligence and love. The intelligence is infinite business intelligence, infinite common sense. This power is the side that is all truth, the real rational being of intel- ligence. This power is a being of infinite love, of absolute, unspeakable love. Then God is the power of intelligence and love. The desire of God, then, is to bring man and woman to- gether in a perfect union of love and usefulness. The world, having been created by a perfect God, is a perfect infinite world. God's intent in the creation of man was to bring him up to a condition of responsibility. To attain that condition, man must know all things. Men's progress from the tiniest germ life up to his present being has been a slow but sure growth in that direction. We know now that God did not make man by the stroke of a. wand or by some wish. He brought man up to his present state through a long and slow process of evolution. We know this; and we know that it is, perhaps, the only way that he had of doing it, because we assume that God, with his infinite common sense and real business sense, would have done it in a differ- ent and better way if it had been possible. If it had been possible and he did not do so, we would know that he is not a perfect God. We assume that the work of creation is perfect. So much for the positive side. The devil is the infinite negative power, the universal mind of infinite sense and hate. This power is the side which is all lies, the real, rational being of sense. This power is a being of infinite hate, of absolute, unspeakable hate. 14 INTRODUCTION Then the devil is the power of sense and hate. As man's perfect state is to be a state of perfect love and understand- ing and knowledge, the devil does all in his power to prevent us from attaining that position. In other words, so long as the devil can deceive us, we shall not know all things. Our only hope, then, lies in the fact that we can obey the law if we can discover what the law is. This work is an effort to point out what that law is. To be plain, the object of this work is to tell of the discovery of a new truth, a new fact, a new law. It is the key. It is the central fact. It is the rudder to guide us to a more perfect life. It gives us a push in the right direction. I am of the opinion that most thinkers realize that humanity is floundering in a sea of confusion; and many are prophesying the awakening of humanity to a fuller understanding of life. This new truth points out what the awakening is to be. We know now what is wrong; we will enter a new life, a new kingdom. The whole view of life will change. We are to come into the light of a better imderstanding. This discovery shows us plainly what are our duties and relations toward one another. It explains our relation to the Creator. Of course, by the very nature of the truth dis- covered, the whole truth is not revealed. We know this by the truth that we are sparks of the infinite mind. We are a part of that of which God and the devil are a whole. We know by that fact that we can never know all things, because a part can never be as much as a whole. Then this work deals with infinity by a finite man; and so it must, in any case, be merely a start on the real road to infinite understanding. We see, then, that htunanity has before it the possibility of infinite growth; that the mind of God is infinite and that the mind of man can never know all there is to know. We are to imderstand that humanity can advance on and on to a more perfect state forever. INTRODUCTION 15 We understand from this fact that the ifiind of man is a part of the eternal mind, and that there is no limit to what it may attain. We see that the mind of man is the climax of the dual system in nature; that he is an infinite creature and partakes of the nature of infinity. His possibilities are as limitless as space; there is no end. Now we come to this consideration, which is indeed wonderful: our fact teaches us this — that God and the devil are perfect; that they are infinite, perfect minds; that man is a spark of this infinite essence and that his pos- sibilities are boundless. In thinking over what all this means we find this to be a fact: that it would be impossible to say more for God, for the devil, or for man. If man were to talk forever he could not say more for any of these. Then the highest thing that can ever be said for God, for the devil, or for man has been said. It can never, in all the world, be improved upon. It may be said in words a thousand times better, but it can never say any more. When limitless, boundless infinity has been expressed, all that can ever be said is contained in that saying. We know by this new truth what is our real religion. We know what is true in all religions; we know what is false. We know what evil is. Evil is thoroughly explained; that has never been done before. We know what tobacco is, what whisky is, what war is, what a wrong religion is. We know exactly what they are and what they mean; what con- nection they have with the whole; what it costs us to have them. The whole thing is explained — made clear — by this new truth. The discovery of this fact will change our daily habits. It will change our religions. It will cause a change in all our activities. It will bind humanity into one family, with common ties, and establish the long hoped for brotherhood of man. 16 INTRODUCTION It will give us a true conception of what our true inter- ests are, so that all men may work for the benefit of the whole. It points out in plain, unmistakable terms that the mter- ests of all men run in the same channel. It will bnng humanity under one thought, one guide, one religion. This fact being real truth, all men will understand it aUke. There is no confusion over an established fact. All men see truth alike. We know by this fact why men dis- agree. They disagree so long as the truth is not known, because a lie is understood by all differently; that is, it con- fuses the mind, so that each sees it in a different light. All men see the truth alike. The true definition of a lie is this: there are an infinite number of lies about a thing but only one truth. There- fore, it is much easier to tell a lie about a thing than the truth; in fact, the truth is the most difficult thing in the world to tell and a lie is the easiest. That accounts for so much confusion in the world. People accept a thing for the truth because they cannot do otherwise. This truth I am explaining is a good ex- ample. Every man who has ever lived has made some effort to find this fact. Truth must be hard to find or that would not have been so. Just why one as lowly as I should find this truth is hard to understand. I do not know, myself. This fact is the greatest discovery that ever has been made, or ever will be made. It is the most important bit of knowledge man can possess. In fact, man cannot give himself a square, fair deal in life unless he knows and understands this fact. It is a jewel without price. It is worth more to man than can be estimated. It means success or failure. Without the knowledge of this fact, the human race is doomed to failure. With it, the race can survive and succeed. Without it, man is guessing; with it, man knows. With INTRODUCTION 17 it, he perceives cleaxly what he is doing; ^thout it, he is groping in the dark. The following pages will explain in detail how this new truth will guide us to a more perfect manhood and woman- hood. Any man is at liberty to disprove this new truth, to show that it is not the truth, if he can. If he cannot, upon him rests the responsibility to live up to it and to tell it to the world. PART I A WITNESS TESTIFIES IN EXPLANATION The human mind has reached a stage in its evolution where nothing but the actual truth will satisfy it. We must know the truth, nothing but the truth — the facts. We have outgrown Christianity and the Bible. We have stretched the Christian faith until we can stretch it no farther. Humanity is ready for the real rehgion. We are ready to see God as he is. We must have a faith or religion that will at the same time satisfy the reason, the heart, and the soul, and that will meet all the demands of the mental and physical desires and needs. We demand a religion that will permit us at once to understand and to live in full, perfect enjoyment of the real issues of life. We have outgrown the follies of the flesh. At last we know that dissipation and intemperance are little short of insanity. We must live the real life; no longer may some deception content us. We are at the point of a great awakening. We perceive now, clearly, the harm in any vice. We know that the whisky drinker and the cigarette smoker are hopeless fools. We know that they pay a price for their short-lived folly out of all proportion to the pleasure derived from it. It is plain to most people that a man, to be a believer in the Christian faith, must disregard a large amount of reason. It is clear that the Bible has been outgrown and no longer satisfies a thinking man. Today the human mind the world over is striving day and night to find the key to the riddle. We have reached the point where no man denies the existence of a real 21 22 A WITNESS TESTIFIES God. We all believe in some terribly great and indefinable power. The human mind is stirred to its very depths. Every- where we hear the question. What is wrong with everything? What is the key to all this turbulence? We are today truly on a troubled sea. From all comers we hear the same troubled inquiries. Humanity is in a deep, brown study. The longing, the wish, the desire, the demand for some real, satisfying explanation of our trouble is stronger in the hearts of men right now than at any other time in the history of the world. Everywhere the cry goes up to heaven from out the hearts of men for some gleam of truth, for some guiding principle by which we can explain and shape our lives. All humanity is looking for the man who can explain and set us right. For many years our best thinkers have realized that there is some unknown fact that would unlock the door to many mysteries. While I cannot present this truth Ln a mature form, while I have not the culture or talent to present it in a polished and gentle manner, still I feel that I must present it, even though it be crude, unfinished, or, perhaps, profane. I might postpone the publication of this work for ten years, and during that time prepare myself for a better class of work; yet the fact remains, I might die: also it would be an unnecessary delay. Diu-ing the next ten years we can all be thinking over the question. Two heads are better than one, and many heads are better than two. Since I have no reason to postpone this work, except for my poorly equipped brain, and taking into consideration the urgent need of humanity for this thought, I have decided to present this new thought for your immediate consider- ation. I wish to make it clear to everyone that in no sense do I apologize for the facts or truth. God is the creator of this world and the laws that govern it. I only bear testimony IN EXPLANATION 23 to what I have seen. I apologize for my unworthiness and unpreparedaess, but I do not apologize for the truth. If you do not like the truth, blame it on God; he is responsible for it. I am just a plain, ordinary man. I cannot make laws or create worlds. I have absolutely nothing to do with it but to bear testimony to it. If you dislike my interpretation, you are at liberty to make one of your own. You must always bear this in mind, though: you must interpret the real truth, and not something you wish to he the truth. I know that I am dealing with infinity and must, from the very nature of the case, fall short of the whole truth. I wish to say, though, that I do not claim, as will appear later, that this is the whole truth. I only claim it to be a key, a guide, a ray of light to lead us to more truth; to set us right and to give us a start in the proper direction. I cannot force you to do anything. I have no more power than any other man. Let the truth take care of itself; you and God for it. If you find you have been deceived, blame it on the devil or on God. One of them did it. He is responsible. If, on the other hand, you find a fundamental error in this work, if you can show it in any way whatsoever, if from any angle you can discover a loophole, you can rest assured that the whole thing vanishes hke a mist and there is noth- ing to it in the least. Facts are facts and it is impossible to ignore them. It may be that you can show that my facts are all a dream; that, in fact, I have no facts. If you can, you will earn my everlasting gratitude. Just to lay down the respon- sibility of this thing, once and forever, would be bliss un- alloyed. I do not question why God put this terrible respon- sibility upon me. I willingly and gladly do my best, but to be relieved of it would be a great happiness to me. 24 A WITNESS TESTIFIES A man would be a great fool to shoulder, as a matter of choice, such a terrible responsibility as this. In fact, a man cannot assume such a responsibility by his own choice. I did not know two minutes beforehand that I was even close to a great discovery. If I had known it before it was too late, I would have committed suicide. But once I understood, I had no alternative but to tell. I may commit suicide, but I know in my own heart that if I do I am a murdering, lying, cowardly traitor. I know that if I do I am disgraced forever. I know that on earth, in heaven or in hell I can never look my love in the eyes again. I know that I should utterly hate myself. In plain words, there is no way out of it. I must report this thing, and I do it now because it needs to be done. This tale is the tale that all philosophers have tried to tell. It is the summing up of all religions. It is the story Christ would have told had he known it. It is what all so- called or would-be saviours have tried to tell. It is perfectly natural and normal that many beliefs and faiths should be tried out before the real one is discovered. It would be absolutely impossible to get the right idea at first. The mistakes of a wrong religion are made apparent only after long stretches of time. It is not so much what the Christian religion teaches that is Awong; it is just what it does not teach. The great fundamental mistake in the Christian religion is the fact that it teaches us to love God or Christ. That is what is known as the mystic love. That love is not governed by the promptings of common sense and sound reasoning, but by a desire to please God and have his approval. That is made clearer to the reason when we look into the earlier forms of religion. You will find that persons have performed, and many even to this day continue to perform, all sorts of unbeliev- able and seemingly insane acts to find favor with God. We have authority for the statement that there are certain IN EXPLANATION 25 tribes whose women at times throw their' new-born babies into a river for the sake of winning divine approval. Can there be judgment, or sense, or reasoning in that? In this new thought which I present, nothing but intel- ligent actions are permissible. If a man makes a fool of himself, he is in danger of losing the love of his mate. The love between man and woman requires that they be sensible. The love that the Christian has for God or Christ has less intelligence than may at once be evident. In the first place, it sets a limit to the mind's action. In other words, the mind is bound down to certain defined limits. You are permitted to think in terms of the Bible. The mind becomes confused and further growth is retarded. I once asked a devout Christian if, were he convinced that the Bible is a lie, he would give it up. He said that under no condition would he give up his religion. His answer proved that his mind was diseased beyond all recovery. Any false love for a false god is a disease and a vice. No amount of reason, facts, truth, love, hope — nothing could rid this man of that false worship of his own soul. The case of the drunkard is exactly parallel. A drunkard will drink at any cost. No love of wife, of children, of father, mother, no reason — nothing wiU stop him. He must have that "good feeling" produced by the liquor even if all the world, himself included, dies. This false love is hypnotic in character. Once under its spell, one finds it next to impossible to shake it ofip. If a man falls under the spell of the Bible and Christ, he is almost hopelessly lost. And it is equally true of the real love. If we love truly, once, and unselfishly, if we come thoroughly under the spell of real love, we are never satisfied again unless we live up to its mandates. The Christians are obsessed by the idea that once saved always saved from the same source in natiu-e. 26 A WITNESS TESTIFIES Like so many other things, they interpret it wrongly. They think that if a man once gives his heart to Christ, he will always strongly desire to follow and love Christ. But the truth is — the Christian really loves his own soul. It is selfish soul-love, or false love of one's own soul, instead of unselfish love of one's mate. That explains why whisky, or any other drug, can be so overpowering. Once entirely under its influence, all life is a failure without it. Just so in the natural, normal life, if a man really loves a woman, never again can Ufe be a blessing to its full extent without her. In most parts of the world there is a general belief that there can exist a Christ, a saviour of men. As a matter of fact, no one man could possibly be a saviour; for, to be a saviour, or a Christ, he would have to know all things; he would have to be infinite God, himself, expressed in the flesh. The very nature of the world and man and God will not permit of it. It cannot be done. God is the law, and the law cannot contradict itself. God cannot make two and two equal anything but four. The law cannot be bent out of shape to make a miracle. God cannot bend himself around and make two plus two make five. The law is the same at all times and at every hour. It does not change an iota in a million years. Has two plus two ever been anything but four? Will it ever be anything but four? The law, or God, is perfect, eternally, and at every hour. The only thing in this world that changes is the condition, not the law. It is impossible for man to know a thing until he devotes to its learning the necessary time and labor. If man could live always, possibly he might, in the course of a few million years, become very wise; provided he applied himself diligently during the years. The life we live here is in no sense finished. All men are aware of that fact. IN EXPLANATION 27 No man lives to be a perfect man in {he sense that he knows all things. On the other hand, knowledge is infinite and man is finite. In comparison with infinite knowledge, no man has attained even a small part. It can never be done, for the simple reason that man is finite and God is infinite. From the foregoing facts, it is clear that the existence of a saviour is impossible. Just where and how people ever came to believe that there can be a saviour I cannot conceive, but it is evident that they do believe it. Any man who discovers a new fact in any line of knowl- edge is a benefactor of the human race. In that sense it may be said that a man may be a saviour. If he points out how to do a thing in a better way, so that all humanity is benefited by his discovery, he is a public benefactor. But because a man has made a useful discovery, we do not worship him as a god. We love him as a friend. This discovery I have made will be a great blessing to humanity. In aU probability it is the greatest discovery that ever has been or ever will be made. It is the greatest piece of knowledge, perhaps, ever hidden in the mind of a perfect, infinite God of perfect love and infinite common sense. It will do the world more good, real good, than any one single thing that it is possible to discover. I wish to make it very clear that in no sense whatever am I to be con- sidered a saviour to be looked up to and worshiped. I wish to be placed just where I belong and nowhere else. I have made a great discovery, and I deserve the love and friendship and good wishes of every man and every woman. I am just a plain, average man; by hard thinking and close attention I have grasped this fact out of the confusing mass that surrounds aU men. Any man who thinks for a minute that I am the second Christ, or in any other form a Christ, is doing himself and me a great wrong. 28 A WITNESS TESTIFIES I make known this fact; and if, by your own intellect, you can understand it and if by your own will and manhood you can get any benefit from it, I am glad, of course; that is why I am reporting it. My hope is that you may get the good out of it; but you cannot get anything except by your own efforts. If you are to be saved, you will most assuredly save yourself. No prayer or bended knee will avail you anything. Nothing but intellect and backbone will help you. Yom" prayers and curses are worthless; nothing at last will do you good but the will to do the heart's desire, the commands of a perfect God of love. I want everyone to know the truth. If any man thinks for one minute that some supernatural power whispered this fact into my ear, he is sadly mistaken. I know how I got this fact. I got it by hard thinking, over a period of twenty- five years; by days and nights of deep, hard study. That is how every man gets his new thoughts. He must think, and think, and then think some more. And then, after he has approached his subject from many different angles, and then discovers that he doesn't know anything, he must go over his whole field many times again, yes, a thousand times, and maybe then a new principle, a new fact is revealed to his understanding. Then, after he has his new thought, it is a thousand curses to him to report it. Being something new, natiu-ally all his friends and family assume that he is crazy; they wink at each other and casually or seriously advise him to let well enough alone. If what I have said is not enough to convince you, and everyone, that there is nothing unnatural about me, I will give you a few more points. I can name enbugh mysteries in five minutes to keep a million geniuses perplexed for a thousand years. A genius is nothing more than a man who has used good, sound common sense in some special line. Here is the idea : IN EXPLANATION 29 if a man with unusual talent for violin music should study and practice at the violin day and night for thirty years, his chances are good to become a real musician. Perhaps, if he is lucky, he will produce some music that is really inter- esting. You make up your mind that you are going to make a discovery, choose yoiu" subject, find out all that is already known on the subject, say to yourself, "I must find out something new about this thing," and — well, you have all the outside world to look into. If you dive into that awful chasm of utter darkness alone and unaided, and by luck and pluck return to earth again with something really new, and report it to the world, you have done a rare thing and, perhaps, have foimd out something really worth while. I mention these things merely to show you plainly why no such being as a Christ is within the bounds of the possible. If Christ added anything to the sum of the world's knowl- edge, no one has ever been able to find it out. He didn't know anything new, and he didn't reveal anything. Christ was indeed a lovable man, and undoubt- edly had the interest of everyone at heart. I am convinced that he would not have told a lie for a kingdom if he had been aware of it. He did lie, however, and he lied terribly, but he was deceived by the devil.^ It has always seemed very strange to me that people do not seem to realize that if the Bible is a Ke, it is a terrible lie. In presenting this new discovery to the people it is not necessary to mention Christ or the Bible at all. Any other religion would answer the same purpose, but for the sake of the better understanding of the thing to be explained I use the Bible. Any other religion, in any other country, any other vices of a physical nature, would answer the purpose just as well. I use the ones we are familiar with for the reason that they can be more easily understood. The Bible, and Christ, 'See pages 233, 268. 30 A WITNESS TESTIFIES and whisky, and tobacco are of our own country. Other countries and peoples furnish exactly the same things in a different form, so do not think that I am making a special point of attacking the Bible. All false religions come under the same head and all vices are the same thing the world over. Do not be misled by the idea that the Bible is any more important than the books of the other great faiths. It is simply one of them, and Christ is no greater than some of the other saviours. It would be as easy to explain this truth without Christ and the Bible. The Bible is not in any sense important. There is nothing in the whole vast book but confusion and riddles. It is the most insignificant thing on earth when you know the truth; it doesn't even have to resemble the truth. There is nothing in the whole book that a man can live by and keep out of trouble. I wish to say right here that when you have mentally digested everything I offer you, you will not be enabled to live a better life than you might under the Bible. The difference is only that you will know wherein our trouble lies; the Bible does not teach you this. We know by the light of this new thought that we must discover the real diet. We must discover the real cure for oxu" diseases. We must go forth into the unknown world and get these facts. We are doing that at present in spite of the Bible. Do not get the idea that we are such a bad lot that we are irredeemable. On the contrary, we are moving very rapidly in the right direction. This fact only dis- tinguishes the real from the unreal. We can know by the way we feel and think whether we are breaking the law or not. We may not avoid wars in the future, but we know by this fact exactly what is required of us to avoid them. We can still smoke; and will, no doubt, for many years to come. IN EXPLANATION 31 But now we may know exactly what law ^ve are breaking and the price we pay. By this we come to know exactly our relation one to another; we know just how to worship God; we know how men and women should love one another. Many mysteries are cleared up by this fact, but it is strictly of a spiritual nature: it can do nothing but point the way. Our life depends on material things and we know just what attitude to take in regard to them. We know what money is, and how to get the blessings out of it without the harm. We do not know what food to eat, but we do know that we must find the food that makes the best men mentally and physically. The diet is by far the greatest unknown question today. THE FACT EXPLAINED The human mind has reached that stage in its evolution where nothing but the truth will satisfy. We want truth and we want facts. We are tired of things that promise, but never make good. We want to know the truth, be it good or bad. If there is a God, we want to know what he is. We want to see him as he is. We are ready for the truth and nothing but the truth. We have reached a stage in our evolution where we are all reasonable enough to look facts in the face and hear the inevitable with dignity. Humanity is ready for the real religion. We are ready to see God as he is. We must have a faith or a rehgion which will at the same time satisfy the reason, the heart, and the soul. We demand a religion that wiU satisfy all of the longings of the mental and physical man. We demand a religion that wiU permit every man to enjoy all the blessings of life. We demand a religion of truth, of love, of knowledge, of understanding, of realities and results. In fact, we want to live a real life as it can and should be lived. This new reUgion must be one eagerly accepted by all and reptilsive to none. It must be exactly what every one, in his innermost heart, desires above all things to be true. The dual nature of everything in the world has long been known, but to clear up my argument I start with the evident : First, we know that we have a north and a south pole and that they meet to form one world. We have heat and cold: they meet to form a medium. And we find that all things are paired; positive and negative, up and down, in and out, wet and dry, fat and lean, peace and war, evil and good. 34 A WITNESS TESTIFIES smart and stupid, well and sick, rich and poor, strong and weak, day and night, and so on ad infinitum. We find that each pair combines to form a whole, as the north and south poles meet to make up the world. In taking up man we find that he is made up of pairs. He has two hands which meet to do any kind of work; two feet, two eyes, two ears, upper and lower jaws. ■ We have one head, but it is made up of pairs that meet to form it. All of the pairs meet to make up the complete man, and the man and the woman meet to form a perfect union. The male and the female return the offspring as a result of their complete union. In the same way two per- fect gods or minds meet to form the one perfect God or mind. We assume it to be a fact that there are two perfect minds; that they both exist in the minds of men, as the minds of men are a part or spark of the divine essence. We also grant that the world is a perfect creation; that is, we assume that the world can be made into a perfect world. We as- sume that man can become perfect, infinitely perfect; in his brain is contained the infinite mind. We assume, also, that the ruling passion in every man's heart is to love his mate unselfishly. We assume that he does not do so because the devil deceives him with some false love. We assume that the devil is an imperfect perfect which can only be true infinity. That is true, just as it is possible to make a number as small as we please. We assume God to be the perfect perfect. We know that can be so in infinity because we can make a number as big as we please. Under that con- dition a man and a woman who fulfill the law by perfect mating wiU be perfect men and women. The law cannot be fulfilled today because we do not know how to live up to the law in all respects. Some day we will. We gather from the foregoing that all evil arises from the fact that we break the divine law that mates must love THE FACT EXPLAINED 35 one another unselfishly. Evil, then, is a cross between lovers. It is some form of love that takes the place of the true, unselfish love. In other words, a cross between lovers is a false love, a selfish love. Then a cross between lovers is a self love. Evil, then, is some form of self love and the result of it is some deformity of mind and body. Therefore all the misery in the world is the result of our being unfaithful to our mates. We assume that God intends to make a perfect being out of men. Then we know from our own business experience that the perfect man wiU not be a man who wastes. We give God credit for having good, sound business sense. We know that to rimi a business on a paying basis, we must stop the wastes. There are no hes except in the minds of men. The world is an infinite, perfect creation and contains no lies. For example: We see an apple and think it is a pear. The lie is in the mind, not in the apple. The apple is an apple all the time. So it is through the whole list of things. There are no hes in the make-up of the world. If there were any lies in the material world, we could never know any- thing for certain. The laws that govern the universe are not changeable. Truth is valuable only in that we can depend upon it with absolute confidence. It does not make the slightest bit of difference what people believe. If all of the people in the world believe, for a thousand years, that an apple is a pear, it would not make it so. Truth is one thing and belief is another. A man might make an automobile and it might run perfectly, everything about it working out according to established laws and principles. Then suppose, during the night, God takes a notion to change his laws. Next day the automobile is worthless. The laws and principles are all changed and everything is worthless. 36 A WITNESS TESTIFIES The laws of God, or of the universe, never change. They remain the same throughout eternity. This new truth I have discovered is as much a fact as the fact that two plus two makes four. It does not make the sHghtest bit of difference what we have believed to be true. If all the people in the world beheve a thing it does not make it so. No one has ever explained what evil is. We say that drinking whisky is an evil, but that does not explain what evil is. We see the result, but we do not know what it means. We do not know what relation it bears to the whole. This new truth points out just what whisky is. We know by its light just what it is. We know that whisky is a cross be- tween lovers, because it separates them and makes them hate each other. Every cross between lovers either mentally or physically does exactly the same thing. It separates lovers so that they do not feel the presence of their love. It makes them unfit for each other's society. Any cross between lovers is a false love either of the mental or physical nature. Any false love, either mental or physical, always con- fuses the mind and lowers the physical nature. It will be pointed out that a wrong religion does not affect the physical man. It will be found that in any religion the importance of the physical man is grossly overlooked. We understand by our new truth that the physical man is a sacred thing and that all depends on how ptu-e we keep our bodies. The belief in a wrong religion is the primary cause of the physical degeneration in modern man. Some, regardless of how vile they have been taught to believe the body is, have by common sense taken care of it. Very few people among our modern, civihzed men consider the body as of any consequence whatever. We gather from our new truth that the perfect man will be a perfect man physically and mentally. We see that he will acquire this perfection by living up to the law of a per- THE FACT EXPLAINED 37 • feet God. We see the law to be that mates must be faithful to each other in all things. We know that we do not know how to fulfill the law as yet, but we know it is very important that we should find out. We know that the way to find out is to think and to listen and to work. We learn from this new truth that the devil is an infinite mind of deception. He is a being of perfect hate. We see that our mind is a finite thing, but with unlimited opportunity for growth. That being the case, our mind is to the devil's mind as an inch is to a straight line that extends throughout space. We are absolutely at the mercy of the devil. He can deceive us faster than we can think. We know that the more intellect we have the easier the devil can deceive us. That may not seem to be true, but the devil cannot deceive an idiot or a horse because they have no power of reasoning. Our hope lies in the fact that deceit will, in time, display itself by the results. We know by our new truth that if a man follows the law he will be a perfect man. If he is not perfect, then we can know that in some way he is breaking the law. We know that in some way he is unfaithful to his mate. We know by our new fact that a man is put here in this world on his own honor. Why? Because it is an act of dishonor to disobey the law. The devil is a liar and an ass, and if we do his bidding we become as he is. The ruling passion in every man's heart is to love his mate unselfishly, or to be faithful in all things. The fact that a man is deceived is very evident. If the devil de- ceives him, he must have some object, some principle to work under. If the devil deceives a man with a false love, it is necessary for the man to have a true love. Otherwise the false love would not be a false love; it might be something else, but not a false love. The term false love implies a true love just the same as the fact of up implies the fact of down. If a man can be unfaithful he must have something to 38 A WITNESS TESTIFIES which to be unfaithful. He could not be unfaithful to God because God is a different being, a different thing. God is the whole. He is perfect. A man can only be unfaithful to one thing, and that is to his mate. Therefore, if he can have many false loves, they being lies, it follows that he can only have one true love. Then by the natiu"e of the thing he loves his mate unselfishly because he is created that way. God made him that way. Therefore it is the ruling passion in every man's mind to love his mate unselfishly. We see that as man approaches perfection he will love his mate more and more because the absolute, unspeakable, infinite love exists in every human being's heart. We shall see, then, by the light of this new truth, as we go around the circle, that all things find their places and fit in with all other things. A man is a creature of twofold nature. He is a physical and mental being, and as a result we can readily see that he can be deceived from two different angles or worlds. As a rule the devil first deceives a man by some false love of the flesh. The solitary secret sin is the first false love of childhood. Then some false love of the mind follows as a consequence. All rehgions are false loves of the soul. Why? Because there can be but one truth and any number of lies. That accounts for so many religions in the world. The real religion is to be faithful in all things to your mate. Any other religion is onanism of the soul. Oiu- God has good common sense. It is a very evident fact that a man and a woman need each other's love while here in this life. If they love something else, either of a mental or physical nature, it detracts from that love and by doing so makes their lives less complete. We see, then, that this is an infinite, perfect world, and that man and woman are to meet here in a life of romantic love. The tragedy of it is that we do not attain it because THE FACT EXPLAINED 39 our understanding and knowledge have nflt yet evolved up to it. We come to understand that life is a thing of honor. We really love one another, but we have not yet come to realize it. It is a sad spectacle to see men kill one another when we know that they are deceived. They really love one another more than tongue can tell and would not harm one another for a kingdom if they but knew. You will wonder how this is. To be true to your mate requires that you be honorable in all things and to all men. You must be an honest man or an honest woman, as the case may be. The devil is a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderer. He is a perfect ass. He would have us aU be as he is. Any breach of faith carries with it the essence of murder. The fact is recognized by all men, but it has not been traced to its source. When a man is unfaithful he harms his mate first, and the mate suffers for that sin as much as he who sins. So we see that a false love is directed primarily at one's lover, and then to one's children, and then to the whole race. If a man dies from the effects of drinking, he is a murderer. It is plain that by practicing a false love he has committed murder. So it is that all sin, either in a mental or physical sense, carries with it the essence of murder. Here is a point that is very confusing to many people. We hear so often of "tit for tat," a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye. In other words, people seem to beheve in the law of compensation. That law does not hold good in the life of man. We all try to get something for nothing every day of our lives, and we can if we know how. If a man Kves up to the law, if he obeys the command of a perfect God of love and intelligence; if, in other words, he is faithful to his mate in all things, he receives the bless- ings of life which a perfect God can bestow upon him. AU 40 A WITNESS TESTIFIES blessings flow to the faithful lover. All the world loves a lover. All that is required of a man is that he be worthy. Then he gets a thousand times more than he can ever pay for. The law also works the other way just as readily. If a man breaks the law, he is paid in terms of love and hate. All the curses a perfect God can pile upon him are bestowed upon his head. God does not fail to show the sinner in many ways how disgusted he is with a man who would desert the beauti- ful creature he has created for his mate. The way of the unfaithful is indeed hard. He pays a price for his folly that is a thousand times more than it is worth. When we fully understand the import of this discovery we see that man is to lose nothing that is of any value to him. He is to come into the real life. All the vileness is to be lost and all the goodness is to be found and enjoyed. We see that a man is insane to sin; that he sacrifices nothing of any value by obedience to the law and loses all that is of value by not hving up to the law. We see that if he lives up to the law he has a perfect woman to live with; the greatest work of a perfect God. He has all of the blessings and none of th? curses; he leads a life in compliance with the dictates of his conscience, with the dictates of business and common sense; he is a worker, a thinker, a success; he is useful, he is honest, he has friends and the respect and love and good wishes of his fellow men. We see that by doing as the real law directs, he fulfills all the obligations of life. He obeys the commands of a perfect God who loves him with a love that is without measure. In concluding this explanatory chapter, I wish to call attention to a rather remarkable fact. By this fact we know that the real truth is better than near truths. If any man thinks he can in any way improve on "The Sweetest Story Ever Told," let him try it. THE FACT EXPLAINED 41 He will learn to his astonishment that to even the most lively imagination it is impossible to fashion a more beautiful story. Why is that true? Because the world is the creation of a perfect infinite God of love and intelligence, and the story of Creation and hfe is the fairest of all stories. When the real truth is finally told in all its details it will reveal the perfect story of the work of a perfect infinite God. This fact reveals to us, of course, only one circle of life. Others wiU follow as the human mind evolves toward perfection. The story I relate cannot be improved upon, so far as it goes, if it is the real truth. If by any stretch of the imagina- tion it can be improved upon, then it is not the truth. Truth is more beautiful than fiction. We know by this truth that even though we may be honest, sincere, earnest — it does not necessarily make us right. We must know a thing is true by reason, by facts, by logic, by experience, by results. Belief is worthless, faith is worthless; we have to know before we are safe. We see by our new fact that the devil takes advantage of our ignorance and deceives us. The devil could not deceive a perfect man. Therefore, until we are perfect we will be deceived. We gather, then, that in reality the devil is the cause of our perfection as much as God. The devil always attacks us in our most imperfect spot. One man will be caught by a love of greed or gold; another by lust for women. We see that the devil attacks us on our vulnerable points. In other words, it seems that just wherever a man's soul needs perfecting the devil attacks. The devil, being a per- fect mind, can find oiu" weak points just like water will find a hole in a bucket. If we can resist the temptation we per- fect our souls; if we succumb to the temptation we miss the opportunity to gain the good results. The devil, then, will either make you a gentleman or an ass. We are strong, perfect men if we obey the law. If we 42 A WITNESS TESTIFIES fail, we are weak, disgraceful asses. Then it seems that God will either kill a man as an unworthy creature or make him obey the law. Then the future of the race depends upon how well its members obey the law. A man is alone in this thing, partly. He must at last stand or fall by his own intellect and will power. We can help each other a great deal, but all must at last be judged, each by his own power to do the thing required. MY PROOF THAT THERE IS A GOD AND THAT IT IS HIS WILL THAT A MAN LOVE HIS MATE UNSELFISHLY Let any young man who is in love with a young woman try this experiment (this man is to be in love in all seriousness) : If he will become intoxicated and remain so for several days, he will find that his love for the girl has suddenly cooled down perceptibly. In fact, he will not care whether he ever sees her again. He will find that he is repulsive to her and all his magnetism is gone. He has no confidence in himself, everything is without interest, and he is in- different. He does not seem to care whether he wins her or not. He cannot understand how he ever loved her, anyway. Now, let this young man sober up, stop all bad habits, and live as nearly a pure life as he can: he will find that within a very short time he begins to think of this girl again. He is heartily ashamed of his acts and his love returns. The love in a man never dies. It lives as long as he does. The evil in a man dies just as soon as his mind and body become pure. Any man who thinks all love in his life is dead can revive it by living a pure Hfe, provided he has enough vitality left to reach a fair degree of purity. He will find that his thoughts return to the girl he loved long ago, and he will wonder where she is and if all is well with her. It is a strange fact that a man will as a rule turn from one vice to another. A drunkard will profess religion and turn to Christ for the simple reason that violence begets violence. He knows he has committed a sin, and fearing the loss of his immortal soul, he outrages his soul in an effort to appease God. 43 44 A WITNESS TESTIFIES It is queer that a boy who practices secret vice until he is physically unfit for the love of a good woman, will as a rule want to preach. The devil is truly a wonderful ass. He first scars his victim with unfaithfulness of the flesh, and then with another false love he scars the victim's mind. Could anything in the conception of the devil's mind be a more complete deception? If once a man can see what the devil is doing to him, he will find that every time he approaches a pxu-e condition, his love for his mate will retin:n. When a man knows that the devil is deceiving him with the Bible, it no longer troubles his mind, and his thoughts take the true channel. It is very strange that an insane person will at times say the very truest things. I once heard an insane man say that his pipe was his wife. All the great philosophers of the ages have not managed to say a truer thing. How could a flash of truth flit across that confused mind? He knew that his pipe took the place of his wife; it was his love; it was the lover in his arms. When a man becomes insane, all false pride and hope of self vanish. He is like a drowning man. He is, as it were, before the seat of the last judgment, where all lies cease. It is useless to hide anything. All deceit were folly. Nothing but the truth is of any value. When the mind is reduced to that extreme it utters flashes of divine truth. We become what we are and speak the highest truth. We no longer will to be something of ourselves. We let God have his way and we speak in flashes of disconnected truth. Now, that crazy man did not know any of the connection in the thought, of com-se, but that he could utter such a thing showed that he recognized the truth. He knew that the pipe was his wife. It was the real truth to him. It was the very truth that the pipe did take the place of his wife. A truer thing never was said on this earth. Any man can carry out this experiment and he will find that it will bring the same results every time. No matter MY PROOF 45 how many times he tries it, he will get the same results every time. He will also find that, when he stops the use of any drug, tobacco, whisky, coffee the appetite for them grows less as he becomes normal. He will find that the desire for the drug is a lie; that he does not really want it at all. It is a deception of a perverted love. It is an unnatviral, ab- normal desire. It will be evident that he is deceived by the drug; therefore, every man who uses drugs of that nature beheves a lie. No man really wants them. He is just under the hypnotic deception of the false love. It is a perverted condition, pure and simple. No normal man wants drugs of any description. It is also to be noted that when a man is free from such a terrible master he is overjoyed. His resolution becomes stronger, everything brightens, and he is ready to go to work. What seemed an impossible task is child's play now. Life seemed so hard and useless, so unworth the trouble; suicide seemed the only escape. Now all is changed: Hfe is really a good thing; it is so easy to do your duty; the day is short and work is mere play. Where is my love? I could kiss her a thousand times! Let any man quit drugs, and if he does not begin to think tenderly of his mate then he is something besides a man. He is not a human being. Can anything be clearer than that? It is clear that a man is deceived by these things. It is clear that if he is worthy his thoughts seek his love. Is it not the law that to be unfaithful is to lose your love? To live by the law is to gain her. If there were no God, no law, there would be different results at different times. There is only one thing about it: God exists, and his law is that you must not have any god but the unselfish love of your mate. This is just as true as that two and two equal four, or that steam expands. We know that steam expands because we can prove it by experiments. We get the same results every time. We 46 A WITNESS TESTIFIES know that two and two equal four because the results are satisfactory. If we use two plus two equals five, the result is confusing. Now, if you try to explain this thing on some other ground, you will become confused; that nothing else will quite fill its place will be self evident. This fact fits in with aU other facts. It explains at once the trouble with whisky. We see every day homes ruined by the use of whisky. Half the ills of the human race are traced to it. Can anything be clearer? I am per- fectly honest when I say this. If a man cannot understand it, he surely is a perfect idiot. A child can understand a thing so simple. A man who cannot understand it simply has no brains. It is not a matter of understanding; it is a matter of fear and cowardice. For some reason or another, people seem to be afraid of the truth. I want to assure you in plain terms that fear is a deception. Fear has no place in the heart of a normal human being, and if it is there it has no right to be there. It is a deception of the devil, and he does more harfn with fear than with any other one thing. Whenever a man gets fear into his heart, he is sure to do some insane thing he will be ashamed of. When I hear a man say he is a God-fearing man, I want to get away from him. He is preparing to do somebody harm. He has murder in his heart. Look out for the man who is under that deception. There is no sense in fear. None but an insane man fears. No normal man fears anything. If you have fear in your heart, forget it. Everything is all right. God, in his loving kindness, would have us investigate all his works with brave and confident hearts. No man will ever find anything which will do the world harm. All truth does the world good. The more we know, the happier we can be. The earth will be a perfect heaven some day. Don't let foolish fear rob you of your part in helping to make it so. Have no fear. If a thing is so and can be no other way, accept it. Don't let fear rob you of your happiness. MY PROOF 47 I discovered that the Bible is a lie, but I found in its place the real truth, a fairer fact than any man has ever been able to picture. Real truth is the most beautiful thing in the world. Any fiction is a poor imitation. It is a strange thing, indeed, how much truth one will read every day in the religious articles in the newspapers and magazines. Some of them fairly teem with truth. The truest thing, perhaps, that that wonderful man Emerson ever said was that on the banks of the river of eternal truth humanity is miserably dying. He goes fxu'ther and says, " I seem to know what they meant who said to see God is to die." He also says, "It is wonderful how close you can approach to a truth and still be totally outside of it." It makes no difference how near you are to the solution, you are just as far away as if you had never thought on the subject. To be outside of a thought is to be completely out. It is indeed wonderful how long human beings have stumbled all round the thing and remained outside. I truly believe that if I could have whispered one complete sentence into Emerson's ear he would have entered a new realm of thought in an instant. Just the slightest hint and he would have been born into a new world. Why is it, then, that men fail so hopelessly to get this fact? As far as I am able to tell, I am not as brilHant as men I meet every day of my Ufe. Others seem to be far superior to me. I believe I am a good average man, but I cannot see that I have any talent or quality that others do not possess. Just why this fact has not been discovered long ago is a baffling puzzle to me. It seems strange that all good men are too much on the positive side to make this discovery, and all bad men are too much on the negative side to make it. A man must have to be a sort of devil-saint to grasp the fact without outside help. I assume that any man can grasp it after he is shown. It is as simple as standing an egg on end. After you get the key, it all opens up to the mind as clear as day. 48 A WITNESS TESTIFIES One would think from what one reads that people really know that there is a God. But if you put every single one of them to the test, they could not prove by reasons and fact, or by experiments, that there really is a God. It is queer how men will talk about God and yet not really know that a God exists. Every one, to a man, wiU soon say some- thing which will give him away. He is guessing; he has no real knowledge. The facts are not yet his. He is still outside the truth. It is queer how the mind will jump right over the truth, and look far away for the answer, when all the time it is right under your very nose. We never hear a word about a man and woman loving each other unselfishly. That seems to be entirely out of their thoughts. They must talk about oiu- becoming one with the infinite God, about the keynote of spirituaKty, and then say that, at last, Christ will conquer the world. How can a man write such words as these and still be outside the true religion? "Religion, in its true sense, is the most joyous thing the human soul can know, and when the real religion is realized we will find it to be an agent of peace and happiness. It will then be attractive to aU and repulsive to none." It is really uncanny for a man to say such words as these and still not know what he is talking about. What he should know is that the greatest joy the human soul can experience is the joy of perfect mating. Of course before this ideal happiness can be realized, the man and the woman must be worthy of it. They must have fulfilled the rigid demands of the perfect law to be in all truth true lovers acceptable to the infinite God of sound sense and love. If they fulfill this demand they truly become one with God, and the key to the real spiritual life is theirs. It is truly the greatest joy the human soul can know. The greatest sorrow the human soul can know is to be unworthy of a per- fect mate. Certainly, then, it will be attractive to all and repulsive to none. Perhaps the best that can be said on that point MY PROOF 49 is that humanity is ready for this fact, and ife longing really to enter the realms of the real Ufe. It is a painful duty to have to awaken the world to its real Hfe. It is perfectly clear to me that when you play with people's religion, you play with fire. I am likely to be hung for a devil. I am inclined to think, though, that people are more reasonable today than they once were. They are not so ready to tear to pieces the man who brings them good news. Would it not be a fine thing to go down in history that the people himg the man who brought to light the greatest truth in the mind of infinite God? Would not that be a great thing to do? Would it not be nice to tell the children? A mob nailed poor Christ to the cross. They de- cided that he was stirring up a lot of unnecessary fuss, so they took him out and crucified him. What a pity the rest of the people could not have had as much sense! If any man can prove that this book is false, it might be a good thing to hang me. If a man is brainless enough to be deceived, as apparently I am if this thing be not the very essence of truth, then I really think it would be a good thing to rid the world of such cranks and stop the increase. This is really a serious business and, while I don't care whether I am hiuig or not, so long as the world gets this truth, it might be a million years before another man dis- covered it; it might not be ten days; it might never happen. The very success of mankind on this earth is wrapped up in this fact. You must live up to it or you are doomed. It is as deep as life. There is nothing on earth more necessary than this thing. Humanity cannot be more than its knowl- edge. It is impossible. Why didn't the Greeks ride in automobiles? They did not know how to make them. It is impossible for a man to live up to a law that he does not know how to follow. We can no more establish the brotherhood of man until we know the law that governs that possibiHty than we can 50 A WITNESS TESTIFIES make a flying machine without knowing how. If we want a world of peace and happiness, we must of necessity know the laws which govern that possibiUty. It is as impossible to establish the brotherhood of man under the guidance of Christ and the Bible as it is to make an automobile without a driving mechanism. The Bible does not contain the necessary facts. It was written in the long ago by men who lived in the very dawn of reason. They did not know, and of course could not tell, anything. We hear a great deal about the nations of the world forming a league of peace. That is a step in the right direc- tion and will produce good results, but in the course of time it will be found inadequate to keep war out of the world. The world will have learned one more fact, though; that it cannot be done that way. All experimenting leads to knowledge, and that experiment will carry us on the way to knowledge. If it is possible to get this fact into the minds of the best men in the civiKzed nations so that they can be guided by the same thought and principle, then the League of Nations to Enforce Peace will be a success. These world wars are very costly and painful. I take it for granted that anything so simple as this divine fact will easily find a place in the hearts of men and the thing be done. People can change their reHgion over night just as easily as they can change their law, or anything else. This truth may fill the world with happiness in one year, or it may never do it. It just depends on how people take it. You might know how to do a thing and still never do it. A man can rid himself of a bad habit like cigarette smoking in ten days, or he may keep it up until it ruins him; until it is useless to stop. It will be useless for anyone to say that he does not understand this new fact, but to say he will not be guided by it is entirely diflferent. It is re- markable that he will be guided by it whether he wills to be or not. Every man is guided by it; every man always has been guided by it, and every man always will be guided MY PROOF 51 by it. That Is a little deep, but when you think about it, the same laws govern us today which shaped men to start with. The idea is this; men have broken this law and suffered for it in the past; they are breaking it today and suffering for it; they will break it in the future and they will suffer for it. Now, since we know what the law is, we can escape the harm if we will. We know what the law wants us to do; before we did not. We were just guessing, and some guessed near and some guessed far. If we want to establish the brotherhood of mankind on a firm foundation we must establish it on a foundation of eternal truth, if any lasting results are to be gained. If one nation has one philosophy, another nation some insane religion, and yet another nation no ideas at all, then in time they will arrive at the point where all the treaties and leagues will not prevail because omnipotent God has willed that the perfect humanity shall be established on a foundation of perfect truth. It may take a long time to get humanity to imderstand that that is necessarily so, but when the world has been drenched in blood a few more times it will become clearer. If it were not absolutely necessary to obey the law, the law would be no law. Men have known for ages that the law of the Almighty is inexorable. Any man with half an eye can see that this war in Em-ope is the result of ignorance more than anything else. Not a man in all Europe can tell what is the real source of this war. Any man can read this book and know that the fundamental cause of the war is that the people of Europe did not know this law and that all of them have been breaking it. This thing may seem of little consequence; it is the most important thing in the world. By understanding it and living up to it this world can be turned into a real Garden of Eden. Our troubles will vanish like snow before a warm sun. It all depends on our manhood. Not on our intel- lect, because any man can read and understand. It depends 52 A WITNESS TESTIFIES on our manhood. We have the manhood. We prove that every day. We must do this thing. We must conduct ourselves toward one another in conformity to it. All a man has to do is to be true to his mate, and all is well — a very simple thing to do when you know how it is done, but terribly hard to do until you realize the full import of it. If it is possible to get people to understand that the interests of all mankind run in the same channel, it will be a big thing. People become confused on this point because they do not know the truth. When this truth is evident to all men, or to men in general throughout the world, it will be clear that all men's interests are indentical, Man is put here on his honor by the Creator. There is no way to keep a man faithful except of his own voHtion. Just as long as he gropes about in darkness, just so long will he get into trouble. The war in Europe has brought home to all thinking minds that there is something wrong. It is impossible to explain this war on any hypothesis now before the world. Every avenue of thought has been gone over thousands of times. There is nothing new in any of them. They are not facts and therefore they cannot explain the thing any more than the workings of an automobile can be explained by a man who has never seen one and does not know one part from another. Any ordinary man can take this fact and explain the war. It is no mystery to me. I can furnish the fact or key, and if men fail to us it, that is no fault of mine. I can tell this thing to a horse, but he will pay no attention to me because he has not enough understanding. I cannot furnish the horse with understanding. It is like this with me: If the men of the world refuse even to consider this thing, I don't care. I simply do my duty and I do not intend to try to ram anything down any man's throat. The world needs this thing and is ready for it, and I think there will be no rebellion in men's minds against it. I firmly believe in the people of this country and think MY PROOF 53 * they are much more thoughful than they get credit for. We have here an almost ideal country. With just a few minor changes it should be ideal. Our personal liberty is still new to us, and as a consequence most of us have gone a bit too far along that hne. However, we all must learn, and now we may take a better view of personal liberty. As a man is on his honor in this world, and we try to put him on his honor in the United States, it is for him to do as he pleases. Now from this fact we draw this idea: we are on our honor and our honor runs parallel to our interests and desires. In other words, if we keep the pledge of honor, we do exactly that which we desire above all else to do. We fail to keep the pledge of honor because we are deceived by the devil, and that deception is some false pleasure — a cross between lovers. What we need in America is to take a clear, reasonable view of our personal liberty. I once told a man in New York — we were taking a drink of whisky at a bar — that he had no right to drink. He said that he worked for his money and could see no reason why he didn't have the right to drink whisky if he so desired. The point is this : it is against the law of Almighty God for man to drink. Why? Because the pleasure is a false love, a deception. A man has no right to waste his substance in that way. He should use his energy in accordance with the law. EVIL There will be no evil when the world is perfected. Evil is the result of ignorance. We cannot avoid evil unless we know how. Evil is the result of our being imperfect. Why does a man die of disease — say typhoid fever? If all conditions were perfect, inside and outside the body, he would not die. How would he die of any other disease? The creation of disease seems to be perfect, and it the con- ditions are favorable he will contract some disease. All we can make of that is that we must know what is the basic principle in disease, and find out just wherein we are violating the law and just what we must do to avoid trouble. Of course, we know now that the cleaner we live and the cleaner our surroundings, the less hable we are to disease. We know that the better the health the less is the danger of contracting disease. It seems to mean that we must live clean lives inside and outside. We know that indulgence in any vice lowers physical vigor and the power of resistance. Then any person who practices a vice is more hkely to be attacked by disease than is one who does not. Any form of self love in the physical sense causes the blood to become impiure. The blood of the glutton becomes impure, and he enters a con- dition in which he cannot throw off disease if attacked. This fact does not offer any solution to the problem except that we know we must investigate aU evils, and the disease problem is one of them. We know that a perfect man will not have* any disease. We know that the source of evil is perfect, and we know that we must live perfect lives according to divine laws to avoid evil in this Ufe. We will never get rid of disease until we solve the diet problem. A large proportion of our trouble arises from 55 56 A WITNESS TESTIFIES this source. The perfect man will know what to eat. We are helplessly groping in the dark on that point. We know that all oiu" troubles do not rise from our break- ing of the law of faithfulness to our mates. The imperfec- tion in the world applies to the whole world. To get rid of all the evil we must know and master all things. Our position is very much like that of a dog infested with fleas. The dog has a perfect right to get rid of the fleas, if he can learn how. So seems our task of ridding ourselves of evil. We are on our way to perfection, and we are yet a long, long way from it. This world is a creation that is a perfect imperfect infinity. If we are to survive, eventually we will have to solve all problems. We are on the way and we are doing well. Every day we learn something new, which carries us a step in the right direction. Evil, then, is a perfect imperfect infimty. To make our world a perfect world in which perfect people may live in love and happiness, we have to solve all problems. Just so long as there remains something unknown, evil will come to curse us. We know by this new truth that all vices are the pro- ducers of much evil. We know that false intercoiu:ses cause, perhaps, ninety-five per cent of all our trouble. Vices of the flesh cause a multitude of deformities of flesh and mind. Vices of the mind cause a multitude of deformities of the flesh and mind. By the light of this new truth we may rid ourselves of most of the evil in the world. We can put a stop to all false love, both physical and mental. Whether we will do so or not remains to be determined; but we can, if we will, because we now know ho^. If we would be rid of the ravages of secret vice we must warn our boys and girls, so that they will not fall a victim to it. If we want to be rid of the evil effects of alcohol, we must vote it out of the world and keep it out. If we want EVIL 57 to be rid of war we must conduct our lives according to the law of mates : we must love one another unselfishly. The idea is, if a man does not love his mate unselfishly, he will necessarily love some one else better; and if he is untrue to her he is wiUing to be untrue to all men. A man who is wilhng to murder his own love, of coiu'se, is willing to murder all men. Therefore, any man who is imfaithful to his own mate is willing to treat his brother unfairly, — and then the war is on. We see by this, therefore, that a man who is un- faithful to his own mate is wiUing to be unfaithful to aU persons. You may put it down as a rule without exception that if a man is willing to harm his wife and children, he will be wilHng to harm all men. Do not trust him. He will do you harm if opportunity presents. Evil of any description is the result of lack of perfection. All the evil the human race is heir to is caused by the lack of knowledge. We must know all things, and we must live up to the law. The consequences of sinning fall on the whole race. The evil resulting from one man's sins are visited on others. We know, therefore, that all persons must obey the law. We see that the perfect man will be a man who lives according to principle. When all men know how to con- duct their lives according to the divine law, and do so con- duct their Uves, then there will be no evil in the world. It has long been known that if evil could be explained a great mystery would be solved. By this fact we see evil to be the result of our imperfections. We know by it that evil is an infinitely perfect result of our actions. We know that the god of perfect hate is an infinite mind whose purpose is to deceive us. We know that the purpose of the devil is to separate lovers. All evil in its last analysis will be found to be that one thing. All evil, then, is a cross between lovers. 