itibrarp of the theological ^eminarjp PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY *3@I> PRESENTED BY The Estate of Victor H. Lukens ^CC03 .G-45 yL^C-i. THE FAITH THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY * CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO MAH 23 19 THE FAITH THAT ws/tiAi si: OVERCOMES THE WORLD Studies in the Way to the Higher Knowledge, Healing and Mastery of Life Supplemented by Exercises for Practical Application. BY v/ THE REV. VAN RENSSELAER GIBSON, A. B. (Columbia) Lecturer and Director of The Episcopal Progressive Thought Movement. Author of “Life Pamphlets” Formerly Rector of Christ Church, Pittsford, N. Y. and onetime Minister-in-Charge of St. John’*, Yonkers, N. Y. NVm |}iirk THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1923 All rights reserved PRINTED IK TUB UNITED STATES OP AMERICA Copyright, 1923, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, Set up and printed. Published February, 1923 TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF DEAR ONES WHO HAVE PASSED BEHIND THE VEIL THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/faiththatovercomOOgibs PREFACE This volume contains a series of simple compact studies in deep truths for practical application. It is intended as a contribution to the coming spiritual philosophy of life, involving a new synthesis of Religion, Philosophy, and Science, in the last analysis, identical with fundamental Christianity, which alone can produce humanity’s transformation. It covers, in a general way, the subjects designated in the Pro¬ gressive Thought Announcement, emphasizes the new spiritual psychology, and is designed to aid thinking men and women in attaining to the higher knowledge, healing and mastery of life. A special effort is made to reconcile the positions of apparently opposing groups. While it is calculated to stimulate advanced students, it is hoped that its approach will prove especially helpful to Church people seeking to further vitalize their faith through a fresh hold on the eternal realities, and to those who are grouping their way out of the darkness of materialistic systems of thought into the light of spiritual Truth. VAN R. G. September 30, 1922. % QUOTATIONS "Faith is the evidence of things not seen” "Who through faith subdued Kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions, out of weakness were made strong.” "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. General Introduction .... PAGE I The Higher Knowledge and the Great Awakening. II. Overcoming Fear . . 16 III. Overcoming Ignorance .... . 24 IV. Overcoming Failure . • 36 V. Overcoming Sin . • 45 VI. Overcoming Sickness . • 56 VII. Overcoming Death . . 91 VIII. Conclusion . . 107 THE FAITH THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD CHAPTER I General Introduction The Higher Knowledge and the Great Awakening To those who have eyes to see, it is becoming increas¬ ingly clear that we are on the verge of an astounding and unprecedented spiritual awakening. On every hand, we are witnessing the unmistakable signs of an undercurrent of gathering spiritual forces rising in revolt against the outworn thought and life of the past age. The prevailing thought and life of the past era has been grossly materialistic. In scientific circles, the Universe has been explained largely in terms of mechanical forces born of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, and the mind of man as the product of the chemical activity of brain cells. This materialistic thought has of necessity effected profoundly the life of the age. If men conceive of the Universe as com¬ posed of material atoms, governed by mechanical laws, with no spiritual force or intelligent and beneficent purpose behind them, naturally the tendency is to live on a material basis for material ends, for, “As a man l 2 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Therefore have men and nations trampled each other under foot in the frenzied struggle for the accumulation of material possessions for selfish indulgence, in accord with the law of the jungle. It is true that the world’s life in the past era has not been without some signs of spir¬ itual advance, as witnessed in a slowly growing social conscience, and in a vague aspiration for human brotherhood, however poorly realized. Nevertheless materialism as a philosophy and as a life has been decidedly in the ascendency. As a race, we have had but the faintest consciousness of spiritual ends, attain¬ able by spiritual laws and forces. Now a wonderful change is at hand. Our material¬ istic philosophies have proved unreasonable and inade¬ quate, and our materialistic life futile and self-destruc¬ tive. With the crumbling of material philosophies and institutions, men are being thrown back on the eternal spiritual realities. Beneath the surface con¬ ditions, where the old order of things seems to be rampant and where chaos and bewilderment are every¬ where rife, the penetrating eye may discern spiritual forces operating and moving to sure ends in the process of bringing to birth a new order of things, in which the things of the Spirit shall reign supreme. We are unquestionably at the dawn of an era of a great synthesis, in which all the strands of knowledge acquired in the various fields of inquiry and experi¬ ence will be brought together and woven into a univer¬ sal and really practical, spiritual and scientific phil¬ osophy of life. This living and universal system shall be found to be identical with fundamental religion. GENERAL INSTRUCTION 3 In this comprehensive system, a far greater place will be accorded to the preeminently important realm of mind. We may trace the early beginnings of this con¬ sciousness of the supremacy of the things of the mind back to the lofty philosophers of old, Anaxagoras, Socrates and Plato, through the careers of all the great spiritual seers of later ages, especially in the East, by no means omitting the profounder teachings of Jesus Christ. Even in the dark ages, when indeed the current religion, although supremely spiritual in its original purity, became impregnated with materialistic thought, there were ever keen minds and mystic souls here and there who bore witness to the supremacy of these higher things. Gradually the light was rekindled. With the advent of the Transcendentalists came the dawn of a new realization of the place and power of the Idea and Ideal, as opposed to mere things, surface phenomena, and externals generally. Carlyle caught the spirit of the New Idealism, and became a prophet of the same. In America, the mantle fell upon Emer¬ son, who declared that, “Things are in the saddle and rule mankind,” and joined the company of inspired and mighty prophets of Idealism. Walt Whitman, a man of kindred spirit, is numbered among these prophets who are coming into their own today as never before, outstanding lights among the inspira¬ tional teachers who have witnessed to the undreamed¬ of potentialities within the mind and spirit of man. Men are beginning to understand the power of the Idea and the Ideal, and that the whole realm in which 4 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD they operate is essentially a spiritual domain, intimately related to religion. Consequently there is an ever increasing understanding of the affinity of these forces and laws of the mind with the principles enunciated by the Christ. We are beginning to realize that here we are in a realm of transcendent law, holding in store for mankind the most incredible possibilities of dominion over himself and over the earth. We are coming to see that prayer and faith are dynamic forces which can mould and shape the external structure of our civilization. We are beginning to think more profoundly, that we may learn to consciously and intelligently direct these forces. No longer is there a lack of interest, among thinking men, in matters per¬ taining to a rational and profound theology, related to philosophy, science and life. With the failure of the old order and disappointment in the search for true happiness and attainment, men are everywhere seeking the key to the real solution of the world’s problems. While our main purpose in the present work is to point out how faith may be applied to the immediate problems of every-day life, at the same time we shall endeavor to point out the inspiring truth that ultimately the full application of these principles shall change the whole course of human life and transform the race. We have stated that the coming philosophy of life is to be a thoroughly spiritual one. Indeed, there will no longer be the outworn distinction between the spiritual and the material, which a slowly passing phase of man’s consciousness has necessitated in the past. GENERAL INSTRUCTION 5 The term “spiritual” applies to a higher and truer way of viewing and living all of life. It results from the achievement of seeing life whole; from seeing the visible world about us as a very limited expression of a vast unseen universe, the underlying forces of which are akin to and intimately related to the things which pertain to the mind and spirit of man. The spiritual mind looks upon the universe as the product of a Universal Mind or Spirit working to a great pur¬ pose of love and perfection. It regards faith and devotion, and what we call ideals generally, as essenti¬ ally an expression of the workings of that Mind. Paul of Tarsus has given us a sublime statement of this consciousness which holds the promise of all real progress, in these words, “The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” This view, rightly understood, does not be¬ little the things of the material world, but rather glorifies them. In a world in which Spirit is express¬ ing itself on the visible plane of existence, we must adjust ourselves to a material environment. There is no excuse for holding oneself aloof from the world’s work, for there is the field for our necessary spiritual unfoldment in relation to the visible order of things, and for our contribution to the evolution of the race. Yet we may gain dominion over our material environ¬ ment. The very essence of our coming spiritual life is a deep consciousness of the reality of the unseen, supplemented by a working