58 A WITNESS TESTIFIES All evil in the world, then, has for its object the separation of lovers. Any evil thing we do tends to make us unfit and unworthy of our mates. As evil is perfect, and as the only way to avoid it is to know aU things, then our first duty and consideration must be to seek out and know how we are being deceived into doing evil. This new truth explains to us the fact that the devil is a mind of twofold nature. We see that praying and swear- ing are the same thing. Each confuses the mind and each is an acknowledgment of defeat. We see that man, as a rule, is the violator of his flesh and then, in repentance, is a defiler of his own mind. A man first sins against his manhood in the flesh, and then, in fear and trembling, he tries to make amends to God by some false love of his own soul. He deflles his soul and mind by the same process that he does his flesh. All religions are deceptions: they deceive the mind and cause us to be unfaithful to our mates in a spiritual or mental sense. So we see that evil attacks us from two distinct points. The system of evil that encompasses us is indeed infinitely perfect and it always brings about the same result — we are made unworthy of our mates, both in mind and body. If a man could walk the straight and narrow path and be true to his mate in all things, mental and physical, he would be perfect. All men the world over are caught in this perfect trap of evil. All human flesh and brains are deceived and polluted by this thing of evil. No one escapes entirely, and no one can escape entirely until the human mind has solved all problems, and lives up to the perfect law. The only way to escape evil is to live up to the commands of the perfect God of infinite sense and love. If in any way a man fails either knowingly or through ignorance to fulfill the perfect law, evil will somehow and sometime come into his life to make him unhappy and unworthy of his mate. We know that a great deal of evil in the world is now unavoidable. Lightning may kill, earthquakes may destroy. EVIL 59 * storms may work havoc. Of course, our business is to overcome these things in every way possible. The perfect man, no doubt, will control these things, but it is clearly beyond us to do so at present. Things of that nature are of minor consideration and form no real obstacle. Life is not so terribly important that we must lose our senses over it! The important thing is that we be worthy, so that we may enjoy the real blessings of life as they should be and can be enjoyed. We must conduct our lives so that we can walk in the world with a clear conscience and unafraid. There is no fear in the human heart which obeys the divine law. We see, then, that evil is a cross between lovers; a cross between man and his manhood. We see that to become a perfect man or woman, one must seek the truth in all things and practice it. We must change this world of confusion and hate into one of harmony and love. Lying is a mental deformity which is caused by doing some dishonorable act. If all our acts were honorable there would be no occasion for lying. The object of lying is to keep the truth from being known. The devil is the arch liar. From the standpoint of the devil, all Ues have but one object. That object is to keep mates apart. When a man lies, though he may not know it he violates the law that lovers should be true in all things. The price of lying, then, is the loss of your love. If you are a Kar you are unworthy of your love, and for the privilege of lying you pay the highest price that can be paid. To be un- worthy of your love is to suffer the most exquisite pain that the human soul can endure. The object of lying, from a human standpoint, is to hide or cover up something which, if known, would seem to be against the interest of the liar. A liar is always in a false position, and some day he will come to grief because he cannot defend or explain his position. The truth will out. There are two kinds of lies: those we tell when we know 60 A WITNESS TESTIFIES we are lying, and those we tell when we do not. The world is full of good people who make a practice of lying; who do not know they lie, and would not tell a lie for a kingdom if they knew it. How is that? Any man who teaches a wrong religion is a liar. A lie is quite as harmful if the teller does not know he is lying as it is if he does know it. Ignorance is no excuse in the sight of the divine law. The devil is an infinite, perfect liar, and as he exists in the minds of men it will be impossible to keep from lying until all knowledge is theirs. There is not a man who does not tell hes, and believe them, every day of his hfe. Lying is a deformity of the human soul which can only be corrected by knowing all things. Some people lie know- ingly, but they would not if they could fully realize the harm it does to them and their loved ones. It is simply a matter of not knowing. The same is true of all the violations of the divine law. The price is so high that no one can afford to pay it. To he is to sacrifice your manhood; it is to be unworthy of your mate. A man who lies unknowingly can say, with truth, "If I had known I was lying I would not have done so." A man who lies knowingly can say the same thing. After his mind digests the truth he can no longer say so. A man must not lie unknowingly. He must say he believes so and so, but that he does not know. A man who lies after he knows the full evil of it can say that God is infinity and that he was in a manner deceived. It is all a matter of honor. If a man wishes to be a traitor he can find plenty of good excuses. Stealing is a deception that arises from the fact that the mind thinks it possible to obtain something with- out being worthy. We all know that it is possible to get something for nothing and from that fact arises our temptation to steal. We obtain an overplus of blessings by EVIL 61 living in compliance with the divine law, and when we steal we try to obtain those blessings without fulfilhng the de- mands of the divine law. It is a wonderful fact that the man who steals harms himself and his loved ones more than anyone else. It is impossible to steal without paying the price. If a man steals he cannot explain his prosperity. He possesses something for which he cannot account. It puts him in a false position which he cannot explain. We all know thieves who seem to be getting along well, but some day they will pay the price. Be sure your sin will find you out. The deformity is in a man's soul, and some day he will be called on to explain the deformity. SteaUng is Hke all other forms of sin; it is weighted with a price that is more than any man can afford to pay. It costs a man his principles and his honor, his manhood, and his self respect. He is a traitor to his wife and children and to the whole race of men. The harm falls on the heads of his loved ones as heavily and more, than upon anyone else. No one would steal if he realized the full heinousness of the deed. Stealing is one of the very worst things in the world. THE SIMPLE LIFE Steange as it may seem, the simple life requires that we know everything before we can live it. We hear much, these days, about proper discipline, yet we seem to have no discipline at all. The demands of this law are very exacting, but they are in conformity with the wishes of the heart and the intellect. This law is the law of the Perfect God of sense and love, and as man is a spark of that divine essence he really does exactly what he wishes to do when he obeys the law. It is the ruling passion of every person to love his mate unselfishly. When you submit to the dictates or mandates of this law you at the same time submit to the mandates of the con- science, the intellect, and the heart. You do that which, above all else, you wish to do. You do that which the wee, small voice of your better judgment admonishes you to do. This law is the truthful master; it is the best part of every man trying to have its way. It would lead a man to live the real life, to have all the joy and pleasure that a perfect world can give. The straight and narrow path of the Christian faith is a very tame affair compared to the rigid demands of this law. This law is infinitely perfect and it is very much alive. It never fails to take note of every violation and to punish every violation in due time. It is the true live God or law; nothing escapes its notice by ever so little or ever so much. Do the thing, and you receive the reward or the punishment. It is absolute in- sanity to disobey, but as we do not know wherein we violate this law in many ways, we are doomed to do many insane acts for some time to come. 63 64 A WITNESS TESTIFIES But we are at liberty to investigate and to try to find out wherein we err. The great, good God would have us think, work, listen, learn, investigate; there is absolutely no reason to fear investigation. The discovery of this fact clears up one truth that is very important. No man will ever discover anything that will do the world harm. Whatever of truth that is found will only add to our knowledge, understanding, betterment, hope, health, wealth, happiness, love, comfort, usefulness; in every way it will be a benefit to the race. Therefore it is absurd to fear to investigate. Fear is of the devil. It is deception, piu-e and simple. It is impos- sible to find anything but real, glorious truth. The devil says to see God is to die. The truth is not to see Him is to die. The simple life, then, means that we are to live true to our mates in all things, and that before we can do this we must investigate all things and know all things. We must all submit to some discipline. It is far better to submit to the discipline of the True Master than to have to submit to the discipline of some untrue master who will make miserable slaves of us. If a man submits to the mastership of tobacco, he loses his man- hood by doing so. So it is with any other master but the True Master: it destroys personality. If you live under the guiding hand of the perfect God of Sense and Love, all your life will be blessed. You will have a strong, perfectly developed body and a strong, cultxired mind. All your actions will be sensible. You will be successful; you will be filled with wisdom. You will fulfill all your obligations to every man. If you live by this law you will have a clear conscience, you will be without worry or fear. Death will lose all of its horrors. You will have the strength to meet the trials of life and the mental power to solve all your problems. It is a joy and a pleasure to follow the commands of the Real God. THE SIMPLE LIFE 65 # By doing so you live all your life now. You have a heaven on earth to live in. You do not hope for joy in some future heaven; you have your joys now. Everybody wishes to live now. Then why put it ofif when you are commanded to enjoy a perfect world in the present.'' Of coiu-se, it will be understood that our happiness depends upon living up to the law. It does not mean that we are free to let all our passions run riot, but it means that we are to satisfy every appetite and desire according to the divine law. We must be masters over all our passions; thus we may enjoy them in their proper place and time, like gentlemen, not like ruflSans and rapists. The normal man, under self control, indulges his desire in the proper way. As far as the sexual part of life is concerned, it is per- fectly clear that the procreative function is a sacred gift to lovers who are married. They must have the sanction of the mind and the heart. In other words, they must be physically and mentally fit. They must be prepared to bring children into the world. The condition must be such that in the light of all sound sense it will be permissible. This law points out the fact that it is important that the responsibilities of married life be properly prepared for, because it is very evident that if we are not so prepared we will be forced to submit to con- ditions that we will be ashamed of. It is perfectly clear that all boys and girls should be trained with this object in view. If they are not properly trained in this respect they will inevitably fall into grievous error. Abuse of the procreative function by persons not properly mated is a snare and a delusion. It is disappointing and disgusting. It is like all other sins; it is degrading. Some persons will say that, even without the sanction of a perfect God, it is all right. Some will say that it does not affect the mind or body for ill. It does. You may as well say 66 A WITNESS TESTIFIES that to steal, to lie, to murder do not affect man's mind or body, but you will find that these things cannot be done without paying the penalty. That penalty is the loss of purity, which means of course, guilt and murder. It is like all other sin: there is only one thing to do about it, and that is to shun it. The idea then, is this : in our present condition we must serve some master. Then the sensible and sane thing to do is to serve the Perfect Master; the One who gives you everything if you obey his commands. Then the simple life is the fulfilling of the divine law; to obey the law that head and heart allow. The devil never does anything but rob a man of that to which he is entitled. The Perfect Master intends for every man and his mate to have a home; to love each other very much; to have health and children, to enjoy the real things of life. There is great confusion about the distribution of wealth. When the day comes that men will live up to this law, the wealth of the land will be more than enough for all. There will always be some men who will have more money than others, but every one will have all the blessings of life. When all men are producers and no single man is a loafer; when love and sense rule the hearts of men; when all live by principle, then we can so adjust our businesses that everyone will enjoy the real blessings of life. It is a fact that an industrious man will produce a great deal more than he consumes. That being the case, then the more people we have, the more wealth we will have to enjoy and to make our world a better place to live in. A man who is a drone or a loafer is a curse to himself, be he rich or poor. There is nothing but nothingness in doing nothing. The thing to do is to get into the game and play the game as it should be played. Play at the right time, eat at the right time, work at the right time. THE SIMPLE LIFE 67 Regulate your life according to the rules; a man who doesn't work is out of the game so far as he or anybody else is concerned, and he might as well be dead. We will see that as people improve their habits of Uving, as we come to understand our nature better, everything will improve. No man will want great sums of money if thereby he incurs the frown of his fellow men. If he cannot use his money for some good purpose he will not want it. A man wUl not want money if he is isolated for having it. On the other hand, we want a man to have aU the money he can handle if he uses it to promote the welfare of the community. We want the money to be possessed by men capable of handling it in such a way as to be a blessnig to the whole community. We want a man to have money if he can pay his helpers a fair wage, a wage that will enable real men to live respectably and feel justly proud of working for a concern that is worthy of its place among the institu- tions of the land. We want conditions to be such that a man can devote his full time enthusiastically to his business and feel that he is doing something for his country. It is all right for a man to have plenty of money, but there is power in money, and that power must be used to advance the interests of the community as well as the interests of the individual. A man must make his money a blessing to him and others. He must not make it a curse. The dream of the Socialists wiU never come true if they hope to get something for nothing. But if they want a square deal for everyone, then their dream will come true. No man with any manhood wishes anything but Justice. It must be our solemn duty to give every man a square deal. We must pay every man what his work is worth. We must be square with the rich man as well as with the poor. We must strive to do justice to all. We cannot do without capital, and we cannot do without labor. 68 A WITNESS TESTIFIES We must see to it that all men get justice. Any man who wants more than justice is either crazy or a rascal. Since we know what our real religion is, we get some clear ideas concerning the real or simple Ufe. This fact explains a great many things that have troubled us in the past. We know now that this life is a life of real romance; that the purpose of each life is to find one's mate and love her, or him, unselfishly. The proper attitude toward life is one of joy and laughter, song and mirth, wit and humor, music and dancing, fun and frolic. He who fulfills the law is pleased beyond mea- sure with the greatness and goodness of life. He who has fulfilled the law refuses to take Ufe seriously. Everything flows to him who fulfills the law. When a man meets the demands of the law, or complies with the commands of the God of Perfect Sense and Love, he is freed, as it were. His conscience is clear, his health is good, and all the righteousness and justice in his mind have been satisfied. Then he has fulfilled all obligations to all men; he has been true to the world. Then he is worthy of his mate; he is ready for the frolic. He bubbles over with wit and humor, with song and music. He has magnetism, he has power to influence others, he is attractive, he is brave, he is strong, he is handsome. All these things belong to him who obeys the law or leads the simple life. Some call it the heroic life, but it is leading the real life. Every desire and every appetite is satisfied, but these must be considered from a normal standpoint. Our desires are normal provided we have taken the pains and have used the will power to make them that way. As a matter of fact, no one knows as yet just what the normal desires are, because man is in an unnatural condition and he does not yet know how to come out of it. But by the light of this truth we can get a fairly good idea of what the normal man will desire. We know that his religion will THE SIMPLE LIFE 69 be the unselfish love of his mate. We know that he will have no false loves. His food will be such that it vdll completely satisfy his desire, and it will be plain and simple. We know that he will be a strong man, capable of taking care of himself in any difficulty. There will be no cowardice in this man. He wiU be generous, kind, thoughtful, considerate. He will fight for the right if necessary. There will be no turning of the cheek for an extra slap. Because a man is a man, a good man, is no reason why he should let a bad man take advantage of him. A good man must back up his goodness with his manhood. If he doesn't, he has no goodness, or manhood either. Man is a fighting animal, and if wolves attack him he is expected to master them. It is foUy to think that a good man must be bullied by rascals. If he is a good man he must be good enough to stand up for his goodness. Now, if a man fulfills the law he wiU be strong, his muscles wiU be as strong as steel bands and hard as iron, his brain wUl be clear, and he wiU have it in his heart to treat his fellow men with justice. In case he becomes involved in trouble it wiU be the other man's fault; the good man will be in the right. He can "turn himself loose" and let the world see what a real man can do when he is in the right. Do not believe that a real man will not fight; on the contrary, a real man wiU fight for a just cause. It will be impossible for two gentlemen to fight because no gentleman will give another gentleman cause to fight. However, that ideal condition is far in the future and most hkely there will be considerable fighting yet to do. A gentleman, a good man, has the right to protect his own interests, and he is not a good man if he allows some other fellow unnecessarily to do him injustice. If a good man may not have justice, then we will all be bad men. However, we will never have trouble on that score. A man 70 A WITNESS TESTIFIES can live a lifetime in this country and never have cause for trouble. In aU my life I have never had trouble with other men but that I was not mostly to blame. The thing to do is to stay in a good man's place and then you will have no trouble. If you go into evil company, and become intoxicated, how are you to keep out of trouble.? If trouble comes up, you have to back out. Why? Because, in the first place, you are wrong for being with such men; and in the second place, you should not drink. PHYSICAL CULTURE This new truth demonstrates these things: health, happi- ness, usefulness, honesty, mental development, love, justice, charity, loftiness of soul, business ability, success, efficiency, courage, wiU power, manhood, aU joy, interest in life, fair- mindedness, character, devotion, endurance, faithfulness, and all the qualities that go to make up a well-rounded life, depend largely upon the proper care and development of the body. If you have not health, you have nothing. Life is a curse to the sick man. Health depends upon your being faithful to your mate. Now, if you live up to that com- mand you wiU be a perfect specimen of humanity. As a matter of fact it is impossible, at our present state of de- velopment, to be absolutely true to one's mate. To do that requires that we know aU things, and we are far indeed from such a stage of development. As we have not yet become perfect beings, — we are just on om- way, — then what can we do in a practical way to attain perfect physical manhood as we know it today? First of aU, we must get the true idea straight in our minds. The body is given us to live in and we are in honor hound to take the best care of it we -possibly can. We must consider it our sacred duty, and it is our sacred duty, to keep it pure and holy. Physical culture is the science of taking care of the body. Under that conception of physical culture the food question is considered, the clothes question is considered, the exercise question is considered, the water baths and drink are considered, in fact, physical culture has to do with everything we do in our daily Hfe. All things that tend to improve the health come under the head of physical cultiure. Physical culture is at present in its infancy. It is a very important subject. There is absolutely nothing without 71 72 A WITNESS TESTIFIES health. Life is a failure, pure and simple, if we have not health. The old saying is: If a man lose his own soul and gain the whole world what has he gained? It should read. If a man gain the whole world and has not health he has nothing. Everything depends on health. Our present deplorable physical condition is largely — and this can be said with truth — due to the Bible and Christ. At the time the Bible was written people had not learned how to adulter- ate food. Health in those far-gone days was not considered because everybody was healthy. They were as childrea compared to our modern men. Physically considered, we are in bad shape today. It should be our first considera- tion to improve our health at all costs imtU we get our standard up to normal at least. No man is normal with coffee, tea, tobacco, whisky; any one of these in small doses will throw him out of balance. We should put them out of our lives at once. It is a terrible crime to use them. AH of them make for physical unfitness and mental unhappiness. They are a delusion and a snare. We should submit to any measures that will add to the good of the body. Give up aU false physical pleasures. On the other hand, take up any measures that will better our health. Self-sacrifice is a secondary consideration. Don't consider self at all: if it will benefit you, go naked in winter. Here is a very consoling thought, though: "crazy" and pain- ful measiu-es are as a rule harmful. The great good God did not expect man to make his life a misery to himself. Or- dinarily, physical cultm-e is very enjoyable once you have become accustomed to it. Physical culture means plenty of good pure nutritious food carefully eaten; plenty of fresh air properly breathed, and simshine. Pure water, pure thoughts, no bad habits, plenty of wholesome organized exercise, useful employment, a clear conscience. Physical culture will repay its followers a thousand fold. Since physical cultiu-e is in its infancy, there will be PHYSICAL CULTURE 73 many mistakes and disappointments, buf it should be studied by all and lived up to at all costs. The command of the Most High God is to keep your body pure and clean, sacred and holy, that you may be worthy to enter into the presence of your mate. In a few years it will be a disgrace to be sick. It is even now considered a crime to abuse your body until you make yourself sick. It is a crime and a disgrace to be sick, but until we know how to avoid sickness we deserve pity, sympathy, forgiveness, charity, love, help, and everything that goes to make more bearable the burdens of the afflicted. We must not condemn each other for something we cannot avoid. Some persons assert that all sickness and diseases can be avoided now. I question their conclusions. I know that really wonderful results are obtainable in many cases. I have never been able to get results because I have never had the will power to continue physical culture long enough. The future of the human race on earth depends upon how well the science of physical cultm-e is developed and practiced. This has always been one of the profound mysteries of my life: that people know so Uttle about physical culture; and yet everything in hfe depends on it. One reason it has been ignored is because it is almost impossible to get anyone to practice it. The "highly educated" man is not ready to be graduated from school until he has been educated physically as well as mentally. Education of the mind is a great thing, but a healthy body is far preferable. Life is worth living in a healthy body if you cannot read or write. On the other hand, if you possess all culture, and have not health, you have lost all, — your culture is worthless. THE DIET PROBLEM This fact does not throw any light on the diet problem except that it demonstrates that it is very important and should be solved as soon as possible. We should make a great effort to reach a satisfactory diet. We get this from our fact: First, the real true diet will be a diet which will produce the most perfect man mentally and physically. Regardless of what that diet consists of, we must have a clean conscience when we eat it. If conscience reproves us for eating meat, we must prove by facts that it is the divine wiU that we should be allowed to eat meat. At present we do not know. Most likely it is not permissible. Remember, we know now that the Bible is false and that we are setting out to discover what really are the facts. We must know this thing. AU other factors being ideal, the true diet should keep a man in superb health all the time. He should have un- bounded energy. He should be intoxicated with the joy of perfect health all the time. Of course, we know that the perfect man will not be a glutton. Gluttony is as bad a vice as any of the same class. This diet should satisfy the appetite. There should be no desire to overeat. When we reach the basis of fact, we can combine oiu- food in such manner as to satisfy all de- mands of the body without overdoing some other part. Some persons think cooking and adulteration of our food in many ways unbalances it and causes us a lot of trouble. The reason for our use of stimulants is found in the solution of the food question. Overeating causes us to be sluggish. Overeating is caused by the want of balanced chemical elements. We take stimulants to spur on our life processes so that we will feel better. No doubt that is the secret of 75 76 A WITNESS TESTIFIES our addiction to alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and other narcotics. With the proper diet there will be no desire for stimulants. On the contrary, they will be repulsive. This diet problem is the most important problem yet unsolved. I am stumbling along in the dark just as everybody is. I am going to give a few experiences of mine. Perhaps they are not important, but somewhere they may strike the right brain and be of some help. In the first place, the use of salt is rather a queer habit. It seems to be out of line and needs explaining. Once, when ill, I fasted ten days and during the fast I drank pure cistern water, which, of course, contained no salt. When I started to take a milk diet, I began to sink lower and lower. I got hold of a book on diet (I had never seen it before) and tried some experimenting, which perhaps saved my life but also brought me many times to the verge of the grave and finally to an asylum. I did not go crazy, but I missed it only by a very close margin. This book and my own crazy notions caused me to reason about as f oUows : My stomach was as som* as lemons, and I wanted to get something into my lower bowels by way of the stomach. I reasoned that the stomach digested acids and the lower bowels alkahes. On that assumption I took the yolks of eggs and the whey of skimmed sweet milk. I got the whey out of the milk by curdling it with lemon juice. Well, I drank that mixture, and when I drank it I said, "Here goes — a leap in the dark," and so it proved to be. That mixture went through my stomach without stopping a second. It began to digest and enter my veins in the little intestine at a terrible rate. By that I gather that the flow of blood is fixst through the reproductive organs, and thence to the brain and all parts of the body. The flow of blood from my bowels into my arteries was so rapid that I thought they would ruptiu-e. It was the merest accident it did not kill me. When this excess flow of blood got to my brains I thought my head would fly into pieces. I am in- THE DIET PROBLEM 77 clined to think that that really caused my mental dis- turbances. I tried the whites of eggs and lemon juice and found that that mixtiu"e digested at once. It goes into the circulation directly from the stomach. I believe the oxygen in the air fuses with the whites of eggs and lemon juice and that the nitrogen in the air combines with the yolks and whey, the alkali side. I feel sure that in some way the nitrogen is a very important factor. I found that grease retards digestion down to rational proportions. Without grease, digestion is too rapid. I happened to take some salt, and before I knew it I was about to die. I wanted to go to sleep and sleep a long time. I once saw a steer gain access to some salt after having been without it for a long time; he ate several mouth- fuls and died in convulsions at once. For some reason I survived. I am absolutely puzzled in regard to salt. It seems that man cannot live without it; and yet if he eats it, it pollutes him. While I had salt out of my blood I loved everything; everything seemed right and normal. Just the minute I ate salt I began to grumble and to hate and to be frightened. Can it be that salt is the cross between us and perfection? If a man does without it he becomes divine, but he dies. Indeed, there is something very uncanny about the stuff. During my illness I conceived the idea that as every- thing goes in pairs it might be that our foods should be mated. Well, there is room for thought. I tried the banana and the date as a pair. It is wonderful how much energy is pro- duced by this combination. It seemed beneficial to me while I had no salt in me, but when I used salt it didn't do so well. However, I obtained some results every time I ate the combination. I could never get enough results to justify the time spent in experimentation. There are lots of pairs: the almond and peach are a pair; the apple and walnut seem to be a pair; the grape and fig are a pair: so 78 A WITNESS TESTIFIES in the grains and vegetables you seem to find pairs. Wheat and beets seem to be a pair; corn and turnips seem to be a pair; Irish potatoes and peanuts seem to be a pair. Now, I don't know anything about this business, but it seems to promise something. Anybody who meddles with it meddles with fire, plays with dynamite. Food is con- centrated energy, just as is powder, and if you happen to "touch the wrong button" you may lose your mind, you may get killed. I just want to tell you plainly that, where nobody knows, there is danger of getting hurt, and hurt badly. Don't meddle with it unless you are willing to take chances — and your chances are worthless if you are afraid. A frightened man never did discover anything. I thought I had found the perfect diet. I thought that by combining food in pairs and not eating any salt I had found the ideal way. It seemed to get results and promise everything; but just as everything was going all right, I would have a fit and relapse, and the whole thing would blow up. I am sure if I had stayed Avith it any longer I should have died. Indeed, it has taken me five years partially to recover. I may never entirely recover. As I see this problem, it is about this way : if we balance our food according to oiu- present methods, — in other words, if we have plenty of good wholesome food and eat it like gentlemen, — we will be fairly well off. If a man would be careful of his health from birth and never do bad or un- necessary things, I really believe his life would be fairly passable. I am inclined to think that the world is not yet ready to know what the perfect food is. There are several good reasons for believing so : In the first place, the digestion of food is done in mechanical, electrical, chemical, and some other unknown ways. Whatever that perfect way may be, the man that lives if will be divine, and a divine man would be very out of place at the present time. I am inclined to believe that salt causes all our diseases. It causes us to be greedy and lustful. It confuses the mind THE DIET PROBLEM 79 so that the passions are greater than the will power. If a man should lose all his imperfect nature, and not be ready to enter the eternal life of perfection, he would be in a very bad condition. Of course, we know that if mankind survives he must reach perfection, but he must complete the circle to get there; he can't skip over part of it. I am inclined to think the food problem will be solved in the far distant future — probably a million years from now. It is absolutely impossible to tell anything about it at present except that we do not know. I believe salt is a neutralizer of energy. It consumes at least two thirds of the energy of the food we eat. For that reason alone we can see that our blood and tissues are filled with a lot of fiilth that is all unnecessary. It is bound to be a cause of diseases, and the filth is a source of confusion. It throws us out of line all the time. I don't know how to explain it, but you can see it in all men. It makes them want to hate and kill one another, when if they but knew it they love one another more than tongue can ever tell. Salt is the satan of the material world. It is in every- thing and we cannot keep it out of us — and if we did we would die. Now, what are we to do? Well, we will get along fine anyway. Let the other fellow cross the bridge when he gets to it. I know I can't do anything with it. It would take a dozen lifetimes for my brains to go round that vast circle. Salt is the satan of the fiesh. Salt confuses the food, it seems to hate purity and beauty. Foods are thrown together in a hateful, ruthless manner, so that all are the same. All we seem to want is to fill up with anything, and to do that very much like a hungry dog. Grab and tear like a wolf. Hate all refinement, all love, all culture. Salt makes -a brute of a divine prince. Don't place any importance up>on what I have said about the food question. All I hope to do is to unsettle the whole thing and show that no one knows, and that the problem is 80 A WITNESS TESTIFIES as deep as life, and with the solution of this problem we enter a new kingdom. With the solution of this problem we enter a kingdom of love unspeakable. People will become ethereal creatures of perfect love and purity. Death will be no more. Perfect mates will live as long as they wish, and go to some other world if they take a notion. By that time we will have reached a condition of such knowledge and power that we may be born back into the world if we get accidentally killed. Man will attain perfect infinite knowledge and power and love. All things in a perfect infinite universe will be possible to such a creature. Nothing that he desires will be denied him. It will be an eternal romance of perfect lovers, in a perfect world under perfect control. Just what man will do then is not to be prophesied, but this we know: each day will be a new day of strange and fascinating delight. Men will not grow old, but will have perpetual youth. There will be no children. Life will be eternal. There will be no fear of death : if you get killed you can come back to life again through the assistance of some of your friends. The digestion of food does not seem to depend on chewing it thoroughly, as many seem to think. Chewing the food thoroughly is, no doubt, a very important thing. However, the proper combination of the chemistry of the food chewed seems to be by far the most important factor. If you get a bad mixture of food into the stomach, if it has been chewed thoroughly it will require less energy to dispose of it and thereby will likely do less harm to the body. Digestion de- pends on the chemical relations of the food, without a doubt. You will notice that whey of sweet milk and yolks of eggs seem to have a close affinity. That is, they make a com- bination that digests readily. Digestion is the turning into electric energy of the energy stored in food. That process depends on the proper admixture" of chemicals. We see a piece of wood decay: that is the same process taking place. It is a freeing of the electrical energy; in case of the decaying wood the energy is dissipated into the ground. The rusting THE DIET PROBLEM 81 of iron is the same process. When a nail is rusted out, isn't its strength gone? Somehow in the processes of the body the "decaying" or freeing of the electrical energy is speeded up and controlled. Some day we will discover how it is done and then our problem of how to eat will be solved. With that discovery will come the discovery of the perfect storage battery. The perfect storage battery will put all other forms of energy producing appUances out of business. Energy for mechanical purposes will be as free as the air we breathe. This electrical, chemical, mechanical machine will use air and water and some kind of fuel. The auto- mobile engine uses all these things in its make-up, but this storage engine wiU use electricity for the motive power. It wiU generate the electrical energy direct without an over- plus of heat. Fire is the dissipation of electrical energy, but it is too fast. We cannot control it. Fifty per cent of the energy runs into the ground and is wasted. This storage battery or electrical engine I dream of will make use of all the energy and will be under control. There seem to be four kinds of electricity: two positives and two negatives. At present we only consider two, which may be correct, but there are some good reasons for believing that there are four. In the first place, the Godhead is a fourfold nature. There are two kinds of deceptions. One is the direct evil which is plain to everyone, such as onanism; the other is the evil of being misled into thinking you are doing good when you are doing infinite harm, as a preacher, as Christ was. Good is the same way. If you obey the law you enjoy health of body and if you practice the true religion you do good that is infinite good. I am inclined to think that some day we will have to rewrite all of oiu" electrical and chemical books, and of coiu'se all oiur medical knowledge will come tumbling down and will have to be readjusted and rewritten. We will also solve the disease problem, and we will have a weapon that we can master the thing with. When we know this thing 82 A WITNESS TESTIFIES we will have enough knowledge to know how to keep well. We can keep ourselves in proper condition, and disease will have no avenue of entrance. We wiU have so much surplus energy that we will be able to throw off any attack of disease. When we reach this condition it will take about one third the food we consume now to produce a good trained worker. Food will be free as water is now. The same can be said of clothes. We will not wear half as many, and we will have the energy and knowledge to produce enough so that they will be free to all. Selfishness and greed will die in the hearts of men, and they will study something else besides soul salvation and how to rob and kill one another. Just what people will do it is pure conjecture to say, but they will be happy, honest, healthy, pure, virtuous, and sweet. They will have all of our goodness without our evil. The world is a storage battery of electrical energy — energy beyond the limits of the imagination, energy every- where in unspeakable quantities. The ground is alive with electrical energy. All the energy we live on comes out of the ground. The process of life stores up the energy in a bat- tery of wood, of food. The rocks also are electrical storage batteries, but of a somewhat different nature. We may some day just go out and dump a shovel or so of rocks into our engine and have energy without bounds. The energy is there if we but learn how to handle it. All the universe is an electrical creation. In the realms of the electrical world all things seem possible. It is impossible to hide any- thing from God because electricity pervades all things and God is the Master Electrician. He can see into every part of the brain, the body, every second. Not a molecule escapes his notice, in the whole universe, for one instant. Were it not for the tremendous electrical energy stowed up in the earth, it would fly into atoms. A perfect vacuum of space surrounds the earth, and if the electrical energy were released for one instant the. world would explode as dust and scatter through space in the twinkling of an eye. THE DIET PROBLEM 83 Some people seem to think that we get heat from the sun as one gets heat from a stove. No heat ever crossed that vast vacuum. The energy comes across that vast area as electrical waves. When those waves strike the earth they set up vibrations which cause the heat. At last we know that everything in the whole world is done by electricity. When we come to a more full realiza- tion of that fact, the works of creation will not seem to be so tremendously hard to execute. Since we know that a tree is made to grow by some unknown electrical process, it does not seem such a miraculously hard thing to do after all. A mystery is a thing of awe and wonder. When we solve the mystery it seems simple enough. Life will be far greater and better in every way, when we have solved all the mysteries. We will solve our immediate mysteries always as we advance; it will be a different point of view for us. We wiU come to advance on chaos and the dark with a feeling of confidence and love. We know by this truth that all is well and that we can never discover anything but to our advantage. The digestion of food is an electrical process. The com- bustion takes place as we breathe. Stop breathing and the whole process at once stops. THE PROCREATIVE FUNCTION WiEiAT man can stand beside the cradle of his child, and look down upon that tiny pink bundle of potentiality, and fail to feel himself in the presence of God? What natural mother can feel the touch of baby fingers upon her breast without knowing that the procreative function is a sacred gift from the infinite God of love and truth? And every man and woman not a parent, in whatever level of life, — the old and, miserable miser, the gilded youth of the cafe, the priest, the nun, the woman of the street, — all alike pay tribute to childhood. Watch them on the streets or in the parks, and see them turn and smile into every baby face they meet. One and all, good and bad, they recog- nize and appreciate the sanctity of childhood. It is not sentiment, this feeling, — it is recognition of holy attributes. The power to reproduce his kind is the gift to man of two gods: the perfect God of infinite love and truth and the perfect God of infinite hate and deceit, the devil. The good God intends that this power be used to perpetuate the human race. The devil desires that this power be prosti- tuted to the end that the human family shall destroy itself. In this twentieth century it remains to be determined which of om" Gods shall win. Our God of infinite love and truth, therefore, decrees that the procreative function be not abused, that the men and women of the world, when properly mated, use their power of reproduction for the purpose of continuing their kind in this world so that humanity may evolve onward and upward. The God of hate and deceit strives ever to deceive men and women, through lust, into abusing their power, by 85 86 A WITNESS TESTIFIES profaning it for pleasure. He desires our ultimate de- struction. The good God decrees that love alone shall license the use of this gift. The God of hate blinds us with lustful passion, and tempts us to abuse the instincts of sex. None will deny the sanctity of the sexual instinct. None will deny that abuse of that instinct is profanation. Yet the world is filled with men and women who are sexual perverts. And so that power which should be held sacred above all the other gifts to man is perverted, and profaned, and abused for pleasure. How easily and insidiously we are led on and on until at last we are hopeless slaves to lustful passion, until we are sexual perverts! How clever is the devil! Desertion of mate and children, unfaithfulness, even murder, are not only possible to but often practiced and condoned by men and women who have permitted them- selves to become sexually perverted. HeU is full of good men and women who fell victim to this terrible temptation. To the devil nothing is sacred, nothing is pure or holy. His aim is to deceive and destroy, to tear down all that the good God builds up. His mind is infinitely perfect, and he uses his every wile to degrade the minds of men and women. Of all his accursed schemes this one is worst. In the human breast no passion is stronger than the hunger for one's mate, no desire greater than that which may be gratified by winning the love and respect of the other half of the incomplete being we caU man, or woman. No hap- piness is comparable with that experienced by the human being who is properly mated, no sorrow so keen as that inspired by the knowledge that one is unworthy of the love of one's mate. Sexual unfaithfulness to one's mate brings its legitimate punishment. And the abuse of the procreative function before one has found one's mate is but the advance guard THE PROCREATIVE FUNCTION 87 of a train of ills that follow the sexual pervfert through life and usually make miserable the lives of those who follow him into the world. Character is lost. The deformity of the soul must some day be accounted for. The Hbertine, even though he escape the terrible ravages of those diseases induced by excessive and promiscuous venery, cannot escape the punishment of an accusing con- science. His mate must suffer for his deformity of soul, even though she may be pure and clean. It is impossible to detach yourself from your love. If you harm another man's love, the ciu-se rebounds upon both you and her. You would kiU another man for seducing your love; therefore you receive that which you would give. Marriage does not license excessive sexual indulgence. Loss of love, of respect, inevitably result. Most of the unhappy marriages, most of the divorces, are the result of such overindulgence. Of all sins, none brings more certain or more terrible punishment. The voting out of our Uves forever of the manufacture of alcohol will go far toward lessening this evil; for alcohol and lust form the most vicious of all vicious circles. Give a man and a woman a little alcohol to becloud their minds, and deaden their sense of right and wrong, and almost in- evitably they succumb to sexual lust. Illicit intercourse is the cause of more sorrow and pain than aU other evils combined. The children of the world must be taught that, if they would fulfill the wishes of the God of infinite love and truth, if they would know all happiness, they must bring to the marriage altar bodies and minds unsullied by sexual loose- ness. Not the woman alone, mind you, — the man as well. Man has no rights that woman does not share equally. Boys must be taught that gratification of sexual desire before marriage brings direct harm upon four persons: himself, the girl, who is a partner in his crime, and the true mates God has made for both of them. And indirectly the 88 A WITNESS TESTIFIES children of both couples, and their children generation after generation. Girls must be taught the same things, and at the same time they must be given courage to resist not only the promptings of the devU, who so cleverly hides sin beneath a veneer of pleasure, but to resist as well the pleadings and promises of the man-devil who attempts their betrayal. A perfect world cannot come until sexual laxity is eradicated. And sexual laxity can be eradicated only through proper education of the young. SECRET VICE Between childhood and maturity Ues adolescence, — truly Life's Wonderland ! — when fairy tales are forgotten in the blossoming of living romance. From the frank innocence and ignorance of childhood the boy and the girl emerge into what appears to be the pathway of knowledge, and stand, enthralled, trembling, astounded at the spectacle of the Great Mirage of Life. Hungry, starving for knowledge, credulous, prepared to beUeve anything, — what ready victims for the devil! And the devil, that God of infinite hate and deceit, is ready for them, ready with the most insidious and ter- rible temptation an infinite accursedness could devise — onanism. Second in frequency only to the crime of libertinism, this shameful and criminal act is, perhaps, the most fatal of all vices. Most frequent and most deplorable in its ravages between the ages of fourteen and twenty, it is encountered in all ages, from the child to the aged man leaning heavily upon his cane. No false sense of modesty, no shamming of convention, can deter me from raising my voice in warning against this most shameful and sinful practice. If I may be permitted to portray the wrongs descending upon the world of men and women through hate and deceit, through drink and gamb- hng, through lust and murder, must I close my Kps against mention of a crime that is more heinous and more ruinous than any of these? To parents whose love for their children blinds them to facts, to teachers who fear to tell the truth, I cry "Shame, shame!" For to them is chargeable the suffering, the living death, of millions of boys and girls whose lives might have been spared, whose happiness might 89 90 A WITNESS TESTIFIES have been assured by words of kindly counsel at frequent intervals at the most impressionable period of their lives. To fathers belongs the duty of imparting this knowledge to their sons; and to mothers belongs the duty of imparting this knowledge to their daughters. However innocent and pure-minded they may be, it is the solemn duty of every woman to warn her daughters of the existence of this vice and of its terrible consequences. Inevitably such knowl- edge will be imparted to our girls. Were it not better, then, that such knowledge come from the mother, whose love will inspire right understanding, than that it come, distorted ugly, from the girl's companions — already, perhaps, vitiated by its influence? Onanism is an act of unfaithfulness to one's mate, and as such brings about the direst punishment. Marriages are indeed made in heaven. Every human being has some- where his true mate; God has mated them even before they are sent into the world. Were this not true, a youth might not be held to account for his acts. He might well say: " I have no mate, and so I shall do as I please." He might detach himself from society and ruin his body and his mind without bringing harm upon the remainder of the human race. But that is not the divine will. Every man owes to the world and to his mate that he preserve his health and his intellect that he may assist in bringing the world nearer to a condition of perfection. His life is not his to waste. Some day he will meet the girl whom God intended for him. He wiU wish to marry. How then will he face the accusations of his own biting conscience; how then will he atone for his crime. All the wicked acts of his past life will arise like wraiths to shout "Unclean! Unclean!" What does this prove.'* It proves that mates must love each other unselfishly. Parents who do not love each other can not and will not love their children. And only parents who love their children will have the moral courage SECRET VICE 91 and stamina to warn them against and proi^ct them from the machinations of the devil. Is there any better proof of the existence of the devil ? of a perfect God of infinite hate? Would any other god so work to seduce and destroy innocent youth? No warning. No mercy. No escape, except through loving care of parents. Too many Christian people dodge this problem. They sham modesty while they refuse to accept the responsibility. And everywhere we have Uving demonstration of the awful effects of their remissness, their worse than folly. True, they do not understand. They will not hesitate or falter in their duty when it is made clear to them. Many parents are too prone to believe that "My child would never do such a thing." You may rest assiu-ed that unless you have warned your child, — and this does not mean a single warning, but frequent kindly counsel, — he is a victim. Children possess a sort of instinct which leads them to hide and dissimulate their maneuvers even before they have found them to be iUicit and shameful. The art with which they elude watchfulness and evade questions is often inconceivable. And they can deceive their parents more easily than anyone else. Morally hurtful as this practice is, however, it is very wrong to lead a youth to beUeve that he has done himself irreparable physical injury. Most men have reason to know that the physical effects are not permanent. Nature is benevolent and forgiving. AU that is necessary is that the boy or girl "addicted to this vice stop it, and the ill effects soon disappear. It should be borne in mind, though, that this is a serious problem, and that the onanist is hkely to regret his or her indiscretions all through life. The idea is this: It is better to avoid this vice entirely by exercising everyday common sense and power of will. The logical end of this practice is insanity and death; total unworthiness. It should be borne in mind that the boys and girls who are addicted to this vice harm their own mates 92 A WITNESS TESTIFIES as much as they harm themselves, inasmuch as by their unworthiness they deprive themselves of the right to possess their mates. The unbearable feature is the fact that you harm the one you love. You steal his or her happiness by your cowardly conduct. This cowardly and unclean practice is unfaithfulness to one's mate. It is self-annihilation. It is a crime against the whole world and against the God of infinite love and truth. The way of life lies in loving one's mate unselfishly, and selfish pleasure destroys unselfish love. What are we to do to save our boys and girls from the terrible fate that awaits them if they fall victim to this devilish temptation? How are we to overcome the influence of the undesirable companions into whose company oiu* children must fall? The Bible furnishes no guide for the young in this matter. No religion teaches them what they should know about the sanctity of their bodies, which are but habitations for their souls. We must teach them that the solitary sin is unfaithful- ness to self; that unfaithfulness to self is unfaithfulness to one's mate; that unfaithfulness to one's mate is unfaithful- ness to the whole world and to the infinite God of love and truth. Do but thoroughly instill into the mind of youth that true happiness can come only to them that keep the faith with themselves, and onanism, the most dastardly inven- tion of the devil, will be shunned by every boy and every girl in the world. GAMBLING Gambling is one of the worst vices known to mankind. In its last analysis it is stealing pure and simple. It is a false way to obtain the products of other men's blood and brains, without paying for those products. Any man who thinks that he can gamble honestly is deceived. Gambling within itself is an act of dishonesty. It cannot be done honestly because it is itself a form of dishonor. A man who is willing to gamble might as well be wilhng to steal, because the two are identical. GambUng is a way to steal just as surely as there are many more ways to steal. A man who will gamble, but by some false sense of honor is not willing to steal, is just a simple dunce. Ninety-nine per cent of gamblers are plain out-and-out thieves. Once in a great while some dunce tries to be a sport and gamble on the square, but most men who gamble soon come to under- stand that there is no way of distinguishing gambling on the square from gambling crookedly. If a man is dishonest enough to gamble, he is a fool not to be willing to take the best of it. There is no honor in being a gambler. The gambler is a thief and might as well practice theft. GambUng will ruin a man's character just as quickly and just as surely as stealing. Gamblers soon lose all sense of the value of money and how it is produced. They are ruined completely and hope- lessly for all the pleasures of life. No gambler can enjoy any of the real pleasvu-es of life. All honest doors are barred against him. He cannot enter into the society of worthy men. He is an outcast and is isolated among men. All the attributes of his manhood are soon lost. He is as dead as he will be a thousand years afterward. Once let him taste 93 94 A WITNESS TESTIFIES the lust of other men's blood in gambling and he is a total wreck. His manhood is lost. The gambling man is the most pitiable object of lost manhood in the domain of humanity. It sears the sovl and heart in every crack and crevice. How can a man do honest work for a fair wage when he has obtained a hundred days' pay in one night of gambling.? All things lose their value to a gambler. What if wine is five dollars a quart? That is nothing. He can win that much in less time than it takes to drink it. Fifty doUar suits of tailor-made clothes are as suits of ducking. He can afford a suit every month with his easy money. All values perish to a gambler. It is the same with a thief. Money has no sacred value to a gambler or a thief. Come easy, go easy. When a gambler gets "broke," he thinks aU men are tightwads. He will borrow if he can without any intention of ever repaying the money. Very seldom do you see honor and friendship among gam- blers: they know too well each other's hearts. A gambler is truly alone in the world. It is wonderful how easily the unwary are robbed by the professional gamblers. All human beings seem to be ciu-sed with the gambling instinct, as it is called. (It is really the greed, the lack of character, the lack of proper understanding in the human breast.) It is natural as sun- light for a human being to wish for something for nothing. We all do it and we all are more or less harmed by the decep- tion. It is a fact that men cannot get something without being worthy of it. We all have in us that overplus of opti- mism which correctly interpreted is a wonderful blessing. If you are worthy, you can get the real blessings of Ufe for nothing. Since we all feel that power at work in oiu" hearts, we are deceived by the idea that it is possible to get some- thing for nothing, and as a consequence we are all more or less subject to "taking a chance" with our goods. The human heart rightly expects all the blessings of life without paying in the terms of tit-for-tat. If it were not GAMBLING 95 possible to get something for nothing, tHere would be no gambling. The mistake that men make is that they try to obtain the blessings without being worthy. No man ever paid in fuU for the blessings of life, and no man can ever pay in full for them. But to obtain them in their full wonderful glory, we must first be worthy. In the true business sense, men try to eliminate as many chances as possible. Gambling is the process of increasing the chances as much as possible; the crooked gambler lessens his chances as much as possible by thievipg trickery. The ordinary, uninitiated human being has about as much chance to win in a game with the professional gambler as a rat has to catch a cat. The true way to play the game of life is to play it accord- ing to the rule of the true Maker. For those who play the game as it should be played, the cards are marked and the dice are loaded. All things flow into the life of those who play fair in one imbroken stream of overplus abundance. Nothing is denied the worthy player. All things are his. But for the man who plays unfairly, who cheats or steals, the cards and dice are marked and loaded so that he loses all. What does the gambler lose? He loses, first, his worth- iness. He sins against the Godhead. He breaks the divine law. He loses his manhood. He loses love for his mate. He makes himself unworthy of her. He cannot live in a union of harmony with his mate because he is unworthy. He harms himself and his love so that both are isolated and are thrust out into darkness and loneUness. He is a traitor to the cause of his own happiness and to that of his wife and children. He is a traitor to all men. He loses the friend- ship, love, respect and confidence of his fellow men. He plays a game that has no reward in the future but disgust and self hate. The gambler's life is the most pitiable and hopeless life a human being can lead. He is hated and distrusted and despised of all men, other gamblers included, and rightly 96 A WITNESS TESTIFIES so. A gambler has no credit at a bank or any other business establishment. He is as friendless as a biu-glar. He is a parasite who must live a loathsome, expensive existence, at the expense of the producers. He is a drone and a loafer. He is without principle and without value. He is the lowest of the low, the vilest of the vile. The curses of an outraged God are piled at last on the head of the gambler. Gambling is a curse and a crime, and it should be stamped out by all possible means at once and forever. It does no- body good and everybody harm. All men are harmed by the gambler. The gambler loses all and gains nothing. He is the worst deceived man on earth. He pays a price for his folly that no man can afford to pay. No man God ever created would gamble if he knew and understood what gambling means. For a few ill-gotten dollars the gambler actually sells his soul. There can be but one solution to this gambling sense in man, and it must have its outlet in the proper manner and according to the rules of the game of life. All men can win if they play fair. Gambling on the stock exchanges is the worst crime committed in the world today. Its victims are legion, and they are in all parts of the world. The old- time gambling house is insignificant compared to the stock exchange. It is a very wasteful affair and should be stopped at any cost. It must not be allowed at aU. Gambling in any form in a pronounced degree promotes dishonesty in all of its madness and vileness. Gambling is at the bottom of ninety per cent of the crookedness in the world. This vile deception should be swept out of the minds of men as soon as possible. Men will not want to gamble when they know that it is impossible to win. There is a difference between gambling and legitimate speculation. Proper speculation is all right. The man who speculates in the proper spirit does so with some show of business sense. He investigates the thing thoroughly and eliminates all the factors of chance as far as possible before GAMBLING 97 he puts his money into the speculation, 'fke gambler puts his money into the thing with the knowledge that he is taking all the possible chances. The gambler's idea is to gain without being worthy, but the real speculator is a promoter of business and is a blessing to himself and all men. If a man, say, puts his money into an oil company with the idea of making good profits, he is doing the right thing, pro- vided he goes about it in the proper manner. He should know that the men engaged in the scheme are honest and capable, and that their knowledge and abihty will eliminate all the chances possible. No man should put his money into any scheme if he cannot afford to lose. Let the men with the proper means take the. necessary chances. Some say fife is a gamble; that we all take numerous chances. Our business is to reduce the chances to the vanishing point. We must make every effort possible to lessen the chances in every line of endeavor. Farming is said to be a gamble. We must make it just as certain as possible. We must make it more certain by better methods, by better plans, by irrigation; we must make it more secure and certain by studying the problem from every angle. It is the same in all lines of life work and in all our pur- suits. A man must keep his mind clear and pure, his body strong and healthy, so that he will lessen his chances to be injm-ed in some of the dangers to which he is constantly exposed. The brighter the mind and the healthier the body, the less the danger. So it is all along the hne. We must do many hazardous things, but we must first by acute in- vestigation lessen the chances as much as possible. Gambling, then, is a vice. It is a cross between lovers. It should not be indulged in at all. It harms the innocent and the guilty aUke. It is wrong in principle. It is a snare and a deception. It is a lie pure and simple. It is impos- sible to win anything. It costs in the end a thousand times what the short-lived first gain amounts to. 98 A WITNESS TESTIFIES We have to pay for gambling a price which is beyond calculation. It is a hopeless and cruel price we pay. It is our business to see that boys and giris are taught the import of gambling so that they may avoid its terrible cost. DRUGS What is the principle involved in the use of a habit-forming drug, such as alcohol (all alcoholic beverages), nicotine (all forms of tobacco using — smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipe, chewing, and dipping snuff), cocaine, morphine, coffee, tea, or any drug that is indulged in as a habit? The principle is the same in every case, but we acquire the habits from various sources and for various reasons. For example, morphine is taken first, as a rule, to allay pain and is rarely taken up as a source of pleasure. But the effects of morphine are so pleasing that the dose is often repeated after the pain-excuse is gone. Thus the habit is formed. Cocaine may be said to come under the same head as morphine. The effects of drugs of such nature as mor- phine and cocaine are so rapid and drastic that only the few fall victim to them. All drug habits are indulged in for one reason and for one reason only, and that is the pleasure derived from the use of the drug. But for the good feeling, the pleasurable sensation, no one would use drugs. The underlying reason why weak persons indulge in their use as a habit is because they do not know the meaning of their folly. They do not know what drugs will do. It is ignorance pure and simple. There is never any common sense in the use of any drug for pleasure. It always costs many fold more than it is worth. Everybody knows these things to be true. We all know from observation and experience that any drug habit lowers the efficiency of the victim both mentally and physically. That is common schoolboy knowledge. Anybody with half an eye knows also that the drinking of whisky makes more homes unhappy than any other one thing in the world. 99 100 A WITNESS TESTIFIES We learn this from the fact that a man should love his mate unselfishly. He must not have any other love but her. Now, what does the use of a drug do? It takes up the energy in a man's body in a false way, so that he has no love for his mate. This drug habit, then, is a false inter- course, a form of the secret sin. Some think there is only one form of onanism. Every false love is a form of it. There is only one true intercourse, and that is between lovers who are worthy, but where there is but one truth about any- thing there can always be a thousand lies. Then, the true meaning of a drug habit is that it is a cross between lovers. All crosses between lovers are lies which the devil uses to deceive us. All false intercourse of whatever nature, either mental or physical, confuses the mind and lowers the bodily vigor and makes the doer of the act unworthy of his mate. The small voice in every man tells him not to do it every time he contemplates doing the act. That is when the evil of the act is very apparent and the results are sure to follow rapidly. We do many things that are very wrong that the wee small voice never mentions to us because we do not know that we do wrong. The wee small voice never tells a preacher not to preach, because that form of mental masturbation has not been explained to his conscience as an evil. The wee small voice only warns us not to do what we think is an evil. A man might kill all the birds in the country, and the wee small voice might never admonish him not to do so, because the man might not realize that he was committing a wrong. I will take two of the most widely used drugs and tell the whole story so far as I understand it. I will select tobacco and whisky, because they are known to most civil- ized people, and there will be no room for a different view on the subject. There is only one truth and I do my best to point it out by the light of the new fact I have discovered. Cigarettes perhaps are the most harmful and the most repulsive of tobacco habits, though the use of tobacco is very DRUGS 101 • harmful and repulsive in any form. The use of cigarettes dulls the desire to accomplish, it dulls the inspiration to understand and do. It lowers the vitality so that the magnetism and personality are dulled. It dulls the in- tellect so that one is not normally interested in the business of life. It casts a gloom over the outlook on life so that one is worried and dissatisfied and discontented. It dulls one's love so that one is not aware that he loves anyone or any- thing. In its last analysis it dulls in a marked degree all the functions and attributes of mind and body. It makes one's work more difiicult and lowers the power of execution and efficiency. It retards development and growth both of body and mind. It causes one to be restless and nervous. It causes one to eat too fast and too much, or in many cases not to eat enough. It makes the day seem long and wearisome. It makes the sleep irregular and un- settled and causes one to lie awake. It makes one an idler, and neglectful, so that one must be forced by the will to perform every-day duties. It causes one to wish for some- thing for nothing, so that one would hke to find a pot of gold. It causes a lowering of the moral tone so that one is apt to study schemes to swindle and steal. It over- stimulates the sexual nature in the young. It affects the sexual instinct in many ways; and perhaps the worst effect is the destruction of the power of reproduction. The excessive use of cigarettes will emasculate the user almost as surely as a sharp knife. Any form of self abuse does that. If you want vigorous manhood you must leave these vile things alone. As we have seen by our new fact, a man is in the world on his honor. He is, as it were, pledged to be true to his mate. If he breaks that pledge he is dishonorable. If he smokes a cigarette, he has broken the pledge. He is a liar, a thief, a traitor, a murderer. He has no right to ruin his life, because his life is not his own to do with as he pleases; it is for him to keep pure and clean so that he will enjoy it 102 A WITNESS TESTIFIES with, his mate. It may seem an exaggeration to say that a man who smokes cigarettes is a mm-derer, but hell is full of men who have ruined their lives and the lives of their wives and children through the use of cigarettes. Asylums house many patients who are there because of the use of tobacco. Many graves hold the corpses of tobacco victims. Why is it not murder to kill yoiu-self and ruin your love's life? No, it is not murder; it is something fine and useful to smoke the vile, fiendish things ! Cigarettes make a crank and a loafer, a no-account and a fault-finder. They make a man everything he ought not to be. So much for the deplorable results to the tobacco user. Aside from all the ill effects brought about by its use, a man has the satisfaction of knowing that he is believ- ing a lie, that he is being deceived. To prove that a man who uses tobacco is a pervert, let him stop its use and see how quickly the desire will leave him. The body responds rapidly to good treatment and the desire for tobacco is lost in three weeks. Now, it will be said by many that the desire remains with them for a long while. They get this mistaken idea from the fact that the use of tobacco is a false intercourse, and the desire to smoke will return if the nerves are exposed to the sight and smell of tobacco. The desire is abnormal and really dies in a very short time, but the victim allows the desire to arise again and does not know that it is analogous to the sexual instinct. The desire returns if the passion is aroused for the tobacco by the smell or sight of it. When a man understands the facts in the case, it is very much easier to stop the use of it. One does not like the idea of a lying serpent deceiving him regularly, and one's manhood rebels at the idea of committing an act that makes of him a liar and a disgraceful traitor. He does not relish the idea that he is paying a price he cannot afford to pay. No man can commit the act when he fully understands the connection and principle involved. Connected with the use of cigarettes is one of the plainest DRUGS 103 deceptions of any vice known to man. As a rule, a man who smokes cigarettes is too weak to stop. The effects are so bad and one feels so ill all the time that he resolves every time he smokes never to smoke gain. From that fact can be had a glimpse of the infinite nature of the devil. I foreswore the use of cigarettes at least three times a day for twenty years. The infinite nature of the deception is hidden in the fact that if a man has not principle enough to fore- swear smoking from the beginning, he has not principle enough to quit at all. The most subtle lie the devil ever told a human mind is, "Just do it once more and then never again." Hell is brim- ful of people who have been caught on that hook. Any schoolboy knows if you have not manhood enough to do a thing at the present time you will not have it later on. You become weaker and weaker, as you continue to smoke "one more." Don't let that simple lie fool you. Don't do anything once that you cannot afford to do all the time. There is nothing difficult about quitting any vice. What makes it seem difficult is the hypnotic influence of the lustful desire of a false intercourse. We all promise ovuselves when we practice any vice that we wiU never do it again. Some say they don't, but all men desire to do the best that is in them. That is the infinite love that every human being has in his breast. We all in our sober moments want to do what is right. We all want to be worthy of our mates. There is not a single exception to this rule in the whole world. This law is true for all forms of life, man included. Considered from an economic standpoint, just think how much a man wastes who uses cigarettes for twenty years. How much he leaves undone that he would have done if he had been in proper condition. Just think what it means to a man to be drunk on tobacco all his life. He has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. The very idea is enough to drive a man insane when he fully realizes what he has done. Just to think that life has been wasted on a vile 104 A WITNESS TESTIFIES habit that is not worth even a pleasant look. It makes a bum and a beggar of him who by right is a prince. It get him into all sorts of evil places. A cigarette smoker must have some vile amusements to satisfy him. Ileal pleasures do not attract a tobacco user. He must have something that will whip up his jaded nerves without any effort on his part. In addition to making drones instead of producers, the actual cost of tobacco is very great. From the time the seeds are planted until the tobacco is chewed or smoked all the processes are wasted, because we are a thousand times better off without it. We know by oiu- truth that we must not touch it at all under any circumstances. In real money, how much is the tobacco bill per capita in the United States? How much would that money produce if it were invested properly? How much more would the users make if they did not use it? How much is wasted by the people that produce it, from the farm to the cigar stand? How much unhappiness, sickness, misery, pain, poverty, insanity, murder, does it cause, and what is their cost? Any vice is costly to the user in many ways, and the cost also falls heavily on the loved ones of the user. If the actual cost could be known we would be fairly staggered. It is some- thing terrible. The people of the United States waste enough on tobacco alone to educate every boy and girl in the country, and more. The way to quit the use of tobacco is to stop. Don't touch it, and soon all will be well with you. There are many measures that will help you: the best one is to eat lightly for the first few days. Gluttony is a vice perhaps as bad as tobacco. All it takes is a little backbone and you will have to furnish that yourself. You can't beg, buy or steal it. Your backbone, or will power, is all you have between you and disgrace. Use it, you have plenty of will power. You just fail to understand the necessity of using it. Tobacco is a more harmful habit than drinking. Cigar- DRUGS 105 ettes stay with a man all the time; they* never leave him. A man does sober up and get the alcohol out of himself at times, but a tobacco user never sobers up. It is just as important that we get tobacco out of our country as it is to rid the country of alcoholic drinks. When men and women fully understand what the use of this drug means they will demand that it be abolished. It is a crime to let boys grow up in ignorance of this thing, and it is a crime to put it where they can get it. Tobacco must go. If we want our boys to be men, and make worthy husbands for our girls, we must see that they do not ruin their lives with tobacco. We must give the women the vote so they will help us do this thing. Tobacco does nobody good and harms everybody that touches it. It does not bring one single ray of real joy into the world. There is a pleasure in its use, but the pleasure is a hook to catch the unwary and ruin them. Life is a thousand times more complete without it. The users of tobacco are unhappy. They never enjoy real life. There is always something wrong. Nothing is exactly right. It is a curse and a big one. Half the boys in our land cannot make good in the army just because of tobacco. The cigarette smoker is ill and lazy, he grumbles and criticizes, and is not capable mentally or physically of filling a man's place. We will be in a fine fix some day if we let this thing continue. A cigarette smoker's children are less than he is. The sins of the father are always visited on his children. About two generations hence we will not have enough manhood left in the country to attend to business. Our land will be drenched in blood if we don't stop it. Everybody hates a coward, and if we are cowards we will get a good drubbing from some one. The best argument to prevent a boy from starting cigarette smoking is this : He wishes to be a strong, capable man. Some day he will attain to manhood. He will meet the woman he wishes to marry. He will desire to be a real man in order to attract her attention and win her love. 106 A WITNESS TESTIFIES If he smokes cigarettes he will not be worthy of her and he will be very unhappy. Every boy can understand that point. He harms his sweetheart as he also harms himself. If he knew that he was injuring his love, and destroying her happiness as well as his own, he would not do it. The only reason any boy does this cowardly, dishonest act is because he does not understand the meaning of the thing. There is not a boy in the world who would smoke if he understood the whole matter. The wee small voice means to lead us in purity to our love; and if we will listen and learn and obey, all the blessings of the world will be ours. It is a mistake to think that any vice is sensible. It is always possible to recognize a vice by its want of common sense. Is there any sense in smoking cigarettes? It does you incalculable in- jury. The same can be said of any vice. Gluttony is the same. There is no sense in eating more than you need. It is a waste of food and does the victim a great deal of injury in many ways. Therefore, we may be guided by the dictates of common sense. If you contemplate doing anything senseless, then you can rest assured that if you do it, it will cost you dearly. Alcohol With a few minor exceptions, alcohol is the drug principle in all drinking beverages. This vice is known in all parts of the world and all races, civilized and semi-civUized, are victims of this terrible deception. The vice of drinking is perhaps the most deceptive and attractive vice which the devil uses to destroy man. No man would drink if he fully realized the meaning of this vice. Of course that is true of all vices. The story of alcohol runs about on a parallel with tobacco or any other vice. Its object, of course, is to separate lovers. Any man with half an eye can understand that. Does it not break up the home? Drinking is one of the most easily understood vices. Anyone may try it and soon be convinced that drinking is a cross between a man and his manhood. DRUGS 107 A man is deceived by drinking; therefore, it is a lie. Then, if a man drinks he is deceived, he is misled by a lie. The object of any lie is to confuse and mislead a man from his mate. That is the devil's object, to place a cross be- tween lovers and make them hate and desert each other. A man under the influence of alcohol will do anything, al- most, that he happens to think of. Alcohol is no respecter of women. It is the cause of the ruin of more girls than any other one thing. The primary object in drinking is the pleasure derived from its use. If there were no pleasure attached to the habit, no one would drink alcoholic beverages. Any man who thinks that there is not a lot of fun and excitement con- nected with the drinking habit fails to understand it. By the light of the key or fact we get the following as the true story of alcohol. Drinking is a form of self love, it is a selfish pleasure. It is a pleasiu-e that can be enjoyed by one of a pair without being enjoyed by the other. It is an act of unfaithfulness. The man who drinks becomes unworthy of his mate. It is a cross between lovers. If carried to its logical conclusion, it constitutes self murder. We frequently hear someone say, "He killed himself drink- ing." Hell is full of drunkards. It is one way to commit the unpardonable sin, — the unpardonable sin is to persist in an evil habit (a self love) until it consumes or ruins one for life. AU sin is a part of the unpardonable sin. The great deception in any false love is the effort to reach the exquisite intoxication of real, worthy love. When one is worthy of his mate, he is beside himself with the intoxication of real health and worthy love. Drinking is a tame effort to reach that desired condition by trickery — without being worthy of it. It is an effort to grasp the joy of love without doing the necessary work and thinking to be worthy of it. We all know the results of drinking. It un- balances the mind in all of its attributes, and if continued will in time unseat the reason permanently. It lowers the 108 A WITNESS TESTIFIES bodily vigor and in a short time injures the health to a marked degree. Alcohol takes but a short time to scar a man for life. Every time a man gets drunk he is that much less a man. When one first begins to drink he acts much the same as when he first falls in love. When a man is young and in his prime, with plenty of vitality, drink makes him sparkle with wit and joy. He bubbles over with keen laughter and nonsense. He feels that he is equal to any task and is overflowing with confidence and optimism. Everything is so rosy and easy. Life is a sweet dream of pleasure; nothing worries, nothing frets. Yet to a sober man he is drunk. Nothing he says is quite sensible. His dreams of coming accomplishments seem nonsense. If the joys of drinking could last, a man were a fool to do anything else. The devil has an excellent bait in the drink habit. It has deceived some of the bright- est minds that have visited the earth. The reaction on a young strong man is very slight, so that it is real fun to have a bit of a headache after such a night. We all know what drink leads to. Its results are indeed terrible. They could not be worse. A man soon loses his sense of distinction and everything becomes subordinate to drinking. There is no sense of duty, no love of father or mother, no love of wife and children, no sense of financial ruin. No amount of reason or logic, nothing will prompt a man to quit. He becomes hypnotized by it. He is under its power. He will sacrifice anything for drink. It is in- deed a wonderful deception. Most men exercise a fair amount of will power and dis- cretion and do not let drinking completely ruin them. All men who touch the stuff get more or less injury from its use. Most men hide the harm that drinking does them and blame their troubles onto other things. The human body is capable of overcoming many handi- caps. A man may drink to excess for many years and not DRUGS 109 be completely ruined. That is true of any vice. If whisky killed as quickly as does a dose of strychnine, no one would touch it. Deception must simulate the truth, else it could not deceive. There is no deception in rank poison, because it kills you at once. Drinking deceives; if it did not, no one would touch it. The man who is a moderate drinker is perhaps deceived more than any other. He thinks he is in a manner beating the devil at his own game. The law is Perfect Infinite God, and cannot be beaten by trickery. No man yet has ever beaten the perfect law by so much as one iota. The way to get something for nothing is to obey the llaw, and then you get joys which cannot be paid for. You get an overplus of infinite love. The still or moderate drinker who thinks he is beating the game can have the satisfaction of knowing that the same energy used in accord- ance with the law would bring him many times more pleasure, in addition to the fact that the real pleasure adds to one's better being. I have no reference here to sexual pleasures. There are a thousand ways to enjoy Hfe in real pleasure other than by sexual gratification. In fact, that is one of the very minor pleasiu-es. The idea is, that a man is infinitely more happy when doing something in accordance with the law, such as reading a good book. He may learn something that will be of great value to him. If he spends his time drinking, he will not learn anything that is likely to be of any value. I have a good bar-room education, and I know it is worthless — time wasted. Such experience is negative experience and is worthless. The experience that is worth something is positive experience. If you know how to sell goods or raise a garden, you know something that is worth knowing. If you know how to drink so as to get the most pleasure with the least harm, you know something that is worthless. If you know how to play baseball, you know something valu- able. If you know how to mix a fine drink, you know some- thing worthless. The more you know about the men who 110 A WITNESS TESTIFIES follow the drinking habit and the game itself, the less you think of it. No man on this earth ever took a drink who was not harmed by it. It is impossible; it cannot be done. Do the thing and you will surely pay the penalty. You get paid in an overplus of hate. A headache today, and a loafer twenty years from now. Drinking makes a man's brains dull. It makes an imbecile of him. It destroys his sexual powers. It makes a coward of him. AH wordly men know that the drinker becomes a coward. I have often heard men say, "He is no good now; anybody can kick him around." Whisky makes a coward of a man just as self- abuse makes a coward of a boy. Any boy who practices this secret vice is a coward. He may pretend he is not, but at heart he is. The same thing is true of men. A drinking man may hide his lost manhood, but he is a coward at heart just the same. It takes much drinking and a fairly long time for whisky to ruin a man's nerve. But it affects all in the degree to which they drink. Some men are natm-ally stronger than others and it takes longer to under- mine their vitality. As a rule, a real "game" man will, as he becomes weakened by drinking, get very dangerous. He will kill on the slightest provocation. He is cowardly about it. He is afraid to give the other feUow a fair show. A brave man will wait, unexcited, but the cowardly man wants to beat the other fellow to the first shot because he is afraid. Whisky will make a coward out of the bravest man that ever walked. Why? Because the devil is a coward, and if you believe his lies you become as he is. That is what whisky is for: to ruin a man's manhood, to make a coward of him, to make an ass of him. One who drinks becomes as the devil. He is coward, a liar, a thief, a traitor, a mm-derer. If a man would not have the curse on his brow, he must shun drink. We should give the women the vote and vote the sorry stuff out of our lives forever. The waste caused by the liquor traffic is beyond calculation. DRUGS 111 • By the light of our new truth we know now what whisky is, what it means. We know all that we wiU ever know about it. We know that it is our first duty to put it out of our midst at once and forever. We know what its purpose has been and is, and by the discovery of this fact we now know that it has fulfilled its mission and that we can now safely discard it and say with perfect truth that we have finished with it. No longer can alcohol deceive you. You now have your eyes open and if you continue to use it your blood is on your own hands. We all know what you are if you use it now. There may be good excuse for a man to use liquor when he knows not what he does, but after he is aware of the full meaning of it he is certainly a criminal to do so. How- ever, we must be very liberal in om- judgment of one an- other. The world will not become perfect in one day. Let the truth take care of itself. Every man preaches unto him- self continually. Let God do his own fighting. If God cannot control a man, then he is lost. We cannot make a man do oiu- will. We can show him the true path and leave it to his conscience and backbone to do as he sees fit. The days of intolerance are gone, and glory be! A man must not try to force his will upon his fellows. The truth will take care of itself. If it does not, the world is a failure. If a man understands, and then can- not follow the truth, he is simply lost. It is our duty, however, to vote the nation dry at the earliest possible moment. Prohibition is all right. It is a good thing. It is a step in the right direction. Don't be too hard on the saloon man and the drinking man. There are many other things that are very bad in addition to drinking. We are all implicated in this thing of evil. We must be liberal toward one another. The saloon man did not make the world. God made the world, and he knew when he made it that men would make liquor and drink it. He also knew that they would not know what they were doing when they did so. The liquor traffic is an invention of God's as much 112 A WITNESS TESTIFIES as the world is. We now know what he made it for, and we can do away with it. So let us do it in the right way. When we get a majority, we will vote it out. The waste from the liquor habit is tremendous. Directly and indirectly the expense amounts to a gigantic sum. When we consider the cost from every angle it fairly staggers the imagination. First, the whole business is a waste. Nothing about it is of any use. It is all absolutely worthless and useless. We know that is a fact by our fact. To start from the beginning: The land the farmer uses in raising the grain is a waste. The farmer's time is wasted — and all the work connected with the handling of the grain. We waste by making liquor enough grain to feed the nation. All the brains and energy required to manufacture the liquor are wasted. The capital is a loss. If all the capital in- vested in the liquor traffic were invested in such manner as to bring in a positive return, it would be an immense item. The trainman's time is a loss, the bartender's time is a loss. All along the line the whole thing is one colossal mistake. The men that actually drink the liquor lose more than any others. Their loss is by far the greatest. If the liquor were dumped into the ocean, the loss would not be so great. The money that is spent over the bar is a loss. Liquor burns up energy at a tremendous rate. How much un- necessary food is wasted in that way! Add, then, the man's time, also his lowered efficiency, his lowered character, his lowered health, the many horrible accidents that are due to alcohol, the money the individual wastes for the drink. The money drink causes him to throw away is at least fifty times what the liquor costs. The unhappiness, the sorrow, the hate, the disappointment, the disgrace, the sickness, the ruined lives, the desolate homes, the insane asylums, the disease, the doctor's bills, — all of these things cost money. Then, too, the cost of the drinking done now reaches DRUGS 113 out into all the years to follow. A few years of drinking now, and you taste the dregs all the rest of your life and perhaps beyond the grave. He who should have been a successful man is a crooked grumbling stick, a broken down loafer, a nothing. When all the real costs are added up it is beyond belief. To say that if we should turn all this money and brains and energy into constructive business enterprises it would easily educate every boy and girl in the land, is putting it mildly. The actual cost to the people of the United States yearly must be at least twenty billion dollars. We could carry on another European war with the money, the cost in crippled, the broken-hearted, the dead, the energy, the brains wasted on this vilest of vile traflScs. Just to know that all this terrible business is a deceitful lie, that the people who produce it and the people who drink it are deceived, that everyone who has anything to do with it is deceived, that they all would a thousand times rather not touch it, is a fact too good to be true. But such is the real truth. There is not a man in the world who does not love his mate unselfishly if he but knew it. That being the case, no man would injure his tenderest love if he knew he was doing so. It all resolves itself into the fact that men do not understand the matter; if they did, not one person in the whole world would do it. The discovery of this fact will do more toward abolishing the liquor traffic throughout the world than all other things combined. It is impossible to cure any disease until you know the remedy. It is impossible to do away with the liquor traffic until it has fulfilled its mission. With the discovery of this fact, its mission is completed and now we can do away with it. Why? Because we have something a thousand times better to take its place. The reason prohibition is impossible without this fact is that men do not know what drinking is and they are deceived by it. They will have it in spite of the laws. But when men know what it is, when they under- 114 A WITNESS TESTIFIES stand the whole thing, then you have their will to leave it alone. If that is not a fact, the human race is doomed. If the very truth will not influence men, then we are lost. But we need not fear, because the truth will prevail. RELIGION The discovery of the truth I have spoken of reveals to the understanding the true religion. By knowing this fact it is possible to segregate the real from the unreal in all religions. This fact ieaches us thai mates must love each other unselfishly in all things both mental and physical. We know that it is wrong to love some one other than our mate. It is very clear that we must not set up any other god in the place of this truth. It is clear that any other love is a false love. The command of the Perfect Infinite God is to love your mate unselfishly. Any other love or worship in what- soever form or manner is an act of unfaithfulness. It is idolatry and blasphemy to have any other god in place of your mate. The minds of all men have pondered over this riddle ever since the first faint glow of the dawn of reason. The question has always been, How am I to fulfill my obligations to God and man? The seers, prophets, and philosophers of the past have pondered over and expressed themselves on this problem. Nothing has yet been brought forward that will clarify this subject. This fact puts into our possession the long sought for philosopher's stone, the key that will unlock the door to the storehouse of all wisdom. All religions and all philosophy can be accurately analyzed and judged correctly by this fact. All religions and all philosophies have more or less of truth in them. We are enabled by this fact to pick them to pieces and get from them whatever of truth they contain. This fact teaches us that nothing of any value in any religion will be lost. All evil must at last die and nothing but the truth prevail. Our success and happiness, development and evolution depend entirely upon how well we understand and how closely we live up to this law. 115 116 A WITNESS TESTIFIES Perfect love and perfect understanding are promoted entirely by living within the pale of this law. We all un- consciously more or less obey this law. If it were not for the great overplus of goodness in nature, we could not exist at all. All creatvu"es in all conditions of life are controlled and exist by virtue of this law. Nothing in the organic or in the inorganic world can in any degree, however slight, escape it for one single moment. Everything is governed by it throughout all the realms of unlimited space. Like seeks like in ever crevice and corner, in the highest and lowest places, in the greatest and smallest creations, in every part of the Kingdom of God. This truth agrees in every detail with every fact known, and will agree with every fact discovered in the future. All facts dovetail and prove all other facts. No man will ever exist who can disprove this fact or any other fact. Truth and facts are the most precious things in the world. All of our hopes, all of our happiness, everything in this life, depend entirely upon how much knowledge we possess and put into practice. We must have a complete knowledge of good and evil to become perfect men and women. Man is a creature endowed with the qualifications necessary to a responsible creature. Without the knowledge of good and evil it is impossible to know right from wrong. Our life depends on how well we obey the perfect universal law, and it is impossible to obey without the requisite knowledge of the law and how it works in our complicated existence. We are fashioned by the law; we do not fashion it. We are manufactured, just as truly as are the products of our modern factories. We are predestined just as an automobile is predestined by the men and machinery that make it. When we arrive at the condition of perfection, we will be fashioned entirely by compliance with the divine law. We can see the truth of that statement, and the beauty and reasonableness of it, when we understand that a perfect God of infinite sense and love is the creator of the whole wonderful universe. RELIGION 117 Every man contains in his brain a spark of the divine fire, a parcel of the divine mind. Our possibilities of growth and improvement are infinite; they are unlimited and boundless. A man is a free agent in the sense that he may choose; but as he has had a perfect mind to choose for him, of course his choice is in accordance with the divine choice. The reason we seem to have a choice different from the posi- tive mind, is because we are deceived by the negative mind, or the devil. When man has evolved to the point where he under- stands fully the deception in the minds of men, he will obey the law because it will be his choice to do so. We break the law only because we do not know and realize what we do. We cannot say with truth that we have made a choice accord- ing to our wishes until we really understand the whole subject. It is like everything else dealing with infinity. We have our choice, and we do not. In infinity a thing can be, and cannot be, at the same time. The mind of the devil is a perfect mind of imperfections. It is just as imperfect as it is possible to be. There never is a place where you can put a limit on the imperfections of the devil. He is just as bad as you can say he is, and then still more. There is always a plus to it. It is the same way with the mind of God. He is just as perfect in mind as you can say he is, and then still more. His perfection is perfect plus. The mind of man, then, can express and know infinite knowledge to his destruction and imperfection. In this last named fact lies the possibility of man's failure on earth. It is possible, but hardly probable, that he will fail. But we can see very easily that it is necessary that we take all pains to see that we do not fail. The responsibility rests upon us. We must apply ourselves with courage and persistence if we are to attain the unattainable. We are forced to progress onward and upward to perfect love and perfect understanding. All the evidence in our possession today points to the fact that we are moving steadily for- 118 A WITNESS TESTIFIES waxd and upward. Some men think the dreadful war in Europe is a backward step. While it is a sad and awful experience, it can be explained on the ground that they do not know what they do. If they all knew the key to the tragedy, and then should have a general war, there might possibly be some cause for alarm. There is prevalent an idea that the war will be a great purifier of men's souls. Committing murder does not purify men's souls except in a negative sense. All sin in a negative sense teaches men the folly of it and steels the will to a better performance. No man is better for getting drunk, but it may turn him to a better understanding and cause him to do better. It is far better never to sin at all. However, it is impossible to do a thing unless you have the required facts in hand. It is impossible for a people to be better than the truth they possess. The war in Europe was just as inevitable as is sunshine. None knew the nature of the disease in their minds and it was therefore unavoidable. This fact demon- strates to every one in no uncertain terms that truth and facts are all important and that if we would avoid destruc- tion we must listen and learn, and then practice what we have learned. Our condition in this world seems to be very unfair, and it is terribly unfair, unless we take a very broad and un- selfish view of the whole scheme of things as we know it today in the light of the fact I have discovered and in the light of other investigations and discoveries. Mankind has evolved from an infinitely low form of life. We see that it is the work of an infinitely perfect mind of intelligence. As God is perfect, and as the world is perfect, we must of necessity think that he has followed the best and perhaps the only system possible. Our present condition is unfair because we are on our way to better things, and to our sad fate must be added the burden of paving the way to a more complete and glorious future for those to follow us. We of today are perhaps in the most trying and tur- RELIGION 119 bulent stage of mankind's evolution. I really do not see how it could be any worse unless the •whole race is doomed to insanity. There is a limit to human endurance because we are finite creatures, and some day we must surmount our difficulties or perish. If I read the signs of the times correctly, the minds of men are crying out for this truth. All men seem to realize that the real religion has never been discovered, and they seem to know that, once it is discovered, we could in a short time adjust ourselves to it and progress with more confidence and assurance. This discovery gives us the necessary knowledge and, if we will, we can proceed from now on with every assurance of success. We can in a marked degree get mental composure, and everything will take on a new atmosphere of intelUgence and usefulness. We can know the things we do that are wasteful and unnecessary. We can very easily correct many wasteful habits, both mental and physical. This truth promises to be one of the greatest blessings to which the human race can fall heir. The re- sponsibility rests on every one of us, and if we are to get the blessings we are entitled to, we must deserve them and be worthy of them. We are born without our consent, we live without our consent, and we die without our consent. We live in a world that is shrouded in terrible and puzzUng mysteries. We make the grossest kind of errors that we do not under- stand, and we suffer greatly from their effects. It seems an endless, hopeless struggle without any promise of better things. We work a lifetime only to find out at last that our whole life has been one long series of blunders. This truth explains all these things and makes it possible to know when we are doing things that are wrong and hopeless. We can adjust our lives in accordance with this law and know that the results will be all that we expect and desire. Of course, that is speaking only relatively, because this fact does not explain all things, but it is a step in the right direction. 120 A WITNESS TESTIFIES However, if a man does live in accordance with its mandates, he need have no fear for the outcome; the chances are thou- sands to one that everything will be well with him. In this new thought there is no misgiving, no doubt, no fear, no uneasiness. Its proof is complete. There are no contra- dictions in any sense. It absolutely satisfies every test that it can be put to. There is no such thing as "belief" about it — you know. The human mind has reached that stage in its evolution and development where nothing but the real truth will satisfy it. We demand that the facts stand every acid test that can be applied from whatever source or angle. The real religion must satisfy the domain of the reason, the heart, the spirit, the conscience, and must produce the results in every case as accurately as any other facts in any other field of the scheme of life. Just as the fact that two plus two equals four. Just as surely as steam expands to drive the engine. If we use two plus two equals four as a fact, we know it is true, because the results are what they should be. The results of our using it prove its truth. This fact will and does prove itself as clearly as two plus two equals four. The definition of a lie is, "that which deceives the mind." There can be a million lies, or any number, but there can be but one truth about a thing. The pm^jose of any lie is to deceive the mind to its undoing. There are no lies in the world of things. The lie exists in the minds of men. A man may see an apple and think it is a pear. The deception is in his mind. The apple is an apple just the same. If all the people in the world for a milUon years believe a lie, it does not bring it one whit nearer the truth. People believed for many years that the world was flat. It did not make it flat. It was round just the same during all that time. It does not make the slightest bit of difference how sincere and honest you are in believing in a thing, it does not affect the truth one iota. That is very plain to the understanding when we con- sider that if anything could change the truth it would be RELIGION 121 impossible ever to arrive at any definite conclusions. What is truth today has been truth, and will remain truth, through- out all eternity. If once the human mind discovers a truth, it can rest secm-e on that point forever. The fact that steam expands, and that two plus two equals four, will'be true until the end of the world, and, of course, equally true throughout all eternity. Once we get the real religion we are on sure ground for all time. This fact, then, will forever be the guiding principle for every human being. Whatever else the superman may be, he will have to live up to and be guided by this truth or law. No human being has escaped it in the past, no human being escapes it today, and no human being will ever escape it. Man has always been governed by this law, but he did not know it. Now we know. Man has suffered from the breaking of this law in all past history. No man has passed through this life and attained perfection. All have been more or less polluted mentally and physically by breaking this law. Ignorance is no excuse in sight of the divine law. If a child burns its hand it suffers pain, although it is perfectly innocent and ignorant of the cause. We see why that is true because it is impossible for God to create a responsible, per- fect human being in any other way. The child suffers the pain so that it may not offend nature again. Pain causes the child to think and to learn. We see that if we would avoid pain we must search out the cause and rid ourselves of it. To rid ourselves of all deformity, then, we must know all things. The imperfection in the perfect imperfect world is infinity. There is no end to the perfection mankind may attain. Of course, we are as finite creatures limited by our lifetime, and humanity is limited by the lifetime of the world. The world is finite and will necessarily end some day, but it will be habitable by man many millions of years. Mankind will attain a perfection beyond our conception. It is abso- lutely impossible to forecast the terrible greatness of the superman. By our fact, however, we know some 122 A WITNESS TESTIFIES things about him. We know that he will live a life of romance in the knowledge of perfect love and understanding. The superman will be guided by the universal law that mates must love each other unselfishly. All things wiU be theirs. They will obey the law because they will have no desire to disobey it. They will understand that it is insanity not to do so. Men break the law today because they are deceived. We are still struggling in the filth and blood of the imperfect. Since there can be any number of lies about a thing, it is perfectly clear why so many different religions exist in the world today. They explain our present confusion and tragedy. To cause serious consequences, a lie must parallel the truth closely enough to deceive the minds of many men. That explains why we all have different views about a certain religion, or any religion but the real rehgion. We are all somewhat different and we take views from many angles. If the truth is not really contained in a thing or religion, some people will be misled and some will reject and doubt. It depends largely on the mental endowment and the ex- perience of the individual. When the truth about a thing is known, all men see it alike. Difference of opinion and differentiating theories are things of the past. There is no difference of opinion now as to whether men will ever fly. It is a demonstrated fact. All men know a truth when they see it, and all men see it alike. There never will be on earth again any confusion as to what is our real religion. This law is a demonstrated fact, and men even of least intel- ligence will have no trouble in understanding the truth of it. No man can demonstrate the untruth of a fact. To demon- strate that this fact is not true, it will be necessary to show that all the experience of the human race up to this time is without value. It will have to be shown that an automobile will run without fuel. What is truth for one man is truth for all men. We know that is true because any invention is the same to all men. A telephone is a telephone wherever it may be, in any part of the world. As there are many RELIGION 123 religions in the world any one of them would answer the purpose of demonstrating the flaws in all religions in comparison with the real religion. The Christian religion answers the pm- pose fully as ^ell as any. The Bible is perhaps the closest parallel to the real truth of any false religion on earth. This fact not only proves the Bible to be a false conception of the divine law, but it proves the falseness of all other religions. To prove the Bible is false, it is necessary to be armed with the real truth. It is hardly possible that a better lie could be fashioned. There comes a time in the evolution of the minds of men when the concealed he becomes apparent. In time a lie will demonstrate its falseness by the results it produces. A physician may announce to the world that he can cure cancer. He may have found a remedy that will show marked results; but time will demonstrate the lack of completeness in his remedy, by the fact that cancers are not being cured. The solution to the cancer problem is not contained in his remedy. He coidd not ciu-e the cancer because he did not know how. He may have been sincere and honest, and may have believed in the efficiacy of his remedy; but he failed because he really did not know the truth about cancer. It is impossible to do a thing you do not know how to do. The reason the Christian religion cannot bring the world to a state of perfection and bring peace and happiness to mankind is because it does not contain the truth. It is not the real truth. It is and will be argued that people do not live up to its teachings. It is impossible to Hve up to some- thing that you do not know. If it were possible for men to do a thing they do not know how to do, it would be a worth- less task to seek the truth. What is the value of seeking out the truth of anything if you can do the thing without the knowledge? All investigation were futile indeed if there is no value in truth. Facts and truth are the most necessary things on earth. The Christian faith finds itself analogous to the cancer cure. It will not and cannot demonstrate its 124 A WITNESS TESTIFIES truth. On the other hand, it has clearly demonstrated its falseness by its failure to do what is claimed for it. In the light of this fact the Christian religion has met its doom. Its hour of fate has struck. No longer on earth will the minds of men be deceived by its terrible hypnotism and falsehood. By the light of this truth we come out from under its mad sjjell and confusion into a brighter and more perfect kingdom of life. There is much of wisdom and truth in the Bible. If there were not, it would not deceive anyone. Nothing of any value in the Bible or in any other false religion will be lost. This truth contains all truth, all philosophy; that is, it will when it is finished, and that will be never. But that does not hinder us from knowing what is true and what is untrue in the Bible. To cite a few cases of the many that we know by this fact are not true, take the story of the creation. God did not create the world in six days. It has taken him hundreds of millions of years and he is still at work perfecting it. God did not create Adam in a day. It has taken many ages to bring mankind up to his present state and he is still per- fecting him. He did not make Eve out of Adam's rib. They have both been in the process of evolution together all these years. Man did not fall from perfection or grace in the Garden of Eden. He has never been up, so he could not fall. The waters of the Red Sea never parted, and God never spoke to Moses or any other human being. God never has answered a prayer and never will. The only prayer that God answers is the prayer of the hard and patient worker and thinker. If any person can show that God ever an- swered any other prayer, he can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that this work is all a lie. If God can answer prayers as the Bible would have us believe, all otir working and thinking are in vain. Many people are deceived by this deceit of prayer. God does not answer any prayer in the Biblical sense. The thought and wish are father to the thing RELIGION 125 t possessed. If you desire a thing strongly enough you soon begin to work and think, and before you know it you possess it. People imagine that their prayers are answered, but it is all a deception of the mind. If a man prays for a thing he unconsciously makes an effort to obtain it. An no doubt it seems at times that the prayer has been heard and answered. The main trouble with the Christian religion is that it tries to shift the responsibility of life on to the shoulders of God, or Christ. He does not accept the responsibility. The