knowledge of its laws, for application to the problems of life. Very significant indeed is the continual working 6 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD of Science in the direction of this deeper spiritual view of the universe, with its entirely new idea of matter, strangely metaphysical in everything but nomenclature. Science is beginning to show that the real nature of things is quite different from that which appears to our present senses which we now know to be very limited in their scope and therefore not wholly de¬ pendable. It has already reduced matter to a form of energy, and now admits that the ultimate constitu¬ tion of the ion is very baffling. Spiritual seers are anticipating the work of establishing its basis in the Universal Mind. At any rate, the apparently solid inert mass of steel girder which supports our modern sky-scraper is not the kind of thing it is usually supposed to be. Science tells us that it is composed of myriads of minute particles, not actually touching one another, but dancing around one another at an incredible rate of speed, each constituting a center of electrical energy. Again, Science is beginning to posit a rudimentary phase of consciousness in the vegetable kingdom, and there are even here and there suggestions concerning its presence in nature’s lower inanimate forms. Then, again, scientists seem to be recognizing quite generally, in the phenomena of the natural world, the play of a Universal Mind. Un¬ doubtedly this mysterious energy with which they deal in phenomena, will prove to be essentially mind- energy, operating under the higher laws of the Eternal Mind, underlying the whole cosmos, and find¬ ing its highest visible expression in man. We rejoice therefore in the recent contributions of Science to the GENERAL INSTRUCTION 7 dawning consciousness of the Unseen Universe of Mind and of Ultimate Reality. The next step is the mastery, not only of the laws pertaining to phenomena, (in their present formulation, apparently still subject to correction), but also of the higher laws underlying phenomena, pertaining to the secrets of life. Here our spiritual philosophy and fundamental religion will make its great contribution. While gratefully acknowledging the contribution of modern Science, it might be pointed out with profit that, in a sense, our material advance is in itself a sign of our mental and spiritual deficiency, in spite of the fact that a certain amount of mental and spirit¬ ual attainment is necessarily involved in the prosecu¬ tion of scientific achievement The emphasis has been placed upon superficial observance of phenomena and the logical faculties have been exalted above the in¬ tuitional powers. The outstanding progress of the past generation has been along mechanical lines as witnessed to in the great inventions of the age. It is true that even this progress is not without its pos¬ sibilities for good in supplying certain vehicles for spiritual progress, provided a corresponding spiritual advance is to be made, but in itself it might easily prove more of a detriment than an advantage to real and permanent human progress. Notwithstanding, the place and benefits of so-called physical Science, it is becoming increasingly clear that the recent discoveries in the inner realm of the mind and spirit of man constitute the greatest progress in modern knowledge, and that the field of psychology, 8 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD which is intimately related with religion and the realm of the Spirit, holds the greatest possibilities for human development and dominion over environment. In short, psychology is the coming Science. The fact is that most of us do not even dream of the hidden potentialities of the mind and spirit of man. Profound students of the evolutionary process no longer regard it as a mechanical process, but recognize the part that mind plays in it. They see dimly the original spiritual involution which makes possible and governs the ex¬ ternal evolution or unfolding process of the divine spark toward its high consummation, according to the laws of mind. To the present, we have cooperated with the Eternal Energy largely along external lines, which may have a place in our evolution, but doubt¬ less a subordinate place. However, it is high time for a greater conscious effort to cooperate with it along higher lines according to the laws of the mind, and by the development of that “faculty divine,” even faith, which acts as a real force in every department of life. For purpose of illustration, let us consider that the wonderful principle of adaptation to environment, manifested in the slow development of the organ of sight and of all the faculties, or in the gradual de¬ velopment of wings in the history of the evolution of bird-life, is essentially a subconscious mind-process due, for instance, to the intense and persistent desire of the bird to fly. To cite an extreme and remote possibility, we might say that as the subconscious has been shown to govern bodily functions and growth, we can see how this desire and effort, especially when GENERAL INSTRUCTION 9 scientifically directed, might eventually produce the flying man of ancient fable, were it practically pos¬ sible to overcome the tremendous counter-suggestion born of man’s unimaginative sophistication and present inordinate disbelief in the forces of the unseen. Man has not lost his desire to fly, born of the universal di¬ vine urge within to conquer his limitations and to gain dominion over his environment, but owing to his one-sided development and the exercise of his rational and impirical faculties to the exclusion of his imagina¬ tive and intuitional faculties, he has been obliged to conquer the air by the comparatively crude external way of air-machines. There is still hope of a better way, however, even if the idea of growing wings be rejected, for the possibility of levitation looms up on the horizon of metaphysical research, in which it is quite clear to the profound and unprejudiced student that the old Biblical and occult accounts are some day to be corroborated by modern experience. . Again, let us consider the modern invention of wire¬ less telegraphy and telephony. Scientists in their study of insect life have recently discovered that in¬ sects possess unseen means of communication, perhaps made possible through minute wireless apparatus pro vided by their antennae. Again, then, we are outdone by our humbler friends of the lower kingdom, who have pursued the inner way of development exclu¬ sively, howbeit subconsciously. Nevertheless, tele¬ pathy, clairvoyance, and the like are genuine faculties that have been proven through the intuitive insight and experience of many individuals in every walk of 10 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD life, not to mention their establishment by the scientific methods of such pioneer scientists as Flammarion and many others. It is apparent that it is one of the latent faculties in the race, appearing here and there in in¬ dividuals more highly developed along certain lines for one reason or another, than their fellows. This faculty is doubtless about to be developed universally. It is quite conceivable that when each mind is recognized as a sort of wireless station and the law of its opera¬ tion is more fully understood and consciously mas¬ tered, the present wireless system will become anti¬ quated. It is needless to point out the far-reaching consequences, moral and otherwise, of coming human development in this direction. Certainly it is worth while to explore these wonderful inner regions of the mind. While such far-reaching results as have been suggested may be relegated to the remote future, the laws under consideration may be applied practically for the mastery of daily problems, individual and social. Our work deals with the subject: “The Faith That Overcomes the World.” With the breaking-down of materialistic philosophies and the breaking-up of materialistic institutions, and with widespread disap¬ pointment and dissatisfaction in individual experience, men are eagerly seeking the secret of the faith that overcomes the world, whether consciously or uncon¬ sciously. They feel instinctively that there ought to be some panacea for all the ills of human life. Praise the Infinite and Eternal One, there is a panacea ! This is the source, the principle, of the victory that over- GENERAL INSTRUCTION « comes the world, — even our faith. Yes, through faith, every son and daughter of the Most High enters into his rightful heritage of dominion and happiness. At the outset, we must arrive at an understanding of the true meaning attached to the words, “World” and “Faith.” , , . By the term “World,” the Bible refers to the whole visible universe, which we experience through the senses, everything with which we have to do in our ex¬ ternal’ life. It is ordained that we exercise mastery over the things that pertain to this visible world. All these things are good and have their place in the divine order, for they are expressions of the Eternal Life. The term “World” is often employed in the Bible in a bad sense. This is not because the visible order is essentially bad. It refers rather to a wrong mental attitude toward the visible world, to a wrong state of consciousness, which we may call the “world-con¬ sciousness.” The Master said, “In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have over¬ come the world.” He associated the tribulation not with the spiritual-consciousness which shall one day subdue the earth and hold the life of man and the elements and all under the universal sway of the divine law but rather with that erroneous concept of the world which is prevalent today and which fails to relate the world to the spiritual universe underlying it. This attitude toward the world is the “World, or the world-consciousness, if you will, which with all its attendant evils, is to be overcome by our faith. _ Jesus, and indeed all the great teachers of Divine 12 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD Wisdom as well, have ever known and taught the illusory nature of the external world. The eastern sages have referred to it as “Maya.” In the Bible it is referred to as the “world,” or as “the things that are temporal,” that shall pass away. Our modern poet, Tennyson, has contrasted it with “The true world within the world we see Whereof our world is but the bounding shore.” As already indicated, modern Science is showing us that matter is very different in its ultimate nature from the world that appears to the senses ; in fact of late Science has practically eliminated matter, present¬ ing it as a phase of energy issuing from some unknown source. That Source is the Infinite and Eternal Mind, akin to our mind and operating through our mind in so far as obstacles are removed. In other words, the world that we see cannot be said to be the real world in the sense that it is permanent or the sphere of causation. Neither does it reveal in itself the true nature of existence and its laws. In so far as our conscious mental life is limited to the circumference of existence, so to speak, we know neither ourselves nor life. We know not how to live. The lack of understanding in this direction, according to the trend of all the higher thought of the ages, involves us in the inharmonious conditions involved in the condition-realm when out of adjustment to and correspondence with the realm of Reality and Causation, which Jesus called heaven. Now what is this faith that overcomes the world- GENERAL INSTRUCTION 13 consciousness, and hence gains mastery over all world- conditions? Surely faith here is not to be identified with a merely conventional form of faith which often is practically a kind of lifeless superstition with many a materialistic taint, but rather must it be understood in its deeper meaning as a dynamic spiritual conscious¬ ness making direct and immediate contact with the realm of Reality. It may be defined as a realizing consciousness of the reality of the Unseen. It is a consciousness which brings us into correspondence with the Infinite Life, releasing the power of that Life ; it opens man, the individualized center of the Divine activity, to the inflow of the Divine Spirit for opera¬ tions in the world-sphere, for overcoming the world and building Eternity in time. If we would attain to the overcoming faith and life, we must, through prayer, burn into our souls the sublime consciousness of Paul, who declared— “While we look not at the things which are seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.,, There must be no misunderstanding concerning this higher view of the world. It must not be miscon¬ strued to entail aloofness from the common concerns of men in the workaday world, a shirking of the trivial task and common round, a forgetfulness con¬ cerning the great truth that “the path of duty is the way to glory,” to that great glory at heart which is akin to the heavenly glory. Life on the earth plane is a school experience, where through discipline and service we learn the great lesson of life, which ulti- 14 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD mately brings complete freedom from the bondage of the world, equipping us for service on the higher planes. We dare not shirk the full measure of this experience and unfoldment which comes from contact with the world, but we learn in the thick of it all to apply the higher law, we operate from the higher plane, from the center within, where dwells the Universal Power in all His fulness. Then we can remain in the world and be not of it. We can overcome it. Emerson said, “The only sin is limitation.” Paul said, “God hath supplied all your needs, according to his riches in glory.” Faith, real faith, releases those riches, enabling us to overcome all limitations. What is the nature of these limitations? What are the various phases of the world-condition of things which we seek to overcome in our individual and corporate life? We shall take them up under six headings, namely, Fear, Ignorance, Failure, Sin, Sickness, Death. All of these are really phases of sin because phases of lack, lack in the midst of Abundant Life, all very real to human experience, but unreal in the sense of not being a permanent part of God’s eternal order, part and parcel with the world to be overcome. The general object of the studies is to encourage the application of the fundamental principles of Truth, common to the prophets, poets and seers of all ages, correlating them with the original and profounder teachings of the Master, as well as the new knowledge in every field. Prayer and faith are set forth as crea¬ tive forces, operating according to unfailing law, and capable of unfolding the higher powers of mind and GENERAL INSTRUCTION IS spirit, which will bring about the spiritual emancipa¬ tion of man, and produce the spiritual Superman of unbounded energy, courage, dominion and beneficence. CHAPTER II Overcoming Fear One of the most direful concomitants of the world¬ consciousness is the fear-thought. Fear is the arch¬ enemy of the human race. It issues in poverty, sick¬ ness and death. The whole world today is under the domination of the fear-thought. The passion for material power and for the accumulation of vast material possessions, with its accompaniment of selfish strife and trampling upon one another’s rights, is symptomatic and a manifestation of the latent fears that saturate the consciousness of men and nations. It led to the world-war; it may yet lead to greater calamities until the world in its humiliation and des¬ peration humbles itself to learn of the higher law, and is brought to the understanding that all this feverish strife and struggle for material supremacy is the most stupendous folly. The victims and abject slaves of personal fear num¬ ber in the thousands. All of us at times are tempted to harbor some form of fear. It is difficult in the midst of such a predominating race-thought of fear and of fearful suggestions on every hand, to rise com¬ pletely above every response to the fear-thought. Fear in all its various manifestations, fear of sick- 16 OVERCOMING FEAR 17 ness, fear of calamity, fear of death and what not, leaves a terrible trail of misery in its path. Psychology is beginning to show the disastrous inhibitions which it produces in the mental faculties, blasting men’s fondest hopes and aspirations and paralyzing their powers. Physiological science is indicating the de¬ structive effect of fear on the tissues and functions of the body. It lowers the vibrations of the mind and body which means a lowering of spiritual, mental and physical efficiency. Fear is a sin, for it is the result of the absence of faith. Faith is the only cure for this arch-sin. Faith is the only power that can over¬ come this phase of the world-consciousness. Fear is born of material-mindedness. It involves at least partial ignorance of the true nature of God and of the law of His Universe. Only a vital and dynamic faith that is a realizing consciousness of the unseen Kingdom of Reality, at the heart and center of which is God, the one real, beneficent Power in the universe, in whom we live and move and have our being, can save man from the bondage and tyranny of his fear. A real and dynamic faith, in the first place, can free one from the fear of harm and calamity. .There is one Power in all the universe. All that is, is under an unfailing and beneficent law. A study of the messages of the seers, a profounder search of the Scriptures, familiarity with the trend of modern knowledge, and the testimony of the heart born of deeper experience and meditation, all these witness to this great truth of life. Even the tempoiary manifes 18 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD tations of what the world calls evil are under this universal law, working to good. The tribulation in the world is a manifestation of the law’s working to bring us into harmony with it, that we may rise above the world. Through living faith, wrought out in profound meditation and true prayer, the Christ-mind in us enables us to overcome the world and to exercise dominion over circumstances, by the unfailing law. When we learn that in reality there is nothing to fear, then, and then only, is our fear finally conquered. Next, there is the fear of poverty and failure. Everywhere men, rich and poor alike, are in fear of poverty and failure in general. They think that they are dependent on some one or other visible source or material means. They are not conscious of the fact that if every visible medium of supply be swept away, there is a law whereby they may be filled, if they have faith. Little do they dream of the great truth that there is within their reach and at their command, the inexhaustible resources of the divine supply from the One Source, manifesting itself visibly through many channels, according to law. That Source is tapped by faith. It was on that Source that the Master ever depended. He knew no lack. He said that we should follow Him. We should learn more and more to de¬ pend on that One Source rather than on this or that transient medium of supply. Only thus can we be real masters of any situation. Only thus can poverty and failure be permanently and universally overcome, the fierce strife of competition made to cease, and the golden era ushered in. Let it be understood, more- OVERCOMING FEAR 19 over, that this kind of faith is always associated with a life of energetic service. Fear of personal failure may be overcome, further¬ more, by the knowledge of the fact that one’s dreams and aspirations are really the divine voice from with¬ in. These dreams are meant to be realized, in the very nature of things as the Eternal One has ordained them. The power to realize them is given. Recognize no seeming defeat, then. Scorn the lying assertions of visible appearances. However overwhelming the obstacles, never give up. Rejoice that the struggle is to call forth hidden powers. Praise God that all things are already yours in the realm of the real, and that they are on their way to manifestation because of your faith. In the midst of the struggle, rest on the un¬ failing law that will surely bring you into your own, if you faint not. Know deeply and surely that “He that endureth until the end, the same shall be saved” in every phase of his life. Amid the surface stress, realize the deep calm of the Eternal, the peace and power of God that passeth all understanding. We conquer gloriously by the true prayer of faith, which is dynamic communion with the Eternal God that dwells in all His fulness in the mysterious depths of our own inner being. There we release a power that is omnipotent, and therefore sufficient to enable us to master the most adverse combination of circumstances. One of the most persistent and unwholesome of fears is the fear of death. Many live their whole life long in bondage to this hideous fear of death. It is 20 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD because they have not attained to a faith sufficiently real to enable them to see life in the light of the Eternal, to live life in conscious contact with the Universal. Their own eternal Ego is ordinarily identified in their consciousness with the body, which is but the outer sheath clothing the inner man, the deathless child of the Eternal. As men learn through meditation and prayer to live in the consciousness of the Eternal, they will lose the fear of death, for the thought of death will vanish in the consciousness of boundless Life in God, now and forever. They shall know that no external circumstance can touch that real life of theirs, hid with Christ in God. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Truly, faith can accomplish all things; it can release us from the bondage of every fear. MEDITATIONS FOR OVERCOMING FEAR ‘‘Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” “Peace, be still!” “Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you this day.” “Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” “My life is hid with Christ in God.” “He that dwelleth in the Secret Place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “His Truth shall be thy shield. Thou shalt not be afraid. There shall no evil befall thee.” “All things work together for good.” OVERCOMING FEAR 21 “The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!” (Reading: Daniel 6:16-23. Psalms 91 and 121.) I cast my burden upon the Lord, resting in sure confidence on the perfect law, whereby the Love of God shields and protects me and mine, the Wis¬ dom of God directs us, the Power of God sustains us, the Peace of God surrounds and enfolds us. Let the way be opened to the great deep within. Be still and know that I am God the mighty One in the midst of thee. Dear God, Eternal and Universal Father-Spirit, in whom I live and move and have my being, I open my heart to the inflow of the Spirit of resistless might, that I may be filled with the energy of thy Love, for the work which Thou hast given me to do in Thy name and for Thy glory. I praise Thee, O God, that Thou dost give me according to Thy riches in glory to be strength¬ ened with might by Thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ dwells in my heart by faith, that Thou dost lead me into the way of Truth and Life. I praise Thee, that Thou hast shown me that I am really a son of Thine, made in Thy image for dominion and mastery over self and every circumstance of life, through Thy power that worketh in me. I praise Thee, that Thou art leading me into the knowledge of Thee as my ever¬ present Friend and that Thou dost sustain me in all things, through Christ, Who is my Life. Amen. “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” In God, the Source of all power, I live and move and have my being. 22 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD “With God, all things are possible.” “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, out of weakness were made strong.” (To be repeated thoughtfully in the Silence, with mind concentrated. Let these great truths sink down into the depths of your consciousness, in a few moments of inner realization following each medita¬ tion). I open my mind to thoughts of good only. I utterly reject all thoughts of harm or failure seeking admis¬ sion where they have no right. I decree that they shall have no power over me. God has given me a work to do and I shall accomplish it. I will never recognize any possibility of failure or defeat, but move forward with irresistible strength in the proud con¬ sciousness of my sonship, to overcome all obstacles. They shall have no power over me. I am master of my own mental kingdom* I am master of circum¬ stance. By the Eternal within me, I can, I must, I will! The victory is mine, for I am one with the One Power in the Universe, God. My divine birthright as a child of the Most High is a glorious dominion over self and environment. All things are mine, for I am one with the Universal Life and Energy, the Infinite, Eternal, Creative Energy, from which all things pro¬ ceed, according to the infallible law of the Universal Mind. I know the Truth, and the Truth has made me free from miserable slavery to failure and defeat and the fear of it. God is my strength. I will conquer. No power can keep me from that which is my own by divine right. God is expressing Himself in me in an ever-increas- OVERCOMING FEAR 23 ing peace and calm. The heavenly harmony of the Christ-mind is manifesting itself in energy, peace and power. All the forces of the Universe are at my comimand. They are working for my progress and unfoldment and dominion now. All praise to the Most High, the In¬ finite One, from Whom cometh every good and perfect gift. CHAPTER III Overcoming Ignorance The next phase of the world-condition of things which we seek to overcome is that of Ignorance. From one point of view, ignorance is responsible for every im¬ pediment in our pilgrimage toward the Infinite. Gau¬ tama, the Buddha pronounced it the root-cause of all evil. Jesus Christ declared: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” A modern pronouncement concerning it avers : “Know this, O man, sole root of sin in thee Is not to know thine own divinity.” In a similar vein, one branch of modern philosophy, of ancient origin, affirms that the clue to the whole plight of struggling humanity lies in the fact that we have forgotten the source whence we have sprung, with all the hidden potentialities which knowledge of it involves. That inborn power, destined to be revealed in due time, is suggested in the words of the poet, “Trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home.” Certainly, even from the standpoint of what we are 24 OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 25 pleased to call scientifically ascertained facts, we may trace the vast majority of instances of fear, failure and sickness to ignorance, and if we may be open- minded enough to give credence to some of our daring pioneers in physiological science, not to mention students of the subconscious in its relation to physio¬ logical life, we shall venture to say death, too, may be traced to ignorance of the laws of life. If we are able to go still further and to follow some of our meta¬ physicians into the realm of the unknown from the scientific standpoint, is it not possible that we may find that ignorance is indeed the sole root of our limita¬ tions ? At any rate, we are compelled to admit a very extensive range of limitations imposed by ignorance in both scientific and spiritual fields. The crying need of humanity, then, is freedom from the bondage of ignorance. We turn therefore to the problem of its removal. How is knowledge to be supplied more fully? In a sense the whole history of human progress is the history of the struggle to over¬ come ignorance. In times past the methods employed have been largely objective and external, so far as conscious effort has been concerned, although now we know, of course, that the subconscious element has always been active and potent in moulding the life of man. However, for generations past, reason and the logical faculties in man, important tho they may be as a phase of man’s development, have been unduly exalted to the comparative exclusion of other impor¬ tant faculties holding, no doubt, even greater possibil¬ ities for man’s overcoming of ignorance and for the 26 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD realization of his high destiny. We might describe these faculties generally as the intuitive faculties. We may well note, in passing, that while we are in the process of learning the higher way to Truth, every encouragement should be accorded the more painful and limited attempts to acquire and disseminate knowledge in vogue in the present order of things. Our present scientific and educational systems, defec¬ tive though they may be, mark as great a triumph over the limitations of the past as future achievements will mark over the limitations of the present. Present-day scientific study of surface phenomena constitutes a part of the race unfoldment and gives us a somewhat useful, howbeit one-sided and deficient contact and correspondence with the noumena of Reality, owing to the limitations of our present faculties. We are still far from ascertaining the underlying cause of things, the secret of existence, and the law of life enabling us to live life in its fulness. Nevertheless, science itself is groping forward through the darkness, fast destroying the materialism which it once estab¬ lished, and is more and more adopting methods that lead to the confirmation of the conclusions of the great intuitional seers of past and present ages. Doubtless we are on the eve of at least a partial solution of the Riddle of the Universe, and this time we are going to find ourselves on the right road, at any rate. Our educational world, too, is undergoing a process of change. No longer are our educators satisfied with the old methods of cramming facts into the heads of the pupils. They are rather disposed to draw out the OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 27 latent potentialities in the child’s mind. In this con¬ nection, we recall the wise statement of that great mind, Plato, who said : “Certain professors of educa¬ tion must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, — whereas our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exist in the soul already.” Browning, another great mind coming into its own today, likewise says: — “Truth is within ourselves There is an inmost center in us all, Where Truth abides in fulness and to know Rather consists in opening out a way Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, Than