responsibility of life rests on every man's shoulders and he must accept it or bear the consequences. The deception in the Bible of the birth of Christ is, per- haps, the greatest deception in the world. God was not the father of Christ. Mary's conception was as immaculate as is conception in the mothers of men today. We know by our fact that God cannot break his laws. God cannot make two plus two equal anything but four. God is the Law and he cannot bend out of shape to contradict his own law or self. God cannot change his laws. If he could, we were foolish to seek truth at all. We invent an automobile, and have everything working according to principles and laws and facts. God takes a notion to change his laws and the automobile is worthless. We know that God was not the father of Christ. It is impossible. It cannot be. Christ never rose from the dead. We also know that to be impossible. A miracle is impossible in the Biblical sense. All things are possible in an infinite world, but the infinite cannot be transgressed. It must happen according to the inexorable perfect law. Many things happen that we cannot now explain; but they can all be explained by the law, and they will in time. Christ was nothing but a man. He said he was the only Son of God and the Saviour of Men. We know He was not. We know it to be impossible by our fact. No such thing as a saviour is possible. Usually people found their deceptions on some misinterpretation of 126 A WITNESS TESTIFIES the natural, but there seems to be no reason to be deceived by the idea that there can be a savioiu". If Christ knew anything, He failed to tell it. No one has ever been able to find it out. The men who improve and benefit the human race are the men who discover something. They show us something not hitherto known. The man who invented the telephone gave the world a great and useful thing. If Christ gave the world any new ideas no one has ever heard of them. To be a real saviour of men, a man would have to know all knowl- edge and be able to demonstrate that he has it. Knowledge is infinity and no man can attain to anything approaching complete knowledge. What a man can learn that other men have shown to be true is not attainable in a lifetime. If a man has to investigate and discover his own facts, he is unable to gain more than one series of facts. He is extremely fortunate to do that much. A man to attain perfect knowl- edge would have to live always and he would require all eternity to tell it. There is no such thing as a saviour. All men who add to the sum total of our knowledge are saviours in the sense that they help to realize the perfection of man- kind. Christ did not know anything, therefore He could not tell anything. Any man can assert things and draw on his imagination, but it is a far different thing to demonstrate a new series of facts. If any man gets hold of something new in this life, more than likely he will have put in half his life- time investigating his chosen subject. New things come hard, and the man who finds them knows that he got them by long and patient labor. If Christ ever did any work or thinking there is no evidence of it. What does this fact teach us in regard to the Bible and Christ and the Christian religion in general? What does it teach us about all religions? We know from this universal law that man's evolution to his present state has been brought about by the inspiration of man from woman and woman from man. The love that they have for RELIGION 127 « one another has been the seat of all inspiration, and the fundamental cause of all development, all growth. Long ago in far distant parts it had its beginning. Ever since the first old monkey jumped down out of a tree and sunk his fangs into the back of the neck of some ruffian monkey that had assaulted his monkey mate, man has steadily advanced out of the darkness into the light of a more perfect day. The woman has endeavored to hold the love of her mate, and to do so she has been forced to be as much of a woman as her knowledge and surroundings would permit. The man has been forced to dare and achieve to hold the love of his choice. Ages before the mind of man ever dreamed there was a God, he longed for his mate. The alphabet owes its existence to the desire of mates to send messages of love to one another. Long before the Bible was written the love between the sexes made it possible. The desire to have and to hold yoxu" mate is the fountain head of all religions. All religions are the work of sincere men in an effort to trace this divine law. They are all founded on the desire to be worthy of your mate so as to fulfill the divine law. The men who wrote the Bible were simply making an effort to trace this law. We know that there can be many lies about a thing and only one truth. It is as natural as the sunshine that may lies would fill and deceive the minds of men before they found the real truth. The men who wrote the Bible are not to blame. We do not blame the doctors of long ago for their mistakes. They did things years ago that would be considered criminal now. We do not blame them. We know that they did their best and were sincere and honest. The men who wrote the Bible are without blame, and we know that they were sincere and honest. A doctor's treatment may kill his patient, but we do not blame him because he does not know. His lack of knowledge kills the patient just the same. So does the Bible confuse and separate lovers. The men who wrote it did not know that they did not know. They 128 A WITNESS TESTIFIES were deceived. We know that Christ was perhaps the most lovable, the most sincere, the most honest man that ever lived. We know that he would not have lied for a kingdom. At his birth he was received as the saviour and he was made to believe it by all with whom he came in contact. That he was deceived is not to be wondered at. Christ never met the woman he loved. He never had any experience with men and sin. He never had any experience from which to draw conclusions. It is perfectly clear that Christ is without blame. He was the most completely deceived man that ever lived. If he had come on earth with an understanding with the devil, he could not have more completely deceived the minds of men. All this demonstrates in a very emphatic manner how completely and how easily the devil can deceive the mind. We realize now, in a way, how great is the power of the devil to deceive us. He is an infinite mind. We are finite. Our mind, compared to the devil's mind, is as an inch compared with a straight line that extends throughout the whole expanse of space. We know that the Bible cannot be defended on the ground of common sense. We know that it contradicts itself in many ways, and in many places. This truth does not con- tradict itself in any way. Facts and truths do not contradict one another. They all fit in and prove one another. No man will ever show that this truth contradicts itself. By this law we know what a wrong religion means. We know the laws and underlying principles. The love of Christ is false love of one's own soul. It is a form of mental un- faithfulness. It is blasphemy. It is the unpardonable sin. It is as a man holding false intercourse with his own soul. He is unfaithful to the perfectly created creature God has made for him to love and cherish. Men and women need each other's unselfish love to hold them both erect in natiu-e. To love something else is to curse the works of a perfect God. The great deception in the Bible is the promise of eternal RELIGION 129 « life. Take that promise out of it and it would die over- night. By believing and worshiping Christ a man makes eternal life his ruling passion. He thinks to save his own soul. We know by oiu" fact that he does not improve his chances to be preserved for all eternity by worshiping a false god. No one knows what becomes of a man after hie dies. But we know that we will be held accountable for our un- faithfulness, if anything at all happens. God will perhaps look over a man's record and see that he has been a selfish soul-worshiper. He will probably see that such a person is unfit and send him to a place of correction for a time. He will say, "Where is that wonderful creature I made for you to love and cherish? Oh, you couldn't see anything but yourself ! Do you think you should be sent to a higher lif e ? " We know by this truth that all ciu-ses are for those who do not. Judging the next world by this one, we know that a preacher will probably go to hell. Innocent of any intent to wrong his fellow men, betrayed by i the devil into the belief that he was the son of God, Christ, then, stands as the arch deceiver. He is the wolf in sheep's clothing. He is the personification of the perfect devil. He is the defiler of men's minds and hearts. He is the individual false god as a cross between lovers. Instead of saving men, he damns them to hell. He is the arch liar, thief, traitor, murderer. The brand of liar is written across his brow so plain that a child can know him by the sign. It is indeed wonderful that such a thing can be. How great is God! What are we to do about it? It is no trouble for a preacher to tell a drunkard what to do. Quit drinking. So it is for the Christian. Quit the silly religion. Burn up your Bible and never look into its foul pages again. Any man who drinks whisky is liable to go crazy. Any man who fools with the Bible is liable to go crazy. It teaches con- fusion and negative love, and when it gets the mind confused and hypnotized it will play havoc with it. However, when 130 A WITNESS TESTIFIES a man knows what the truth is, he is not in so much danger; but the fact remains that even after a man knows what whisky is, it will still make him drunk. The way to avoid harm is to heep out of harm's way. If you meddle with fire you are likely to get burned. There is nothing of any value in the Bible that will be lost. This law takes care of all truth. The ten command- ments are all right if you substitute mate for me. To fear God is a deception pure and simple. The Bible would have us believe that to see God is to die; not to see Him is to die. This truth teaches us that we must seek the truth in all things. We must see God as He is in all things to avoid mistakes, and lovingly He invites us to advance up to Him with confidence and without fear. Arm in arm as brothers we must advance up to God out of chaos and darkness. The discovery of this truth marks the end of our loneliness. Man is doomed to be burdened with the results of sin until he knows what evil is. Sin tears men asunder and casts them out into loneliness and isolation. Now, when we see a man burdened with the results of sin we know what is wrong with him; before we did not. We can work in harmony now, because we know what we are striving for. Before we could not, because we lacked the guiding principle. Now that we have it we can be guided by it. It has been a most painful duty for me to disillusion the Christian mind. I know that it will bring much pain to many devout and loving hearts. It was a trying and painful revelation to me and will be to others, no doubt. But a man must bear testimony to his new discovery, to his new light, to his new truth. It is a duty we dare not shirk. It con- cerns every man on earth, every one who is to come to this earth. The thing must be told. All men have told what they knew and all men will continue to do so. Oiu* progress onward and upward depends upon it. Did the man who invented the electric light hide his great invention to save the coal oil lamp? Did the man who invented the gas RELIGION 131 # engine hide his invention to save the horse? It is not so bad with the Christian as it seems. You can still serve humanity and God. All men have sinned and have suffered for their sins. No one has escaped. Nor even Christ. All have been caught in this snare of perfect hate. All men will continue to be caught in it. The difference now is that we must tell the truth. If a man wishes to preach, he must know whereof he speaks. If he wants to preach he can still preach, but he must preach something true and useful. A man can preach farming. It will be a great blessing to teach the world how it can raise two potatoes where they now raise but one with the same amount of labor, time, and land. It will be a great blessing to teach men how they can have a stronger and more perfect body. It will be seen that the true preacher must have something to tell and be able to demonstrate his preachings. It will be seen that it requires years of hard work and the application of common sense to improve the methods of mankind. Preaching is, in one sense, perhaps, useless. All men preach the truth to them- selves continually, and they say things to themselves in far plainer words than anyone else can say them. However, it is also necessary that all men know the truth, and we all have to be taught. If a man wants to be a foreign mis- sionary, he can still be one. If you go into a foreign land with something full of common sense and usefulness, you will find it much easier to get attention. If you want to teach the Chinese better methods of farming, he would better investigate. They may know more than you. This truth must be brought home to all men, but some people will scatter it among themselves without any effort on the part of others. The commerce of the world will in time force all men to learn it. Truth is a beautiful thing, and all men seek it as naturally as the rain falls. All men want to be something and get out of life the joy they are entitled to. However, we must see to it that every man has his chance. He must receive the same treatment and stand or fall by his 132 A WITNESS TESTIFIES own intellect and will power. The world must be made into a garden of Eden and all men must obey the law or perish. No more on earth can men preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for the truth. To do so is to break the highest law of being. Bell What is hell? Hell is the punishment visited on the un- faithful. It is the reward of sin. Our hell here on earth is both physical and mental. To be unworthy of one's mate is the greatest pain and sorrow that the human heart can know. Hell is isolation in disgraceful self-hate. The sinner is cast out from the pale of respectable men. He is un- worthy of their society. It is confusion of mind and weak- ness of body. Its end is insanity and death. To be totally unworthy of your mate is to commit the unpardonable sin. All sin is a form of unfaithfulness, and its logical end is murder. It is a part of the unpardonable sin. No sin is pardonable. We pay a price in the terms of love and hate. All sin is paid in the overplus of hate. We suffer loss out of all proportion to its seeming worth. A false religion produces a mental confusion and one is unable to reason in sensible terms. His reasoning is false reasoning. His ideas are as of one who is drunk. They are not intelligent. We are material beings and our success depends on correct thinking. A false religion leads to many confusing mistakes so that we do many wasteful things and many acts without intelligence. A false religion tends to hide the truth, and many deformities pass unaware into our being. All of which we pay for in personality, in individuality, in useful- ness, in health, in growth, in the proper evolution and development of the mind. A person under the influence of a false love or religion is barred from the free play of the intellect. We pay a terrible price for our silly religions. Some idea of this may be gained from the diseases which attack the physically unfaithful and may be taken as a fore- cast of the deformed or diseased mentally unfaithful. RELIGION 133 • A case of syphilis is a good illustration of what the false religion does to the mind. Filth oozes from many sores on the body of the syhilitic. He is very repulsive and completely unworthy of his mate. His condition is a fore- cast of what real hell is. The hell of fire is a tame affair in comparison with real hell. Man is a very great creation and his punishment is meted out to him in accordance with his greatness. It must be severe enough to bring the most unworthy to terms. It is so bad that no man can bear it. The hardest part about hell is that the guilty bring punish- ment on the innocent. Hell would not be such a terrible thing if it were for the guilty alone. A man's mate is forced to partake of his folly. He brings down the curse of God on her whom he would not harm for any price. God has so created the world that a man cannot afford to sin. And he does not want to: he is deceived into sinning by the devil. There is an end to hell. We know our God is a sensible God. There could be no sense in punishing a man forever. But hell is so disgusting and loathsome that it will be avoided. It is to become as nothing. Hell is nothingness in disgraced isolation. It is to be totally outdone by self hate. Self love always returns to us in self hate. To be a self lover is to be a liar, a traitor, a thief, a murderer. And one becomes totally unworthy of his mate. To be a self lover is to be detached from God. The way to hell is paved with many glittering deceptions. The promise of eternal life in the Bible is one of them. Look out for that mad insanity. Fulfill the law here and you put God in your debt. We may not have any eternal life. We do not know now. We cannot cross a bridge until we come to it. God is infinite and eternal. We know that. To obey his laws here is to merit the very fullness of life in every respect. We get all the blessings and none of the curses. To disobey the law is to miss everything in life worth while, and to get all the ciu-ses. The wages of sin is death. Your sins shall make you whole. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter 134 A WITNESS TESTIFIES than snow. But only in terrible anguish and suffering may you be made clean again. All men that have lived have sinned and have in a sense gone to hell. We do not reach perfection in this life. If it were possible to reach perfection, it would mean the end. It would be useless to live longer. We know that we are finite and God is infinite. As we also know that our minds are a spark of the mind of God, we partake of everlasting life. There must be a hell, else there could be no heaven. The sensible thing to do is to obey the law and be a free and happy man. Heaven Heaven on earth is to be worthy in the sight of God. It is to stand erect in nature. It is to be worthy of all the bless- ings of the Infinite God of perfect love and sense. It is to be intoxicated with the joys of perfect manhood and womanhood. It is to be perfect in body and mind. It is to possess your mate in a state of perfect love. It is to be loved and respected by all men. It is to have perfect chil- dren. It is to be filled with the joys of unspeakable love. One who lives up to the law of Love Your Mate Unselfishly attains to the complete possession of self. Unselfish love returns to us in the form of self love. You are fiUed with self respect. Your conscience is clear. Your heart is light. Your mind is content and free from worry. Your health is perfect. Yoiu- mind and body get the proper care and training. You have the power to succeed. You work and think with an overplus of power. Nothing is too hard for the faithful to dare and do. Your mind attains originality and inventiveness. You possess your personality and individuality. You are a free person in every way. You are a slave to no man or thing. There is laughter and song, wit and humor, fun and frolic in all your veins. You live in an atmosphere of delight and happiness. You are a man among men. You are a true soldier of the right and will back it up with your might. You are just and fair and RELIGION 135 « square. You are honorable and earnest. You are some- thing instead of nothing. You are useful and a blessing to all men. You waste nothing, but satisfy all desires. You are normal and natural — there is no fear and cowardice and trembling in the worthy. You are rich in material and spiritual things. You are not afraid to live and you have no fear of death. You live from principle. You are a gentle- man. You fulfill all of the obligations of life. You are free from sin and temptations. You fulfill the highest law of your being. You are a true citizen of the world. You belong to and are a worthy brother in the brotherhood of man. You are one of the chosen. Everything you do is sensible. You are filled with wisdom and your vision is clear and prophetic. You are in no man's way and you do harm to no- one. You make your wife and children happy. You have the love to give your wife and children which they must have. Your heart is filled with love for all men. They are as your brothers. You love them all. You wish to give all men the right to live and be happy. You fill the world with an overplus of wealth. You produce more than you consume. You add to the sum of all men's well being. You have mercy and pity, charity and forgiveness for all. You help the weak and lowly, care for the sick and distressed. You raise up the fallen and brace up the wicked. You in- spire all men with confidence to do better things. You help to perfect the world. You are a powerful force in the onward and upward march of men. You help to make the earth a garden of roses. You have talents and are a genius. Your life work is a success. You are proud and delighted at your success. You deserve the praise and love of all men. You are a hero and your wife is a heroine. Your children are a blessing and a pleasure. You live in a kingdom of romantic love. You experience the love romance of life in all its wonderful perfection. Your life is filled with pleasant tasks and you are free from dullness. Your hopes are high and you are filled with optimism. As you grow old and life 136 A WITNESS TESTIFIES fades, you are filled with a love that surpasses understanding. You have fulfilled the laws of a perfect God and are blessed. You have put God in yoiu: debt. You have fulfilled the pledge of honor. You came to perfect love and perfect understanding. You pass into eternity ready for a higher life. You and your mate go back to the Heart of God with His highest approval. Perhaps you live again together in a more perfect world. All things seem to demonstrate that you do. We can believe, but we cannot know. It has not yet been proved. Perhaps it will be. Perhaps we are not yet ready to know. It does not seem to be necessary that we should know at the present. A child must learn his A-B-C's before he can read. We have to go through college by degrees. We cannot grasp and understand a thing until we have made the necessary steps in preparation. THE PARALLEL OF THE BIBLE TO THE REAL TRUTH "The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want." The truth is my guide; I will not want. If you work and think and be true to your mate and do not waste, you wiU have all of everything you need to make you happy. If humanity follows the real truth, collectively and individually, every- body will be happy. One for all and aU for one. If a man cannot speak but by the forces of his life, and he is a creature of a perfect God, then aU he says is by the power of God. If God is the perfect mind, the perfect truth, and a man speaks truth, he really speaks the words of God. If he speaks lies he speaks the untruth and it will die. Now, if my words follow the truth, they are the words of God. If they do not follow the truth they are lies. They are the words of the devil. They must die. Nothing at last must prevail but the truth. Now, if my words tell of a universal law and are true, they are the words of God. It is your business to test them in every way. With the telescope, with the microscope, with the known facts, with the ex- perience of life, with the heart, with the head, with the conscience, in every way, you must test them and see if they are true. The truth will bear inspection, and if it cannot meet the demands it is not true. We have not yet arrived at it. God is perfect, the creation is perfect, truth must stand the perfect test. Now, if a man and woman bring to light the perfect truth, they must necessarily stand the perfect test. If they can be turned aside by any deception whatsoever, they cannot testify to the truth. If they have stood the perfect test they can. The devil is a perfect ass. He is the perfect deceiver. He is the perfect cross between lovers. Now, if 137 138 A WITNESS TESTIFIES I and my mate have stood the perfect test of the divine serpent, this is the truth and it will bear every test. I did not know, she did not know. We did the thing all un- consciously. It is the only way. Now, here is the point: When I told this girl all about my love for her and all about the great discovery I had made, if she had weakened and succumbed to the temptation to marry me she would have proved unworthy. I did not know it. She did not know. If she had been less true, and had been willing to accept me before I had proved worthy, she would have ruined all. She was aware I was unworthy and she left me, weary and heavy laden. "My burdens are greater than I can bear." If I committed suicide, which I was sorely tempted to do, all was lost. If I killed my rival all was lost. There was nothing I could do if I was right, and that was when I ashed why. " I must think, " said I. "I must wrestle with it with common sense and without conceit, and false pride." If I had loved her less I could have done differently. I loved her better than myself. Therefore, I found the truth. I had refused to marry others. I would have none but the girl of my heart. If need be, I could give her up. I could live alone. I had committed the secret sin in my youth and I had said in my heart that I would find out my seducer. I turned to the Bible and Christ. I could not find in its pages what had caused my trouble. I cursed Christ and called the Book a lie. I had sworn in my anguish to place the brand of liar across Christ's brow so a child could read him by the sign. I had claimed the truth as my guide. I must follow it. I drank. I found drink a seducer. I smoked. I found tobacco a seducer. I knew lewd women. They were the same. All lowered my manhood and con- fused my brain. They made me unworthy of my mate. When the fatal hour came, the supreme test was the truth. Had I not reached up to the truth? I had given my all, my money, my health, my mind, my love. All was gone. Hopelessly lost; nowhere to turn. Then the ray of truth. THE PARALLEL 139 Then I must tell my love. She must not know the horrors I had known. She must not scar her beautiful mind. I had sinned for her. I told her. She left me. She knew I was unworthy. She was the truth. She could scar her mind before she would accept me, unworthy as I was. She could stoop to shame also if do to so was still the truth. To retain her womanhood unscathed she too could stoop to sin. She told me to go to the world with my truth. I must still prove that I was the truth. I was yet to stand the supreme test. I must still sin to see just where it all lay. We were still unworthy of each other. Had not Christ stood the test even to death? We must do more. We must stand it in life. It is easier to die for a cause than to live for it. I must live the circle of truth if I would tell it. Christ had shown the world how to die. I must show it how to live, to outdo Christ. If I am more than Christ, I must prove it. Christ was the false bride- groom of the soul even to death. I must be the true bride- groom even through the anguish of hell on earth. I must prove I am willing to do all things wicked to overcome all the hypnotic powers of the mind and flesh. I must go through all temptations and fall a victim to them, and find out what they are, and then overcome them. I must be a drunkard. I must be a preacher. -I must be a libertine. I must find my love through them, and then give her up willingly and gladly to seek the truth. I must know what heaven is, to tell of it. I must know what hell is, to tell of it. I must be willing to give up heaven to tell my truth so others may know it. My love must be willing to do the same thing. Although she leave me bleeding and gasping for breath, she must leave me. She must make the supreme effort. She must stand the supreme test. She must be willing to live in adultery and mother bastard children if she is still the truth. She knows it is necessary because I have not paid the price. I am still unworthy. She cannot marry me until I am worthy. It must be a complete sacrifice 140 A WITNESS TESTIFIES even unto death. We must be worthy. We must pour out our hearts' blood to the last drop. "Wash me in the blood of the Lamb and I shall be whiter than snow." Our blood has been given that you may live in a more perfect love. We have found the truth. It is the perfect way. We have stood the highest test. The words of God are yours. "Though my sins be as crimson I shall be whiter than snow." Though she stepped low and her sin is deep, her conscience is clear and her heart light. She did not know she did it, but just the same she did. If she had been willing to sell herself for a less than a perfect price, she could not have done it. Woman is the positive; man is the negative. By her greatness she made me find mine. Instead of woman being the downfall of man, she is the inspiration to greater things. By her greatness and devo- tion to truth she has made the way clear for all other women. The hope of the world is in woman's hands; wherever she will lead, man will follow. My love has shown you the perfect way. Be worthy of your mate and make him worthy of you. Then you can unite in a more perfect embrace. "Wash me in the blood of the Lamb (humanity) and I shall be whiter than snow." If you are guided by the universal law of mates, you must be faithful in all things. You will be happy. I will follow, Jesus, I will follow on. Wherever he leads I will follow on. I will be the truth. I will follow the truth in all things, so that I may be worthy. If need be, I can give my beloved child for the truth. Why does God ask a sacrifice of blood so that she may be worthy? Thousands of babies die throughout the land every year. There is a cause. Somebody must give her loved baby to find the cause. Perhaps many babies die so that we may know what to do about it. Did not some boys give their hves that the yellow fever cure might be found? — that others might live? Did not savage women long ago throw their little babies in the river that God might be appeased? Are boys and savage women greater than civilized women? THE PARALLEL 141 Can not they make the supreme sacrifice that other women may enjoy their babies in health? Now, here is my idea: God is love and sense. If sacrifice is absolutely necessary, it must be made. But it seems to me that now that we possess the key a better life, why not first seek to clean out all the filth? Let the man be a faith- ful, strong man and worthy of his mate. Let the woman be a strong, clean woman. Let them love and live true and raise their child in love and truth. If all these conditions are fulfilled, and it is found that the baby is properly born, properly fed, properly aired, and then sickens and dies, we must seek the truth in other ways. Are not babies by the thousands given to the devil in the cause of man, in the in- sane and evil cause which does no mother and child good? All lost. Cannot mothers give by the power of the truth in a righteous and holy cause? Must women sufPer the loss of their babies, and in sorrow and anguish weep alone in the dark and ask what is the matter, because no mother can complete the supreme test in all sense and love and right? Our God is a god of sense and love. I do not believe the sacrifice is required. You must seek out the truth of it and decide by the dictates of common sense. We know that truth does require human sacrifice. Do not men and women give their lives every day to promote the welfare of hu- manity? I believe that we can learn all truth by cleaning up all filth and pollution, but it may require some more lives to find out the truth. Cancer is a mystery. People die of it by thousands. It may be that thousands of unselfish men and women will have to give up their lives to solve the riddle of this disease. It seems to me that our salvation lies in trying to find the perfect way to live. We will have to know what cancer is some day. Mankind must know all. If you are willing to give yourself for others, you must answer the call. "No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." No greater love has a man for his mate than that they give up their lives in a cancerous 142 A WITNESS TESTIFIES death for the happiness and enlightenment of the world. It is harder to live a sacrifice than to die one. I saw a fine young woman die of cancer. She had a good husband and many things to live for. Are we not to rid mankind of this curse? God is perfect. He can pay all debts. "I shall wear a crown in heaven." If you are the truth and would be with- out shame and without blame, if you would wear a crown, find favor with God. You must forget self and live and do the truth that is within you. To be worthy of your mate in all things you must love her unselfishly. You must make every sacrifice until the world be perfect in knowledge and understanding. "I am a soldier of the Cross. ... I freely give myself to thee." If you are a true soldier of the Cross you must forget self and freely give of yourself with a glad and open heart. There must be no bitterness in your heart. You must be free and happy and earnest and sincere. If you are to get the best results, your sacrifice must be complete. You must stand up for the right, with might if need be. You must do battle if necessary. " I will banish all thine enemies from before thee, saith the Lord." If you are right and are indeed a real man you must protect the weak, lift up the fallen, forgive the sinful. You must put down the wicked and bring them to repentance. A good man must back up his goodness with his strength. "Stand up, stand up, for Jesus." Be true to the truth if you would cleanse your heart of all its vileness. Of those to whom much is given, much is expected. Your mental endowments and all your gifts must be used for the truth. If you are a money maker you must make the earth to flow with milk and honey for the good of all, yourself and mate included. If you are talented you must compose pretty love songs and play sweet music, or write good books. You must give freely of yourself. You who can lead in money matters must be strong and hold men to their places. You must make ends THE PARALLEL 143 meet. Though they sing and praise you, you must still be steady. Though they curse and damn you, you must be strong. You are responsible, and "Csesar must have Csesar." You must make the commerce of the world to flow. You must be kind and generous, and fair and square. You must love your men and their famihes. You must see that they are served first. You must love and serve them. You must guide and direct them. Truly, of those to whom much is given, much is expected. "A camel can go through the eye of a needle before a rich man can enter the kingdom of Heaven." You rich men have a hard job and you must follow the truth. Be guided by the universal law. To be worthy of your love is better than riches. Be above worldly wealth, and wealth shall freely flow through you. "Seek and it shall be given thee. Ask and you shall find." Be the truth and all things will be yours. "I will not turn my face from the faithful." No man ever did a true and good act that he did not put God in debt to him. God is the perfect gentleman. He is honorable. "In my Father's house are many mansions." We can build a heaven here if we wiU. "I go to prepare a place for you." The true lovers prepare a heaven for them who follow. "Come unto me, you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Get up and straighten your shoulders. Find your backbone and brains. You are great indeed. Does not a perfect God of sense and love exist in your mind.'' Are not you a spark of the divine fire? Be true to yourself and yoiu- mate. You can do great deeds. Meekly and lowly, and with a confident heart, seek the truth. Do what your better self tells you to do. Be not deceived by your own desires. Don't let the devil lie to you. Follow the truth; it is the only and perfect way. You will be happy. Bless this food to our bodies and us to thy service. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You must know what you eat. Give your life to some diet research organization and 144 A WITNESS TESTIFIES see what you can find by your unselfish sacrifice. If you think people choose a bad diet, and would be much happier with a better one, then you are called. "Many are called, but few are chosen." You may not discover anything, but you have answered the call. "Few are chosen." Some- one out of the many will eventually find the perfect food. You have helped to do it. You are a real man. You have answered the highest call in life. You serve God by being true to the truth that is in you. The perfect man must know whereof he eats. We are guessing now. To serve God you must serve him according to facts and truths, and not be misled by lies. You must find out what to eat, through a close study of truth. The world must have the perfect diet. We await the ad- vent of the man who can tell us what to eat. Don't ask it in my name. I cannot help you. I am merely a man. If you want food blessed to the bodies of men, then seek the truth in all unselfishness. And you may be the one to tell us. You are called if you think a better diet is needed. You must be able to prove and demonstrate your diet by all known facts. It must stand the acid test of reason, heart, head, body. It must please the eye, the taste, must be permitted by the heart and conscience. It must make the perfect man. It must be the cheapest and the best, all facts considered. Don't ask anything in any man's name of God. Learn what aU men have to tell and use their combined knowledge to help you find that which you seek. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. God the perfect infinite mind of love and sense. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Man, woman, and child. The perfect creation of the perfect God. If you think I am Christ in any sense other than the one I have told you, you are wrong. The name Christ means nothing. If someone in China had found this truth it would be the same. Christ is not necessary. Some one would have found it if the Bible had never been written. I use it to show how it THE PARALLEL 145 parallels the truth. All other religions in a manner do the same thing. The truth is important. I am not. It is important that I tell you, but some other man would find it in time. The human mind is ready for this truth, or I could not have found it. You cannot invent a thing until the world is ready for the invention. God is perfect. Man is his perfect creation. All men are great. The ruling passion in every heart is to love its mate unselfishly. Don't be afraid. Fear is a lie. There is no fear. God is per- fect. He can pay every debt in blessings. "The kingdom of God is at hand." This is the awakening. Humanity is coming into its own. "Peace on earth, good will toward men." The truth will lead us all to be strong and happy men and women. Each mate shall find its own. Perfect men cannot fight. Mates are made in heaven, else we should get confused on earth. Gentlemen must not and cannot fight. If two men could love the same woman they could fight. The romance of the world is wonderful. I deserve no more credit than the rest. Many have lived in sorrow and anguish. AU have helped to bring about this advent. All brave and good men have prompted me to do this thing. If I die drunk with a curse on my lips, it does not affect the truth. You have my fact. Nothing can rob you of it. We have all paid the price and it is ours. It is not complete. It is the scribbling of a man who has something to tell and is almost exhausted. My life has spent its force. The wages of sin is death. I have added my mite. Men and women are great. They can add theirs. I may live to do more, but I don't think so. One man cannot do it all. The glory must be shared by all. A man should do all he can. I am overjoyed to add my part. My heart is happy. I fear not death. This is not the end. Life is not final. We can see that. I have loved my sweetheart better than myself, and through her I have been born again. I have come to love all men and the God and the world, and the devil. I gave my all. It cost me all a man could 146 A WITNESS TESTIFIES possibly give. It is yours. You are to say what you shall about it. Don't call me Christ. We are all saviours. Each has done his part. Names are omitted entirely. Some have done more. Some have done less. It is the same. All was important. It must be done. None has lived and died in vain. Evil leads to destruction. Haven't the fallen taught us that? They were deceived. They showed us their plight. They did not suffer in vain. So it is: we advance one for all; all for one. We have all done our parts, in- dividually and collectively. All are important. Sufferings soften the heart. The wicked cause us to be sad. They give of their blood all unconsciously, but they give it not in vain. The corruption of the world has taught us the value of cleanliness. The hate has taught us love. Hell has made us seek heaven. We have all given our blood. Some may be more important than others. Perhaps they are. Let others do the choosing. It is not for me to say. What am I that I should feel important? "Let him that is without blame cast the first stone." This fact is important, but not I. There are others who could and would find it. I am unneces- sary and unimportant. I do it because I seek to be worthy. I want my love. I do not wish to harm her. We are all very great and very important. But if need be, the world can do without us. If you shirk your duty, there are others who will fill your place. If you want your love, you must be master of all things, yourself included, even to death. Even to life, which is much harder and more important. God gave his only begotten son that the world might be saved. God never had any son to give. God is the perfect law. Can two plus two equals foiu- beget a son? God did not give his only begotten son. He gave all men life through his master mind. All men are created in his image. They save themselves. All must deserve heaven before they can have it. All men help to save mankind. No man is the saviour. THE PARALLEL 147 We all partake of the advent of the perfect man and woman, of the heaven on earth. Since the invention of the electric light we all can see, but all men helped to invent the electric light. All men have the way paved for them. All men help pave the way to all things. One man's weakness will turn another to strength. One man's overgoodness will tm^n another to less goodness and more sense. One man's faults will correct those in another. We all try to push forward to the fine line of perfect sense. All men's virtue and all men's faults lead us ever upward. Why should I wish to die? I will to live. I want to add my mite to the progress of the world. If it had not been necessary to my constitution, I would not have lived at all. God made me to let him announce the going. I may sin much. I am imperfect. I am on my way. I will to live because it is normal and right. I am brave enough to live. I hope I can die with composure when the hoiu- comes. I have tried to be worthy of it. I may fail. I may die rigid with fear. I wiU to die as a man. I will to live as a man. I can live without my love. It is not necessary. Other men have done as much. I hope to do as much. Other men are stronger and braver than I. I am a weakling. I hope to come to strength. I will to be all I should be. I am satisfied with less if I cannot attain my ideal. We cannot have everything. I would have done as much for the world with- out any hope of reward. I want no crown in heaven or on earth. I don't care whether I live again or not. I don't know what God has in store for me and I care less. I wish to live my life and take an interest in things about me. I am satisfied with little. I hope to attain much. If I fail utterly, I am still satisfied. I wish to struggle and wrestle with the tilings about me. Failure does not upset me. Suicide is the last of my thoughts. I love life and music and dancing. I love the woods and the birds and the beasts. I want to work and play. If need be, I will give up my life. I want to live my life. I like it. I want all men to get what 148 A WITNESS TESTIFIES they deserve, even if they need hanging. I want to see a man president if he is worthy. I wish to stand or fall on my own merits, and I wish the same for all. I can endm-e to live on my own merits, and I wish the same for all. I can endiu-e to live on hog jowls if necessary. I wish to have the best if I can have it and yet be right. I know the world is imperfect and I do not grumble at other men's injustice. I try to stand by my guns and help win the fight. I want to see the right prevail. The world is a great place to live in, and my filth and pains amuse me and interest me. I would be clean and free from pain. I am satisfied to try. AN ALLEGORY The man who thinks the Bible can be proved untrue by the simple lies it contains, is mistaken. There is far more to it than that. It has a hypnotic influence that seduces the mind, although we know that it is untrue. A man will be seduced by its apparent truth because it is so close a parallel to the truth that the mind cannot throw it off on the ground that it has simple hes in it. There is a far deeper reason than that, for it seduces the mind. AU religions contain some truth, but the Christian re- ligion seduces the most advanced minds. It is a closer parallel to the truth. The Christian mind is not deceived by the Chinese religion, but we know that it contains much truth. As a whole it does not appeal to the Christian mind because we plainly see the fundamental error. We have to be seduced by a better he. Now we know there can be many lies about a thing, but only one truth. We know that there are many reUgions and we know that all contain some truth. We know that as a whole they are all wrong. None will fit every test. The Christians know that the Christian reUgion must be differ- ently interpreted all the time to keep it from becoming ridiculous. Now, here is the reason we believe in it: A man sins. The Bible tells him that the devil tempted him and he listened. He knows that he did that very thing. He did wrong. He sinned; and if he had done as the Bible tells him he would not now be ashamed and full of anguish. He knows he fell a victim to temptations that were beyond his power to resist. He was seduced by the devil. He knows that if he had listened to the sweet words of Christ he would not have sinned. He believes. He accepts Christ as his 149 150 A WITNESS TESTIFIES guide and he sins no more. He is happy. He is a far better and happier man now. He is satisfied. Say what you will about the untruth of the Bible, he will still believe. It has been a great power for good in his life and he loves Christ and all men. He feels and knows that there is a God of love and a devil of seductive hate. He beheves. He knows that that is so. No man can get away from it. Truly the Bible parallels the truth very closely. Those who have doubted and denied have not explained away the simple experience of the heart of all Christians. They have been born again, and their Bible and Christ are true to them no matter what you say. God is great, his ways are myste- rious. Man was not to know all. All cannot be saved. The many are called and the few chosen. Say what you please, they are different from other men. They will not sin any more than they can help. Christ will forgive what little sins they do. Man is not perfect. Man must be saved through the cleansing power of the Son of God. "Though my sins be as scarlet they shall be whiter than snow." I love Christ because he first loved me. He wore the crown of thorns for my redemption. I know it is so. It is plain as day. I love, I love. Christ is my saviour. I shall not want. He will guide me. I am His child. As a little lamb, I will follow on. My soul is saved. I will have everlasting life. How good is Christ! How great his love! How wonderful his redeeming love! Once I was lost, but now I am saved. I will glory in the Lord, keep his command- ments, and work for the salvation of others. How unselfish, how happy am I ! Great is Jehovah ! How could there be a more perfect lie.'' If it is a lie, it surely is a big one. If it is not true, explain what is the truth. You offer me nothing in return for my religion. You must explain this thing. I see the contradictions and the slight imperfections as plainly as you can, but you offer me nothing in its place. What is the truth then? I still believe it. You have not shown me its untruth. Your reasons are AN ALLEGORY 151 clear, but there is more. You have not explained all away, Christ saved me from sin. I am a better man. I am full of hope and happiness. I must still follow Christ. I still believe in him. He is the bridegroom of my soul. Now how does the libertine seduce a pure, innocent girl? He makes love to her. In every possible manner he imitates the truth. He is honest, good, pure, clean, generous, smart, full of fun. He speaks words of love to her, brings her candy and flowers. Takes her to dances, to the theater. He has no coarse work. She loves him. She beheves in him. He asks her to marry him. They cannot marry today. They must wait. And then, under the spell of an irresistible love, she becomes his victim. In time he discards her as unfit. He must have fairer hearts to conquer. In bitterness and sorrow she awakes to the fact that she has been foully deceived. He stood for the truth to her. She gave her all, her love, her w'omanhood. He is a traitor, a thief, a mur- derer. In sorrow, in anguish, in pain, she wanders alone. She was sincere and honest. She loved truly. In her inno- cent heart she erred and will not be comforted. The man so paralleled the truth that she fell a victim to his deception. He was aU the time aware of his falseness of heart. He intended to deceive her. He is her false bride- groom. She could not have been deceived" by a less perfect liar. His work would have been too coarse. She would have known. She would have detected the lie. So it is with Christ. He is the false bridegroom of the soul. We fall a victim to his perfect lies. We are com- pletely deceived. We are ruined. We are unfit for our mates. We love him instead. We leave our mates by the roadside panting for the love we deny them. We worship our own souls and do not know it. We could not be de- ceived by a less perfect set of lies. They seem so good, so true. They are so wonderful. We cannot be deceived by a less perfect rehgion. Any other is indeed not true. We can detect the falseness. We are far too wise to believe in 152 A WITNESS TESTIFIES other religions. We know the Bible is better. It is plain, it is The One. And thus is the heart of man seduced by an almost perfect lie. A lie cannot be perfect. It becomes the truth then. Now, to what did this ruined girl awake? She found she had been betrayed. She was deserted and alone. She was unworthy of her real mate. She could not face him. Her life was ruined. She was lost. So it is with Christians. They are seduced by a false lover. They are shut out from the light. They know not what they do. They are lost. They are alone in madness. Their de- ceiver has deformed the soul. They cannot see the truth. They are unfit for their mates. They wander alone in darkness. I don't know whether there is a heaven, or a hell. Neither does the Bible. No one knows. The Bible says there is. It can say anything. It lies. I must tell the truth. I don't know. Christ said there was a heaven. He lied; he did not know. He did not tell the truth about anything. He didn't know anything to tell. How do I know he lied about heaven? I don't. But if I catch him in a thousand other lies, I may rightly infer that he lied about that. He drew freely upon his imagination. I believe he lied about heaven. He failed to show what heaven is like. He didn't know what it is like. If he had known very Hkely he would have told. The fact is that he did not know any- thing about heaven. We have a thousand reasons for be- lieving he did not even know that there is a God, a devil. He failed to tell their nature or anything about them. He did not know; that is all there is to it. We have a thousand times as much reason to believe by this truth that there is a heaven as we have in the Bible. We have a thousand times more reason for believing that a man lives again. We can get from our truth some idea of what life after death is to be. From the Bible we cannot. We know, then, that Christ is the false bridegroom of the soul. He is the libertine of the mind. He steals away our AN ALLEGORY 153 purity. We bow down to the arch deceiver on our knees and ask for mercy. How do I know there is a perfect diet? There are many theories. There are many lies about it. Some are closer to the truth than others. They contain more truth about diet. All are guessing. No one knows. There must be a perfect diet, else there could not be so many parallels. I do not know. Too much knowledge is required to be- come ready for the discovery. I shall never find it. You know my guess. We await the advent of the man who shall tell us. How do I know there is a real religion? There are so many reUgions. All point to the fact that there is one real truth. I found it. There is one real rehgion. I went round the necessary circle. There are many false loves. You know the real one. How do I know there is a heaven? There are many guesses: they prove there is a real heaven. You know my guess. There must be one, else we should not have thought of it. How do I know Christ lied about eternity and heaven? His words will not stand the test. He was guessing. He did not know. How do I know there is a hell? There are many guesses. There must be a real one. There are a heaven and a hell on earth. This is a perfect life. Other worlds are fashioned hke it. They must be. There is no other way. They cannot be different. It is impossible. They can be more perfectly developed. A higher state of life is in them. There is more of a heaven. We are in heaven here. We are in hell. Death does not explain anything, else we live in vain. Life is sensible. Therefore, it is necessary. If death makes us perfect, it were folly to live. We must make the necessary preparation to enter a higher life. At college we advance by degrees. We must get the necessary knowledge. So it must be down through eternity. We must be prepared to enter the society of the faithful. There are no unfaithful ones in heaven. They cannot 154 A WITNESS TESTIFIES enter good company here. They will not do it in heaven. Each must make his own preparation. You must stand or fall by your own courage and intellect. You must do the thing yourself. This truth gives you the chance. You must survive or perish by your own exertions. Others make the way clear and plain. Every one must have his chance. At last you must do the thing yom-self . Others cannot do it for you. This truth gives all men the guide, so that they will not miss the way. We are in a better position. The way is plainer and easier. We must give all men a fair chance. Things are less unfair. The snares are laid bare. We can see them. We are wiser. We can hunt out and find the remaining traps. We know better than we did how to find them. We know what to look for. It is still dark, but we understand the darkness better. We can join hands and seek together. We need not stumble and bleed alone. We are still in the making. We are still imperfect. We are still wading in the filth and blood of the imperfect. This truth gives us the right to come out of some of it. This truth explains the hypnotism of the Bible. When you are unfaithful to your mate you are unhappy. You are in sorrow and anguish and pain. When you live faith- ful, you are relieved and happy. You love. You meet your mate and you are born again. You give up your heart and life to the right. Your love holds you up. It keeps you away from temptation and sin. You are a better man. Your love whispers sweet words of encouragement. For her you can DO. All the world is beautiful. Life is great indeed. You would not harm your love for worlds. You must be pure for her sake. You have the real bride. You are the real groom. You have found your heaven. You are a real man. Your love is a real woman. How great is God! How wonderful is the world! All is well. I love, I love. I am pure. I am free. Work is play. The whole world is a song. AN ALLEGORY 155 You love all men. You are good, you are noble, you are sincere, you are true. How good it is to live! It must be true, it satisfies all reason, all facts fit, there is no doubt, there is no contradiction. All the world shouts with glory for the truth of it. I believe, I trust, I have faith, I know. You cannot explain it away. It will not down. I love my mate. God exists. All is well. I am content to work, to listen, to learn, to think. I will strive and dare and do. The world is mine. It is folly to tell me differently. I know. You are guessing. You are wrong; the facts prove it. My heart knows. My soul pronounces its approval. God is pleased. He believes me. He loves me. I do his bidding. Nothing accuses me. There is no fear. I am happy. It is the truth. It is proved. IMMORTALITY At the present time nothing is known about what becomes of us after death. If any man pretends to know, he must show good and sufficient proof. As far as I know, when a man is dead, he is dead. Absolutely nothing is known about what becomes of us. It all resolves itself into one thing, and that is all there is to it: we know nothing about it; it is still shrouded in complete mystery. No one knows. All are guessing; all are theorizing. Since no one knows, and all are guessing, I write the following to show what I consider to be the future state in the Hght of the fact, or new truth, I have discovered. In the first place, our future Ufe does not concern us so much as our present duty; and no doubt when we are ready for the discovery, some one will make it. However, it is perfectly right and proper for anyone to consider the prob- lem. By our fact we know, first of all, that the person who does solve this riddle will add to the fullness of life, and that whatever the answer may be, it will be exactly what every- body wants it to be. We know that that statement is correct. Our fact teaches us that it is correct, without the shadow of a doubt. Our fact teaches us that all lies, all evil, all deformities will eventually die before the com- pelling power of truth. Of coiu-se, as responsible beings, we can fail. In that case, which is improbable, we will never know. It may be that man caimot fail, but we see plenty of evidence on all sides that he can. He is a fool who says everything will right itself and all will be well. Often it is asserted that a perfect God has no right to make a failure. A perfect God will not fail, but a responsible being has to make good by his own intellect and will power. Our position in a perfect world as responsible beings would not be perfect 157 158 A WITNESS TESTIFIES if we had not the power to fail. If I knew that humanity could not fail, I would not write one word of this story. Why? Because if humanity cannot fail, why bother about it? If it cannot fail, there can be no responsibility at- tached to the whole thing as far as anyone is concerned. If mankind cannot fail, there is no responsibility. It is very clear to me that I am not compelled to write this book; but if I do not, I refuse the responsibility imposed upon me. If mankind has not the power to fail, then I am deceived and am just wasting my time. Even if this be the truth, if there is no responsibility involved, then I owe no one anything. You may say, "Others will discover it and report it," which may be true. But I do not know that they will, and it might be a long time before they do. I can only believe and assert that human beings are responsible beings, and that it lies within their power to make or mar their futiu-e. I am siu-e they will prove worthy and be all that the Maker intended they should be. They are surely under the obligation to do so. The following is my belief concerning the future, in the light of our fact: It is aU a guess. We know that God exists. We know that man partakes of the nature of God, for he has a brain that is infinite. We know that the mind is infinite because there is no limit to the knowledge a man can store up in his mind. We know that God has existed in all the past and will exist in all the future, just as we know that two plus two makes four. We know that that has always been true and that it will always be true. It is the same with God. We know that space is infinity; that it has no limits; that it never has changed and that it will never change. We know that it is impossible to define it. It will remain exactly what it is for all eternity. We know that life is not an eternal thing. We know that life is not a finished thing. All men realize that fact. Some die young, and some are so born that life does not teach them much. We know that this life is not complete. We know that this IMMORTALITY 159 world had a beginning and will necessarily have an end. We know, then, that this life and this world do not make up the whole of eternity. All men must some day perish with the world. Therefore man's eternity does not depend on his offspring, as some seem to think. The bringing of children into the world is a sacred duty and does in a way involve our eternity, but it is by no means our individual eternity. If we did not bring children into the world, the world would end, so far as human beings are concerned. One man prepares a place for another. Now, if we are eternal beings, we must have some future place of residence. The people who have just passed through this life prepared the world for us. We are preparing for those who are to follow us. The reason I am writing this book is that I am thinking, in some part, of those who are to follow us and believe that this truth will help us to leave a better world for them to live in. In all probability we shall go to some other world peopled with beings like ourselves. Those who precede us prepare a place for us. So it must always be: the people ahead prepare a place for those to come. We know that that is the case in this world because it is being done all the time. We can see it. The fact that the happiness of the beings to follow us depends on our actions while we are here proves that we should prepare the best possible world in which to receive them. We do that now, but when we understand the laws of life better we will do more. We know by the fact discovered that the real life, the full life, is a hfe of unselfish love of mate, and that we receive everything the heart can wish for by living up to our fact. Therefore, we prepare the best possible world in that way of life for those to come. We give them pure, strong minds and bodies. We prepare plenty of worldly comforts by not wasting them on unholy things. In that case the fact fits in exactly. When a man is dead he becomes at one with God. He goes back into the whole as a drop of water goes eventually 160 A WITNESS TESTIFIES back into the sea. He has no active life until he is born into some other world. He cannot possibly exist as a spirit except as God exists. To exist as an individual he must be detached from God. If man can exist as an individual spirit apart from God, the world has no meaning. We are supposed to follow the dictates of sound sense because we know now that God has good common sense. Therefore, why all this won- derful world if we can exist in the spirit? There is only one answer. It cannot be done. God has made this world and all other worlds that he may express himself in the individual. We know that God does not waste, because he teaches us that we must not waste. If he wastes his energy doing unnecessary things, then why teach his offspring not to waste? The fact is that he does nothing of the kind. Then if we do live again in any sense we must be born again into some other world — probably something like this one, but not necessarily. We know by this, then, why no man ever sends us a message from the grave. It cannot be done. It is impossible. Some people claim that they talk with the dead. Here, most likely, is what happens: We know that God exists; that his nature is twofold; that he is intelligent love, and that he is intelligent hate. These two powers are working in the brains of men all the time. No doubt some people have had reason to believe they have heard from the dead. This new truth teaches us that if we get anything worth while, we have to think and work it out ourselves. If these people who imagine they have received a message from the dead will get right down to the truth and analyze what they have heard, or, in other words, if they really have a message from the dead, they will find on close examination that the message does not give them any valuable informa- tion. Here is the point: The devil is in every man's brain. No doubt people are deceived in many ways. They will be surprised to learn that they are surely deceived. They may get a message, but the message will be of no value. If the good God of Sense and Love could tell you anything, I am IMMORTALITY 161 sure he would; but all our experience teaches us that he cannot. Our only hope to get real truth is by experimenting, by working, by thinking. If it can be shown by ever so little that any information of any importance has got into the world in any other way, then you can rest assured that this work is useless and there is not a word of truth in it. If any man ever gets anything by tricks, or by crook, or by chance, as by accident from out the mind of a perfect God of Infinite Sense and Love, he will do more than anyone so far has been able to do. So don't let the devil deceive you. If you get any news worth telling, you will get it because you are worthy of it in every way; because you have mastered the thing and are ready to understand it. If it were possible to deceive God, he would not be perfect; so we can rest as- sured that no crookedness will ever get any information out of our Great God of Love. God alone is nothing. God is the living law. A law is nothing within itself. What if two plus two makes four? — it is worthless if there is no intelligent being to use it. What is a law good for if there is nothing to govern? What is God if he has no world to rule? What is a heaven if no one is there to enjoy it? God detached from his creation is nothing within himself. God to be anything himself must have men to govern. Man is the same; man detached is nothing within himself. When a man would be something within himself, he is lost. Man must obey the law or he is cast out. He is in darkness and confusion. Try it and find out, if you doubt that statement. You will soon learn that you are playing a hopeless game. We have this, then, to consider: we know that God is eternal; we also know that God is nothing within himself; that to be of any value he must have worlds to rule. We know, then, that the individual intelligent being does exist always. However, that does not necessarily mean that any single individual will exist more than once, but it does mean that individuals of some sort will always of necessity 162 A WITNESS TESTIFIES exist. We know that individual life exists on this earth in an endless chain of infinity. Every individual is somewhat different; no two are exactly alike. We know that as far as the flesh is concerned no individual ever can come to this earth but once. We also know that our bodies are finite and we do not want them again, nor do we desire to live in the same body more than a natural lifetime. If we had to live more than one allotted time, it would be unbearable. We do not even desire to live the same life over. We know there is an infinity of individuals, which on the one hand proves that the same individual can never hope to be again, but on the other hand the infinite natiu-e of God and his creation does not permit the loss of a single one. If one could be lost, there would be no infinity. We can, as a rule, get some knowledge of a subject by considering the negative side of it. Suppose at death an individual ceases to exist in any sense whatever. We are dead personally, individually, infinitely. Death simply means the end of everything, forever, for us. We are out of the game in all ways forever. If that is the case, life at once loses all sense and meaning. But we know that a perfect God of sense and love rules. If that is the case, if at death all things cease for us forever, we are worse than fools to live at all. Why all this gnashing of teeth if we never know anything more? Why all this responsibility? Why all this love and hate? Why all this wonderful world, why all this wonderful scheme of laws to make a man a perfect, conscious, responsible creature of love and intelligence? Why God? Why the devil? Why anything at all if it is to end in nothingness? If a man knew that death ends all, if it could be proved that death is the very end of all things for us, he were a perfect fool not to commit suicide at once. We know by our new fact that suicide is a cowardly thing; we know that it is an act of supreme selfishness. It is the last disgraceful act of a traitor, of an unfaithful mm-derer. If life is worth nothing to you, it is worth living for others. IMMORTALITY 163 If we cannot for an eternity ever know or feel again, it can not make the slightest difference whether we commit suicide or not. If we are nothing, then we return to nothing. If we are more than nothing, and if what we do now does make a difference to us and to others for all time, if we are reasonable creatures, then we must somehow exist again. Nothing can have no responsibility. Something can. We can understand that a man must of necessity exist always. He must exist always as a personal individual being for the world, for God, for everything he has made, else he has no meaning whatsoever. Therefore if of necessity we must exist again, what will be the nature of that existence? There is only one possible sensible thing. We are born into a series of lives and our mates are with us. Why must we love our mates un- selfishly if they are not to be with us? Eternity would be a curse without our mates. Eternity, to be an eternity worthy of the name, must of necessity be a series of lives for mates. This life will furnish a key. This life to be happy and useful must be lived according to law with your mate. In that case this life is a great blessing. In any other case it is somewhat less, and can very easily be a real curse. We can see that our fact fits in here because if man is unfaithful, his mate is innocently made to suffer with him. Now if we try to substitute some other plan, we find it will not answer. It is the same old story: if you try to make two plus two equal some number other than four, the results are confused and wrong. Nothing else will fit. Therefore, lovers pass through eternity in series of lives, and possibly from one world to another. There could be no more beautiful thought or more perfect plan than this, a romance of eternal love and happiness. Could it be more? Could it be less? Heaven is, then, to meet your love in a more perfect life. Hell is to be alone in some lesser life. This is a good point to consider here : If you are alone in this life, we know that the sensible and correct thing to do is to 164 A WITNESS TESTIFIES live your life in the best possible way; thus you will have a much better chance to be happy in the next Hfe. It is certain if you cannot live a worthy life alone, you are not entitled to live with your mate. We know that it is im- possible to get something we are unworthy of, so let us be worthy and be happy. We should improve this hfe as much as possible as we go through it. If a man discovers a better way to do a thing, he should report it. When a discovery is made and reported, all who pass through the world from then on to the end of the world get the benefit of it. Now that this key or new truth has been discovered, lovers can meet on this earth in a more perfect life. By this theory of a series of lives it is possible to explain all things. In no other way can we explain all things. If one dies young or gives up life in a worthy cause, one can be repaid in no way other than by a series of lives. If we have a series of lives which extend throughout eternity, passed in company with our love, we can explain everything. Anything less would be nothing. Nothing could be better. Anyone who discovers a truth or makes the world a better place in which to live, is a benefactor of the race. We know from this discovery that the Bible is false and that Christ is not the saviour. Christ added nothing to our knowledge, but on the contrary, he placed a stumbling block in our way which has delayed the progress of the world per- haps a thousand years. As I stated at the beginning of this chapter, I do not know what happens after death, and I want it to be understood clearly that I do not pretend to know. I also know that no one else knows. If anyone does know, he has not yet told it. It seems proper here to outline what we are likely to find if we disobey the commands of our perfect God of Sense and Love. All persons who have been deceived by the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ have gone to hell. Otherwise there can be no harm in lying, for a lie is just as important IMMORTALITY 165 # as the truth. If a man believes a lie and fails to perform his duty in life, of necessity it deforms his soul and he must suflPer from it. What is hell? Hell is self hate. Self hate is caused by self love. Now, if men worship Christ as the saviour, we know they are doing a thing of self love. They perform an act of self love of the soul. Now, if one loves one's own soul, that is selfish love of self, and results in deformity of the soul. It is a cross between lovers. It separates them. Hell, then, is self hate, utter disgust for one's own actions. It is isolation. You are cast' out into utter darkness to wander alone in deformity and confusion. The unbearable nature of hell is to realize that you have brought sorrow and deformity to your mate by your own selfish actions. If you suffered alone it would not be so bad, but to know you have dragged down with you one whom you would not harm for a kingdom, is unbearable. This goes to prove that all man- kind is closely related and that the sins of one are visited on all. There is only one sensible way out of it, and that is to obey the law. There are many who will not think or listen. The pangs of hell will be sufficient to satisfy the hardiest sinner. It may take a thousand years of hell to reform some, and some may require a million. Hell can only last until one has been reformed. Hell would lose its meaning entirely if it lasted always. As God does all things with perfect sense and a perfect purpose, he could not punish a soul forever. There could be no sense or purpose in punishing a soul forever, but hell will be severe enough to make anyone willing to obey the law if he gets a chance. The object of hell is not to punish man, but to perfect him. A drunkard will have to sit by a barrel of whisky for a thousand years and not take a drink. His soul will be per- fected when no temptation can make him waver one iota. If during this thousand years' test he should weaken and take one sip to allay his burning thirst, he would likely have another thousand years added to his time. We must learn, 166 A WITNESS TESTIFIES at last, that it is insanity to break the law, and that we must not do it lest we suffer more than we can afford to pay. We know that in this life the law is something like that. If we break the law here we know that we pay a terrible price for our folly. If we can draw any inference from this life, we can know, then, that hell is a very bad place and that it is better to use a little sense and backbone to avoid it. If we are gentlemen here we will be treated like gentlemen there. If we are unfaithful and brutish here we can expect to get in hell what we deserve, and more too. Why.'' Because we are paid in terms of love and hate, and we know that there is an overplus to love and there is an overplus to hate. In dealing with this question of immortality I am fully aware that it is a question of infinity and that there are many ways to consider the subject. We can prove that all space could not hold the men and women who pass through this world if all were to assume flesh at the same time. I have stated that I know and can prove nothing about it. I tell you what to me seems to be the most sensible theory of immortality. Not knowing what are the facts in the case, I simply express my belief. One of the most disconcerting facts in the whole thing is this : we know that man evolved from various forms of lower life. There was a time when man was no more than a worm. Just when did his eternity begin? In considering this subject we must always allow for the fact that God is a perfect infinite God of perfect sense. The way I have pointed out seems to be the only sensible way. It satisfies the reason and the heart. It gives us hope and faith and fills our lives with usefulness and piu-pose. To say that there is nothing just because we cannot see and understand, is to do ourselves an injustice. There is a circle of eternal life of some sort, we know. We do not know what our circle of eternal life is, but it is right and proper to believe and hope for the very best because we know that God exists, and we know that he is a perfect God of infinite sense and love. WAR The new truth throws some light on war. We know by it that the perfect race of men will not engage in war. The question at once arises. Why will they not have war, and how will they avoid it? There is only one reason why we have war in this day and time. It is because we do not understand. It is a matter of want of knowledge. It is purely and simply ignorance. It is the same old story; you can't do a thing you don't know how to do. We will have disease, cancer, in our midst until we learn how to cure it. It is impossible to cure it until we learn how. The same is just as true of war. This new truth tells us what war is. It tells us what we must do to end it. War is a mental disease, or deformity. It is a flaw in the soul that is yet to be corrected. War is a vice. It is the result of breaking the funda- mental law of life: that each person must love his mate unselfishly. All wars are caused by the breaking of that law. We break the law in many ways. The principal cause of war is the willingness of some to do injustice to others. When all men shall strive to do justice to one another war will be no more. This world was created as a whole. The same laws govern all men. When all men work together in harmony for the whole there will be no cause for war. All must be perfect men and live by principle. The interests of all men flow in the same channel. The perfect men will not waste their resources in a confusion of selfish interests. We must live one for all and all for one. We must look upon the world as one. All men are brothers in the sense that their interests run in the same direction. If every man lived according to that principle, the world would blossom 167 168 A WITNESS TESTIFIES and bloom like a rose. Now, the fine point is this : if a man lives faithful to his mate in all things, if he is worthy of her, he fulfills that obligation to the world of men. It is a mis- take to think that the world can be ruled by might. Manly men refuse to be ruled by might. It is possible to a certain extent to rule by might, but it ruins the manhood of the men who submit to it. No group of men could rule me by might. They could very easily kill me, but they could not rule me. When men once learn what real manhood is, and what it means, they will establish the right with might. It is a very easy matter to rule a gentleman when you know how. We all know that we must of necessity be governed by some laws. A gentleman would rather be governed by the laws of the Perfect Master than by some counterfeit. When we consider this proposition as it is, we can at once see that it is absolutely essential for every man and every woman to love his or her mate unselfishly, so that each one from childhood up shall receive fair and due consideration. If all men the world over lived according to that standard there could be no war, — there would be no cause for war. Any man who considers that chain of facts can readily see that war is a reality, and that if we are ever to rid ourselves of it we must in many ways change our manner of living. First, all men must be governed in their daily life by the real truth. Make no mistake on this point. There is only one truth, and it is the same for all. Our perfect God wiU not allow us to have false religions, because they lead us astray. We will never have any more religious wars, but we will be likely to have many wars caused indirectly by false religions. A false religion means a false conception of things in general. Such a mental condition leads inevitably to con- fusion and dispute, and eventually to war. It is the perfect purpose of God to bring all humanity under the same laws at last, and the sooner we realize that fact, and the quicker we put it into practical operation, the better for all of us. WAR 169 All false religions must fall, and the truth must take their place in the hearts of men. The fact that nothing of any value in any false religion can be lost is very consoling. The real religion contains all good. The golden rule, which is thought to be so necessary to the happiness of mankind, is contained in our new truth, which will be found to con- tain also all the real wisdom and real philosophy of all time, past, present, and future. All men know that the moment one man gains an unfair advantage over another, the seed of strife is sown. We can clearly see how far humanity is from the ideal state of mind. It is wrong in principle for a nation to impose import duties. The country that can produce any commodity cheapest and best must produce it, and export it duty free. Rightfully, Cuba should be allowed to produce sugar and ship it to all countries on a free trade basis. The whole world must be placed on a free trade basis, so that all will have equal opportunity to establish their wares on a fair basis of price and merit. Perfect love is perfect understanding. The cause of war is the want of understanding. A well-trained, efficient man can produce many times more than he can consume. It is plain that if all men were trained to be efficient workers and producers, there would be more than enough wealth to provide all with the blessings of life. The loafer is always indirectly the cause of violence at some point. If a man uses up more than he produces he necessarily deprives others of their share. Somebody has got to make up for his idleness. Then the trouble begins. No real man is going to make up the deficiency caused by some worthless drone. If every man would fulfill his heart's desire he must be a producer. We are so created that the normal man does not consume one-tenth what he is able to produce. The insane desire to live on other men's production is born of unfaithfulness. He who is unfaithful is a pervert and is deceived. Any man in 170 A WITNESS TESTIFIES a normal frame of mind would rather die than to take one cent of which he is not worthy. The reason we are traitors to one another is because we do not understand. If every man knew and could fully realize the vast importance of being a true lover, all cause for war would vanish from the world forever. If all men could understand that they de- stroy their own happiness and that of their families first, they would see the necessity of obeying the law. If it could be made possible for every man to see the utter hopelessness of any form of selfishness whatsoever, the brotherhood of mankind would be established forever. This fact demonstrates that the self in every man is developed to the utmost under the guidance of this law. A man does not sacrifice anything by being a true lover, but on the other hand he gains everything. He loses himself and his loved ones by being unfaithful. Then the fundamental causes of war are various forms of unfaithfulness practiced by men. First of all, we see that it is a lack of knowledge. We know that we cannot do a thing unless we know how. We have war at the present time be- cause we do not possess the fundamental facts of life. The price we must pay to end war is to rid om-selves of the insane wastefulness now manifested in all forms of unfaithfulness. All unfaithfulness leads to murder. If we are unfaithful to one another, we must eventually murder one another. If we hold false intercourse, either physically or mentally, in the end we must surely pay the price of bloody war. God sets us at one another's throats in murderous hate, if we break the divine law. Humanity must either give up false religions and false loves or perish from the face of the earth. Men have thought for many ages that war is murder, and now we know it is. We must murder one another in ruth- less war because we desert our mates for some worthless false love. Then, to avoid war, we must do away with all alcoholic drinks, all forms of tobacco, coffee, tea, and all related drugs. We must discard with all false religions, such WAR 171 as belief in Christ and the Bible. In their place we must have the real religion: that every man must live according to the law — he must love his mate unselfishly. That we can avoid confusion and destruction in no way other than by living up to the truth, to the commands of a perfect God, who is perfect in sense and perfect in love, is undeniable. War separates lovers just as surely as anything can. It is wastefulness personified. It is the crowning glory of the perfect God of hate. It is wholesale murder brought about by the deception of the devil. It is the ultimate tragedy of the human race. The causes of war descend to the very depths of our nature. We see clearly that every child must be carefully reared lest it grow up to be a curse to itself and to the whole race. Any child not properly educated and instructed is likely to become a torment to the race. We must exercise rigid care to see that people do not marry if in any sense unfit. A child that is born a bastard in the sight of the divine law will in all likelihood be neglected and grow up to be an evil and a shame to itself and to mankind. We see that this matter of war goes to the very roots of life. There is only one way to avoid wars : every person on earth must live by principle. We must see to it that every child is well born and that it is educated in the proper manner. Just as surely as humanity continued to disobey this rigid law, it can look forward to war and more war. If the heart of man- kind cannot and will not accept the great and wonderful life of unselfish love for one's mate, it is doomed. The glory of war grows pale when we know what it is. No man wiU be a soldier when he knows he is a thief, a liar, a traitor, a murderer, when he knows he is destroying his wife and his children and himself. We must thoroughly understand this point in regard to war : the demands of the perfect law compel a man to keep himself in the pink of physi- cal and mental condition at all times. A lover is a man who will fight if necessary. We are living in an infinitely per- fect-imperfect world. Because man is a being of principle 172 A WITNESS TESTIFIES and goodness he must fight to uphold the right. A man who will not back up his goodness and love with courage and bravery has no goodness and love. There is no reason why a good man should let a bad, unprincipled man take advan- tage of him. The divine law requires that a man be right, and ready to fight for the right. This law teaches us that it takes two to make a match. One alone can do nothing. Both must live up to the obligation before there can be har- mony. We see, then, how very important it is that all men know the law, so that all may have the same opportunity to understand and obey. If a man understands, but persists in doing injustice to his fellow men, for the safety of the others he must be made to do justice. Taking into consideration the present condition of the human mind, we see at a glance that we are far from being faithful to our mates in all things. We can expect, then, to have many wars in the future. All depends, of course, on how readily the hiunan mind digests this truth the world over. If we remain in our present con- fused and wasteful condition, we must kill, kill by wholesale, until we can wake up to the fact that the inexorable law of perfect God must not be violated by any of us, lest we perish. It is just a matter of understanding. True men will not fight, because they will love and respect one another; that will destroy the cause of fighting and killing. We are a long, long way from this ideal brotherhood today, but we are advancing with terrible rapidity. If this truth is cast across the world as it should be, war should pass out of the minds of all civilized men in a short time. The idea that the civilized nations can form a league to enforce peace is an elusive dream. It were as reasonable to suggest that all civilized men sign a compact to stop the ravages of cancer. Cancer cannot be stopped by agreement. We must know how to cure it. War can be stopped only through the knowledge of what it is and what causes it. We can stop war now because we know what it is and what will cure us of its curse. But what a terribly long way we are WAR 173 from it! The devil has fastened himself, octopus like, upon hearts and minds of men, and when they shake themselves free from his terrible tentacles they remember how it is done. Yet if anybody thinks the devil is going to die an easy death, he is badly mistaken. The creation of man is infinitely great, and we have a tremendous struggle ahead of us. Undoubtedly, the most trying time the human race will have to pass through is right now. We are indeed on a very turbulent sea. Every man should stand by his oars with every ounce of his manhood. Now is the supreme test. To fail now is to bring utter disgrace upon our heads. Let every man use his intelligence and bravery. Now is the fateful hour for us. Let us make all coming races of men proud of us. Let us establish the brotherhood of man on a firm and lasting foundation of facts and truth. If by our manhood and bravery now we can rid the world of this terrible curse of war, all the world for all time will sing songs of joy in our praise. Let no man think that the task is one for weaklings. Every man must fiU a man's place, and the call is a call to one and all alike. No man is an exception. We are equal to the task if we will to do the thing. We can establish the world on a basis of fairness, justice, common sense, brotherly love, self respect, superb manhood. The knowledge and facts and truth are in our hands. It can, it must, it will be done. Whether we prove equal to the task or not, some day, somehow, it must be done by virtue of this divine law. What must be done, then, by each nation to avoid the necessity of war? Do away with all forms of false inter- course, such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs and all such accursed things at the earliest possible moment. Teach all boys and girls that the procreative function is sacred, and warn them of the terrible effects of sexual laxity. Do away with waste of all kinds such as gluttony and all the wasteful practices and habits connected with it. Make the law so strict that only healthy persons can marry. Educate all children 174 A WITNESS TESTIFIES to a plan of efficient usefulness. Discard the Bible and all of its silly and insane madness and all false religions of whatever nature throughout the world. Establish in every line an institution founded on truth and facts. Make every man and woman in the nation a real man and woman, an efficient producer and a happy being. Every man should be a trained soldier and every woman a trained nurse. If fight we must, let us fight in the light of real truth. There must be no misunderstanding about religions. There must be no more war on religion. All men desire and seek the truth. If a man cannot understand, he must not be forced. Truth cannot be forced upon him. Let God show him the utter folly of his way. There is no necessity for one drop of blood to be shed over religion. The church will die a natural death; all false religions will perish in the light of real truth. The point to consider is this: If a nation has a wrong religion and a wrong philosophy, it will in time become a source of trouble because its wrong conception will lead it counter to the interests of the whole race. In time it must comply with the law just as other nations do or be out- stripped and lost. Misguided nations may become so troublesome in their insanity that they will have to be put down by war. Not in the name of religion, but in the name of common sense and safety to all mankind. Perhaps the highest thing that can be said on this subject is that man- kind must conduct its affairs according to the divine law or fight. The way to avoid war, then, is to conduct our lives in compliance with the highest law. Then we are safe. How soon can we disarm? will be a question asked by many. At present it would be very unwise to disarm. When the brotherhood of man is established in the world on a firm basis of truth, when every nation knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that it will incur the wrath of all other nations by doing unfair and unjust acts, when we all know that it is mad insanity to try to force other men to act WAR 175 • against the dictates of common sense and divine will, dis- armament will be in order. To advise a nation to lay down its arms now would be like asking a friend to throw away his household pistol while biu-glars are at his window. The time to disarm is when all men know that the disease of war is cured — not before. The European War By the light of this truth we can understand the reason for this great war. In the first place, no one among the nations at war knows what the real truth is. Therefore, it is a lack of first-hand knowledge of facts and truths which is mostly to blame for the war. All of the nations in the group now at war have a wrong religion, a wrong philosophy of Ufe. Their sins, then, are of a spiritual nature in part. They all use liquors of various kinds, and tobacco, coffee, tea, drugs; they all have wrong ideas in regard to food, and make false gods of gluttony and associated evils. We know by this truth that these mental and physical errors will lead to war. They all break the divine law, and that means murder. Nations must fight and die if they violate the law. They try to govern their lands on a basis of different units, a good-for-me-and-bad-for-you policy. That policy alone will lead to war. All nations of the world must be governed as a unit. Any other plan is wasteful, and we know that waste is a crime. The world must be governed as a unit, and by a policy of live and let live, one for all and all for one. Every country in Europe must eventually be governed by men elected by the whole people; every man and every woman must have a fair and honest vote. Kings and queens are wrong in principle. Competent and just rulers can be chosen only from men who have prepared themselves by long years of hard work and correct thinking — men who are filled with wisdom and love. It is a crime to allow any other kind of man to rule a nation of people. He is likely 176 A WITNESS TESTIFIES to commit blunders that will drench the land in the blood of the innocent. We see from this that war is insanity, it is madness per- sonified. No government can be so mighty as to rule men against their will. If they attempt to do so, it means a con- stant flow of blood, and at last of necessity they will fall. The day is past in this world when men will submit to be ruled by any laws other than the laws of fairness and justice to all — the laws of the master mind, the perfect ruler, since it is clear that all must at last be governed by the same laws. Inasmuch as all men must at last stand or fall by their own deeds and will power, that nothing can continue that is unfair and unjust to a single human being, however lowly, it is not of very much consequence which nation wins. The victor must be governed by the same law as the vanquished. If the victor robs and plunders the victim, he destroys his own happiness. All that can be done is to allow all men a fair chance to prove their worth and merit. Then if, to save our own manhood and our homes, we must in any event treat each other on the basis of brotherly love, what shall it profit one man to defeat another? Conceding that point, what is the use of fighting the war to a conclusion? The issues of this war reach to the very depths of human nature and undoubtedly wiU be fought to a finish. As to human confusion, the Germans seem to be obsessed with the idea that they are more im- portant than some of the other nations. It is clear that in this they are mad, and it is clearly the duty of the rest of mankind to undeceive them by putting them in their proper place and restoring them to their senses. The Germans seem to be a greal deal more in the wrong in this war than the others. All are partly to blame, but it is very clear that the Germans willed the war with the idea that the rest of the world had no manhood and would succumb easily. They made a serious mistake and will pay a terrible price for their folly. We want to be as brothers to them; but as master and WAR 177 slave, never! They may win the war in Europe, but they can never print their tracks on American soil. We of America are free men and we prefer death to serfdom. Prom the very first this war has seemed a war to free German manhood. I am firmly convinced that that will be one of the great results of the war. The Germans will be freemen and will take their place in the brotherhood of man, and be all that the great God intended they should be. If they be greater than we, let them lead us to a more perfect understanding. They can never drive us to a better man- hood. When the minds of German men are purified, so that . they wiU tell the truth and nothing but the truth, they will indeed be a great people. No man or cUque of men is too great to stoop to falsehood. All of us are weak and sinful, and for that reason we need the help of one another, and love and sympathy and encouragement. The French are the most advanced people in the world today. Their men and women have found the true romance of life in a higher degree than has any other people. They have won the admiration of all mankind forever by their unselfish love and splendid courage. The step from the false religion to the real rehgion should be easy for the French to take, since unconsciously they abeady comply with its demand. No wonder they can die with such devotion and abandon, since they love their mates unselfishly. A man who has not the courage to die has no right to Uve, and loves but himself. It is very easy to understand that if all the people in Europe had been guided by the law that mates should love each other unselfishly, the war could never have occurred. Then, if they would avoid wars in the future, they must live up to that precept. If they want to live in peace and plenty, they must form a United States of Europe and conduct their affairs upon the principle of one for all and all for one. They must adjust their policies to serve all the people and not a part of the people. They must build their railroads to 178 A WITNESS TESTIFIES serve the whole continent as a unit and not as mihtary roads to serve one group of people to the undoing of some other group. They must conduct aU their affairs, both as a whole and as individuals, in compliance with the demands of real business sense, according to the plan of the Master Mind, the perfect God of intelligence and love. Just as surely as they continue to worship the false God, Christ, and try to detach themselves in groups, they will from time to time have to fight their wars over. The only sensible thing to do is to adjust their affairs in compliance with the divine will. Sin is cumulative and no breach of faith goes unnoticed. The price of sin will at last have to be paid in blood. The world was made for all of us, and we must conduct our hves in accordance with the sensible law or perish. Now, if Europe would be a perfect heaven on earth, it must do this thing. It is a great undertaking, but the world is great, God is great, mankind is great. The people of Europe can do it, and they must. They must rise to the responsibility. To override fact and truth is insane. If we would turn Europe into a Garden of Eden, then we must advance on chaos and the dark as brothers, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder. One of the most wonderful things in the domain of the mind is the fact that all men really love one another unselfishly. They would not harm one another for the world if they but knew. That is a fact, and in it is wrapped up man's hope of eternity. It is sorrowful to know that men who really love must kill one another because they are foully and terribly deceived by a devil of hate. To know that he is being duped by a sly, deceitful, murdering demon is enough to make any man with a spark of manhood in his blood rebel in horror. What can we do? All men must obey. All men must be real men. The obligation rests equally upon all. It is perfectly clear that this matter of war is an infinite thing. We are far from the perfect condition. Just what finally will prove the correct form of government for the whole world, it is futile to say. The several races of man- WAR 179 kind are in different degrees of evolution and development. We will undoubtedly have confusion and wars for genera- tions to come. A league of peace would not stop wars. Nothing will ever stop wars except recognition and accept- ance of the law of perfect love of mate. First and above all things, we must forget nationahty. All men belong to the world as a whole. To say that each small nation and each great nation shall have equal rights to develop along its preferred individual line is no solution to the problem. There can be but one solution: each man must be a citizen of the world, and not of any one nation. All peoples must evolve as a whole, and not as separate units, if they would avoid conflict of interests and wars. All must come under one government and one religion. We are infinitely far from, it today, yet eventually it must be done or we are doomed. Whether humanity can ever make the step and form a world government, it is impossible to say. All men are alike, and all are governed by the same natural and divine laws. That every individual must live in obedience to the universal law is clear. There can be but one conclusion regarding confusion of government, and that is : all must at last be as one people and govern our affairs as a unit. In no other way can every race have its place in the sun, and a fair and just position in the brotherhood of man. In no other manner shall it be right for the powerful to rule the weak. But when we see that it is necessary for the whole world to be placed upon a business basis, we see that it is just and right to set up a powerful and good government in all parts of the world for the benefit of the whole world. It is not doing a weak and backward people an injustice to develop their country for their benefit and for the benefit of the whole world. If they cannot meet the demands of higher civilization; if they cannot reach up to a better life; if they cannot stand along among men; if they cannot comply with the demands of the divine law; if they cannot become 180 A WITNESS TESTIFIES worthy members of the brotherhood of man, — they are simply lost. It is not right to make room in the world for people incapable of meeting the demands of world brotherhood. Give every man a fair chance; and if he cannot become a worthy citizen of the world, God will see to it that he perishes. God does not keep for long in this world men or animals that cannot meet the demands of the constantly changing conditions. The real man will be willing to take his chances, to serve on an equal footing with every other man. If mankind can bring about unity of government, if all men are treated as on an equal footing, then harmony will be established in the world. It is impossible to believe that harmony and peace can ever be permanent under any other conditions. Nations will in time come to blows because their in- terests conflict, and there is no way to avoid it. If all men have the same religion and the same laws, the interests of all will be as one. In that way we become as one people, each works for the whole, and the whole is managed for the welfare of the individual. That is a big step for the human race to take, but it is necessary, and it must be taken. When all mankind works in unison, the world will become a heaven almost over night. It is wonderful even to think that it can be done, and it is still more wonderful to know that it must and will be done. All boundary lines must vanish and the native land of every man must be the native land of the whole world. What a wonderful thought — that some day we can say that every human being is a free and equal citizen of the world! How wonderful, to think that every man in the world is doing his utmost to make you happy, and that you in turn are doing all you can to make every other man happy! It is a simple thing to understand, but how hard it will be to do! It really is not difficult. It just seems so. What is really difficult is not to do it. It has become habitual WAH 181 for people to try the impossible for many years before they attempt the simple and possible. No man need fear that by this plan some weak race will fill the world. If a race cannot meet the demands of the better man it will die out. The men with the best character, the keenest brains, the greatest love, the purest habits, the men that more nearly meet the demands of the perfect infinite law, wiU at last survive. All the weak and unfit and unworthy will in time succumb. None at last will survive but the best, the most worthy, — the real, true gentlemen. It is clear that all useful inventions are the same to all men. A telephone is a telephone in any country, and so are all other things. The most confusing problem is the universal language. We must establish a universal lan- guage. To determine what language we should choose is diflScult. But we must make a choice. The language that will survive will be that language which is simplest and most useful. The best minds in the world should make the choice, and then all men should unselfishly and with a mighty manly effort use it. It is wasteful and confusing to have many different languages. It is impossible ever to invent a language to serve our purpose. We must make a choice of the best we have, and then we should develop it into a perfect tongue. By doing this thing we can do more to bring all men into one harmonious whole, into a brother- hood of perfect love and perfect understanding, than by any other one thing. Future generations would call us blessed indeed if we could remove that great stumbling block, the confusion of tongues. It matters not whether the language chosen be French, German, English, or Chinese. We must make a choice. We should choose that which from every standpoint is best, and then all men should unselfishly learn and speak the chosen language. If all the schools of the world should teach one language with that idea in view, and continue such teaching for two or three generations, our troubles along that line would no longer 182 A WITNESS TESTIFIES exist. One language is as good as another. They are all used for the same purpose. What matter which we use if it be a good one? All that is necessary is that we make a choice and, by the love of the glory of the world and the happiness of mankind, bring about the desired result. TO EUROPE I HAVE shown by arguments good and sufficient that you all are in the wrong. All of you are partly right, and all are partly wrong. It is evident to anyone who will think the truth that the German people are most wrong. I have shown clearly that a man must take the truth into con- sideration, and that he must as an honorable gentleman fight for the right. No one is perfect. We are striving for perfection. The Entente Alhes clearly are guided by reasons nearer the truth. Every man must have what is right and just. Now, since we are all brothers and sisters, and must love each other unselfishly, if by good common sense and love and truth the German people are shown to be more in the wrong than the others, then they must lay down their arms. If within their hearts they cannot defend their position, then they have not the truth and are doing the human race a great injustice in trying to maintain their position. Germans, I have clearly shown that an honorable man must back up the right with his might. You can plainly see that all men, if they are men, will have to come to the aid of the others and help destroy you. To be worthy of their mates, men must do this thing. They cannot look their wives and children in the face and refuse to do it. It is a thousand times better to wear rags, and be dirty and filthy and right, than to wear fine silks and be wrong. Now, I have shown you that there is a perfect God of love and sense. I have shown you that Humanity is the real Christ. Hu- manity can make all our dreams come true. Humanity is the negative God. It is the working principle. Now I am going to ask the German people in the name of humanity, the real Christ, to lay down their arms. 183 184 A WITNESS TESTIFIES I have shown you that the great good God exists in the minds of all men; that the ruling passion in all hearts is to love their mates unselfishly; that a man who will not live or die for the right is a Uar and a traitor and a murderer; that he will bring down upon his head the curses of a perfect God; that he is shut out from the love of his mate and is weary and heavy laden. Now, German people, you are great as the rest are great, your heart is big and overflowing with love and human kindness. If you will lay down your arms, you will be noble indeed. I pray you, for the sake of all, that you do this and win back your place in our hearts. On bended knee and with a meek heart, I ask this of you. If you will grant this prayer, we will call your name aloud in high praise. Now, if in all sense you cannot do this thing, but take counsel of your heart and learn the truth: /f I ask this thing for my- self, I must ask it for all other men. If others do not give you your place in the sun, and a fair chance to live and learn and work and love, I must as an honorable man give up my life to see that you have as much as other men. Then if I must do this thing as a man, all other men must do it. I pledge you my word of honor, with my life and brains and money, all that I possess, that I will see to it that you are treated fairly. Then if I must take the pledge to love and defend you, all other men must do the same thing. Are we not in fact brothers and sisters? Do we not love each other with unspeakable love? Does not the God of sense and love exist in all hearts? If he can influence me, the average man, to take the oath to see that all justice be done you, then he can influence all other men with the same love, sense, reason, facts, to do the same thing. I know that no man wants anything but justice. No gentle- man would accept anything else. All men wish to be worthy in the sight of their mates, and to be so they must do as I do : I give you my word, from my heart that is pure gold, made so by the God of perfect sense and love, the Master Mind that makes no mistakes, that the right must prevail. TO EUROPE 185 If you, German people, will not grant' us this great bless- ing, then I as well as all other men must fight and bleed until the truth prevails. We are all imperfect. We must love, pity, have mercy, help defend the right, and grant each other's prayers. Are we not all great? Are we not the real Christ? the perfect God in the flesh? Can we not make all our dreams come true? Must not you, German people, inevitably fall in time? WiU not the curses of a perfect God of hate and sense be brought down upon your head if you rebel against the truth? Did I not teU you that the word of a perfect God of sense and love is spoken through a man if he tells the truth, no matter how humble and lowly he may be? Take this writing and search it well, and find the truth in your hearts. There are many mistakes in this work, no doubt. I am very imperfect, and I am not educated. There are thousands who are far wiser than I. But put the facts together and arrange them to suit yourself. Let the truth prevail, whatever it may be. We are all children of the same great God of sense and love. If we seek the truth with open hearts and attentive minds, we wiU find the divine truth which cannot and wiU not lead us astray. For is not God the infinite and perfect Master? Is he not oiu- perfect Guide? Is he not ovu: real Master? Is he not our real Ruler? Are not all things possible in the divine mind? We have seen that all have sinned and aU alike are guilty. All will continue to sin and to be imperfect. Now, German people, you must know that you are no more guilty than the rest. All have been deceived by the same great power of evil. We will continue to be deceived. If you will not grant this prayer for the sake of all men, then we must fight on. We must give of our blood and brains and money, until the highest sense prevails. We will love you just the same, because we know that you are our brothers and sisters, and that you would not harm us if you knew what you are doing. You cannot be treated unfairly, because every man who has an ounce of brains must see that justice is done you. All 186 A WITNESS TESTIFIES humanity will arise to defend you, German people, if you are not treated fairly. Are we not brothers and sisters? Will not the heart of mankind tiu-n in mercy and pity and sympathy to you if you are treated wrongly? We were renegade indeed did we not love and protect you with all our might. I ask you for the last time, in the name of humanity, to grant us this great blessing. Then we can take up our work where we left it, and in sorrow and pity and mercy, and love as brothers and sisters of one Great and Holy God, mend our wounds and forget the past. In the sight of God there are no Germans, no French, no English, no Americans; from the lowest to the highest we are all the children of God. We all love each other with unspeakable love. Now, German Kaiser, I ask you to grant this request in the name of humanity, the bridesmaid of God, — for her sake I implore you to lay down your sword, in the light of sense, love, justice, truth, the four infinite attributes of the perfect God. All men are imperfect. We are yet very young. I am an every-day, average man. I do not pretend to know all, nor do I care to sit in the council of the rulers of men. You know your business. I don't. Call your leaders together and decide what to do about this matter. Let the highest coimcil prevail. Use your best intelligence. It is the word of God in your mind. Let the highest truth, love, sense, justice, within you be your guide. It is the perfect God of infinite sense and love who would lead you. Of them to whom much is given, much is expected. Mine is a rare performance. I am lonely and without power. If humanity wishes to praise me, I consent. German Kaiser, if you grant this prayer, which I ask for all men, you will let us praise you. Your sacrifice will be a great one, but all men will praise you. Though your sins be as crimson, they shall be whiter than snow. If you do not, all is not lost. God is perfect. Nothing is lost. But in the name of pity, mercy, love, friendship, I ask it of you for TO EUROPE 187 * . . all men. I announce the last judgment, that in sight of love, tj'uth, facts, sense, we as a race of human beings, the children of a perfect God of infinite sense and love, the brotherhood of man, must as individuals and collectively marshal our resources and do battle with you and your men until you come to terms. In the light of all sense, truth, love, justice, I am in con- science bound to announce that you are more in the wrong than your enemies. "Let the highest sense prevail." It is the best we can do. We are as httle children and must follow oiu" perfect Teacher with confidence and faith without questioning. God is the perfect mind. His way is the perfect way. We go up to him by being led as little children. We must be guided by the sense that we can imderstand. He will guide you aright if you will let him. Now, if we must follow the highest sense we possess, then we must bring you to terms. All men will see the beauty and sense of this thought and recognize its absolute necessity. You must be brought to terms. It is written. It is for yoiu* highest good as well as for that of all. Make us happy and give us the right to take you and your people back into our hearts. Take your place in the brotherhood of man and let us live in peace and good will. I ask this in the name of humanity, the true and living son of God. Let all the rulers in Europe meet and decide what to do. Let the highest sense prevail. Be guided by the sense, truth, love, justice that is within you all. Never fear. There is no fear. Follow the dictates of conscience and the highest, noblest sense of justice and brotherhood. That is the perfect way. No matter where it may lead, no matter how hard and unfair it may seem, do it, it is the voice of God. The ruling passion in every human heart is to love its mate unselfishly. It is the highest good. You must counsel as brothers. Let no man be left out of your consideration. All for one, and one for all. TO THE PEOPLE OP THE UNITED STATES The people of the United States will at once see that the fact so often reiterated in this volume is necessarily true and real. To assume otherwise would be to assume that they are without semblance of brains, because any average ten-year-old boy can understand this matter. It will not be a want of intelligence that will keep down this glorious truth. If anything keeps it from spreading like wildfire over the world, it will be lack of manhood, nothing short of pure and simple cowardice. Knowing full well that the people of the United States are as intelligent and brave as those of any other part of the world, I do not hesitate to point our proper course. Taking the world as it is today, and considering the present stage of the evolution of mankind, it seems clear that our proper course should be something like this: Every boy and girl in the land should be thoroughly de- veloped, both physically and mentally. A West Point and an Annapolis should be established in every state, and enough branch schools throughout every state to accom- modate every child. All children should be made clearly to understand that they are to hope for all things a perfect world can give them, if they but live up to the principle of unselfish love for their mates. It should be made clear to them that this is the command of the most holy and righteous God; that if they do comply with the demand, they gain all; that it is their own wish to do so; that it is the ruling passion in every heart to be able to enjoy the compansionship, the love, the joy, the health, the happiness, that result from unselfish love of mate; that outside the pale of un- selfish love of mate is nothing; that any person who does not comply with this law is a traitor, a coward, a liar, a thief, 189 190 A WITNESS TESTIFIES a murderer; that compliance with the law must be had at all costs, and violation condoned under no consideration what- ever. It is very clear that no child should be overlooked. Suppose somewhere a poor girl is overlooked and is allowed to grow up in ignorance of her sacred obligation to the brotherhood of man: some day a rich man's son will die a shameful death from syphilis. It is far better to see to it that all the children are forewarned. Every boy should be a well-trained soldier, every girl a first-class nurse. Their muscles should be as hard as iron, as strong as bands of steel. Their eyes should be clear as crystal, as far-seeing as an eagle's. Military training should be given in connection with the training for the every-day life. It is of first importance that we have an invincible navy. We should have fifty battleships on each ocean. We should at the very earliest moment give woman the vote, and vote the country clean of all harmful drugs, such as all alcoholic drinks, coffee, tea, tobacco and all drugs of like nature. These should be stamped out forever. It may be that we will need some of them for medicinal purposes, but never again under heaV^en for the purpose of carrying on a false intercourse. Get them out of our sight for all time. They are all a curse. We waste enough money on these disgraceful habits alone to educate every boy and girl in the land. What a terrible pity! We deserve the curses of our Maker, and we will one day get them, if we persist. If we neglect this matter we are doomed. The hand is already writing on the wall. If we as a nation persist in our self love for a lying saviour, if we persist in our disgraceful false intercourse with drugs, if we neglect properly to instruct our children in regard to sexual matters, if we persist in allowing every mother's son to fall a victim to vicious secret practices, if we permit girls to grow up to be soft, sickly, unwomanly women, — if we allow these things to go on, our hour of fate is here; some day another race of beings will discover our TO THE UNITED STATES 191 fossilized bones and learn that we were a race of spineless, brainless, self-loving cowards, who by our own acts brought down the wrath of a most holy and righteous God. Our eternity, perhaps, depends upon whether we prove worthy or not. If we prove unworthy of our place on this earth, I can see no good reason why a God of infinite com- mon sense should wish to keep us going all through eternity. It may be that God wastes his time on cowards and idiots, but it does not seem reasonable to believe that he would. If anyone thinks that it is impossible for a species of animal to perish from the face of the earth he is sadly mistaken. We dig up the fossilized bones of plenty such. Only the fool says, "All will yet be right; God will at last prevail." No such thing. If we go to our appointed place, we must be worthy, we must be true to our trust. If men will allow this fact to sink into their hearts, and fully realize the import of it, all will be right; but if we have reached the stage where no appeal to the intellect, no appeal to the heart, no amount of logic, no amount of common sense, no amount of business interests will touch us, then you can just put it down that we are lost. We will consume ourselves with the white froth of hate on our lips and the curse of God in our minds and hearts. I have no doubt that we will make good, but we have it yet to do. If the people of the United States will listen and learn and prove their worth, this land will blossom like a rose. We will be a nation of happy people. We will have the satisfaction of knowing that a perfect God of com- mon business sense and infinite love is our Master and Guide, that we are the soldiers of the true Leader of Men. The devil has a mighty hold on us, but we are strong also. Christ is a terrible creature. When he gets his powerful clutches around your heart and mind he is a relentless enemy. If absolute proof that he is not divine, if absolute proof that men lose all by belief and faith in him is not enough to free them of his awfid curse, then God will have to make them over. 192 A WITNESS TESTIFIES If we go out into the world with the light of love in our eyes, with the mark of honesty on our brow, with justice, fair dealing, brotherly love, common sense, business sense, industry and thrift, gentlemanly bearing, meek and gentle, terrible and strong; if we let it be known that we are honor- able gentlemen and that we are ready to back up our honor with might, we will be a great blessing to mankind and a great pleasure to ourselves. We must back up the right with might. We must let the world know that we are a nation of lovers; that we love our mates, that we love one another. That we love our mothers, oiu: fathers, oiu- children, our country. We must be strong and brave to do right. We must make it clear that we are going to treat all comers alike; that we look upon all races of men as brothers; that we come to trade with them on fair and square terms; that we have love, hope, charity, forgiveness, pity, sympathy, justice for all men; that we will treat all men with respect and that we will bear a great deal of abuse and nonsense; that we have no wish to bully or to inspire fear. But we should let it be known we will obtain justice — by might if need be. Some day when all men are aware of this fact and realize that they must treat one another right, when all men imder- stand that no man can be right and allow others to impose on him just because