effecting entry for a light Supposed to be without.” While the latter quotation seems to refer primarily to great transcendental truths of the spiritual realm, which we shall consider at a later point, much in recent psychological discovery, especially with regard to the subconscious region of the mind, would indicate that it has its application to every detail of experience in the phenomenal world, touching the actualities of our every-day life in the world. In the first place, the sub¬ conscious holds the memory of everything which has entered our experience in this life, not to mention possible previous lives, and in addition to this it holds who knows how much of race-memories. Again, although there is much evidence from psychical research and from the revelations of spiritual seers, that we are encompassed by a cloud of unseen wit- 29 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD nesses, perhaps of as many orders of beings above us as there are orders of lower beings, partially visible by means of the microscope, below us. But without recourse to any of this evidence, we point to the con¬ tact of the minds of “living” men and to the amazing evidence of the practical annihilation of time and space by the subconscious mind in the exercise of such facul¬ ties as telepathy, clairvoyance and the like, long known to master-minds, and now practically a scientific fact resulting from the experimentation of pioneer scien¬ tists whose daring breaks through conventional bar¬ riers and leads the way to new fields of exploration and conquest. There are many signs of new faculties unfolding in man, who is still in his infancy, and they promise undreamed-of progress in overcoming ignorance. The plain truth is that all the highest thought of the ages, scientific and spiritual, points to the fact that we are veritable centers of activity in the Omniscient Mind. The Principle of Knowledge dwells within us. Extravagant and impossible though it may seem to the poor limited hide-bound habit-mind which at first rebels against the prospect of such unwonted freedom from its ordinary groove of thought, the mind of man is potentially omniscient. It has within it all the poten¬ tialities of divinity. There is literally no limit to the knowledge we may acquire, or more strictly speaking, let us say that we may bring to the surface. Undoubt¬ edly when Paul said: “All things are yours,” all knowledge was included. If we could so master the law as to release from the child mind, by suggestion or OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 29 otherwise, the hidden wealth of knowledge stored therein or place it en rapport with other sources of knowledge with which it is in contact in the deeper regions of its being, what a revolution would take place in the educational world. This is coming. A much greater scientific use of suggestion should be made immediately at school and at home, in impressing on the child mind the ideas of character-growth and achievement which we desire the subconscious to work out. In this connection, we should employ the visu¬ alizing and imaginative faculties under proper con¬ ditions of concentration and emotional stress. The more distinctly spiritual side of the question is now to be faced, if we may be allowed for convenience to draw a distinction between the spiritual, mental, and phenomenal realms, which act and react upon one another, and in the last analysis are one and essentially spiritual in the broadest and deepest sense of the term. The subconscious life of man is, like the ordinary con¬ scious experience, a temporary phase in man's long spiritual pilgrimage. At this stage of our evolution, in dealing with actuality we do well to reckon with the subconscious life, but underlying the subconscious life which is the inner sphere of human experience, is the realm and life of pure Spirit, the timeless, spaceless, infinite Reality of which is Christ, the very center and substance of our being. That life manifested itself in its fulness on the human plane in the life of Jesus Chirst, but the Christ is in us all, the very life of our life. While we may make much progress by the more distinctly psychological approach to the seat of knowl- 30 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD edge, by such processes as those of ordinary sugges¬ tion, there is an approach by the way of true prayer which may bring us into direct and dynamic contact with the ultimate Source of all knowledge. The awakening of our higher faculties on this exalted plane of our being enables us to transcend even the limita¬ tions of the subconscious so far as it may be said to involve limitations, or more strictly speaking, this higher unfoldment includes efficient functioning in the relations of the conscious and subconscious, and pro¬ duces an harmonious coordination of all our forces on all planes of our being, operating normally from the Christ center. Conscious dynamic communion with the Divine Source of knowledge, while closely related to psychic law, is on a higher plane, and transcends it. Here are the highest resources for the work of over¬ coming ignorance. The Master promised that the Spirit would guide the disciples (of all ages) into all truth. The condition attached to that guidance was the exercise of faith and prayer. In this connection, faith and prayer are con¬ ceived in their deeper sense. By “faith,” we do not mean credulity or superstition but the evidence, sight, knowledge, in the consciousness, of things not seen, releasing the mighty forces of the soul. By “prayer,” we do not mean an anxious pleading with a distant monarch for a withheld boon, but conscious com¬ munion and contact with, and transmission of, Omni¬ potent Power, limited only by the degree of the faith to which we have attained. Prayer is both faith in the making and faith in action. We take this aspect OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 3i .•I of the subject up more fully in connection with the work of overcoming sickness. Suffice it to say here that there is absolutely no limit to the possibilities of faith and prayer, and this applies to attaining to knowl¬ edge as well as to all other human achievements. At this point, we are lead to inquire as to the nature of the truth into which it is promised that the Spirit will guide us. In the first place it undoubtedly refers primarily to the great realities of life and to the one Great Reality underlying all. We are to be led into the great truth about God ; that He is the universally immanent, omnipotent, beneficent Spirit, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. That His Uni¬ verse is essentially a spiritual Universe and that its law is the law of eternal love and good. We are to be led into the great truth about man; that man is a child of the Eternal, an individual life-center within the being of that Eternal and Omnipotent One, an essentially spiritual being, with all the wondrous potentialities of divinity latent within him, to be developed by true faith and prayer. These are great saving truths, the full knowledge of which, through the whole range of our being, will release pristine, titanic forces that shall make us more than man, that shall bring us to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be,” when “the knowl¬ edge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” With the development of faith, or — in terms of spiritual philosophy, — let us say, “spiritual conscious¬ ness,” or in terms of psychology, — the “intuitional 32 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD faculty,” not only shall we attain to exalted glimpses into transcendental regions of the Spirit or perhaps to open vision on the plane of heavenly reality, but we shall also find guidance into the truth concerning the solution of our immediate problems in the actual sphere of our common duties and school-day experi¬ ence on the world-plane of life. We can, as indicated before, obtain knowledge concerning the phenomenal world of every-day existence, which otherwise would be acquired only by most laborious external methods, but now will be apprehended immediately. We have already cited the great seers who have anticipated the discoveries made by the slower and more laborious empirical methods of scientists. The Hindu mystics and Einstein are outstanding illustrations of this in widely different fields, seeking the solution of the problems pertaining to nature. In the matter of per¬ sonal problems, the same law obtains. The Master, in His human life, followed this course of procedure, manifestly under this infallible inner guidance. He promised that the disciples would be given this same guidance, that it would be put into their mouths what they should say when brought before rulers and in other trying situations. The recognition of this principle of knowledge within you, of the kingdom of heaven within you, together with sure faith in its law, and conformity to all conditions of its operation, will be of the greatest practical value to you, in affording an unerring guid¬ ance in every situation in which you may find yourself. The divine and omniscient Knower within you knows OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 33 absolutely what you have need of for your spiritual and physical nourishment, or for the correction of any defect or ailment. He knows precisely what course of work you ought to pursue, and where your services can be used along the way. Trivial though some of these things may seem in this connection, they are all a part of the divine plan of life and the law of divine wisdom is operative in every niche of the Universe. How many when confronted with a prob¬ lem, run hither and yon for merely human aid, rack their brains for a human solution on a “common- sense” basis, and utterly overlook and ignore this divine Knower within. Whether you are solving the profoundest problem in philosophy, whether you are solving a financial problem or a problem in Algebra, stop standing in the way of the great law, with your worrying and fussing. Enter into the silent depths of your being, and say : — “O Thou Infinite and Divine Knower within me, Thou knowest the answer, Thou knowest all things. I thank Thee that Thou dost ever reveal unto me the way, when I seek with faith and understanding of Thy true Nature and of thine infal¬ lible law, to which I am rising now.” If you are not already familiar with this method of obtaining ideas and direction, you will be surprised when you give it a genuine trial. If men in dealing with their individ¬ ual and corporate problems, would stand aside and see the salvation of the Lord, the Great Knower Within, by resorting to this higher and more immediate way of knowledge, properly coordinating the exercise of the higher faculties with the logical and other faculties. 