he is a good man; in fact, when all men become faithful lovers, we can then send owe battleships to the bottom of the ocean, where they rightfully belong. Just so long as humanity is floimdering around in the dark we must be cautious. It will take every mother's son of us some day to protect our shores. All men should be apprised of this fact at the earliest possible moment; Just so long as the minds of men are confused as to their real interests, just so long as they worship a wrong God, just so long as they break the divine law, the shadow of ever-nearing war will hang over us. If we don't meet this obligation which as TO THE UNITED STATES 193 • men we owe to the human race, our land will be drenched in our blood. The thing to do, if we are to benefit from our new knowl- ledge, is to do it. Some one is going to say that we can't afford to educate other men's children. We can a thousand times better afford to educate aU the children than we can afford to allow half of the men in the country to stupefy their brains with whisky and tobacco, and the other half to howl their heads off preaching an insane religion. Educate a man, give him piu-ity of mind and body, give him health and love, happiness and usefidness, and he will work with a speed and "punch" that will produce results. If we stop the wastes we will fill the land with wealth. A man trained in any line gets far superior results than a man without training. A farmer with a highly specialized knowledge of farming coupled with common sense will produce ten times more than the untrained farmer. Our land will be a para- dise if we but will it. Our golden opportunity is at hand. We can be a blessing to the whole world for all time to come if we wiU be men, and do men's work. It is clearly within our grasp. We will do it. The reward is far too glorious to be lost. We cannot afford to go down in history as a set of traitors and numbskulls. We must rise to this opportunity and earn the praise of all men. We must fulfill our appointed destiny. One of the fiirst things we should do is to improve our food. We must get at the bottom of this problem. So much depends on it that it is far the most important thing confronting us. We must find the food which produces the most perfect man. We must at an early date make exten- sive feeding experiments. We must experiment on healthy young persons, a sick person is useless to experiment on. A sick person is not normal and it is impossible to get accurate results from such experimentation. What we want is a diet which will keep a healthy man strong and well. A man should "feel like a prince" all the time. A 194 A WITNESS TESTIFIES young man properly trained and fed should have surplus energy enough to accomplish anything. A young man in proper condition should be able to trot twenty-five miles without rest. How many can do that? About one out of ten thousand. With the proper diet a man's muscles are tireless. There is no limit upon his energy. A boy raised on ham and flour and cigarettes can run about fifty yards, and even then he pants like a run-down hound. He has about as much mental power as a monkey. It is not strange that so many men are bad. They have not the strength to live an honorable life. They are crooks because they can't be anything else. It is a matter of food. I will cite a case to prove that point. Two calves are born at the same time, of mothers that as far as condition and all circumstances are concerned are physically equal. One cow dies at the time of birth. One calf grows up to be a fine animal, a perfect specimen in all respects. The other is a runt, a poor, scrawny beast, bony, pitiful, and worth- less. What is the diflference? Nothing but the food. A proper diet is just as essential to the making of an honorable balanced man. It is impossible for a man to eat bad or poor food, and be anything but a rascal. The conditions of life are hard and they demand a great deal of energy; it is impossible for a man living on a poor diet to fulfill the requirements of an honorable man. It can't be done. It is impossible. Therefore, we must determine what is wrong with our diet and correct it. I have seen a family of good Christian people sit down to a meal and ask God to bless the food to their bodies. Can you imagine a more dangerous proceeding, or a sillier plea? Before God will bless your body with the food you eat, it is for you to know exactly what you eat. I heard a Chris- tian lady say just the other day, "My health is poor; I am bothered with gall-stones." If I had said one word about her being deceived by a lying Christ, she would have fainted. TO THE UNITED STATES 195 How, O how, can a rational brain be deceived by such folly? If she had thrown her Bible out of the window and set her- self to working and thinking a bit she might possibly have come out of her trouble. She just prayed to Christ for soul salvation and went to hell. The day is not far away when that insanity will be dead in the minds of men forever. They will search out the cause and do away with the curse. MYSELF Further to elucidate my subject, and to show how I was led to discover this new fact or universal law, I append a short outline of my life history. In the first place I am just like all other people, just an average every -day man. Every day I meet men who are my superiors and men who are not. There is nothing more in me than there is in many other men. And not nearly as much as there is in some. I was an average boy, fell victim to the customary vices of boyhood and had my share of the blessings. After passing through the spell of such sins as drinking, cigarette smoking, and such, I began to see the necessity for being decent. Therefore, I wanted to preach. Eventually I fell in love with a sweet little girl. I began to wonder why I felt so unworthy of her. It became evident to me that if the Bible were true, I would be worthy of her. It had failed to save me; then how could I expect it to save others? It was not true, and I knew it. I had not been treated fairly, and I knew it. God had taken my sweetheart away from me and I would not and could not believe it fair or right that I should preach the Bible for the truth when it surely was not. Thrown on my own resources, I went through a period of thinking and pondering. . . . The Bible was not true and I was unworthy of my sweet- heart. I didn't care a great deal what became of me. I worked, I played, I smoked, I drank, I gambled, I kept company with women of doubtful morals. At the same time I sought constantly for my girl, the girl who would inspire me and make me a man. I had several love affairs with desirable girls. . . . Well, here is the girl, I would think. I can do all things for you. . . . No, you won't do. You 197 198 A WITNESS TESTIFIES are not the one. You axe all a girl should be, but you don't suit me, somehow. Somehow, I am fooling myself. I am in love with love. I am making believe. You do not inspire me as I had hoped you would. No, I don't love you. I am honest and sincere. I do not wish to harm anyone, much less a pure sweet girl. That is the last of my thoughts. I would not harm you for the world. All men and women have a right to find out if they love each other. It is the only way to ever get things straight. . . . Well, I had about a dozen such puppy love affairs. By this time I had discovered that whisky, tobacco, gambling, loose women, and all such things are lies. I knew they were worthless and a snare and a delusion. By this time I was well on in my business. I had lots of friends and was making much money. My word was my bond and I had the respect and confidence of every one I knew. I didn't have an enemy on earth. I knew I could quit my vices. I had done so many times. Then I discovered that I really loved a girl I had known all my life. Why had I been shy and afraid of her all my life? She had seemed always as one for me to avoid. I began to realize that a crisis in my life was rapidly coming. With all my show of success, I knew that this girl read me like a book. I could not hide my unworthiness from her. I never intended to tell her of my love. I would be a rich old bachelor. She would not have the satisfaction of turn- ing me down. I had to meet this girl on an equal footing. Useless for me to plead my unworthiness: she already knew it. I got her answer without a word from her: "Be what you are, and maybe you are the one." All right. I would be everything I knew how to be. I had had my fling at the world and I was ready to be a man. I had money and a good business. As far as money could procure it, I could give her everything any woman would wish for. I would add self-purity to that. She should have my all. I did not care about God and his MYSELF 199 world, anyhow. I would make this girl happy, and in- cidentally myself. I was perfectly satisfied. Why ponder the mysteries, which were so baffling? Other men could not solve them. Why should I think to do so? Everything was well with me. I would use my worldly wisdom to further my own interests and make my sweetheart happy. I did not know anything worth knowing. I had no news for the world. I was no coward. I would pay court to my real girl and take my medicine whatever it might be. I picked up the morning paper annoimcing her engage- ment to another man. I knew her far too well to doubt that she would marry him. She was pure and clean, and her mind was healthy and strong. She had never sinned, and when she made up her mind that was the end of it. I had let the time go by without taking my chance. I had lost her and I richly deserved it. I telephoned my con- gratulations and made an appointment to tell her good-bye. We took a long drive. I told her all about how happy I knew she would be because she deserved to be so. I told her I loved her, but would get over it, and that I didn't deserve any other fate. I told her not to bother one minute about me. I would be all right. That night downtown I began to mumble strange words without knowing what I said. I had been touched to the bottom of my soul. ... I would get drunk. No, that was useless, senseless, I thought I was crazy. I would be locked up. I might disgrace myself or kill somebody. No, that was useless. I knew what I was doing. I was still rational. I would be a man and it would soon wear off. That night I went to bed with the last hope in my life gone. All was dark. My life was a failure, I would com- mit suicide. . . . No, I knew too much truth to do that. That was cowardly. I was brave and honest and sincere. God made me, let him kill me. . . . As I lay thinking all false pride, all selfish greed, all conceit, all lust departed. No 200 A WITNESS TESTIFIES excuse to hide behind. Hadn't I been warned thousands and thousands of times by the still voices not to do those things? Hadn't they told me in a very imperative way not to do evil? Yes, but they didn't say why I must not smoke or drink. All at once, without warning, the truth flashed across my mind. I heard no sound. I saw not the tracks of other men. But these truths came to me: There is a God, hut I do not know his nature or his laws. I could have avoided this condition I find myself in, but somehow I didn't. What is the reason? Yes, God is perfect. Yes, there are two gods. One has been telling me the truth and one has been lying. Now I see God. Hasn't it been said that to see God is to die? I am afraid I am going to die. No man can see God and live. No, that is a lie by the lying god. I am all right. There is nothing the matter with me. After I got hold of that truth I began to see everything in a different light. I was truly in a new kingdom of thought. Everything began to straighten out and take its place. Now I knew why the small voice had been so insistent in prompt- ing me to live a pure life. It wanted me to have my sweet- heart, my manhood, everything; lovers must have every- thing, and to do so they must be true to each other. Now I knew why I had smoked one more cigarette for the many thousandth time. Now I knew why I had drunk whisky against all my better sense. Now I knew what whisky meant — it is a cross between lovers. Now I knew why I was unworthy and ashamed in the sight of my sweet- heart. Now I knew why I did not love her when I was drinking: my mind was darkened from her. I could not feel the love of her. Now I knew why the Bible was a lie. The truth was not in it and I had fallen because I did not know. The Bible is a cross between lovers. Now I knew why I loved her so when I was sober. It began to dawn on me that my girl might not love this other man. The perfect God of hate might be lying to her. MYSELF 201 # She might love me. Why, she would be living in adultery if she married a man whom she did not love. Her children will be unclean in the sight of heaven. There was yet time. By my foUy I might be causing her to do something very wrong. If she loved me she should have me yet. I would teU her all about it so she might have her chance. WeU, I did my best. You can imagine how weak and weary I was after all this mental disturbance. I went to her and explained the whole thing. Of course it was very crude and must have sounded to her hke the ravings of a madman. However, I gave her a chance. If she didn't imderstand it was not my fault. If she did love me and she did understand she made a mistake. I told her the truth could harm no one. If she loved the other man she must marry him. It was nothing but right; this truth would help them to live happier lives. She married the other man. I believe that she loved him and that I was mistaken in thinking that she loved me, or that I loved her. We were not mates and I was deceived in thinking we were. The experience served its purpose and I had discovered a great truth. I must live and tell it to the world. I must live a clean life and perhaps yet I will find my real mate. I have not yet found her. She may be dead. I do not expect to find her now. It is getting too late. I have missed my chance. I have sinned and I must suffer for it. I am satisfied. To be worthy of your mate, you must live worthy even if you live alone. If you cannot be worthy of her alone, you have no right to her. Those who fear death have no right to live. This is a rare stroke of genius and a very important truth. It is a rare revelation. I know that if I should go over my life again, if I should be born in the same environment, I would fall victim to the same temptations. No one knew, no one could tell. So somebody must discover this truth if all the world die drunk. If I should go over the same life again, I would not find it one time in a million. The path- 202 A WITNESS TESTIFIES way I came over is strewn with the bones of untold millions. By one chance out of the untold billions I foimd the mark. Some other man might find this truth in five minutes. It might never be found again. I must tell it. The mind of mankind is near to it, else I would not have found it. All the thoughts and truths of all men before me helped to lead up to it. I collected them and gave them form. I arranged them in proper order and found the truth, just as did the man who invented the aeroplane. He did not invent the gas engine, or the gasoline, or the canvas. He took all the other necessary things — invented by other men — and arranged them in the proper order, and he fiies. So it has been and always must be. Each man for all other men is a stepping stone to higher and better things. I •will show why it is worthless to pray and swear and what they mean and do to you: I am ill from drinking. Life seems hard and cruel and worthless. In my misery and dejection I hate everything. I rebel at the nastiness and filth of life. I give up. I am ready to curse God and die. I do curse him and his works. I let loose all the hate and wrath pent up in me because of my unfair position in a world of mysteries. I am deeply insulted at the curses God has brought upon me. I finish by telling God what I think of him and his whole creation. "God," I cry, "you foul fiend of hell! You cowardly liar! You murderer! You bloody fiend of hate! You would curse and befoul an innocent creature. You and your whole works are designed to trap and curse a man. You murderer, thief, liar, traitor ! You may be afraid of me, but I am not of you. Show me your dirty face. You cowardly seducer. Your world and all that are in it are worthless. Kill me, you dirty assassin! Yoiu* world is a perfect hell!" Weary at last, I become reflective. What does such a thing mean? The curses return upon my head. I am the coward, the thief, the liar, murderer, or else I should not MYSELF 203 have thought of these names for God. I "have made my Ufe a curse, else I would not be in hell. My actions are insane. I am afraid. I am the sneaking assassin. I have made my world a hell. By giving way to curses and hate I shatter my forces. I confuse my mind. I am weak from loss of energy. What have I done? God does not kiU me. That is not the answer. I am afraid, I must not be. If I wish to see God I must think, and reach out and find the truth. Cursing is a lie. It is worthless. There is no answer. I have done the same thing I did when I drank.. One vio- lence leads to many violences. I have held false inter- course with my soul. The results are the same. My mind is confused and my energy gone. What is the answer? // you would he rid of your curses, think them out and learn how to avoid them. You say, "It is too hard. I can not do it. The temptation is too seductive. I fall. I am too weak." All right; you have your choice either to work them out or to endure them. You say, "It will take a lifetime to investigate and find the truth. I want the blessings for myself." Oh, you are still selfish. You can't have them. You are still thinking of yourself. You do not think of the ones to follow. You don't care whether they are cursed or not. You would be free and let them suffer. All right, you shall receive little. I am ready to think. Where did I leave off thinking? I go back to where I left off and begin to work and think. I begin to feel happy. Things look brighter. I find that swearing is cowardly and is the resort of a quitter. It is worthless. All right, at some other time I pray. I need help. I am surrounded by strange and wonderful things. I have sinned and I am repentant. I desire forgiveness. I wish to be good and love God. I want his blessings and love. He must help me or I am lost. I am ready to give my heart to God and do his will. I am longing for him to lead. I commence to pray: "Most holy and righteoxis 204 A WITNESS TESTIFIES God, hear me, your wayward child. Forgive me, a lowly sinner. I bow my head to your will. Lead me in the path of right. Protect me from temptation and give me your mighty strength. Look down upon your humble child and forgive me and bless me. Have mercy and pity on me, a sinner. Almighty God, you know my heart is sincere and honest. Lend me a helping hand, for I love you so. Merci- ful God, turn not your face away from me. I ask it all in our Saviour's name, our beloved and holy Jesus Christ." What is the meaning of that? I begin to think. What is the answer? What have I done? No help comes to me. I am still a sinner. All that I have asked for I need, else I should not have thought to ask it. It has not been given me. I am just as I was. I have been deceived. I placed on God the responsibility to bring the blessings to me. He does not do it. Why not? My mind is confused. I cannot think. My eiiergy is wasted. I look to God to do things I must do myself. If I would have the blessings I must think and search for them. If I cannot find the way, then I must do without. The responsibility is upon me. If my own will will not save me from temptation, then I must sin. It is useless to pray. I have already within me the power to bring about blessings. But that will take a long time. I want them now. So you are selfish, are you? Then you get no blessings. How about those to follow you? You care nothing for them. No, I see I must work and think and I am free and happy. My need confuses me and I know not what to do. If I believe in Christ he must be the light. I am to be without the blessings because I must not show that I do not believe. I cannot do it for my self. Christ must do it. I see that as a result of my prayer I get nothing. I must up and work. Christ is in my way. He keeps me from thinking. I was a coward to pray. God has no answer. If I want the bless- MYSELF 205 ings and the kindly light I must find out what real blessings are and what real light is. I do not know how. I am about my work and am listening and learning. Things begin to get better. I don't need God's blessings. I can get them by my own good work and sense. What did the prayer do to me? It confused my mind. I cotild not look for truth. It kept me from getting the blessings I longed for. I had held false intercourse with my own soul and I was confused because of it. I will illustrate that point: I go to college. To the professor of mathematics I say, "I want to know all you know about mathematics." He says, "I can't tell you, my son." I am angry and hurl all the seething wrath and hateful ciu-ses at his head I can lay tongue to. "You are a coward not to tell me! I hate you!" I need to know mathematics. He knows, but won't tell. He is a fiend. . . . When I am quiet and reflective, the professor, being a great and good man, understands my trouble. He lays his gentle hand upon my brow and says, "My dear boy, with aU my heart I wish you to know mathematics. I will tell you how you may learn them. Go to the primary class and start to work and study. If you work hard and think clearly for twenty years you may learn a little about mathematics, if you are so talented." I had not made the necessary preparation. He could not tell me. I was a fool to curse him. Again, I go too college. I wish to learn English. I go to the English professor. I say, "O gentle professor, great and good man, I wish to know English more than tongue can tell. You are great and good. You are filled with pity and mercy. I beseech you to tell me what you know about English. I want all the blessings that come with the knowledge. I pray you, O gentle teacher, to tell me all you know. You will not deny me this blessing, because I am sincere and honest." The good professor understands the mistake in the young heart. He lays his gentle hand on 206 A WITNESS TESTIFIES my head. He says, "My son, I would gladly tell you all I know, but I can't. You must start in the lowest class and work all the way up to the top. You must work and think for twenty years. Then, if you have the proper gifts, you will be a good English scholar." I see the truth. I must do the thing I ask for myself. If I would know English, I must work and think. What was my prayer worth? Nothing. I could not learn anything about English by praying. I might pray to the professor for a lifetime and never know English. That is not the way to learn it. It cannot be done that way. My prayers are worthless. They confuse me and shatter my forces. So it is too plain that praying and swearing are the same thing. Both do incalculable harm. They are the cry of the cowardly. They are deceptions and must hot be resorted to. If you want a thing, get it. If you have a cancer, cure it. You maj^ rid the whole world of cancer. Think, think, work, watch, listen, listen, learn, learn. You may add a Uttle to the sum of our knowledge. You may confer a great blessing on mankind. If you can't cure your cancer, you will just have to die. So it was that I swung around that great circle of truth and finally found the truth that set me straight. All alone, stumbling in the dark, seeking ever the better way. No one to help me, no one to guide. Everyone pulling me away, no one to encourage. All condemning me as crazy and a crank. But I was true to inyself and stayed when all but me had fled. I have done a rare thing. It was a trying experience. While every man is making an effort to do this thing, there are billions of chances to one he will not do it. I forced the issue by condemning everything that would not stand the light of intelligence and reason. I would not quit a thing until I knew, and I would stay until I did know. I don't mean to say I did this thing with any knowledge of what I was doing. One second before the fact flashed across MYSELF 207 my mind I did not realize I was doing anjf unusual thing. It was wholly unintentional on my part. I was totally indifferent to my own salvation. It never seemed to be a serious matter with me whether I called Christ a liar, or God, or anybody else. It all depended on whether they were liars or not. My safety was not important. I would as soon go to hell as anywhere I could think of, just so I was right. I would refuse to hide anything. I would condemn myself just as quickly as anybody else. If I was in the wrong, I wanted to know it. If it sent me to hell the next minute, I would say, "Yes, I am wrong." I wanted to know the truth. I was honest and the truth was my guide. I didn't care whether the Bible fell or not. I wanted to know what was the truth. It was quite a surprise to me to find out that I had been dishonest all my life. I thought if ever an honest man lived, I was that man. Imagine my suffering when I discovered I had been the very worst kind of a liar and thief — something I thought I was entirely free from. It was impossible to think I would lie or steal. My discovery showed me that I had been dishonest all my life. I was the very worst of thieves. The act of cigarette smoking is an act of stealing. Drinking is stealing. I threw away my manhood. That belonged to my love. I had stolen her happiness. My manhood belonged to her as well as to me. I had destroyed that which did not belong to me. I had been a liar and a thief and did not know it. I had been a coward, and a traitor, and a murderer, a perfect ass, and I did not know it. It is a terrible experience to come before God. That is why people say that to see God is to die. It is so terrible no one dares to look. I claimed to be not afraid. I had said, "Show me your face. I dare you." I saw God, all right, — but what a picture I saw of myself! The lowest of the low! A murderer! I had murdered myself. What had I done to my sweetheart? I could at least say that I did not know what I was doing. You see where it comes in. 208 A WITNESS TESTIFIES All men will see God. If they sin, they sin with a full knowledge of what they do. Don't think that all this came to me in a day. It has been ten years since I first knew this. I have had to trace this thing around the circle and see just what I knew and just what I did not. I have come to the point now where I think I know enough to explain it so that all may under- stand it. Ten years is a long time to carry a secret like this, but I could not tell it. No one would listen. I have offered time and again to pay all expenses of a commission ap- pointed to hear my story. I have never been able to get as much as a pleasant answer. I went to Chicago, New York, Washington. No use. "We won't listen." Man is a funny creature. He fights against his own interest contin- ually. This truth puts all men partly in the wrong. What man is there who wants to learn that he is in the wrong? We all flare back and say, you are crazy. I am not wrong. No preacher wants to learn that he has been a liar all his life. This thing of truth is a terrible thing and it takes a man to see God. There are no cowards in heaven. Better look out for that fear. It means you are not the truth. The devil is the fear maker. I have won a hard fight and done a rare performance. I deserve the pity, the mercy, the friendship, the love of all men. I have brought you a great blessing. I ask only for justice. No man could expect or want more. I am no more than any other man. There are thousands of mysteries yet to be explained. There always will be. Don't worship any man. All men are greater than they know. I saw God first. Through other men's greatness I found I was great. I killed Cock Robin. I put real in religion. I am Jack the Giant Killer. I caught the devil with the blood on his hands. I found out that I was a murderer and traitor first. I will get a Nobel prize and get my picture in the Hall of Fame. I will sell my book and make plenty of money. All MYSELF 209 of which is very fine. I have plenty of money and I don't care about the fame. I would rather have my mate and be worthy of her than to have all the fame and money in seven worlds. "I would rather be right than president." Life is wonderful. Since you are above food, you may eat all you wish. Since I know what fame is, I can be well without it. What are the praises of men when you are entertaining a guilty conscience? Your own private greatness alone is valuable. To eat food with your fork is not the mark of a gentleman. Some of the best men I have ever known ate food with a knife. The sorriest burglar is the most polished. Rags may clothe a prince and velvet a beggar. Life is auto- matic. You are idle because you are uninterested, and you are uninterested because you are idle. Since I desire to be myself first, I do not want money. If I get money, I must give worthy account of it. I am respon- sible for its use. Money is the blood and brains of other men. I am dishonest if I throw it away. If I can make worthy money I must. I am dishonest if I don't. I owe the world my achievement. I must accept the responsibility if I am capable, and be true to myself. Some will say I am the second Christ, the true Christ. It is all the same to me what you think or say. It matters not whether I am Christ, Tom, Dick, or Harry. You can't dodge yoiu" own responsibility by trying to put it on my shoulders. I can't accept it. It is impossible. God's laws are perfect and inexorable. I can't intercede for you. You must do the thing yourself. I can't bless you or cure you. You must bless and cure yom-self . I am a mere man. You are a mere man. So was Christ. We are all great. We just don't know it. We are the children of God, and he is good and great. We are to become as he is. Christ lied. He can't bless or save you. He can't cure the sick or make the blind see. He lied. I must tell the truth. Just a little bit of difference. If you are to be blessed and cured, you must do it yourself. I am of no importance. You stand 210 A WITNESS TESTIFIES naked before God. You know the truth. You know what to do. Do your own whining and groaning at home. We want to see you when you have conquered. The world likes a well man. The sick are isolated. Be true to yoiu-- self and you will be company for all men. I am in the same stage you are in. I may die a drimkard. I hope not. If I survive, I do it alone. No one can help me. If whisky were out of the land, I could not drink it. We can help one another. If there were no cigarettes, I would not smoke them. If there were no lewd women, I would not fall a victim to them. All women should be virtuous. Then I would not be tempted. All men should be virtuous. Then there would be no fallen women. We can help one another. Though all the men in the world die drunk, that does not excuse me. The law is the same for all. I suffer just the same as if I were the only one. Though I help all the men in the world, it does not excuse me. The law is the same for all. You cannot buy your way to heaven. You must deserve to go there. I can't cure you. We still await the advent of the per- fect doctor. We can get some idea from this truth, though. If you would have the proper attitude, you must surrender your mind to the right. You must love yoiu: mate unselfish- ly. I loved my mate unselfishly one instant and the flash of truth crossed my mind. My mind was cured of its insanity for one moment and it was sane. To get in an attitude to get well we must forget self. We must be willing to be cured. We must love. We must have faith. You must love your mate. "There is nothing to fear. I will sin no more. Let God have his way." Be sensible and do as you know you should do. Now, if you can get yourself quiet and easy. Love is the fortune force. It is the health. Hate is fear and death. The forces in the body will cure most of our ills if we get into the proper frame of mind. If we control ourselves. All that goes a long way to help; but evidently love and self-control will not set a broken arm or MYSELF 211 take a bullet out of one's body. Just where the deadline is, is hard to say. Fear will kill. I have seen men turn blue from fear. Fear is a bad master. Do not believe him. He lies. There is no fear. We must know all things. Science of healing is one of them, and perhaps the most im- portant. We do not yet know how to cure disease; all are guessing. Physical culture is partly true; they are still guessing. Allopathy, homoeopathy, and doctoring of all schools are partly right; they are all guessing, however. We await the man who can refine out the gold from the dross. We await the advent of the perfect or true Doctor. If God himself should come to earth, he could not tell anything but the truth. He would be just like the good college professor about whom I have told you. He would have to talk in terms which we could understand. He would tell us we must be as children, and work and think, and in time we would come to know. He could tell only the truth. Therefore, a man who speaks truth is speaking the words of God, for God is intelligence and love. Is not a man a creature of God? Do we not go up to God through love and truth? If I am speaking love and truth to you, if it is the real truth, it is the word of God. Did not I let him have his way through me? Then the truth is the word of God, no matter who speaks them. You or I, or anyone. It does not matter. The real truth is the word of God. Lies are the words of the devil, the serpent speaking. It wotild be impossible for you to speak or move a hand but for the real live God of life. You are his creature. His forces keep you alive. Were it not for God you could not exist at all. The inventions within ourselves are infinitely greater than any works of man. The invention of the human brain is perhaps the master invention of a perfect God. Before he is great God must have a people to appreciate his great- ness. All his greatness is in vain if he is alone. You can call me Christ if you want to. You might as well call me Jack. It is of no importance. The truth is all 212 A WITNESS TESTIFIES that is important. You have no shield. The blood is en your own hands. Do what you will, you cannot dodge the honorable responsibility of life. It is not so bad. Be sensible, and you are free. There is nothing to be afraid of. Are you sorry to discover you are something real? You would be sorry indeed to learn that you were nothing, that all things are in vain. You should be glad to know that everything is well. We are on oiu- way out of heU. We have never been in heaven, but we will be there some day. Some pair of lovers had to do this thing. It might as well be me and mine as any pair. My love is really as brave and great as I am. She is more. Is she not the positive and I the negative? I found this truth without knowing I was doing it. Others have sought it knowingly. Did not men risk their all to learn to fly ? They knew they were doing a great work. They gave their lives to a cause because of the knowledge that it would do the world good. I was weak and sinful, not by choice, but through weakness and lack of imder- standing. It was all dark to me. I did not know that I was working in a good cause. They did. Men give their lives every day for what they think is right. They try to make the world better. I did not. I sinned through ignorance, but I did it because I liked it. I had no noble purpose in my heart. I called black black and white white because the truth and facts interested me. I did not care anything about you and God and the world. I never even dreamed of doing a great and good thing. Somehow I just happened to do it. I found the pot of gold, but it was largely accidental. I am teUing you because I would be a heartless wretch not to do so. There may be some trick of fate in me, some stroke of genius, but if there is I have never realized it. I have told you all I know, and much I do not know. You must pick out the truth for yourself and throw away the lies. It is the only way. I am an ordinary man in private life, not a public man. I do not expect to go around preaching. MYSELF 213 I may appear in vaudeville sometime if I^eed the money and let people see who killed Cock Robin. If I were a perfect man and could hold the world spellbound with fine words and oratory, my talents alone would not be worth anything to you. Truth is truth. It doesn't make any difference who says it. Don't let this idea of God run away with you. God did not intend for a man to go crazy thinking about him. At- tend to your business and at times do a little reflecting. You must not let one idea consume you. God is all right. He will take care of you. A little sinning does not hurt you much. Don't worry over it. Forget it. You will make mistakes. Our hfe is full of them. You may think you know what you are doing when you don't. You are im- perfect. You always wiU be. God does not forgive sin, but a Uttle pain will not hurt you much. If you fail, try, try again, and then try some more. You will fail many times. You must not be downcast. Try again. You will learn a little every time you try. Never give up. Never give up. Don't be a quitter. If you fall, get up again. We must learn to crawl before we can walk. We are all in the same boat. TO SUM UP, FIRST Haven't I told you that all unconsciously I befouled my mind and flesh? Haven't I told you that I sank to the lowest of the low and caught myself, red-handed, committing murder? Haven't I shown you that I was a liar, a traitor, a thief, a murderer? Haven't I asked you for pity, mercy, help, friendship and love? — Then I must ask it for all men. Haven't I shown you that the perfect power of a perfect God of love and sense is seated in the minds of all human beings? Haven't I shown you that the responsibility of all men must be accepted by them? Haven't I shown you that by obeying the perfect law man becomes clean? Haven't I asked for you the right to be allowed to live and to follow the truth with a sincere, honest, unselfish heart? Haven't I asked to be allowed to give my humble mite to the work of the world? — Then I must ask it for all others. Haven't I said I was weak and prone to fall victim to whisky, and tobacco, and women? Haven't I shown you that the perfect power of evil is in every man's mind and that he falls victim to these things unconsciously? That the devil is a perfect power of infinite hate, and that we must cast out the evil individually and collectively? That the sins of one are bestowed as a curse upon all men alike? That the sins of all are hurled back upon us as individuals? Didn't I say that life was automatic? That we sin because the evil is there, and that the evil is there because we sin. — Then, if, knowing all these things are so, I still do them; if I know I could stop them and would be glad to were not the temptation so alluring, that it seduces me although my heart be pm-e as gold; if I ask you to take away these things because I cannot enjoy my life and do my work and have all the bless- ings a perfect God of intelligence and love can bestow — 215 216 A WITNESS TESTIFIES then if I ask it in the name of pity, mercy, friendship and love, I must ask it for all other men. Have I shown you that the perfect power of a perfect God of love and sense can cleanse the human heart of all its guilty stain? That by following the truth, one becomes whole again? That the perfect power of a perfect God reigns supreme in every heart? That the ruling passion in every heart is to love its mate unselfishly? That though my sins have become as crimson, they are whiter than snow? That if I ask the right to live and love and work and play and enjoy my life, I must ask it for all other men? That if I sinned unconsciously, the others have too? That if I ask to be forgiven, I must ask that all other men be forgiven? Aren't we all brothers and sisters and do not we all love with unspeakable love, even though we may be unaware of it ? Does not the same divine love in every breast compel and control all men as it does me? Have I not shown that we must help each other and love each other, and that we can with each other's help, if we will follow the truth? Didn't I show you that all men and all women have given their heart's blood to bring me to this truth? That I was foul and the truth made me clean? That my conscience was guilty, but now it is not? That I see that this thing is neces- sary and could not happen in any other way? Now, it is plain that if a perfect God of love and intel- ligence can cleanse my heart and make me pure, he can make the hearts of all other men pure, Christ and the German Kaiser included. No one is above it. No one is below it. It is the same for all. Then it is perfectly clear that if I was unconscious of my wrongdoing; if the perfect God of perfect hate had deceived me, he has deceived all other men; that if this truth taught me that all men are great and that we are brothers and sisters, it can teach all men the same thing; that we must not leave out of our calcu- lations one single individual. Did I not tell you that I am an average man and that a child can understand this thing? TO SUM UP, FIRST 217 Then, if we teach it to one, we must teach it to all. All can learn and all are great. Did I not tell you that my love stood the supreme test? That she unconsciously sinned, but that she lived up to the truth in her soul and renounced me rather than take me unclean? Did I not tell you that she left me bleeding by the roadside? That she might have fallen to a life of adultery? Haven't I shown you that all women sin when they marry men who are not their true mates? That they do so un- consciously and are deceived by a perfect God of infinite hate? That the ruling passion in every woman's heart is to love her mate unselfishly? Haven't I shown you that her conscience is clear? That she answers the highest call in her being? That there is no other way to be right? That though her sins have been as crimson they shall be whiter than snow? That if I ask you to forgive her, I must ask you to forgive all? Have I not shown that if she can sin and with a clean conscience, all other women can? That if the perfect power of a perfect God of sense and love can guide one woman's heart aright, it can guide them all aright? That if we forgive one we must forgive all? That all women have helped to make the world what it is? That all have sinned and poured out their heart's blood? That we must not over- look a single one in our calculations? That any average woman can understand this truth and that if we teach one we must teach all? That all can learn and all are great? Did I not show you that God cannot forgive sin? But that if you accept the truth and be guided by it; if you ex- ercise your will power and intellect, the perfect God of love and truth will guide you aright and you can make your life piue and holy? Did I not tell you that we must eat bad food until we discover the real food? Did I not tell you that we must die of disease and filth until we learn to be clean? Did not I show you that all things can be made to come true if we but work and think and be guided by the 218 A WITNESS TESTIFIES divine mind? the God of common sense and love? Did I not tell you that some must lay down their lives that the many may live? They lay them down from selfish motives; — how much easier to lay them down for unselfish motives ! The unselfish death is death for love and principle, and the happiness and good of all. The selfish death is the death for selfish motives. It is the death of hate and lies and nothingness; if the perfect God of love can cause them to lay down their lives all unconsciously, he can cause them to die consciously for unselfish motives. If the perfect God of love and sense calls upon you to make the supreme sacrifice, you must do it as he asks or be unworthy. To be unworthy is to be dishonorable. Aren't all men made hon- orable by the perfect power of the Master Mind of love and sense? I have shown you that we are here on our honor, and if we are called we must answer. The many are called and the few chosen. Millions and millions of men were called to drink before one found the truth. We may look for any call. We may have terrible times ahead. We know that we are guided by a perfect God of love, and we will answer his call because it will be necessary and we will see the sense of it. If we are guided by the God of perfect sense and love, he will not lead us astray. It may take us long to learn a little, but the sacrifice will be worth it, be- cause we know that the Master Mind does not make mis- takes and that he loves with an unspeakable love. Our lives will not have been wasted and lost in vain, but oiu- works will be a blessing to all mankind. I have proved to you that Christ is not the Saviour, that he lied, though he did not know. I have shown you that I am not the Christ. I am just a man. So was Christ. I have shown you that all humanity has helped to bring the world up to its present state of development. All have done their little part. I have shown you that man is the climax of God's creation, his master invention. I have shown you that, being guided by the real truth, the Master TO SUM UP, FIRST 219 Mind, to us all things are possible. If God 'is the perfect workman and his greatest workmanship is man, then under his direction all things can be made to come true. We are young yet, and we must go slowly. We must crawl before we can walk. The world and God are infinite and we con- tain the perfect love and sense. Then if men can do all things; if they are to be perfect in understanding and love; if they can be merciful, and have pity and help, and love and befriend; if by their good works and good sense they can lead each other up to the perfect God; if they can make the world into a perfect heaven; if by their unselfish sacrifice of self they can bring all things to all men; if they can allay all pain and cure all maladies; if they are indeed the children of a great and good God, — then they are his only begotten son. They are the real Christ. God is the Father and humanity is the Holy Ghost. God is the bridegroom. Humanity the bride. Therefore, Humanity, I ask these things in thy name. You can answer all my prayers and make all my dreams come true. You are the perfect God in the flesh. Humanity, you are also my false Christ. You can ruin my life and destroy all my dreams. The devil must act through the human mind. He is perfect and we are imperfect. Our only escape is through the real truth. We must be led by our perfect God of Love and Truth. TO SUM UP, SECOND You can plainly see that I have written this story as I have seen the truth. It is an inspired work and will bear the closest analysis. You must thresh out the truth from the lies and know that I am just an average uneducated man, and that I have made plenty of mistakes. They must be cor- rected. I am imperfect. As my understanding is limited, I am quite sure I have made many mistakes. I am only human. I have not even done my best. It is very hard to do your best. I have had to use my best sense to do this thing and I have not much sense. Therefore, I could not use much. I ask that you forgive my mistakes and my faults. The young lady whom I have mentioned in this work may be my mate; she may not be. I would not take from her glory or add to it. She answered the purpose of my mind and it makes not one particle of diflference whether she was my mate or not. It was necessary through her to demonstrate the truth and I humbly ask that she and all others recognize and appreciate that necessity. Now God, the Infinite Mind of love and sense and truth and justice, is the Father, the positive force. The four corner stones are knowledge, understanding, law, and force. We must love and warn the little children in all ways — in all love, all truth, all justice. All must be cared for alike and all must be trained aUke. I must pity the sick, raise the fallen, be merciful to the wicked, help the poor. I must be just to the well, fair with the rich. I must treat all men with honor, and I must demand that they treat me in the same way. I must to all be meek and lowly. I must have respect and love for all alike. I must be clean in all my thoughts and actions, and I must not worship false gods or false ideals. I must obey the commands of the divine God 221 222 A WITNESS TESTIFIES of love, truth, sense, justice. I must love all men in all sense, in all justice, in all truth. I must reason, think, work, play. We must live for Humanity, we must die for her. We must seek our happiness in her and we must ask for mercy, pity, justice, love, in her name. She will answer all our prayers. We must ask all things in all sense, in all truth, in all love, in all justice. Everything must come to us through her. You must seek wealth, health, happiness, comfort for all in her name. You must use all your talents, all yoiu* wealth, in all sense, in all truth, in all love, in all justice, in her name. If you ask all these things in her name she will in no wise cast you out. For is not God the perfect Father and she the perfect mother? and are not we the little children? Would a perfect father, a perfect mother, cast out their child? You must do all these things in our name and you must love one another as we love you. You are the imperfect one and we are the perfect. You are the many and we the two. You are the image of us in the individual, and we are the image of you in the whole. No one is lost. All are saved, — all the beasts, all the birds, all the flies, all things are ours and all things are saved. Nothing is lost. We are the complete whole and you are the imperfect whole in our image. You live again in other worlds, but not again in this one. You go on to a higher life than this, you and your mate. You grow and grow throughout all eternity. It is the romance of the universe. It is the perfect way. You are all the savior. Each is a Chrigt, and all are to blame, all are to bleed and learn and know. You can help one another and make your burdens lighter, but you must think and work and be worthy and strong and well. It is the perfect way. It must be done. We can pay all debts and we do pay them in all sense, in all love, in all truth, in all justice. We can pay all alike and all individ- ually. TO SUM UP, SECOND 223 Take the sentence on the preceding page, "You must do all these things in our name and you must love one an- other as we love you." I have said that this is an inspired work. I ceased speaking as an individual and spoke as a being informed by God, or the Divine Mind. You can plainly see that I do not know whereof I speak, but I have left it as it is to point out what inspiration is, in my opinion. After one has pondered long over a question his knowledge and the facts suddenly take form and he sees a new thought, a new series of facts. When I wrote that page I was under an inspiration of some kind the natiire of which I did not know. Of course I do not know whether all things are lost or saved. I would have to know perhaps a thousand times more than I know to demonstrate that fact. I know no more about what happens after death than you do. But we know that our existence here on earth has been a growth from an infinitely small beginning. We know that eons ago the human race was less than the flies. We know that all forms of life have helped to make the world what it is today. To say that flies and horses are excluded from the eternal domain would be to exclude ourselves. They are as much a stepping-stone up to the perfect man as we are. Where could the line be drawn? To say that I am saved now and the fellow who lived thousands of years ago was not saved is not right, and is not the answer. I cannot answer the question; no one else can. Now, I followed up this inspiration just to see where it would lead, and to see if I could discover anything of value. I almost became insane and just escaped by the exercise of will. It is evident that if a man could let God control his thoughts, he could sit down and write the whole Story of Life easily. But un- fortunately that cannot be done. You can see that I can- not prove my statements. My opinion is that such a pro- ceeding is unfaithfulness of mind in principle. I was in- sane. That seems to prove it. To draw a line is impossible. It is very hard to tell when you know and when you do not. 224 A WITNESS TESTIFIES Christ received the same inspiration; if he had lived un- doubtedly he would have gone crazy or come to realize that he did not know what he was talking about. What he did was to let his love rim away with his good sense. I know that he did not know whether there is a life after death, or not. We all have the prompting that there is, but we do not know. Since there is no sense in inspiration unless you control it, it is evident that it is dangerous, a negative process. The proper inspiration is the one that comes to every-daymen — to pursue your life work with common sense, and live and learn. Now if I can free the human mind of deception, if I can prove that it is foolish to jump at con- clusions without the proper evidence, it will be a great ac- complishment. If Christ had used just a little bit of sound common sense, he would have realized that he was all wrong. A man with such a loving heart as he possessed would have admitted the truth without protest if he could have seen it. Now I have said that Humanity is the real Christ. To a limited degree we know that every man has added to the sum total of all we possess today. It can be said with equal truth that flies and horses also have added to the sum total, as well as plants, and every living thing. It can be said with equal truth then that all creatures combine to form the real Christ. Why exclude anything? Everything is necessary, and everything does its appointed part. Every- thing causes development in the human mind. There is no reason to be selfish about this thing. The universe is infinite, and there is unlimited room for all. Inspiration is dangerous. Let yoiu" thoughts be uncontrolled, and your brain runs down just as the mainspring of a clock runs down if released. You simply throw your mind into the ocean of the perfect mind and it is consumed. I consider it of questionable value and very dangerous. IN CONCLUSION This is the scientific religion. It dovetails with all known facts. If in any way it cannot stand the acid test it is worthless. It must stand the test of the microscope and the telescope. All nature must and does bear evidence to every fact. If all nature does not bear testimony to the truth of this fact or truth which I am trying to define, then it is of no value. The truth must and will stand every test. Humanity must save itself. God is the Father, Humanity the Holy Ghost or mother, and we are their little children, their boys and girls. It is very easy to see that all the things ■ of hfe are in our hands. All we know, all we are, and all we ever hope to be, must be done by human brains and hands. The term God is a very deceptive term. Possibly it is wrong to use it. However, that is not important — except that we must not get the idea that God is personal. God is the whole. God is the law. God is the ocean, and we are drops of water. We see that Humanity is the real Christ. We, as individuals, die, but Humanity lives on to the end of the world. If all ask a thing in the name of Humanity, Humanity must answer it, if it be right. To be right, it must be for one and all. To ask a thing that is not for all is not right, and Hu- manity will not answer it. A real prayer is a universal prayer. If we, as a race, see that we need a thing, we begin to think and work, and some day some brain puts the work of all into shape and a new fact is discovered and a new blessing added. It is useless to pray as people pray today. It is really very wrong. If you want to pray, the only sensible way is to ask your friends to help you. We must help one another, and it should be a pleasure to help a friend in a reasonable way. 'M5 226 A WITNESS TESTIFIES The only help we get is the help we give each other. When you are sick and weary, when you come to die, if a human being is not there to kiss your brow and give you a cool drink, you will not have any. We are the good angels that bring all the blessings; and if we do not do it, it will certainly not be done. The Christian religion has a powerful hold on the human mind. It really does not mean anything. It is a remarkable fact that many persons who become demented think they are the second Christ. We know that the respect each sex has for the other is the secret of all our advancement. Some people think the Bible and Christ are responsible for all our goodness. The Bible and Christ are of no importance whatever. But let the respect men and women have for each other die, and all is lost. If a man insult my mother or my sister, I should kill him on the spot. So will all men who have manhood pro- tect the honor and virtue of their family ties. Is not that evidence enough that sexual respect is the principle that has lifted us up to our present state? Christ had nothing to do with it and the Bible has nothing to do with it. Humanity must save itself. In that sense we are all saviours. In presenting this new truth for your consideration I have endeavored to state it as plainly and concisely as possible, so there should be no doubt as to the idea I have tried to convey. I take it that any average person can understand readily enough what I have written. It is possible for me to be wrong. You must decide. Of coiu'se, I think I am right. As far as I can tell, I am. I can see no reason w^y all the people in the world cannot be happy if they will make the effort. It is simple enough. The world war is now foremost in the minds of men. It is my belief that all men should have an opportunity to read this story at the earliest possible moment. It may help to end the war and to settle the confusion that is stirring the human mind to its depths. It might do a great deal of good. IN CONCLUSION 227 » These are stormy days and a new birth is taking place in the minds of men. This is a time of supreme effort and sacri- fice. It is a time for all to be heroic and to make super- human effort. I am sure that this truth will have a tendency to reconcile the minds of men and bring them to understand that the world is for all and that we must respect and con- sider each one. No one questions the courage or manhood of any race. All men will die for what they think is right. It is just a matter of getting men to understand the true relation we bear to one another. It is clear that the German philosophy fails to consider all. Theirs is a special kind of philosophy to suit their interests, and not the interests of all people. Any philosophy which leaves out one single human being is not true and will in time have to be corrected. If one single black baby girl in Africa, or one little baby boy in China is left out, the whole philoso- phy will be wrong and will lead to disastrous results. It is plain that the creation is for all and not for a part. Each one must have a chance. Humanity is a whole, and to Humanity there are no such things as Frenchmen and Germans and Russians. They are all brothers and sisters. The universal law makes no distinction, and there is no distinction. Any distinction is a deception. We must all be governed by the same universal law. There is no difference between us in the divine presence. There is just as much greatness in one race as in another. The infinite law loves all ahke. The United States is very fortunate in this war. Our President has made a superhuman effort to be right. He is clearly a very great man. We are as nearly in the right as it is humanly possible to be. Any man can fight for our cause with a clear conscience. Since we have been willing and anxious to do the right thing, it seems to me it would be proper to let the German people know why we are fighting them. It would be a great thing if we could place this truth in their hands and let them know why all the world is fighting them. They must know that the manhood of the world will 228 A WITNESS TESTIFIES not allow them to go unconquered. The manhood of the world must fight them until they are beaten if it takes every mother's son of us to conquer them and a thousand years to do it. The world cannot and will not go backward. We must advance. The reason the Germans are more wrong than the rest of the world is very easy to understand. The government which is the fairest and squarest to all is the most perfect. The ideal government is that one in which both men and women will have a voice in the government. Every man must vote. Every woman must vote. It takes the counsel of both to be .right and just. The counsels of men alone are not good. We are coming to realize that women are as important as men. It is clear that the world is fighting for German free- dom, both for the men and for the women, as much as it is for the freedom of the rest of mankind. If the Germans could be made to understand the real issues at stake, they would see the hopelessness of their cause and the goodness of the others'. We are all imperfect, but the highest intelligence must be the guide of the honest man. So it is impossible to stop the war until they are subdued. It must be done. If they are given the opportunity to understand, I am sure they will see the point and end the war. For my part I am willing to adopt any feasible plan to ac- complish that pm-pose. Of coiu:se, I wish to sell my work in time of peace, but while the war continues, I don't want any money. I want to end the war ; then I can sell my book. It is hardly probable that the United States Government will take up this book and have it translated into all languages as soon as possible. That is just a little more than I could expect. Tolstoi prophesied that the truth would come out in the United States. Our great Emerson saw the same possibility. It certainly would be a great thing if the United States could see the point and deliver this message to all mankind at once. IN CONCLUSION 229 Men have been looking for this "sweetest of all stories" for a long, long time. The United States could do as much in three months as I will be able to do in twenty years. I can see many reasons why the United States cannot take up the task. First of all, this is a new thought and the human mind takes up new basic ideas very slowly. Yet now, while the human mind is so deeply distiurbed, it might grasp this im- portant fact readily. I know that Christian people as a rule are sincere and earnest and noble and true. If they are in the wrong, I know that they will be glad to learn it. They want to do what is right as much as does any of us. Some may attach undue importance to the terrible war now going on. It had nothing whatever to do with my finding this truth, and neither did the Christ and the Bible. Terrible as the war is, it will not lead to truth. I have been working on this idea for the last ten years. The war has had nothing whatever to do with it. It is a sad fact that we have been very foolish and insane. The only thing to do is to stop just as soon as the issues are settled and go back to our tasks and commence where we left off. In a negative sense, war teaches us to love peace. But to be virtuous, it is not necessary to be unvLrtuous. The beauty of right doing does not depend on wrongdoing. We are not made whole by our sins. I have sinned and I have almost ruined my life. I would have been far better off if I had not sinned. Europe will be a long, long time regaining what she has lost in this war. She will feel its bad effects many long and weary years. This war was not necessary; those to follow will be as utterly foolish, but, no doubt, men will be foolish enough to do things that cause war. Soldiers will not be made morally stronger by war. They will be much weaker. To commit murder weakens the moral fiber of any man. War is murder. There is no escape from that fact. But if a brother forces you to war you cannot help yourself. The ciu-se of it is visited on the whole world of men and women. 230 A WITNESS TESTIFIES There is not a human being on earth who will not be harmed by this sad war. The wise and manly thing for every man to do is to learn from this fact what war is, and to make a strong effort to live in such a manner as not to cause war. We know that Christ is not the saviour. He did not know the first principles of how to live. He had no idea of what the next life is to be. He was simply guessing about everything he said. To worship him is to be untrue to the real God. The Christian faith has now met its doom. Man can no longer preach it as the truth. It is one of the lies that are dead. Nothing of any value is ever lost. So let no man worry about the world's going to hell. We are steadily going forward all the time. Life a is slow and sure growth to the perfect man and woman. All lies must fall. Nothing but truth can at last survive. If the Bible is true, no one can in the end harm it. So do not worry. God is not so helpless as some seem to think. The truth is the positive force and can take care of itself. Christ and the Bible do not worry my mind in the least. What I have said in regard to them is intended to free the human mind of the awful deception in them. My mind is free of them. I realized long ago that they are of no importance. There are no lies in nature except in the minds of men. Life is always the same. It is the same today and will be the same tomorrow as it has been in the past. This discovery just changes our way of seeing it. It has always been just as it is now. Life is the same. Our minds are the changing quantity. The discovery of this fact marks the beginning of our knowledge and the end of guessing. It is clear that we must know before we can see aright. All over the world people are believing lies, and the result is deformities in all walks and conditions of life. We must know. We must seek out the facts and truth and then all will be happy. With the fall of the Christian religion, of course, all other false religions fall. This is the death of all such lies. There IN CONCLUSION 231 is an overplus in the scheme of things that is infinite in character. There is always a little bit added to what was be- fore. Every day we know a little bit more. Every day we get a little bit better. There is always an overplus to every- thing. If one thinks continually on one subject he accumu- lates a little knowledge every day — perhaps unconsciously, but he does so just the same. We finally complete the circle of truth we are in, and then, when we have gained the necessary experience and accumulated the necessary facts, we make a new discovery which is the overplus. We come out of the old circle of life and are born into a new circle which is better and bigger and fuller. So it is and so it will ever be. The mind of God is inexhaustible. It is infinite. If a man could continually learn for billions of ages he could not exhaust the infinite mind. The same relation would exist between them. The mind of the man would continu- ally grow, but the infinite mind is without boimds. The mind of a man is as a shot to all space. Don't be afraid you will learn everything and become perfect and ruin everything. There is no danger. It cannot be done. You are as a drop of water to the whole ocean. All of humanity, taken together, contains infinite knowledge in a negative sense. We grow forever and forever. That is, humanity will continue to grow until the end of the world, which will be many ages to come, perhaps billions of years. Some per- sons think this world war will be the end of the world. The discovery of this truth marks the end of the world we now live in and the beginning of a new circle of thought and action. The Bible is an inspired book. The things prophesied in the Bible are coming true in a way. "Nation shall rise against nation, and the end of the world shall come." The end may come, but not as they thought. Christ was in- spired, but he failed correctly to interpret his inspiration. He could cure the sick by inspiring in them hope, faith, con- fidence, belief. These things alone will cure most ailments. 232 A WITNESS TESTIFIES They help a great deal in the struggle of life. They are not all, .but they are a necessary part. A man who loses all confidence, all faith, all belief, all hope, dies. The second coming of Christ is the discovery of this truth. We know by it that the real Christ is Humanity. This is the dawn of the millenium. Christ (Humanity) will reign king from now on to the end of the world. That simply means that the men and women together will rule the world. It means that, when we get things right and the men and women together rule the lives of men the world will be a perfect heaven. It will blossom like a rose. We will indeed be a brotherhood of humanity and peace, and good-will will rule the hearts of men. The world will be filled with happy lovers. Plenty and health will fill the land. We will all be rich with the overblessings of life. Hate and strife will cease to exist. All will be filled with the desire to do their part and be worthy of life. Any necessary work is a work of love. It is just as hon- orable to sweep the streets as to rule the White House. This truth was brought to light by me by continual think- ing. Neither the Bible, Christ, the war, nor anything else of that nature, caused me to find it. Did the Bible and the war help the men who made the automobile possible? They did not. Neither did they help me. Since I found the fact I am able to tell what they mean and are, and how they harm us. When I made this discovery, I was not thinking of the Bible at all. A man in Africa or China could have done the same thing. It was just a matter of putting the facts in their proper order. It could have been discovered long ago. Edgar Allen Poe almost discovered it. A man can't tell something he does not know. It is im- possible. The discovery of this truth will cause people for- ever to cease talking about truth and religion and science. They will either explain this thing away or forever hold their peace. They must either recognize this fact or stop com- plaining about war. IN CONCLUSION 233 It is of no importance to me whether a single human being reads this or not. I have done my duty and I am free. You could not call civilized a people who do not even know what the real religion is, could you? We all inspire each other to do and to dare. We all desire to improve. This is the second coming of Christ, or the third coming. Christ did not have anything to do with it. He was just a human being the same as you and I. He did not bring any- thing new into the world. He cannot even claim the dis- tinction of being original. He was a good man, but mis- guided. He loved much, but he did not love intelligently. Christ was honorable and sincere and a gentleman. He would be overjoyed to know that I have been able to correct his mistakes. There is no blame attached to Christ. He knew not what he did. This is as nearly the second coming of Christ as will ever be. Anybody can see that. If you want to call the dis- covery of this fact that, that is what it is. The discovery of this fact simply means that an ordinary man accidentally discovered that if we wish to have the blessings of this life we must have and use a little ordinary common sense. Whenever people get ready to quit doing senseless things, everything will be all right. I believe the average Christian is sincere and honest and earnest and serious. He believes and professes the Christian faith because he wishes to obey the laws of his being and wants to be worthy flesh. I take it that every man or woman worthy of the name will be glad, indeed, to learn the mistake they are making and will be overjoyed to know how to serve their Maker and fellow men in a more intelligent way. It is very hard to learn that, perhaps, your whole life work has been spent in a wrong pursuit, but such is the fact; life is far greater and more wonderful than most of us think. If some doctor discovers a better way to treat a disease, all other doctors are under obligation at once to adopt the 234 A WITNESS TESTIFIES better way; and they gladly do so, as a professional duty. This case involves hate, and, of course, the devil will jump up in the minds of men and say, "Don't do that; it will cost you something." The devil is truly a perfect serpent. This fact brings about many changes. We must change all our schools and institutions of learning to comply with its mandates. Every industry must take notice of it. If white flour is bad, we must stop the use of it. The saloon must go. The church must go. Nothing can escape it. Everything that human beings have to do with must respect this truth. It cannot be overlooked if we wish to be right. It is wonderful to know that all men have lived according to this law, all men live according to it now, and all men will live according to it to the end of the world, whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not. All things, both great and small, are governed by this law. Not one single atom whatsoever can escape it. Not a star or sun in the heavens can escape it forever and forever. It has al- ways been and it always wiU be. As a human being you can disobey the law or you can obey it. If you disobey you pay a price that is out of all reason. The law is such that it must be obeyed. Otherwise it would be very foolish to seek truth at all. Law and order are of the very first importance. There can be nothing in life of any value without due respect for the law. We can continue to break this law as all have in the past. If we do, be assured that we will have plenty of insane wars. We will have trouble without end. Sickness and diseases, insanity, poverty, strife, hate, unhappiness. All these things are the result of breaking this law. If we want to avoid hell on earth, we must respect the law. All these things are unnecessary. We can very easily avoid them. Here is about the way we must consider the thing: I must in the sight of these facts conform my actions to love, to intelligence, to truth, to justice. If I am to perform my IN CONCLUSION 235 work as God's image I must seek all understanding, all knowledge, all law, all force, in these four things. If I am to hope for all things, attain to all things, accomplish all things, and have all things, I must seek them in all meek- ness, in all joy, in all love, in all happiness. I must search for these things in the air, in the water, on the land, and in the ground. I must obey my conscience. I must be true to my mate. I must love her better than all things. I must love her better than I love myself. I must be just to myself. I must be willing to give my life for the right. I must take good care of my mind and my body. I must have faith, confidence, belief, hope in aU things. I must be led like a little child, in all faith, in all confidence, in all belief, in all hope. I must use my brains, my will power, my strength, my courage to obtain what I need. I must be patient, kind, merciful, and thoughtful in all my relations with others, myself and my Maker included. Anybody can tell which is the proper thing to do. We are all smarter than we know. It is not a question of brains; it is a question of being man enough to stand up for the right. Now, I have written this thing so fully and clearly that a child can understand it. I have put the issue squarely up to you. You cannot dodge it at all. The responsibility is now yours. I am just one of the many. I am no more important than you. You are just as important as any- body. It does not make any difference whether you are one man or another. You are a human being and you are in honor bound to respect the law, the truth, the facts, the scheme of things. We are continually growing and if you wish to be a man among men you must keep up with the growth. It is folly to try to cling to old and outgrown things. They are of no use. They will make you unhappy. There seems to be a law of foiu- in connection with all things in life. I cannot define the law, but in some manner 236 A WITNESS TESTIFIES it exists and is perhaps very important. We have the four corners of the world. In the vegetable kindgom we have the four ; grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts. We have the fourth dimension, which is not yet well understood. The brain is a case of the fourth dimension. The brain is a finite thing, but it will hold an infinity of knowledge. There is one thing that I will always be proud of. I loved others better than I did myself. I did not commit suicide when the dark and hopeless hour came. I forgot myself and thought of others, and by doing so I have done a great good. You see, I had no one to guide me. I was all alone and single-handed. There is a big difference between know- ing what you are doing and not knowing. I did not know whether I was damning my soul to everlasting torment or not. I considered it of no consequence. I did not know, therefore, I ran the risk. I have suffered a thousand times more than Christ did. His suffering was less exquisite than you have been led to believe. He did not know what it is to be sinful. He never had any disease. The only suffering he went through was a few hours on the cross. What is that to a life- time of hell fire? Every sinner suffers more than Christ did, and many suffer much more than I have. God is not personal; he is the whole. He cannot talk as a man to a man. We must use all our attributes to get the sense of what he tries to tell us. It seems to be possible to call up any person, dead or alive. I have called up people whom I knew and talked with them. I afterward found that the persons I talked to knew nothing of it. This is what happens. I believe it is possible to call up any per- sonality, dead or alive. It is of no importance, because you are simply in touch with their infinite soul or mind. They can tell you anything or everything. They either lie or tell the truth. You are the finite; they are the infinite. They can tell you nothing, then, that you do not already know. So it is plain that it is impossible to trick God out of any knowledge. It cannot be done. This is the foundation of IN CONCLUSION 237 the spiritualists' deception : You can talk with the departed spirits, but they can tell you nothing. It is of no use. Some day we may learn how to call each other up by mental processes. I believe it possible. To get any connection with the departed spirits that is of any value, would be to lose the value of life. The spirit must be in the flesh to be of any value to the world. The story of the advent of Jesus Christ on earth is of no importance. Anybody can tell a lie It takes a real man to tell the truth. There are an infinity of lies to choose from. There is but one truth. It is clear that there is a vast difference. The advent of this truth is important as life. My part in it is important only in so far as I have been able to discern the truth. It has been very trying for me to decide whether I should say a word about the Bible and Christ. I have taken the position in everything I have written throughout this book that I am writing for the best interests of humanity as a whole. I have. not considered myself of any note and have used myself with no regard for my own desires. I consider my sins parallel to others' in the aggregate. My life history is about the average man's life history. I have never known a man that would deny sexual indiscretions in his youth. The disgrace of the present age is the prevailing ignorance of sexual matters. Some may say that it is hard to believe that a perfect God would deceive a man and let him put in his whole life in an honest and sincere effort to serve Him in a wrong con- ception of the truth which damns the souls and lives of men. The answer is that the deception in nature is infinitely perfect and is the opposite of love. God never tells any- thing. Man must use his brains. We must, sometime, realize that God is helpless to tell us anything. We are expected to be responsible creatures, and we are responsible creatvu-es now; at least, we are treated as if we possessed all knowledge. The law is perfect and is made to serve 238 A WITNESS TESTIFIES perfect men. We are children still and we have a hard time of it. It will be ten times as easy for a perfect man, or superman, to live as it is for us to live now. We misman- age and waste so much, it is wonderful that we survive at all. This revelation of the truth will not at once be taken seriously by man. One of the protections in human nature against cranks and fakers is the fact that people fight any- thing new and are very slow to take up new ideas that revolutionize the thinking of the times. This idea makes a change in all our views. We have got to readjust and rebuild our whole fabric of thinking and action to meet the demands of this idea, and of course it will take a long time to do it. This truth is in the true arc of the circle of infinite truth, and it will take to the end of the world to witness its fulfillment. We will never have to change anything once we get it right. If once we get the real food, we are done for all time with the subject of what to eat. Of .course, we will improve indefinitely the production and quality of our food, but once we get the basic principle of the diet problem, all arguments will cease. Just as there never can be any argu- ment any more in the world as to the real religion, provided it is proved and demonstrated to be true. When we know a thing we know it. When a thing is settled, it is settled forever. We know by this truth that Christ will never come to earth the second time. We know that the real Christ is Humanity. That God is the Father, Humanity the Mother, and we their only begotten children, a son and a daughter. Some will claim the discovery of the real Christ, the second coming of Christ. Humanity has been the true saviour all the time. In reality there never has been any Jesus Christ the saviour. People ^believed that the world was flat: it was round all the time. The lie existed in the mind and was never a fact. So it is clear that Jesus Christ has never been the saviour. The work and thoughts IN CONCLUSION 239 of all men and women have brought the world to its present excellent development. The mind is the storehouse of an infinity of lies and we are deceived by them. As we have advanced and will continue to advance, we get them out of our minds. Some persons believe the human mind will learn how to control the elements. Then if we want to wage war, we will use cyclones and floods and droughts and isnow and hail, and all such things, to destroy the property and lives of each other. The gun will be discarded as we have already discarded the slung-shot and the cross-bow. But I say that is not so. For since God's creation is perfect and cannot fail except by our own will, we will also understand so well by that time that we will love one another too well to desire to kill. There will come a time on this earth when men will have such vast stores of energy at their command that they might destroy the world if they should desire to do so. So you see that when we get to be so powerful that we can destroy the world, we will have too much understanding and love to do so. God is smart enough to take care of the world he has created. Since we must be perfect men and women, we must attain that knowledge by our own efforts, if we would be responsible. It is clear that the terrible anguish through which the human race is passing now is necessary and a part of the perfect plan. It is plain, then, if we are ever to come out of our swaddling clothes we must be up and doing what is necessary. Why would God let half the world of men knock one another's brains out? It is just like this: They are responsible, and if they see fit to destroy one another God is powerless to hinder it. What is to keep a man from jumping in the sea and drowning? Nothing, if he wants to do it. Some will say that as individuals no one wants to fight in this war. We are responsible collectively as well as individually. Since we love one another more than the tongue can tell, 240 A WITNESS TESTIFIES it is a great pity that we do not understand. The most sor- rowful words that a human being can say are the sad words, "If I had known what I. was doing, I would not have done it." That is what the people of Europe will say some day, and in unspeakable sorrow and tears they will embrace one another. It comes at last to this : we all, individually and collectively, must seek out the truth and live up to it. If we fail to do so we are ruined. It has got to be done; it is the very worst folly not to do it. Consider the proposition that two plus two makes four. Practically and infinitely it is true. Now if we consider that two apples and two apples make four apples, we have a finite case. It is true, but no other four apples in the world are equal to the four we consider. We see, then, that when we confine anything to the finite it is not quite true. Two plus two «quals foiu* is true absolutely only in infinity and is only relatively true finitely. Then, when we con- fine anything to the finite, necessarily we have an error. To have no error we would have to have all perfect apples, and there are no perfect apples. Apples can be made more nearly perfect indefinitely. Then we see that anything that we use as a rule or law to govern our lives must be true in infinity and practically true finitely. Two plus two equals five is true in neither case. Now, if we consider the uni- versal law that mates must love one another unselfishly, is it true in both cases? We see that it is. It will stand the test of both considerations f"om every angle. If people live up to it, they will fulfill the real life and the law can remain true for all time. People can continue to improve throughout eternity, forever. Will any other proposition meet all the conditions? Will the Bible or any other religion meet the test? It will not. We can see that we get off at a tangent very soon if we try to substitute some other law. The Bible is just the same as the case of two plus two equals five. It works apparently for a while, but soon gets to the point where it will not stand the test. IN CONCLUSION 241 Now, I have aired my individual experience, and said my love and I stood the supreme test. It might be inferred that I consider that a precept to follow. The fact is this: our love affair is of no importance. Other love affairs are practically the same. The example to follow is the real infinite example of the perfect ideal. AU men and all women must use their own mental power to fashion their own ideals. If you try to follow some specific example you will go wrong.. You must change yoiu* ideas as the world advances. Your ideas and my ideas and everybody else's ideas are constantly to be summed up and put into practice. The world has tried to fashion its ideals after one man named Jesus Christ, and we see what hopeless confusion has resulted. The perfect man cannot be. The perfect man and woman are possible only in infinity. They cannot and will not ever be on this earth or in any other world. They are possible only in the infinite. Then we must advance our ideals always as we advance in the knowledge of what we should strive to be. Do not set up any finite man as an example, but get the sum of the best thought of your time and fashion your own ideals to conform- to it, and add to it the little over- plus that is your individuality. It is evident that I could keep writing as long as I want to, because this is a subject that is infinite in nature. But I want only to make clear why I have written and then my purpose shall have been accomplished. We see that the devil double-crosses us in an infinite manner. He is the double-crossing infinite crook that uses the inside of the outside to deceive the outside of the inside of the fourth dimension up to the nth power of r; which means nothing but that the devil is infinitely perfect and we can not escape him except by the protection of God, who also is infinitely perfect, the difference being that God is positive and the devil is negative. Thus we see that we must hve by the law, we do live by the law, and we can live by the law. If we do not live according to the law, we die. So you see 242 A WITNESS TESTIFIES all unconsciously we live according to this law and do not know it. The devil gets his pleasure in deceiving you and your love. When you are unfaithful, you always pay a price that it is insanity to pay. When you are faithful you receive a reward which is greater than you have earned — an overplus of blessings. I started out to prove that there are two infinite gods: one a god of infinite love, intelligence, truth, justice; the other an infinite god of intelligence (negative intelligence, which is not ignorance, but intelligence used to destroy), hate, untruth and injustice; also that the universal law (the law is infinite, as it is true for all things and conditions and at all times and places) is that mates must, do, will and can love one another unselfishly in all things. I feel that I have proved these things, and I am content. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Christ and the Bible Since completing Part I of this work, I find that people — or I had better say Christian people — seem to think that I have made a mistake in pointing out so radically the fact that Christ is not the Christ. I have taken pains, it seems to me, to show clearly that Christ was in no wise to blame inas- much as he did not understand and was perfectly innocent of wrongdoing. Now we will look at the case from a somewhat different angle. I cited the fact that in certain times long ago semi- savage mothers threw their little babies into a river and left them to drown. Why did they do such a horrible thing? They did so because they believed what their leaders in religious thought taught them to believe. Now the men that taught that doctrine were not to blame, inasmuch as they sincerely believed they were teaching the very truth. Didn't the doctrine they taught cause those mothers to commit murder? We can't blame the philosophers for teaching a lie which caused murder to be committed. They were sincere and honest. They believed what they taught. But it is evident that they were the agent that caused the murder. Now it is evident that truth is a very hard master, and it will not compromise with the untruth. What am I to do? If I tell the very truth, I must tell it as it is. I can't tell what I want to tell. I must be governed by the facts and not by my emotions. It is evident that a man that teaches must be very careful not to lie. If a man teaches lies and people believe them, he causes murder. A man who tells a truth must be very careful, and when he does not know a thing he must say "I believe," not "I know." It is 243 244 A WITNESS TESTIFIES the most difficult thing in the world to find the dividing line between what you know and what you think you know. I would be happy indeed to be able to say that the Bible is true and Christ is the saviour, but the evidence is so plain that I dare not. If I know that the sun shines I know that through the lips of Christ the devil lied to us. It is perfectly clear that one has the right to speculate and present an opinion on any subject until the facts are knotvn. It is wrong to say that you know unless you have at hand the facts to prove your assertion. I have made it very clear throughout this work that I am only human, and have left it open to all men to prove that I am wrong if they can. I have no desire whatever to say that the devil deceived men through Christ if that is not true. But if it is true, then I must say so. Now suppose I should go to China and explain this fact to the Chinese. I would have to show that the men who formulated their present religion were deceived. That they were lying and did not know it. Doesn't the Christian mind believe that the Chinese are badly deceived.'* They do not hesitate to say that the devil exists in their minds to their utter ruin. If God can't help the fact that the Chinese are deceived, how can he help that the Christian mind is de- ceived? Do you think that God would favor some of his creatures above others? It is evident that he does not and can not. It is time for people to make an effort to face the facts. Do you believe that people are killing one another in Europe? You know they are. Don't you know that our own boys are going over there to kill and to be killed? It is evident to any man that will face the facts that they are doing so because of the precepts of the Christian faith. There is no guiding principle in the Christian faith, because it is a lie, and there is no guiding principle to any lie. The guiding principle is very clear in what I say. It is based on facts and truth. By means of the guide you are able to tell what SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 245 • is wrong. I know you will say that people do get into trouble because they do not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, because there is not a guide to go by. It simply cannot be done, because it is not in the thing. You may not be able to see the point, but the killing in this war is a human sacrifice to the God of the Bible, just as much as was the baby the savage woman threw into the river a sacrifice to her god. Didn't the savage mother murder her child because she was guided by a seeming truth, a near truth? Don't all the people in Europe claim to be Christians? Are not they at war because they lack the real facts and the truth to guide them? To say they have the facts and truth in the case would be untrue. They do not know what they do. For that very reason they are killing. They believed a lie and they are paying the price in blood. I want to make it plain that the Creator of this world made this world for lovers to live in. He made it so that they can find happiness in living up to the law. This world is yet in the making and it is to be the abode of men and women guided by principles that are founded on eternal truth and facts. It we put faith in some supposed fact, we will eventually have to give it up or perish. If people persist in believing a lie, they must kill one another for doing so. The truth must be sought out. I have made it plain that an honorable man can and must go to war to uphold the right. But the idea is this; if we get the lies out from the minds of men, they won't have to go to war. If you can't tmderstand that the Christian faith is fundamentally wrong, it is not my fault. If you can't understand that facts and truth are important, it is no fault of mine. If you can't understand that the brotherhood of man must necessarily rest on a foundation of eternal truth, I am not to blame. If you can't understand that law and order are the first requisites of a state of peace and happiness, I am sorry. If you can't understand that to break the law is to destroy the happiness of mankind, then I am not to blame. 246 A WITNESS TESTIFIES It must be plain to any man that if the people of Europe could get the chance to read this book, they would stop the war without further bloodshed. This thing is a terrible matter and the responsibility rests on you as much as it does on me. It is no excuse to say a man is crazy. It is no excuse to say he is a crank. The facts are before you, and it is your business to lend a helping hand. If your son has to go to the war and gets killed, it will be a great sorrow to you. It is only right that we should give the people in Europe a fair chance to learn the "key" to the war. If God Almighty should take form in the flesh, he could only tell us the truth. He would not and could not tell us about something that will happen a milhon years from now. We could not understand. We must be led by consecutive steps. This truth is only a step in the order of OUT evolution. God would not tell us something we could not understand. We have to make the necessary prepara- tion. We are prepared for this truth and it is clear that most men can understand it. If the Christian religion or any other false religion con- tains any guiding basic principle, I dare you to prove it or name it. It can't be done, because it is not in any of them. If the European war is not a sacrifice of human blood to wrong conceptions of the divine law, I dare you to prove it. If the present unhappiness of the human race is not caused by lack of facts and truth, I dare you to prove it or point out why. I don't mean to say that every statement I have made is correct. It could not be. I mean that it can be seen plainly by the most ingenuous thinker that I have been guided by a governing fact or truth. I necessarily exag- gerate some things and understate some things. I have plainly shown that I could not get it absolutely correct, but you will find that my train of thought does flow in one un- broken channel. It would be impossible for me to write this thing if I did not have the knowledge of the fundamental law. I dare any man to point out wherein, if he confines his SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 247 • actions to the law as I have pointed it out, he can do wrong. If in any manner he can show that lust and greed are a part of this work, he can prove the whole thing is fundamentally wrong. If any man can show wherein this law is repulsive, he can show that it is repulsive to hold your sweetheart in your arms and kiss her. I dare any man that takes excep- tion to the fact that Christ represents the Arch Deceiver to prove that he does not. I have pointed out that we must help one another in every way. If a man is a drunkard, he is to be pitied and loved out of it. We must never give up while life lasts. To desert a fallen man is wrong. It is our duty to love one another better than we love ourselves. It may be that I am too radical and should be less bitter and ruthless. Haven't you asked me to give up my life for a cause? That seems to me a thousand times more radical than I am. I only ask you to listen to reason, so that I won't have to give up my life and the lives of others. I ask you to be sensible and to let the truth be known to all men, so that all of us can be as one. I fail to see how I am out of line when I have brought to you the best news that has ever reached this planet. If yoiu* Christian religion is true, why are most boys addicted to the secret vice? I dare you to tell me why. You may say that they are not. I know that this sin is prevalent among all races. If a false religion is not mental masturbation, I dare you to name what it is. Look at the Chinese idols — is not that confusion of the mind? I want to tell you plainly. Christian people, you "haven't a leg to stand on." Your religion is dead. I dare you to show me where you get anything of value out of the Bible. The Bible does not contain any knowledge. What about medicine? What about chemistry? What about machin- ery? What about electricity? What about the diet? What about the mating question? What about any of the various lines of useful knowledge? What about inventions? 248 A WITNESS TESTIFIES It is all a joke; there is nothing of value in the Bible. When you see the Bible in its true light, it is the most ridiculous impossible fabrication ever invented by the human mind Does the Bible tell what whisky is? No. Does the Bible tell what any evil is? No. Does Christ explain on any ground the position he assumes? No. You will find that the Bible is absolutely nothing but confusion and riddles from one end to the other. It is folly to say that the Bible contains any real knowledge of the works of creation. Men of science know it does not. There is not a fact or a truth cited in the whole vast book that can be defended by facts and truth. When the real Bible is written it will contain the true history of the world. It will contain the knowledge that all men have helped to bring into the world. And everything in it will be explained and defended by truth and facts and the results it produces. I have taken pains to show that wisdom and knowledge are a growth in the human mind. It is possible to show that anything is not literally true if you detach fragments, but what I have shown is that I have a fact that contains a guiding principle. That I am a very poor person to trace this truth is as evident to me as it will be to others. It is plainly stated that all men must help straighten out the tangle. Things in this world are finite to us and the divine is infinite. As no apple is exactly a true apple, but necessarily is somewhat faulty, it is up to some futiu-e man to produce a more nearly perfect apple. In the same manner it is up to any man to add to this story and help make it more nearly complete. I have been told that I should not deny the story of the Immaculate Conception, that The Virgin is loved and venerated by millions. That is true. Yet the story is untrue. The Great Miracle is inexplicable by any logical means. It is impossible today, — it was impossible two thousand years ago. And Mary knew, just as did those others who conspired to deceive the multitudes in that dis- SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 249 tant day, that the father of Christ was mc6i;al. Whatever may have been her reasons for permitting this untruth to go imcorrectid, the fact remains that she did not deny the story. And by her failure to deny it millions of persons have been deceived. One word from Mary would have righted the wrong done by those persons responsible for this the most immense hoax in the history of the world. How Uttle did Mary realize the harm that would result from her failtu*e to brand as a falsehood the story of her conception! I have deliberately and purposely written plainly and frankly because I have wished to draw attention closely to the fact that the truth is important and that it is a very dread- ful thing to deceive, or to lie, inasmuch as it leads us to un- happiness and in the end to murder. I have no desire to point out any mistakes that others have made, except for the benefit of all. You will say you have the evidence of the men present that Mary was a virgin. I have the universal law, which is perfect, to prove my contention, while you have the evidence of men who were more willing to believe an untruth than they were to believe the truth. Just as we are as a majority today. K I am wrong, all the experience of the human race up to the present time is worthless. If I am wrong there is nothing known today that is of any value. This is the battle royal. It is where Greek meet Greek. It is Armageddon, the battle of uni- versal truth against universal lies. Now if I am wrong I will be glad to find it out, and will be overjoyed to tell it to the world. This is where philosopher meets philosopher. This is the battle of reason against reason, wit against wit, per- sonaUty against personality. I point the accusing finger at you and dare you to the fray. I have clearly pointed out that our position in the world at the present time is very unfair: that we are born into a perfect world without our knowledge or consent; that the traps of evil are infinitely 250 A WITNESS TESTIFIES perfect, and that it is impossible to avoid them in our present state of development. It is our unfortunate fate to exist at the present time. Just why we are chosen to meet the condition when it is, perhaps, at its worst, is not known and does not matter. Do you consider other people's feelings when you go to the other countries to preach the gospel? Don't you tell them plainly that their reKgion is all wrong and that you are right.? Now let us see how well you can take a dose of your own medicine. Any philosopher can reason the whole world out of existence by good sound argiunent. Since there must be an infinite nothingness to be an infinite somethingness, it is possible to reason that anything is true or false. Reason is not all; it is only a part. Reason is valuable only in so far as you follow the truth. Reason is an infinite attribute, and a man can soon reason himself out of reason if he will permit himself to do so. Reason uncontrolled will drive man to insanity. So it is plain that we must be masters of reason just as we must be masters of other attributes. It has been suggested by some thinkers that if they could learn all philosophies and religions they might be able to arrive at a conclusion. The point is this: Philosophy is infinite, and there can be an infinite amotmt of it. If you had the infinity of philosophy summed up, you would not arrive at harmony, or oneness. Why? Because the law is not to be found in philosophy alone. You cannot get something out of a thing that does not contain it. You can use the universal law as a guide and discover what is true in any or all philosophies. But you cannot take all philosophies and arrive at the truth. This universal law will fuse all philoso- phies into one harmonious whole. We can keep adding to the whole constantly, because truth is infinite. This is the last attack the Bible will ever have to endure. If it can live through this assault, it is eternal truth. So muster up your best defense and let us see who wins. If you lose you will be obliged to deny Christ and accept the truth. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 251 * If I am wrong I will gladly accept Christ as my saviour, and believe every word of the Bible. It is up to you. Live and Let Live Since it is evident that I have discovered a new principle, and since it will be admitted that a new principle is worthy of investigation, suppose we use a little good old-fashioned sense and investigate it. Suppose you say to yourself, "The author of this book has something new. He is a little fanatical and weak-minded, perhaps, but he really offers something worth considering. I'd better look into this. Of course he wants to bring up again the worn-out question of the Bible that I have grown tired of. We all know religion is a matter of growth and evolution, anyhow, and squabbling over it does no good. But he has some ideas in addition to that that I should consider." You can plainly see, from the facts presented in this book, that the Great War now raging is the result of wrongdoing on the part of all humanity, but the Germans are more in the wrong. No matter who wins, no matter who is in the right, the cost of the war will have to be paid by all of us. If the Allies win, and it is the earnest hope of the author that they may succeed in winning, they will have to be fair in their treatment of the Central Powers. They will be com- pelled to adopt toward their enemies a policy of live and let live, else war will again result. All civilized peoples will eventually adopt the democratic form of government. So therefore we must insist that the German people establish democracy in their country. If they really admire and love their Kaiser as they ap- pear to love and admire him, they may elect him to the presidency of their nation; depriving him, at the same time, of the autocratic power he now wields. Thus shorn of his power to declare war, this privilege being held by the people by their representatives in Congress, the Kaiser might in 252 A WITNESS TESTIFIES time head one of the greatest democracies in the world with- out being a source of menace to all other nations. If, as has been said, it is all a matter of evolution, any- way, and if the world is coming to democracy, why not hasten it by insisting as the first condition of peace negotia- tions that Germany become a complete democracy? Then, inasmuch as we are all partly to blame for the present world holocaust, we shall forgive the German people for their crimes in Belgium and France and Poland, and at the same time make it impossible for them to repeat them. (We will be lenient, but we will not forget to be practical.) And since we know that, no matter who actually furnishes the money to restore little Belgium and little Serbia, and the other small nations practically destroyed in this war, the cost must nevertheless be borne by the whole world, let us all "chip in" to help in the reconstruction, each bel- ligerent paying its share. World democracy is coming — it must come — therefore let us hasten it by being first to assume the bmrdens and responsibilities of our part in the Democracy of the World. Surely no one desires the destruction of the German people, who have done so much for the enlightenment of the world. What we do desire is that Kaiserism be forever abolished, and that the talents of the Germans be directed into the proper channels. Germany has as much right to develop along lines of special endeavor as any other nation and also to help develop the world. We must not forget that German men and women have been deceived by their teachers into the belief that war is necessary. The devil, the infinite God of hate and deceit, has misled them through their Kaiser, who is in small part to blame for their present plight. Therefore let us be considerate and give Germany a bit of room in the world after this war. If Germany can make better dyes than other nations, let her make them. If the United States can make better automobiles than other nations, let them be made here. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 253 Let every nation have its specialty. Then let us trade among each other, and not dam up the channels of commerce with tariffs. Let us combine to rebuild what the war has destroyed. Let us have no reprisals, no indemnities. All that is lost in this war must be paid for by the whole world, no matter whether all nations are assessed for their share or not. If France wants Alsace-Lorraine, let her have it. In a world democracy, what difference will it make, since all will have equal opportunity and equal rights? Time was when storekeepers sold their goods on the principle of caveat emptor — "let the buyer beware." The buyer had to know whether he was being cheated or not. But in late years the greatest merchants of the world have come to know that the highest success in merchandising comes only to them who give full value for every dollar received. The same principle must be applied to world commerce after the war. Tariffs, trade agreements, re- straint of war-crippled peoples, will only tend to delay the only possible preventive of war, world democracy. Let us as nations learn from modern merchants. "Caveat emptor" among nations means a continuance of the menace of war. When Kaiserism is abolished, the issues of this war will have been settled. The German people will be properly repentent for their crimes and will be ready to make amends. We of the United States will know that we have done our duty to the world, and that our honor as a nation is un- smirched. Our soldiers will return to their homes and take up again the thread of peaceful pursuits. But lest any nation again become obstreperous, we will train every American boy in the use of a rifle, and every American girl as a nurse, so that we may be prepared at all times for any unruliness in the world. World democracy will not come in a day, or in a year, or in a lifetime. While we await its complete accomplishment we must be prepared to ad- minister swift and certain punishment to any would-be bully. 254 A WITNESS TESTIFIES Matrial unfaithfulness, drinking, smoking, all will con- tinue for a time. But these and other unnecessary and undesirable things will become less practiced as time goes on. As we drink less whisky, we wiU have more money to spend for the good things of life and greater happiness will come to us. Our President has said that no man holds the key to this war. This is the key. He said that we should have peace without victory; that is, without indemnity or reprisal. This is it. The President is a great and good man. He knows that world democracy is coming, and has been the first among the great men of the world to foresee it and make provision for our part in it. When the European War is ended we should go, all nations, into Mexico, clean out the trouble-makers there, and give to the down-trodden poor of that country a decent government. Happiness is the right of every man, and every woman, in the world. No nation shall be kept under the heel of despotism. War is justified only in the interests of humanity. And our duty to humanity demands that we free the people of Mexico — not that we annex them to the United States or any other country, but that we make them ready to annex themselves to the Democracy of the World. Let us meet the truth like men. Let us as nations learn the principles known and practiced by those of ouj great merchants who have forever abandoned the policy of "caveat emptor." Let us combine all the flags of the world into one immense banner of glory, and march into the future together. All for one and one for all. PART II THE OATH What chance is there for me to be wrong in this matter? Since there is an infinity of chances for me to be wrong, then how do I know that I am right? How do I know that I have fomid the real truth? Now if you assume that a thing is true and you find it fits in properly with other things, it is true. If you assume that two plus two makes four, then try it and see if it fits in properly. Wherever you use it, then you know it is true. I find the assumption that there are two infinite perfect Gods true because it fits in with the whole scheme of things. I find the asusmption that mates must love each other unselfishly to.be true because it fits in perfectly with the scheme of things without any contradictions. What is it that we all must respect and bow our heads to? The truth. It is a fact that you must breathe, and you bow your head to that fact or die. Truth is the guide we must follow. It is the guide that leads us onward and up- ward, forever and forever. Since there are many crosses between lovers, they must be guided by the truth or become separated. A man and woman love each other with un- speakable love. If they would retain that love they must respect the truth. Truth, then, is the real cross between lovers, and they must respect it or lose theit love. You must seek the truth in all things and live up to it and then you may have your love. All the past experience of mankind proves this discovery to be true. If a thing can be shown to be true in one case, it will follow that it is true in all things. Then all the known facts will testify to its truth, and all facts to be discovered will testify to its truth. If a man could prove that all things were lies, he would prove, at the same time, that all 257 258 A WITNESS TESTIFIES things are true. So it is plain that I can not be wrong. It is the one chance in infinity to be right. It is impossible for me to be wrong. I have traced this law according to my own understanding, and, as a very imperfect being, I have made some mistakes; but I have made no mistake in the basic fact or principle. Since we know that there is a God and recognize the principle by which he governs, then what oath is every man and woman necessarily under? The oath runs something like this : I do hereby take solemn oath that I will respect and follow the truth. I know that I can not worship God because I can not now or ever know what he is. We know that God is the fixed, infinite whole, the same yesterday, 'today, and forever. That being the case, I know that it is useless and worthless to worship God. But. by worshiping the truth and being guided by it, I can fulfill my obligations to all men and to God. By doing so, I do exactly what I wish above all else to do and I bring happiness to myself and to those near and dear to me and help all others to do the same thing. I do hereby swear that I will he true to my mate in all things. That includes false intercourse of whatever nature, mental or physical. That I will not do any kind of work that is inimical to the welfare of humanity — such as the manufacture and sale of tobacco or alcoholic hquors; that I will cheerfully do any kind of work that is necessary and constructive in character and tends to promote the welfare of all; that I will not marry unless I am fit, both physically and mentally, and can say with perfect truth that I love her or him whom I marry; that I will see to it that all human beings have the same rights that I have. I further know that I am a free agent and that what I do I do from choice, but as I have had a perfect God to choose for me I am in honor bound to do his will, knowing that it is to my interest in all respect so to do. THE OATH 259 I know that I do not have to do things that I know are wrong. I know that all the subtle and seductive powers of the devil can not make me do wrong unless I will to do so. I know that all the truth, beauty, sense and power of the infinite God can not compel me to do right, but I know that I must do the things that are right. In that respect I have no choice. If I smoke a cigarette, I do so because I will to do so, and I know that I am an ass for doing it. I know that I have the will within me to resist evil, and I succumb to it only when I fail to use my will. I know that I have the intelligence necessary to perceive the truth and the will power necessary to follow it. I know that it is my own fault if I faU to use these powers. If I do use them I am sensible and respectable. I am criminal if I do not. / swear that I will not in any way debauch the bodies of others. I know that I have no right to hold sexual intercourse with any human, other than my mate, and that I must be governed in that case by the truth and not be a slave to sexual intercourse, as that would be just as wrong as intercourse with any other than my mate. I know that I commit a crime that- deserves the death penalty it I hold sexual intercourse with any human other than my mate. I would kill any other for debauching my love, and I deserve to be killed if I do so to others. There- fore, as a man, I swear to hold the virtue of all women in- violate. As a woman I swear to hold the virtue of all men inviolate. I further know that there are in reality but four women, mother, sister, wife and daughter. If I ravish the body or mind of any woman I ravish the body of my own loved ones. There are in reahty but four men, father, brother, husband, son. If I succumb to any man, I betray one of these, which I would not harm for anything. I further know that I lose my right to my own love and do her or him a great wrong by making a bloody ass of myself. There- fore, I swear that I will be true to my mate sexually and 260 A WITNESS TESTIFIES thereby deserve the love and respect of my mother, sister, wife, daughter. I, being a woman, swear that I will not betray men in a sexual way, thereby being true to my father, brother, husband and son. I do further swear that I will not have any other than the truth as my guide, since a false religion, like the worship of Jesus Christ, keeps the truth from being known, and causes blood to flow throughout the entire world. Since I know that Jesus Christ was a mortal being, the same as I, I know that he can not save me or lead me aright. Since my only hope lies in following the truth, the responsibility being upon my shoulders, and that no sin is forgiven, I must follow the truth. Since to be eternally damned I would have to know all things, I know that I can not possibly be eternally damned, because I am finite and do not and can not know all things. But I know that I am great and that my punish- ment is consonant with my greatness. I know that I shall be punished for being an ass, and it is my right to escape it by gentle living. I know that people suffer much pain that they can not avoid, but that pain is natxu-al to the finite world, and cannot be averted, at least at present. I know, then, that I am not doing wrong, but am doing good, if I take dare-devil chances in the proper spirit, to improve the condition and promote the knowledge of mankind. There- fore if I wish to give my life to a cause I can do so with a clear conscience. I know that all sickness, disease, poverty, insanity, crime, confusion, hatred, unhappiness, waste, want, can be avoided by seeking out the truth and living up to it. There- fore, I swear that I will seek the truth and live up to it, thereby making myself happy and helping to make all others happy. I know that all the blessings of life are for the worthy and that if all men and women live worthy lives there will be many times more than enough to go around. Since I know that the few must lead and the many follow, I will see that all have a fair chance to prove their worth. THE OATH 261 I will also see that the men or women chosen to lead are worthy to be given leadership. Since money is the only tangible thing we have at present with which to measure our worldly possessions, I will re- spect it and see that it is acquired by honest methods. Since it is natural and normal that parents should wish to promote the welfare of their children, I will respect the inheritance laws, as we have no other plan, whereby children may be provided for; Since it is necessary that we have labor and capital, I will see to it that both labor and capital are treated fairly. Since the interests of all humanity run in the same chan- nel, I will uphold the interests of humanity above all else. I swear to hold the interests of all, or the whole, above my country, my state, my nationality. I swear to give my all in defense of my country, my state, my nationality, so long as they are right. Since the happiness and good will and peace of the world depends on the upholding of the highest right, I know that I serve my country, my state, my na- tionality, and all I hold dear, by giving my aid first to the interests of the whole. By doing so I compel my own countrymen to seek out the truth and become respectful in the eyes of the whole world. Since the sins of the father are visited on the child, I swear that I will use my will and knowledge, knowing that the virtues of the father are also bestowed on the child. Since upon the sexual instinct depends all human life, I swear carefully to instruct my child in regard to it, knowing that I betray it by not doing so. Since the diet question is highly important, and has not yet been solved, / swear that I will in some measure keep up with modern experiments and thought along that line, for by experiment we may at last find a satisfactory diet. Since the basic principles of the diet question are unknown and it may be a long time before we know them, it is necessary that we follow the diet plan vouched for by the best in- 262 A WITNESS TESTIFIES formed opinion. When once we learn what the real diet is, we will then have no choice in the matter, but will have to select oiu* food according to the guiding principle involved, which will, no doubt, allow a wide range of selection in different combinations. The foregoing is simply a suggestive outline of the Oath of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Mankind. Any well educated man or woman, after once getting the thought, can write it out a thousand times better than I. The oath should end something like this : In the name of my father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, wife, self, and in the name of all humanity, I attach my signature to this oath, knowing that I am in duty and honor bound to respect and keep it. Since it is wrong in principle to steal, swear, pray, lie, kill, I will not do any of these. Since aU things come to me through the efforts of all men and women, then to expect my prayers to be answered I must pray through them and for them as a whole. Since it is terribly wrong to kill, I will not kill except in a just and righteous cause; either as an individual (it is sometimes necessary to kill to protect one's home or Ufe) or in war on misguided and deceived people. In the latter case I can be guided only by the highest truth as accepted by the best minds. It is only possible to be more nearly right, as all human beings are imperfect; but as the highest sense is our only guide, I must be guided by it. It is the only way we have to promote the welfare of the human race as a whole. Our advancement depends upon it. WHAT IS GOD? The human mind in the past has thought and does today think of God as a male. We always speak of God as Him. The conception I get of God, from the fact and principle I have cited, is something like this : God is an infinite being, or mind, or law. God is both male and female. Some people seem to have no conception of what infinite means. To illustrate: if all the printing presses of the world should print numbers for five years; if all these numbers were put in a line to represent one number, and then that number be raised to the bilHonth power — if the number thus produced were assumed to stand for the universal mind and the single number one for yours, then you would have some idea of how much greater is the infinite mind than the finite mind of man. Now when we consider that God is just as bad as He-She is good, then we see that our only escape is through truth. God is of a fourfold nature. That is, He-She is in all the flesh and all the mind. We must know the truth in our minds and then we must put the proper things in our bodies to avoid confusion. The serpent, then, is both male and female. Don't you know that an all-powerful God of hate can seduce the human mind. It is not strange that Christ was seduced. The world is at present seduced. The world war is not a cause, but a result : humanity has been unfaithful and is now paying the price. Christ was only a man, and it is wrong to worship him. The truth is the jealous leader of men and women, and if we forsake truth we are in confusion. How would you like to worship me? Don't you see how disgusting and loathsome it sounds. Now that is just 264 A WITNESS TESTIFIES exactly what you are doing when you worship Christ. Christ was nothing but a man. The serpent so terribly deceived him that he actually believed he was the only son of God. He wanted the whole world for his kingdom. He couldn't think of anything he didn't know. If he were alive today, in thirty minutes I could ask him a hundred questions that he could not answer. If any one, sinner or saint, thinks I can't ask any man questions he can't answer, let it be tried. I can "show up" any preacher or any man on earth. I bar none. This proposition is open to all the world: the truth is the only guide we can safely trust. Now, since God is infinite in character and is both good and bad, it is impossible to worship God. It simply cannot be done. You cannot worship anything that might smash you to pieces, can you? These two forces are exactly bal- anced in nature. Neither gives the other any quarter. The world and everything in it owes its existence to the fact that there is an over-plus to both forces. The positive force forever lives and the negative force forever dies. If it were not for that fact there would be nothing. These two forces meet and fight each other throughout the whole of infinite nature. One builds up, and the other destroys. My idea is that these forces cause the finite world, because neither can have its way entirely. Therefore both, being infinitely perfect, compromise to avoid being infinitely nothing. So, then, we have the perfect all through them. Hate would at once smash the whole world into nothingness, forever. Love would have the world a perfect eternal heaven of harmony and love. The only way, then, that mankind can make the world into a heaven is to seek the truth in all things and live up to it. Why would God make a world? God can't help making a world any more than a man can help breathing. Why will God make a dog and then make fleas to annoy him? God is the whole and cannot help it. The dog is worried and tries to get rid of the fleas, thereby increasing his brain power. WHAT IS GOD? 265 He is more of a dog for doing so. So it is all the way through. Everything pushes forever and forever onward and up- ward. Humanity now is studying to get to a higher plane of thought so that life will be fuller. People don't seem to realize that the old things die and new and better things are born to take their place. This is a better religion than the Bible, because it closes no doors. Everything is open for investigation. With new truth come new responsibilities. Now, since we know these things, we have to do them. Both men and women will have to share the responsibilities of the Govern- ment. The real church is the Capitol at Washington. That is where we determine what we should do and what we should not do. Some people worry about the salvation of the soul. I take this position: If there were a man on earth that under- stood just how it is all brought about, I am svu-e I could not understand it. I take it that I am not prepared to under- stand it and that it is not necessary for me to at present. There are thousands of things that other men understand that would take me many years to learn. Why try to un- derstand a thing so complicated as the salvation of the soul when in all probabihty there is not a man living that could understand it if it were all written out? We simply have not reached the proper plane of mental development yet, and that is all there is to it. Since lies all die, and truths all live forever, it is plain that all is well. The overplus of truth is the thing that lives, and that fact proves that our eternity is fixed and certain. Since to a moderate degree I understand the nature of the infinite God, I am not surprised that the Germans have made such a terrible mistake. Since I know the nature of the forces in the human mind, I know better than to bully or impose upon a man. Any man will, at last, kill if he is imposed on enough. It is the God in a man that rebels and becomes desperate. You cannot do injustice to a man 266 A WITNESS TESTIFIES unless you wish to kill him. The Germans made the mis- take of thinking that they could do injustice to the human family and escape without paying the price. I knew when they started the war that they committed suicide. Humanity is simply struggling to right itself and stand erect in nature. Until the world is guided by truth, in- justice will be done and strife will continue. The divine will must be sought out and lived up to or we must fight. This applies to nations as well as to indi- viduals. For some time I could not understand why anybody ever thought there could be an individual Christ. The reason is that men must have something to guide them, something to cling to. Since there is only one truth, and that very difficult to find, it is easy to see how the mistake occurred. Truth must be our guide. Truth puts the responsibility on every one, and all of us try to shift the responsibihty onto something else. That is the source of our trouble. Each one must be guided by truth and be responsible. Not many days ago I read of a preacher who died of ptomaine poisoning. Very likely he had asked Christ to bless the food to his body and him to his service. The idea is this: if that preacher had known that his food contained poison, he would still be aUve. We must know before we are safe. The preacher put his faith in Christ, which was wrong, because Christ himself did not know what he was talking about. I am in the same position as the preacher, except that I know I am likely to get ptomaine poisoning any time, and I know that it is my duty and my right to see that my food is clean and wholesome. I cannot be certain that my food is pure, but by using my eyes and nose and above all my judgment, I can be safer than the preacher who simply puts his faith in Christ. FACTS As I have stated several times, if we seek truth unselfishly we will be led continually into a better understanding. / find that I have been too severe in my desire to show the errors in the Christian religion. While the Christian religion is based on a wrong conception of the divine will, it contains many things that are eternal and will live. It is a great stumbling block in the way to a more intelligent understanding of the divine piu:pose; but there are other deceptions that are far more serious, perhaps, than the Christian faith. In considering the nature of facts, we find it to be a greater obstacle in our way than any other one thing. Facts are of an infinite natiu-e. It is possible by facts to prove and demonstrate that anything is true or false. Facts are important as long as they are in harmony with the whole. Detached, they are misleading. Facts must be used in connection with the other factors to be in truth facts. They must fit in with the sense of a thing, with the truth of a thing, with the love of a thing. Facts, sense, love, truth, must be taken together. The reason, the logic, the facts of a thing are nothing within themselves. The German mind has been hypnotized by the logic, the reason, the facts. They have reasoned . themselves away from the Bible. They know that it can not be defended on the grounds of facts, logic, reason. They can write the most logical arguments. They have come to know that it is possible to lead men with logic, with reason, with facts. They are very sensible. They are the most efficient people in the world today. The evidence they put faith in is irrefutable on the grounds of facts. They had this war clearly figured out. It could not fail. Their 267 268 A WITNESS TESTIFIES reason told them so. Their logic proved it. The facts in the case would demonstrate the correctness of their con- clusions. They had every reason to believe that they could win easily. All the advantages under heaven were theirs. They were thoroughly prepared, and the others were not. They were the chosen people by right of fitness. They had planned and worked while the others slept. The world was theirs, therefore they would take charge of it. Now what was the matter with all their reason, logic, facts? They had the sense, the facts, the truth. They forgot the love. They forgot that truth, in its broadest mean- ing, includes love, sense, facts, truth. They had the truth of the thing, but it was truth detached from the whole. Their mistake lay in their blind acceptance of the facts as detached from the whole. All the world knows that they have lied, that they have no regard for the truth what- ever. We all see plainly where their reason, logic, facts have led them. It has totally destroyed their moral stand- ing in the world. They are an outlawed nation, fighting for their lives. They know their sins have been so terrible that they deserve destruction. They stand in the position of an outlaw who has murdered the father and the mother and raped the daughter. They know that if they are de- feated they are ruined. They will fight until the last ditch is lost because they are guilty of crimes that manhood could neither commit nor contemplate. They have been led into this terrible error by reason, logic, facts. So it is plain that these attributes of the divine mind are infinite, and, if not properly balanced by us, one against the other, we wander astray. Now in the case of the Christian religion: The Christian religion is based on righteousness, love, charity, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, pity. Jesus Christ was hypnotized by love. He forgot logic, reason, facts. The love, the good- ness, the truth of the thing, he got exactly right. Every right-thinking man knows that the teachings of Jesus Christ FACTS 269 are inspired, and eternal. They will live. But we must put them in their proper order. We must be able to prove our love and truth by the facts, by the logic, by the reason. Nothing of any value will be lost; it will be seen to be con- tained in the real religion. The glaring flaw in the Christian faith is that you cannot back it up with reason, logic, facts. The mistake in thinking Jesus Christ is the son of God lies in its impossibihty. It cannot be supported by the sense of it, by the facts, by the reason, by the logic. As far as Jesus Christ the man is concerned, I am sure I appreciate the terrible position he was placed in more than most people do. I know how much he longed to help the world of men and women. I know in my own heart that, if he could, he would tell all the world how glad he is that I have been able to point out his mistakes. I love Jesus Christ as a man for what he tried to do, and I know how he happened to fail. His mistake was unavoidable, but it has done great and terrible harm. So it is clear that we must align all these attributes in their proper order before we can get things right. It is plain that the Germans have the sense, the facts, but they forgot right. They know that order in the world must be brought about by might, but they forgot the right. They are going to lose the war because they are wrong. That is why the whole world is arrayed against them. They could have won the war had they been in the right. These facts will prove to the world for aU time that might is power- less unless backed up by right. So it is plain that facts are, within themselves, very misleading. They must be considered always in their relation to the whole. The divine mind points the perfect way if we will but earnestly seek it. It is the duty of all sensible and good men to help me straighten out this thing. It can be straightened out if all men will be considerate and lend a helping hand. It is too late in the evolution of the world to fight a man who has good news for the world. 270 A WITNESS TESTIFIES When we get our religion founded on eternal facts, and truth, and sense, and love, we will have it right for all time. It is possible to prove and demonstrate it in such a way that no man can doubt or deny; and then faith will be with- out bounds. We must be able to prove it with logic, reason, facts; to demonstrate it by physics, chemistry, mathematics. It must satisfy the conscience with love, truth, righteousness; it must be sensible, just, honorable. The facts in the spiritual world must be shown to fit in with the facts in the physical world. It must form one harmonious whole from both the mental and physical standpoints. TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE It may occur to some that it is unmanly to kneel down to the German Kaiser and ask him to show some signs of common sense. He has the choice of acting either the gentleman or the ass. In case he refuses to answer our prayer, it is our duty to make him do so. When he expe- riences a change of heart and is ready to get down on his knees and crawl back to humanity with the blood on his hands and ask forgiveness, then it is our duty to forgive him. Whenever he is ready to say that he knew not what he did, all good and well. When the German people come to their senses and realize that might is worthless unless it is backed up by right, then is the time to deal with them. We must not overlook the fact that the German people have taught the world many good lessons. If democracy is to survive, its adherents must be more ready to give their all than the people of any other form of government. Freedom, in its true sense, means responsibiUty, and if it is abused it is lost. If the world is ready for freedom in its true sense, then every man and woman must live up to its require- ments. The German people must come to realize that they are doomed to defeat. The whole world must fight them until they become responsible. They stand now as an outlaw, and they must be conquered. I am siu-e that if the Allied Governments would make them a flat offer to give the Ger- mans every right they demand for themselves, the war would be over. In other words if the German people will assume the responsibility of their own affairs, give every man and woman a vote, then the war is settled. Jesus Christ forgot sense, but he got the love part right. The German people got the sense and might part right, but they forgot the right. 271 272 A WITNESS TESTIFIES The Allied countries have the love, sense, right, might, in their minds, but do not yet fully realize their full responsibil- ity. If those fom- things are combined in their proper order, then everything wiU be well. It has been said that no one wishes to impose upon the German people a form of govern- ment foreign to their wishes. It is for them to choose whether they will be men or asses. The rest of the world must set the heel of might, backed up by the right, on their necks until they form a real democracy. They may choose to be slaves held in restraint by the gentlemen of the world, or to be gentlemen loith the rest of the world. It is not a matter of choice with any people whether they will have one form of government or another — it is the will of in- finite God that all the men and women of the whole world shall be responsible men and women. Not to assiune the responsibiUty of life as it should be done by one and all is to invite, disaster and is a terrible crime. Whether the German people or any other people want to do so or not is beside the point — they must. God will either make them do so or destroy them. For the human race to exist on this world, it must accept responsibility — it is not a matter of choice. The German people cannot choose be- tween right and wrong — they must do right or perish. It is the same with all peoples. There is no obligation im- posed by God upon any man that is not imposed upon all men. The German people get the idea of "chosen people" from the Bible and from the "survival of the fittest." If they will fulfill the divine law more nearly than other people, then they may say with truth that they are in fact the chosen people. If they will dump all their rotten beer into the Rhine, and burn up all their Bibles and get right down to the real issues of life, they may prove to the world that they are the chosen people. They are a great people, and when they get into a normal condition they may, perhaps, be the leaders of men. They must know, though, that it takes a combina- tion of love, sense, right, might. They must win the world TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE 873 by being worthy of it. They must know that in truth alona lies their hope. Now in case the European nations should form a Con- federated States of Europe, what would happen? The Germans, being greatest in number, would run things to suit themselves. There is only one way to avoid that. If the governments of Europe give every woman and every man a vote and submit to being guided by the best minds in the country, and know in their hearts that they must consider all the people all the time, then everything will be well. Just as surely as the women do not vote, the men will vote for selfish interests and trouble will begin. It simmers down to the conclusion that all must be governed by a sense of justice to all if peace is to be lasting. If you vote your own selfish interests, you must endure the consequence of doing so. All men are impure at heart. I have said that my heart was piu-e as gold. I lied. It is impossible for any man to be pure at heart. The only thing that will tend to keep any man pure in heart is the love of a good woman. In their sphere of life the women are nearer to God than men are, and they are more pure in heart. If the women are permitted to vote, and come to understand that it is their duty to vote intelligently and righteously, then they will vote always for the right because they are more nearly divine than men. When women realize that their happiness and the welfare of their children and the manhood of their men depend on purity of heart, then they will vote the right way. Then they can influence the votes of enough right- hearted men to have a majority. The progress and success of the human race depends on how well we all do our duty. Since it is plain that the Germans are in a false position, their men should desert to the Allied camps; and since it is for their happiness as much as for any of the rest of mankind that their own people do the right thing, then they should be allowed to take up arms against their own people to hasten the end of the present war. £74 A WITNESS TESTIFIES The United States Government would have a hard time making me fight in an unholy cause. In case my own coun- try were in the wrong, I would not go. There would be two men that would not go: I and the man that comes after me. Since it is absolutely necessary that a man fight to uphold the right, if my country calls my nimiber I am ready to go and I will kill just as many Germans as possible. If a man is not willing to die for the right, he has no right to it. Then every German that continues to fight is fighting not only against his own interests but is at the same time fighting against the interests of all humanity. When the time comes that all men will refuse to fight except for the right, then wars will end forever. If every government knew that, the minute it started an unjust war two-thirds of its soldiers would desert and join the colors that were more nearly in the right, then all wars would cease. All spying and fomenting of trouble would come to an end. What would it be worth, if at the outbreak of war all the men would desert and tell the other side all they knew? I want to tell you that an honorable man has no choice — he must do right. Thus yoiu" own country is compelled to seek the right and be worthy of the respect of all men. The German people are going to be defeated because they are in the wrong. THE AIM OF THE ALLIES Why cannot Pope Benedict settle the war? Why can he not suggest terms that will satisfy all the contending parties? The reason is very clear. He is guided by the Christian religion and does not know what is the innate desire in all men's minds. He wants to return to the ante bellum status quo, and everybody knows that that would bring no lasting rehef . Humanity cannot go backward, and it is extremely painful to go forward. Since I have a guide to clear the way for me, I can state the terms which would satisfy everybody. In the first place, what is a real democracy? A real democracy is a government in which all of the people have an equal voice. That is, the men and women have equal rights of sufPrage. In the true sense the United States is not a real or true democracy, since one half of the people are disfranchised. Now if we in the United States give the women the vote, then we will have a true democracy. We will have done at once with many evils in our government. Oiu" whisky and tobacco will go. Oiu- political gang rule will go. We will be benefited many fold by this improve- ment. What will or should control the votes? Since it is im- possible to corrupt the votes of women, then the appeal to the betterment of all will be the controUing factor. We will at once adopt many constructive measures that will be of great benefit to all. We have many glaring errors in our government. Since only the men vote, and since they are influenced largely by selfish considerations, we have the spectacle of the North being made rich by high tariffs and the South being made poor. The North freed the negro and enslaved the South. By being unfair, — imconsciously, 275 276 A WITNESS TESTIFIES however, — it has been bad for both. Now since we know it is to the interests of all to be guided by truth, then we will seek out the truth with unselfish love and reconstruct our policies accordingly. Now if the Europeans form one central government and each nation becomes a state, what guarantee have the few and small that they will not be discriminated against, thus producing a condition similar to that which has existed in the United States for more than fifty years. The answer to that is: that if all people vote; if all of them know that their interests flow in the same channel; that they must be fair to all, and that to do so they must appeal to the voters by citing the facts in their relation to the whole, then the pure heart of the women and the manly virtues of most men will carry a sufficient number of votes to assure justice to all. Then I should say that the aims of the AlUes are to establish a United Europe under one central government, each state to be justly and fairly represented in one great European Congress of nations. A conscientious considera- tion by the best minds of the issues involved and an appeal to the heart and good sense of the many would insure justice to all. In that way, majority rule woidd be just rule. Then it is plain that all necessary laws would be passed and lived up to by the many. It is impossible for a small state to exist by the side of a big state. Everybody knows that it simply cannot stand. Why? Because it is not right that they should: it is the divine plan that the whole world at last shall be under one central government by the consent of the governed, and then all will have fair opportunity and equal right to develop equally. Then, to settle this war and settle it properly and for- ever, Europe must establish a Confederation of European States, and be guided by this principle: mates must love each other unselfishly. They must worship the truth and unselfishly seek it out in all things. By doing that they THE AIM OF THE ALLIES 277 will be guided by the opinion of the best and clearest thinkers of the times and all nations will be satisfied. Since all are partly to blame for this war, and no one knew the causes and nature of it, they should all unselfishly combine to pay for the war. Since the Germans are the most to blame, they are the ones to lay down their arms and seek forgiveness. I wish to give fair warning to the Allied governments. The German mind is laboring under the most terrible decep- tion any race of men ever experienced, and they are a very religious people. At present they are in a deplorable condi- tion. It is dangerous for you to make terms of peace with them until they experience a change of heart. The Germans are a great people, but they are very young yet. They will give the world no end of trouble until they find their proper or normal senses. It is far better to crush them to earth now than to have to do it later. I should say that if they prove their willingness to show that they are worthy mem- bers of the brotherhood and sisterhood of men and women, then the war should stop at once. If they are not, we must continue to battle with them until we subdue them, and then hold them in restraint untU they do prove their worth. It would be a great pity to stop the war before they are cured of their madness. The German people are great people, and we have learned many lessons from them.. Just as soon as they are cured of their insanity we must be as brothers and sisters to them. We must give them everything we demand for ourselves. Now, Christian people, you see where democracy leads. It will make a better world for lovers to live in. Where is your Bible gone.'' Don't you see that it is dead? You can't turn back, and if you go forward your Christ is dead. Since Christ is a mere man, don't you see what folly it is to worship him.'' I would much prefer to worship a good woman. But to love the woman unselfishly and worship the truth is the guide to trust and follow. Now you can see why Pope Benedict or President Wilson 278 A WITNESS TESTIFIES cannot state the Allies' war aims clearly? It is because they do not know the guide. They are doing their work better than they yet know. You can see at once how all men will get a fair and just consideration. Since both men and women shall vote and be guided by facts, labor and capital will get fair and accurate adjustment. Since all work will be constructive work and most of the terrible wastes eliminated, there will be plenty for all. The laboring men will state their case and their argument, and their case will be thoroughly investigated and the findings of the investigation published, so that all can see what is desired, and then the proper adjustment wiU be made. In case either capital or labor is unjust and causes disturbance, it will have to be put in its proper places by force, backed up by the approval of the majority of the best men and women. It is easy to see how all things wiU adjust themselves and the conditions of all men rapidly improve. In fact, the improvement wiU be so rapid as to excite wonder. This is a wonderful world, and God will fill the world with happy beings if we will but seek out (His-Her) will by a close and earnest pursuit of truth. The overplus in nature is bountiful, and if we will give her a chance our troubles wiU vanish very quickly. Truth is the hardest master on earth and the only one worth having. Don't confuse truth with God. God is the whole, the infinite whole. God is all truth and all love and all lies and all hate. We can never know what God is, because we are finite and can never be infinite. We go on and on forever, as a succession of human beings, to the end of the world. So far as individual salvation is concerned, no one knows and it is not important at present. ;I don't know what it is and probably could not understand it if some one who did know should try to explain it to me. When it becomes necessary for us to know, perhaps we will find out. At present our duty is to bring our world into a condition of harmony, and right ourselves in nature. It is not important THE AIM OF THE ALLIES 279 that we should know all things at once. We can and must have faith in a perfect God to lead us aright, and we know now that his way is to lead us with truth. All things will come to us as we need them if we but follow the truth. We know that if we conduct ourselves as ladies and gentlemen here, we will be treated as ladies and gentlemen there. So don't let personal salvation worry you imtil it is apparent that we should know. We wiU know in plenty of time to save all if it is necessary. You can't worship God because you don't know what he is. He-She is a billion times a billion more than we are. If you should make a number reaching seven times around the world it would not express the infinite God of love and hate. How are you to worship anything like that? It can't be done. God is an infinite sea that is everything and contains everything. All the laws and systems are already contained in that wonderful and mysterious essence. If we should follow the truth closely and live up to its mandates for a million ages, we would be just as near and just as far from a complete understanding of God as we are today. However, we should be many, many times removed from what we are today. We will come to know at last that all things belong to the whole and that nothing is detached; that is, the mathematician will some day come to know that all higher mathematics is just as applicable as are the ten digits to everyday life. Some day they will show us a picture of the whole universe inside and out. That means that we shall see the construction of the atom in all its various forms, and can apply our new knowledge in such manner as to solve all the riddles of the laboratory. We apply the astronomer's discoveries today, and will continue to apply them more and more. THE WAR This war must continue until the highest right prevails. No question of lives or money is involved. It is a war of principle. We must place right above all other considera- tions. It would be a disgrace without a parallel in history to stop before the right prevails. It is not a question of whether the Allies can defeat Germany or not. They must. (I take it for granted that the Allies have the power to win if they will endure). The aim of the United States, if I have the right idea, is to establish freedom in the world, to make the world safe for democracy. Now it we can gain our end without fighting to a finish, then our purpose shall have been accomplished. We are not fighting for the sake of fighting. If we can stop the war properly, it is our duty to do so. Why send our young men over there if there is a way out of it that is better? If it is not necessary, why do it? The men and women of the United States are not moral cowards. They are willing to face the truth. Any mother would much rather face the truth than to see her son die. I have the truth necessary to stop the war and satisfy all parties. If we fail to use the truth, we betray our young men. What are we to say when they learn that we have been moral cowards and betrayed them? It is a responsibility placed on our shoulders that we must not shirk. If we can use this truth and end the war as it should be ended, then we are safe. We can hold it out to the world and let aU men see. It cannot possibly harm otir cause. It could end the war in thirty days. If there is one plausible reason why we should not use it, then we must not use it. If there isn't, then we must. If this war is settled properly, and it can be, it should be the last war 281 282 A WITNESS TESTIFIES the civilized nations will have to endure. We have a chance to do a great good. The German people could not possibly be forgiven on any grounds other than that they knew not what they did. It would be impossible to forgive Jesus Christ for what he did to us except on the grounds that he knew not what he did. If I knew that Jesus Christ purposely misled the world, that he knew what he did, I would hate him with eternal hate. If I knew that God created me just to show me how much he could injure me, I would hate him forever. But I can plainly understand that it is necessary for humanity to pass through a spell of confusion and despair to reach a more perfect state. Then everything is forgiven and what I have suffered is as nothing. I am only too glad to be of any service at all, be it little or much. I am perfectly satisfied. My only fear is that humanity may fail to get my message. There is just one thing about it — humanity must either settle this war properly, or fight it over. Make no mistake about it. They have got to get things right before they can have any lasting peace. Men fight when their understanding is exhausted. If once they get their affairs settled according to the divine will, then their understanding grows as they grow and they do not need to fight. If once we get a thing settled right, it is settled forever. THE DOOM The doom, the doom, the double, double doom; the four-headed serpent, with eight eyes that look in and out, up and down, and all around, — that is the dragon that guards the gate to this riddle. How are we to know our mate for certain? We must know before we are safe. If a child burns its hand it suffers the pain just the same as if it knew. The greatest crime that you can commit is to marry some one other than your mate. Why? The chil- dren are in some way deformed by the misalliance, and two other souls — your true mates — wander alone all through life. No man would cause such terrible suffering if he knew what he did. The sins of one are hurled back upon the race collectively, and the sins of the race are hurled. back upon the individual. Marriages are made in heaven, else we would get con- fused on earth. Now how are we to avoid the punishment meted out to us because we live in adultery and bring bastard children into the world? We cannot do a thing unless we know how. We cannot avoid living in adultery because we cannot escape making the mistake. There is a way to solve this riddle and it is as important as life that we solve it. You cannot possibly know whether you are Uving in adultery or not because we do not yet possess the facts. Suppose the world of men and women should become so conscientious that they would refuse to marry unless they knew for certain that they were properly mated. Not being able to know, they would refuse to run the risk of bringing children into the world that would probably be drones, and worthless to themselves as well as a burden to the world. Suppose everybody should say "I will not risk harming my own love beyond measure, and myself as well. If I can't 284 A WITNESS TESTIFIES know, I won't many. You might sincerely love and still be mistaken. You cannot go by anything but fact if you wish to be safe." If everybody should do that the world would stop. Then we are forced to live in adultery until we have some real way to know how to choose our mates. What does that mean? It means anything. It may mean one thing and it may mean another. Why say when you don't know? It may bring upon the human race all the horrors of hell. OiU" ptinishment is meted out to us according to our greatness. We may have to suffer untold agonies for many ages. Just so long as we commit adultery in our innocence we are going to pay a terrible price, because we must suffer terribly for our innocent mistakes, so that we will seek the truth and at last perfect the world. The riddle I have just solved is nothing compared with this terrible puzzle. The world now is giving up life and blood unconsciously because of mistakes conunitted un- consciously. When people become conscious of what they are doing, will they be more willing to give up life and treasure to the right of freedom and happiness or not? It may require a billion lives in unselfish sacrifice to solve this riddle. Why say what it wiU cost when it is all dark? It may cost little — it may cost much. It may drive the world to the brink of despair. It may drive us all insane. It is impossible to tell. Just so long as there are people in the world that are willing to live in adultery we are going to have trouble with- out measure. It is the crime of crimes and we must kill one another until we stop it. We cannot stop it until we know how. Why assume that any person is your love? You don't know — you are guessing. Why should I say that any girl is my love? I know that I have a mate, but to assert positively that any particular girl is my mate would be to lie. It seems to me I must modify about two thirds of the state- ments I have made. How can we have any peace and har- mony in the world when there is no way of telling how many THE DOOM 285 people are living in adultery, unconsciously, of course, but bringing punishment upon us all just the same. There is no way of telling what we are suffering for in this condition nor what we are going to suffer. It is simply hell, and there is no way out of it. Suppose my girl were living in adultery and I knew it, — I would kill her and the man too. But if they knew, they would not do it. And there you are. Any woman has, and must have, a perfect right to choose the man she desires so long as there is no way to tell for certain. Men and women must marry and they must suffer the consequences of adultery. The progress of the world depends on it and it must be done. Although you may be honest, sincere, earnest and serious, it does not make you right. You must know. I have no right to say that any one is my mate until I can prove and demonstrate the fact, and then I must demand that I have my mate. So you see the girl mentioned in the fore part of this book is in no way whatever attached to this work. In any case, she could not possibly know whether I am her mate, or the man she married, or any other man. There are an infinity of chances for her to be wrong, and only one for her to be right. Since she had no guide but her sincere con- science and good sense, which is no guide, she most likely made a mistake. If she had chosen me the same condition would obtain. All I can make out of it is that in reality the whole world is improperly mated. No wonder we are having wars. If there is an infinity of chances for one to be wrong and only one chance to be right, and there is no guide to follow, how could it be otherwise.'' Now the practical and sensible thing for us to do is per- haps this: As we don't know and must guess, the man and the woman wishing to marry should be fit mentally and physically and should be able to feel a sincere love for each other. Then they should marry. They are likely to be mistaken, but they must do it. There is the one chance in 286 A WITNESS TESTIFIES infinity to be right, which could happen and may happen very often. Mates very likely are brought together uncon- sciously by some unknown law. It is impossible to prove this, but it could be. In that case, which is possible, our condition is not so extreme as it may seem. How can I say that whisky has fulfiUec? its mission on earth, when the solution of this riddle may depend on it. It is useless to say that whisky should be abolished, since it is clear that it could be necessary and it may be absolutely necessary. When you don't know, why say you do? Of coiu-se I still know that whisky is a cross between lovers, and I still know that the Bible is false, but that does not help me. They still may be as useful as ever. I don't know. We may have to study the Bible and all other religions for many years to come. I do not believe them necessary, but they might be. We are simply at sea again, and the brotherhood of man is still impossible. It cannot be until we are mated properly and then it may be. I don't know. We can establish a brotherhood all right, but it may be a fool's paradise. People can't live in adultery in heaven. We can't have contentment and peace when every human heart is uncertain as to its real mate. There" is no peace, and can be no peace, until this riddle is solved. Then we should all work together as brothers until we solve this riddle. It can be solved in only one way: by unselfish devotion to truth we will at last be guided aright. It may be a large circle of truth and it may be a small one. It is probably very large. It will probably involve chemistry, mathematics, elec- tricity, microscopy, and telescopy. Since every human face is different, we can see that that is our clew. If we can find what causes faces to be different, we can number each person and thus mate them properly. For example: we have the problem that has never been solved — to square a circle. I find, in "fooling" with that problem, that it involves the fourth dimension — and it THE DOOM 287 may involve a dozen dimensions: there may be an infinity of dimensions. I am able to teU, only, that a molecule of water becomes hexagonal in shape when it tiu-ns to snow. The water molecide is round — the frozen molecule is hex- agonal. The hexagon is in order just above the circle of the water. Ice expands, which proves that it takes energy to freeze water, therefore the energy is stored up in the hexagon shape. When the ice melts the energy is lost and the ice turns again to water. Now in the square and circle there is an infinity of different figures. AU material should be found to form in systematic order each molecule. This is, perhaps, the key to the material world. The mathematician should be able to show us a picture of the material make-up of the world. All things come within the square and circle. They fill all space. Nothing can be outside of these two. Take a sack of shot : aU circles and the spaces between the shot are the square. There are three figures: the square, the circle, and the four-sided figure. When we put sugar in water it very likely fills in the space between the water molecules just as air fiUs the spaces between the shot. When all the space is full, it will not take up any more sugar. We see the square and circle in all things in life. The human face varies in the infinite nature of the square and circle. There is no end to it. There can be as many faces as you please. All of the beautiful curves in the human body are variations of the square and circle. AU the limbs on the trees are the same. The automobile is made up of squares and circles. Everything in life is contained in the square and circle. I can trisect any angle. The reason it has not been done before is because no one has been able to make the picture in one plane. It is impossible to have two pictures in the same plane. It is just like closing a door. You can almost get two pictures in the same plane, but you always fall short a little. You can't even measure a triangle divided 288 A WITNESS TESTIFIES into three. It appears that you can, but you can't. You have the error of the lines, which are finite, and that fact deceives the mind. I can trisect any angle in infinity. Therefore I can practically do it on paper. You can't bisect any line; you just seem to do it. You can bisect a line in infinity, but when you put it on paper you have the error of the line. I can come just as near to trisecting any angle as you can. I have the error of the line and so have you. With this key we should be able to solve many riddles. We should be able to break down all material into energy, which will give us the perfect storage battery. Then we can fly without wings. We don't have to imitate birds. We can fly on the wings of electricity. Doesn't a bullet fly? We can fly just the same; it is just a matter of loosing energy in the proper manner. I have known all along that there was some break in the the circle of what I have been writing, but I could not flnd it until now. Suppose we do train up all the children to be well balanced men and women. We teach them that they are to expect all the blessings which a perfect God can give. All right. Some day they will discover that it is impossible to tell for certain who their mates are. Then all the sorrow and anguish the human heart can know is theirs. They will turn in disgust and hatred on their foul deceivers. They will cry out in their anguish and say that life is a trick of the devil to deceive and ruin them. Don't you see what I have to oflEer has a crevice in it that is profound. They will say, "I want my mate. I don't care whether he is a drunk- ard or she is a fallen woman." The worse their plight the more I wish to be near them. Then we will have to say that we don't know. The Bible has brought confusion. If we tell our young people that they will meet their love and know happiness, we lie. They will find sorrow without measure. What does it mean? It means that we must learn how to know positively who are mates. We must have a book THE DOOM 289 of life for the whole world containing the^iiumber of each child. Then we can say with certainty that mates may meet and be happy. When this riddle is solved we will solve also the food problem, the disease problem, and many others. Now let US suppose that a mother brings a little child into the world. She says to it, "You are my little bundle of all love. I am going to raise you up to be a perfect being. . . . Little girl, little boy, all the world is yours." It grows up in the belief that the whole world is for it. Then the day comes when it knows that all is lost: it cannot recog- nize its mate. Don't you see that the better the mother has been, the worse she has been? All the child's hopes are gone. Then in sorrow without measure it must come to understand that we are only stepping-stones for those who foUow and that it must give its all unselfishly for those to follow. Could there be any more terrible crime? There could not. The mother is the devil to her own child. Now you can see that it is absolutely impossible to keep from lying until we learn the facts. Then there can be no peace on this earth until the whole world is brought into one harmonious whole, and each child reared and trained as it should be. I know how I feel about it : I wouldn't give five cents to live with some woman other than my love. I know that I cannot be certain who my mate is. Then if I tell some girl that I love her, I must tell her a lie; because I don't know whether I am lying or not. If I should meet a wontan whom I could love, I would marry. I know that all men and women must do this. I also know that many of them are living in adultery, and the price we must pay for it is terrible. We must suffer, so that we will seek the truth and at last perfect the world. You know the devil is just as vile as you can say he is, and still more. Didn't Jesus Christ have the purest heart of any man who ever lived? Didn't the devil make him the greatest misleader that has ever visited the earth? Then if Jesus 290 A WITNESS TESTIFIES Christ, with all his great love, went badly wrong, dont you see that a sincere, honest, lovable heart is not a safe guide? You cannot trust your heart, — you must know that. Don't you see that we are doing all kinds of unfaithful things to one another? We tell lies for truth. We sell whisky and tobacco. We eat bad food. We live in adultery. Do you think it is any wonder that we are at one another's throats? We cannot establish the brotherhood of mankind until we have the facts. Now, as a practical proposition, we must make a start. I have pointed out what I think should be done. All others have the same right to say what they think. We can establish the democratic form of government, and get our scientists to work on the other propositions, and I doubt not that the solution will follow in a short time. We have the key in the square and circle, and doubtless before long we can all look at our real number and know just what is our circle of eternal life in part. The lives of all men and woman are incarnated in the whole of humanity. Humanity will find, once this riddle is solved, that mates are born in different parts of the world. We in the United States would not like to send a young man to France after his mate unless the yoimg man was all he should be. So it will be the world around. Mates will be born in all parts of the world, which will compel all the people to lead cor- rect lives so that they will have no need to be ashamed. We must have one language so that all nations may con- verse when they meet. It will automatically keep a con- stant infusion of fresh blood in all veins, and add variety and newness to life in all parts of the world. It is foolish to think that real mates meet now to any great extent. In all probability they do not meet at all. If they do, they don't know it; and if they do, they do so many things that are harmful and wrong that they are unhappy, which amounts to the same thing. Their children suffer as well for their wrongdoing. THE DOOM 291 It may seem a big undertaking to register all the people in the world. It is simple enough. We, in the United States, registered nine and a half millions in one day. If we knew how, we could register all the people in the world in one day. Then I could look in the book and find my mate's address just as we look in city directory to find any person's address. Now let us assume that a man and a woman are mates. They live, say, in different towns. If they knew, they could be together in short order. Now, instead of getting together as they should, they desert one another and marry those whom they should not. Don't you see that they have done a great wrong, not only to themselves, but to all men and women? All over the world men and women are doing that very thing because they don't know. Now that we know, we must find the way. When we find the way it will be very simple. So it is with the food problem. If we knew what to eat we would certainly eat it. We could pick up a bill of fare and combine our food properly and be healthy. It would be a crime to be sick then. It will be simple enough when we know how. Why eat something you don't want when you can have just what you do want.'' Since a man can't help being an ass, don't you see that he is a gentleman for being one. The world is evolution. We are on our way out of hell. It is the perfect plan. A man is an ass for marrying some one besides his mate and for eating food that is bad, but before he can do the right thing he must know how. Then he is a gentleman for doing wrong so that the world will at last be as it should be. There is no need for any one to be downcast. We must be unfaithful until we learn how to be faithful. Life will be just the same and we will grow continually just as we are doing and have been doing. No one should be despondent, but we should continue just as we are and be just as kind and considerate as possible. 292 A WITNESS TESTIFIES I can truthfully say that I forgive my maker for what he has done to me; and if I can forgive God, then God can for- give me. It is all for the best, and everything will be seen to be perfectly all right. It is just a part of the perfect plan; humanity must go through the process of getting up to better things. It is useless for any man to say that he is not guilty, because we all are guilty. We are all in the same boat. Haven't we been talking about how bad the Germans are; they are just as bad as we say. But have we been bad too.? We have made war on women and children. Haven't we sold whisky and made the children and women suffer untold agonies? Aren't we doing it today? Don't we teach them the Bible for the truth, thus blinding their minds to truth and causing untold harm? We are just as guilty as the Germans and don't know it. The Germans know what they are doing, don't they? They do not. Then they are just as innocent as we are. No more, no less. They will be just as glad and just as anxious to do right as we are. Then we should let them know. They are so far advanced in chemistry and mathematics that when they get hold of this key they will no doubt set us free in short order. Now we all know the basic fact in the case. We have been perfect asses for not marrying our proper mates. That is the underlying cause; the war is the result. We have learned our lesson and it is foolish to fight when the issue is settled. If the people of this country vdll lend a hand and teach the Germans what we now know, the war will be settled and settled properly. The war must be settled properly. The Germans must learn their lesson, and we must fight them until they do. But they are bril- liant people; they are brave and they will understand. When they understand they will be worth just as much to the world as any of us. Should my brother be killed in the war, I should be sorry indeed, but I would consider that he had died to help THE DOOM 293 perfect the world and that it is my duty also to try to help perfect it. Now that we know the key to our trouble, we should forget the past and get together like men and com- mence to rebuild our world on a firmer foundation. I am sure that the dead would have us to do that. There is no need to be downcast; we have all done our part, and we are all going to continue to do our part; and the worst is, per- haps, over. We know our enemy now : it is the devil. We know our guide: it is the truth. We know our friend: it is God. By unselfish devotion to truth we can solve all riddles and make the world a better place to live in. Suppose you could recognize your mate, and that you did know what to eat. That will not make the world per- fect. There will be plenty to do. Life will be better, big- ger, and fuller; but it will be much the same as it is now. The world will grow little by little just as it has in the past. You see now hew a thing can be in infinity and yet not be. A man is an ass for not finding his proper mate. But as he does not know how to find her he is an ass if he de- stroys the world of man by not taking some other mate. So you see he is a gentleman and an ass at the same time. Now as I understand it, somewhere in the world I have a mate whom I love. Since I can't find her, and the world of men and women must continue, I trust that the man who marries her will be just as kind and good to her as possible. I want him to be just as much of a man as possible, and I desire that she be just as much of a woman as possible. It is the unpardonable sin to desert your mate, but it must be done. We can't help it. That does not mean that we are to go to hell forever, but it means we will be very unhappy until we stop it. That, then, will be our lot until we find the solution to The Doom. Since it is very clear to any thinking person that the human race has evolved from an infinitely small beginning, it is also clear that we must necessarily get everything all 294 A WITNESS TESTIFIES wrong before we could get everything all right. It is clear that the advancement in the material world is far ahead of the advancement in the spiritual world. It should be an easy matter for advanced thinkers to straighten out the tangle. I know that I have reached the end as far as my part is concerned. My proof that there is a God is com- plete, both in the spiritual and material world. I also prove and demonstrate that God mates men and women before he sends them into the world. That much is clear. Marriages are made in heaven. We know that. What we must do now is to find the way to bring perfect mates together. We have got to know. Everything in the spiritual world must be proved and demonstrated in the physical world. In other words, we will find that mates can be identified by physical means, and that they will love one another when they meet, provided they have been properly prepared for the meeting. Any man may ask himself this question, and can tell at once that he can not answer it: Do I know certainly who my mate is? You wiU find that you can not prove it. We must find the proof in the physical world. It will be seen at once that no mistake can occur. God is infinitely perfect and does not make mistakes. When we know the proof, we are safe, and not before. This, then, will bring into play all the sciences and investigations. They will be found to be useful and neces- sary and all the facts will fit in and prove and demonstrate that the mental and physical world will combine to form one harmonious, infinite whole. TRISECT ANY ANGLE Take any angle. Take the compass and draw the sector. Mark o£f on the sector three points equal distances apart, so that a very small sector is left. The small sector left is divided into three equal parts thus: extend the lines of the small sector as far as practicable and place a line on the long arms forming an isosceles triangle. Then divide the short line into three equal parts. Then draw the line from one of the points on the small line through the little sector to the point of the angle. Where the line cuts the little sector it cuts o£F a third. Add that to one of the big thirds laid off and you have a third of the angle. Why is that a third.'' It is a third because if you should continue the lines of the small angle to infinity, the small base of the triangle woidd coincide with the small sector. You have the error of the lines, but if you make the small sector small enough, you lose all error. You can make it as small as you please in infinity. As a practical proposition, you make it as small as you can and extend the lines as far as you can. Then you have an error which is the difference between the small line of the triangle and the small sector, which is an error but you can make the error as small as you please. Then as a practical proposition it really trisects the angle. If you had fine enough instruments and big enough paper you would lose all error. But it is impossible to reach infinity with the finite. You still have an error. But you can make the error as small as you please. It comes within one biUionth of a spider web of trisecting the angle. The same thing is true of the bisected angle. You cannot in reality bisect any angle. It seems that you can, but you can't. You have the error of the lines no matter 295 296 A WITNESS TESTIFIES how small you make them, which is the case when you try to trisect an angle. Therefore I trisect any angle as nearly as you bisect any angle. You can't take half of anything except in infinity, and the same is true of a third. In trisecting any angle you come into contact with the fourth dimension. The points are in different planes and it is impossible to bring them into the same plane. This is not the case in bisecting an angle, because all the points are in the same plane. That explains why it has been so confusing. It seems possible to measure off any angle with a given sector, but it is not. The error of the lines is so small that it seems that it can be done, but it just seems so. It really can't be be done. This proposition is very important in considering the circle and the square. I am not fully aware just what part it plays, but it undoubtedly has a very important bearing on it. The exact circle that is equal to the square is true only in infinity. It can never be put on paper, but very likely it is possible to locate the line, and the trisecting of the angle is perhaps necessary to point out the line. Since it is evident that the water molecule is a circle and the frozen water molecule is a hexagon in the order above the circle, we have a cue from which to start. When the water molecule turns to vapor, it is round and expanded. It is charged with more energy. When the vapor loses the energy, it forms water and falls to the ground as rain. Lightning is energy carried up by the water molecule. When we see lightning we expect rain, and if enough energy escapes to the earth, it will rain. It will be found that this process pervades all nature. We have it in the circulation of the blood. The heart does not pump the blood. The oxygen in the air comes in con- tact with some other form of material and causes an ex- plosion. Millions of tiny explosions force the blood through all the tiny blood vessels. No pump could drive the blood TRISECT ANY ANGLE 297 through the tiny vessels. The heaxt takes it up after and before it reaches the small vessels. We see the same thing occurring in the growth of plants. The different chemicals meet and explode and cause the plant to grow. The mole- cules explode into larger shapes and cause growth. It re- mains for us to trace this process. The mathematician can show us aU the shapes and the chemist can demonstrate them. Then finally we will arrive at the point where we can take a body-cell from a man and get his serial number. We can in time tell for certain whether people come back to earth again. They probably do, but undoubtedly by way of an immense circle. IT IS JUST AS FAR IN AS IT IS OUT Suppose we take a baseball and find its center. Wbere is the center? It is as big as the point of a sharp needle. No, we get a microscope and we find it to be still smaller. All right. I get a more powerful microscope and I find it is still smaller. How small is it? It is infinitely small. Ninety biUion times smaller than can be made visible by any microscope. As small as you please, and then smaller. You can't say how small, because it is infinitely small. Forever and ever small. Now where is the finite center — where the finite and the infinite touch. We will probably some day find the finite center. We may have done so already. Then we have met the end. Yes, that end, but we will then begin to learn the construction of the atom. We will, perhaps, find that there are a hundred more, maybe a hundred thousand, first principle atoms. These combine in an endless chain of infinity to make all material. We will find system after system, an infinity of systems, all under laws they never violate. No end to it. When we go through one system we find at last that there is still another and then we re- write all our books and go around another, forever and forever. Now we say where is the out to the ball. Here it is on the cover. No, there it is at the sun. No, at a still farther star. I will get the telescope and find a still farther star. You get a more powerful telescope and find a still farther one. Well, how far is it? Just as far as you please — to infinity. Fifty million billion miles, and still more. Then where is the end? Just as far as we can see. That is the finite end. What then? System after system — an infinity of systems. We will go through one only to find that there are still more 299 300 A WITNESS TESTIFIES and all our work to do over. So it is, so it always will be, forever and forever. Then all we have to do with space is just what we can see. We have the perfect whole in our reach. How far does space extend? To inj&nity. Far beyond all dreams of miles away there is unlimited room for billions more of stars and suns and worlds just like the one we see, out of all touch with us. Then the whole thing, all of them throughout the whole infinity of everlasting space, revolves around and around a center which is infinitely small. We swing around that vast circle of infinity forever and forever. So you see we have the whole in a part, which is all we shall ever need. There is no want of room for all; so don't be selfish. ;:' iHii ; ; !;; ; ! I III ' |!' N 'I iliLi. '■lin 'lilliiillP i ii! i III ml lillil lilll |! ill i '![mii i If I 1 li liiiilt'i iji i i 4, iiiiii j! Hi Iiiiii '■\\> fiHiiipiiijtiiijjii lill I; ,,!..ail:.,l,.,.|>.,,14, I, Ml i |ii Li ii 111 i Hnl II r I I I : ill i rftfilJlElHlH ! I ! ill I ! i iij! t'i ii 'ii! iiifiiiii ii !i lliii