34 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD as, for instance, by working out in experience the; ideas received through the higher channels, the world’s progress in knowledge and in emancipation from its limitations would be greatly accelerated. There is a Power within which knows all things. By absolute faith in that Power and by conformity to the conditions of its free operation, the knowledge possessed by that Power is made available for us. MEDITATIONS FOR KNOWLEDGE AND GUIDANCE The Master said: — “All power (knowledge) is given unto me, in heaven and in earth.” “The Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth: and he will show you things to come.” The Spirit of the Omniscient Christ liveth in me. O Thou Infinite Divine Knower within me, I thank Thee that Thou dost reveal unto me the mysteries of the Kingdom and that Thou dost show me the way that I should go. I open my mind and heart to thine infallible guidance. Be still and know that I am the Omniscient God in thy midst. Speak, O Thou Infinite and Eternal One* for thy child listens with every sense of the spirit open to receive the wondrous utterances and the sure leading of thy still small voice. SILENCE Arise, for thy light is come, and the knowledge of the Lord is risen within thee. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” OVERCOMING IGNORANCE 35 “Wisdom and knowledge is granted” “God giveth man knowledge.” It is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom.” It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you [all the riches of] the Kingdom.” “I am persuaded that ye are filled with all knowledge.” “Understanding is a well-spring of life.” I cast my burden on the Lord, resting in sure con¬ fidence on the perfect law, whereby the Wisdom of God illumines and directs me and mine, now and forever. CHAPTER IV Overcoming Failure It has already been suggested that most if not all failure would be overcome if we could attain to a knowledge and mastery of the laws of life. It is a self-evident fact that much of the failure that we see about us on every hand is due to ignorance or lack of the ordinary equipment of every-day information con¬ cerning the world as we know it. The spread of education and of the various character-developing institutions of modern society have done much in placing within the reach of the people opportunities for helping themselves to make a measurable success of their lives. It is our purpose, however, to delve more deeply into these problems of life and to show that even those who have made the most of themselves and of their opportunities have scarcely begun to learn to really live. Humanity as a whole, moreover, is lost in a maze of problems concerning the quest of a more perfect and harmonious way of social life. These problems will defy our best endeavors as long as we treat them as merely economic problems and overlook the spiritual laws of life. We must get OVERCOMING FAILURE 37 beneath the surface of things, and there we shall find a solution for all our problems. First, let us consider the phase of failure which manifests itself in poverty. We have already pointed out the fact that fear is one of the greatest contribut¬ ing causes of failure and poverty. Fear, born of ignorance, will paralyze every spiritual, mental, and physical faculty, rendering its victim powerless to cope with any situation, however great his potential ability. Kill out his fear by lodging in his consciousness the beneficence of the Universe in which he has his being, and the titanic strength of his own inherent powers, and you arm him with a strength that is irresistible. These are the grand truths that make him free. It is our purpose, however, to pass beyond principles which are obvious to most thinking minds, and to point out hidden principles of spiritual law which when fully understood will undoubtedly open up new wavs of supply. Not only does fear paralyze the faculties of man, but there are numerous indications, not only ^ the sacred scriptures but in the experience of many who have experimented in matters pertaining to higher and comparatively unknown laws of the spiritual world, that fear acts in a manner resembling the effect of insulation with respect to an electrical current. It seems to check the influx of the Divine into our lives, as it seeks to enter in its various tangible expressions. On the other hand, there is every indication that faith, its positive opposite, of which fear is simply the absence, opens up the channels of the Divine inflow of substance, invisible and visible. “Impossible,” says 38 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD the eminently hard-headed and practical man of the world, as he has always said in the face of new dis¬ coveries or rediscoveries, from time immemorial. Nevertheless, the average man would be surprised to learn how overwhelming is the testimony of great and recognized seers, ancient and modern, to the existence of such higher laws, waiting to be mastered by man, through faith. In fact, it is impossible to find a logical explanation of many of the Great Master’s sayings and deeds on any other basis. We shall examine several instances as we proceed. Not only do we find, from our experience, that faith intensifies every faculty of our being, and that in some mysterious way it opens up opportunities and means through apparently natural avenues of approach, which constantly accumulating evidence con¬ vinces us could not otherwise have come save through faith and prayer, but we are led, furthermore, to believe, partly through our intuitive perception of Reality, partly on the authority of the Bible and other sources presenting instances of the principles in question and constantly being proven accurate in other applications, and partly through recourse to striking analogies found in the progressive, dematerialized, “physical” science of the day, that a further under¬ standing of the law, will bring us eventually to a mental and spiritual control over matter that will duplicate the “miracles” of the Master, according to his most positive and explicit affirmation. There are many evidences that metaphysics is the coming science OVERCOMING FAILURE 39 and that this science, wedded to a rejuvenated theology, will give birth to a new order of life. Out of the numerous instances of the Master’s advanced control of matter, we select the two appro¬ priate in this connection because of the application of His inner knowledge and power to the supply of food and drink. We refer to the production of wine at the wedding feast and to the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in the feeding of the multitude. It is not our purpose, in this brief work, to go into exhaustive detail concerning the modus operandi of these so- called miracles. We only offer suggestions to be ‘worked out later. Suffice it to say that the Master as perfect man, with all the potentialities of Deity opera¬ tive in Him, cooperated with the higher law, and with the faith-faculty, the imaging faculty, and the will, all at their highest pinnacle of concentrated power, _ precipitated the elements of the wine or food from the mysterious ether — so close to Spirit in its essence, — the invisible substance out of which all visible things proceed by the fixed laws of the Universal Mind, in which we are centers of creative energy. To men of clear vision and keen mind, the underlying truth of this proposition is apparent and holds in store great things for man. If this direct application of the law is not immediately feasible, it at least encourages us to go on in our investigation and in at least partial application along the higher spiritual lines, for immedi¬ ate use. It shows the way along which ultimate salva¬ tion lies, in every department of our life. “Seek first 40 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you.” In referring to science, we find much to help us in grasping these principles in the drift of present day investigation, not to mention the intuitive insight of many of the ancient scientists — long before the pass¬ ing phase of later-day materialism. Anaxagoras of old declared mind to be the originating and controlling force of the universe. Heraclitus said that the uni¬ verse is in a state of flux. Today our scientists are positing the play of a universal mind in the midst of the phenomena of the universe. They have proven the plastic nature of matter by showing that one element can be transformed into another. They have shown that the ultimate constitution of matter is electrical energy. Psychologists are demonstrating the limitless powers of the mind and its close relation to the Universal Mind, which is God. It has been shown that, the mind exerts an actual influence on matter, capable of definite registration. Let him who reads understand the deep significance of all this, and ponder the wonders that are soon to be. Let him seek life where it is to be found, that he may cause the world to be abundantly blessed. In connection with fear, we have already referred to the fact that there is within our reach and at our command, the inexhaustible resources of the divine supply from the One Source, manifesting itself visibly through many channels, according to law. We have indicated that this Source is tapped by faith; that because of His supreme faith the Master knew no OVERCOMING FAILURE 4i failure of supply. To illustrate further, in the instance of the so-called miraculous draught of fishes and in that of the coin found in the fishes mouth, we have a demonstration of the operating of this law of inner attraction, or gravity on the spiritual plane, whereby the individual mind-center may draw to itself out of the spiritual realm of causation centered in the. Universal Mind, the things that it requires and desires mightily for its development and unfoldment, made possible by the energizing force of its faith. The Master carried about no personal belongings for his own needs or for those of others. The explanation is that He was so fully the master of the law of spiritual attraction and abundance that at any moment of need, He could at once draw upon the Infinite Source of all supply. He meant that we should ulti¬ mately follow Him in the Way. Therefore we would do well to heed the counsel of the Wisdom writer, — “with all thy getting, get understanding.” These considerations bring us very close to the key for the solution of our problem of social poverty. Only a few unseeing ones still regard poverty as a divine institution. We know that the Divine Love has put abundance of life in all its expressions within reach of all. The Giver of every good gift seeks to express Himself in terms of abundance in the life of everyone. In the Father’s house there is enough and to spare for all. Conditions are as they are because we have not yet learned the secret of living. More¬ over, in spite of the fact that the determining factor in the making of abundance or of lack in a man’s life 42 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD is the trend of his own inner life, yet this does not exonerate the greed and social injustice that is in some way related to it. We are all bound up in the bundle of life together, and the conditions of the individual and of the corporate life act and react, the one upon the other. The problem is complex but there is a relationship between the two, in spite of the fact that a man is free to rise as soon as he yields to the God-urge ‘within him. Be this as it may, we further maintain that the present pathetic attempts at amelioration of individual and social life through the external application of this and that expedient in place of inner transformation through application of spiritual principles is indeed hopeless and doomed to failure. We recognize the good in every well-meaning effort to help by means of “charity,” social programs and other pallatives, and we see them as imperfect expressions of the divine love in the heart of man, but we seek to point the way to a spiritual transfiguration so wrought into the heart and consciousness of man as to transform the face of the whole world, and bring in the new heaven and the new earth, with all social, industrial, and political problems vanished into thin air. A beginning will be made when men begin to see the folly of their present efforts in pursuit of worldly ends, as nations and as individuals, and even the futility of attempting to change their ways by merely human devices. When they can be made to see the great ends and aim of the Divine Plan, when they can be made to under¬ stand and employ the wonderful laws whereby every OVERCOMING FAILURE 43 child and family of God can satisfy its heart’s desire without recourse to the blind folly of feverish effort, strife and warfare, and indeed that these paths lead to death rather than to life, then the great day will dawn in all its glorious splendor. So exalted will be the soul of man in his new-found joy and power born of high fellowship with the Eternal One and with his brother-man, that his heart will be touched to finer issues than those concerning his satiety with the mere things that bring no peace ; that each man’s good shall be each man’s rule, and the Father’s Kingdom with its abundant riches will have come into manifestation. This is the royal way; this is the only way. MEDITATION “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you?” “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will He give you.” “According to your faith be it unto you.” “God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory.” “All things are yours.” “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” “My cup runneth over.” “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Be still and know that I am God, the One Source of all abundance in the midst of thee. 44 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD SILENCE Know surely that My whole Universe is responsive to the potent demands of faith, according to the universal law of Mind. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” “According to your faith, be it unto you.” I cast my burden on the Lord, resting in sure confi¬ dence on the perfect law, whereby the abundant riches of the Love Divine provide me and mine. CHAPTER V Overcoming Sin Temptations to indulge the sense-nature and hinder our own and other’s spiritual transfiguration and mastery of life abound. The first step in overcoming carnal sin, or the uncontrolled thoughts of the mind and perverted imagination directed toward mere fleshly gratification, is a deeper understanding of the problem and a knowledge of the nature of such “sin.” In the first place much impetus is given to such impulses by the conventional moral attitude toward the problem. The very implication that the body and its functions are in themselves essentially evil tends to produce a perverted idea and hence a perverted functioning along these lines. All that pertains to the generative function, for instance, should be exalted in our thought to a manifestation on the physical plane of the Divine Creative Energy of the Universe, and therefore sacred. An opposite attitude tends to awaken in the “sinner” a rebellious spirit toward the so-called spiritual life. In the second place, an attempt at direct suppression of this divine urge within, which must find expression in some way, is psychologically hopeless and harmful. If this urge from within, even on the lower plane of 45 4 6 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD our being, is not essentially bad, but part of the Divine Order, wherein is the sin? It lies in the perversion of the function, first in thought, then in deed. All sin, as the derivation of the word indicates, involves a “missing the mark,” or falling short. Emerson says that all sin is limitation. In other words the one who is trying to “see life,” as they say, must be led to see that he has taken the wrong road and is doomed to disappointment; that he is missing “the life more abundant” which can come only through a balanced coordination of forces on every plane of his being, with the bodily being under the control and mastery of the spiritual man. Only this order of things can bring life and freedom; any other can mean nothing but the most abject and paralysing slavery. If attempt at mere suppression is wrong, driving the impulse within, only to issue later with renewed force after producing a harmful inner conflict, then the attempt at proper expression and legitimate satis¬ faction is the right and normal method. We are not to despise the “sinner,” but look upon him sympathetically and with understanding — as did the Great Master — and regard him as one not essenti¬ ally bad, but struggling up to the divine, howbeit still on a comparatively low plane of development. Even the “bad” in him is but a perverted expression of the good in him striving to perfection. If at his stage of development, it seems most natural for the divine urge to find expression on the physical plane, let us guide him or help him to guide himself into the proper and legitimate channels of expression in ways that seem OVERCOMING SIN 47 to work no physical or spiritual harm to himself or to others nor to undermine the imperfect but as yet highest social order we are building for the greatest possible spiritual unfoldment of all. This channel is to be found in the normal relations of true spiritual love in the married state. In the meanwhile let him bend every effort toward bringing his physical being under the control of the soul and to subordinate even its legitimate expressions to the development of the man in the higher reaches of his being, that he may begin to function wholly from the Christ-center. Let the same Divine Creative Energy be turned more and more into such channels as will regenerate soul and body and render him a medium for the regeneration of humanity. The Divine Energy may be turned soulward, finding expression in Divine Communion and an outlet in the creative working of mind, heart, and hand for humanity’s service. Wrong ideas, then, concerning the divine urge as it touches our physical being, its perversion into mere unrestrained lust with¬ out relation to the spiritual side of our nature, and misguided attempts at suppression rather than at proper expression on a higher plane, are the chief causes of what we may term carnal sin. Again, let us remember that the impulses to sin are not in the flesh itself, which of itself has no life, but are lodged in the subconscious mind which produces and directs the body. Truly “we fight not against flesh and blood,” but against unseen forces in the mind. Their tremendous strength is the result of race-thoughts engendered through countless generations of sense- 48 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD consciousness, reinforced by suggestions from per¬ sonal experience. Now how can we conquer these unseen forces in the mind? To try to coerce one into continuity to certain moral standards without interpreting their existence or showing any foundation for them beyond their long-standing and well-nigh universal acceptance, or to frighten one into obedience to the arbitrary commands of a tyrannical, celestial Sovereign such as God was misrepresented to be in the old theology, is a hopeless and a useless task. If we can relate them to the universal scheme of things and thereby make an appeal to the reason and the heart, it is another matter. We have already suggested such an interpre¬ tation, but now we proceed to offer some practical hint for application. First, we must bring men to a profound conscious¬ ness of their own divinity. There is a great truth in the couplet — “Know this, O man, sole root of sin in thee Is not to know thine own divinity.” Truly sin is limitation, and first of all, a limitation in die realm of mind, a limited state of consciousness. It is a psychological fact that if we continually bear in mind the thought of being miserable sinners, that we are hopelessly limited in our capacity for express¬ ing divinity, it will be to us according to our thought. The consciousness of our divine possibilities will afford us all the sense of having fallen short that we need, and it will be much more real and conduc- OVERCOMING SIN 49 tive to good than is the thought that we are just naturally now and forever miserable sinners. To keep the latter thought continually to the fore is positively a psychological and theological crime. To point men to the goal of perfection in every department of their being and to give them the sublime assurance of the possibility of its attainment, is to open a veritable stream of power working to its fulfillment. The only cure for this self-consciousness or sense-consciousness and its unwholesome concomitants, then, is God-con¬ sciousness. “Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” The knowledge of this wondrous, glorious truth concerning our being will of itself work a marvellous transformation in ourselves and others. By our faith which sees that hidden image of God beneath the un¬ lovely surface of others and by our love, we help to bring that image out. Our prayer of higher faith is the most potent influence of all in effecting the trans¬ formation. As we rise to this glorious God-conscious¬ ness, and the higher faculties of the soul unfold, the cravings of the spirit demand satisfaction from the Wine of Heaven and in Communion with the Divine Spirit, and on the good but lower and imperfect plane only incidentally, if at all. The earthly expression is but a symbol, a shadow of the heavenly. Those who are seeking “life” in the far country, on the things that perish and on which the soul can never be satisfied, are all the while unconsciously, blindly, groping after the unspeakable joys of the Spirit. That is one reason why we do not condemn them, but with 50 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD infinite sympathy seek to lead them on to the over¬ whelming ecstacies of the heavenly realm, apparently so elusive, so distant, but ever in our midst, could we but release ourselves from the prison of the senses and open the sight of the soul upon its shining shores. The Real man of us knows this to be true as we contem¬ plate it, however the world-man in us may rebel and remonstrate. The real man of us does not demand sense-satisfaction. Indeed there is no such satisfac¬ tion. The only satisfaction there is, is to be found in the Spirit, in the eternal communion of our spirit with the Universal Spirit, which is God, — a satisfac¬ tion perfect, absolute, full. Many are the frenzied devotees of the false-god of Pleasure. The mad pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure of the senses, absorbs all their interest. Deep down in their hearts they seek true happiness; they feel that happiness is their right, and so it is. But in pursuing the path of mere pleasure, they are chasing a mere phantom. That way true happiness lies not. True happiness never comes to us through the avenue of the senses. Man is so constituted as a spiritual being that he can never find abiding satisfaction in the things that perish. Men have sought to find happi¬ ness someway outside of themselves, in the material world. It cannot be. True happiness is ever found within, in the riches and fellowship and freedom and joy of the inner kingdom of the Spirit. Happiness always has a way of eluding those who seek it as an end in itself. It is a by-product of the search for Truth and real Life in the spirit of love and service. OVERCOMING SIN 5i Normal, wholesome pleasures of a recreational character have their place, and that a subordinate place, but in this connection we recall the striking words of a certain epigram — “Do not let the good things of life rob you of the best things of life.” The things of character, the things of the Divine Kingdom, the fruits of the Spirit, these are the things that endure for Eternity. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness. That is the way to the fulfillment of the heart’s desire. The thought of our divinity, of our relation to the God who dwells within us, who is striving to realize the fulness of His life in us and whose Spirit we would not grieve even as we would not break the heart of a dear earthly parent by our failure, together with the thought of true satisfaction being in the Spirit, — all these borne thoughtfully in mind may act as powerful suggestions in the subconscious to counteract the sense-conscious thoughts which, if al¬ lowed to grow, will issue in a life of evil and produce the seeds of death. Unnatural lust, apart from actual physical taint, is responsible for a vast proportion of human ailments and defects. Ordinary effort and resolution may be of little avail, but if with the senses stilled, we will in the silence of our hearts rise above the visible plane to the plane of the Universal where the fulness of life prevails forever, and there come into conscious, dynamic communion with God, we make actual con¬ tact with the omnipotent Power of the Universe, which dwells within, in the depths of our own inner being, 52 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD and self-conquered and Christ-centered, we rise to go forth in our God-given might to show the world the way to spiritual emancipation, to the glorious liberty of the full-grown sons and daughters of God, with every faculty of the soul, mind and body developed to the utmost. The real man has been given the mastery over his lower nature, and has brought the whole strength of God to bear on the temptation to surrender that dominion, to forfeit that glorious birth-right for a mess of pottage. MEDITATIONS (Let ideal conditions for receptivity be furnished. Find a quiet and peaceful retreat, with ennobling and inspiring suggestions about, if possible, in the form of fine pictures or landscape. Receive their message. By means of a short inspirational reading, soft music, or the sound of a murmuring brook, let the emotional tide run high. Direct it into desired channels by for¬ getting the body and stilling the senses. With body relaxed and eyes fixed on some object or better, per¬ haps, with the eyes closed and the gaze turned inward, so to speak, concentrate calmly but intently on the spiritual world within. Sense its glory and power and feed consciously on the fulness of its life. Commune with the Christ at its center. Then merge consciously in the Universal Life centered there and let the love of the Spirit go out to all therein. Realize the perfection of your real life hid with Christ in God. Visualize your every day life in perfect conformity and correspondence with that real and divine life of yours within. Praise the Eternal One OVERCOMING SIN 53 for the perfect satisfactions of the heavenly Bread and Communion, and for the absolute harmony and dominion that is given to you. Picture the splendid productions in your work for humanity, into which your creative genius is to be directed. The hour before retiring, the early morning hour and the hour of spiritual exaltation, are seasons offer¬ ing aspecially favorable opportunities for these exercises.) I open my mind to thoughts of good and purity only. My divine birthright as a child of the Most High is a glorious dominion over self. I know the Truth about myself as a spiritual being demanding spiritual satis¬ faction which I have always in the Spirit, and the Truth has made me free from miserable slavery to the domination of the flesh. I utterly reject all thoughts of evil, seeking admission where they have no right. I decree that they shall have no power over me. I am master of my own mental Kingdom. By the Eternal, I can, I must, I will ! God is my strength. The victory is mine, for I am one with the One Power in the Universe, God. The Energy of the Spirit is released through my be¬ ing, filling and regenerating mind, soul, and body, and issuing in God’s creative thoughts to be expressed in my work for humanity. The heavenly harmony of the Christ^mind is manifesting itself in energy, peace and perfect satisfaction. I am being filled with all the ful¬ ness of God, through Christ who is my Life. Amen. Be still and know that I am God, the source of all fulness of life, within thee. 54 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD SILENCE (Repeat prayer under meditations for overcoming Fear, with special intention in reference to lower im¬ pulses.) “Know ye not that your body is the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.” “Grieve not the Spirit of God.” “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” “To be carnally-minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” “He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall have in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” “God created man in his own image.” “Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” “Christ in you the hope of glory.” “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall bring it to pass.” “With God, all things are possible.” “I can do all things through Christ which strength¬ ened me.” “Take unto you the whole armor of God, and having done all, stand !” “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same im- OVERCOMING SIN 55 age from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” “ ‘And I heard a low voice calling, ‘Come up higher, come up higher/ From the lowland and the mire, From the vain pursuit of pelf, From the attitude of self : ‘Come up higher, come up higher/ ” “Onward, souls eternal, Rise in Spirit’s might, Rise to endless glory, Power and majesty.” CHAPTER VI Overcoming Sickness It is now our purpose to apply the principle of faith to the vitally important work of overcoming sickness. Time was when sickness, like poverty, was regarded as a divine institution. There are still to be found some unthinking souls who insist upon the sanctitv of physical misery, and who regard sickness as ordained of God. They are not always consistent, however, as they call in the aid of medicine, thus apparently run¬ ning counter to the divine will. The divine purpose for us all can be only fulness of life through all our being, and if there is any reality in faith and prayer, it ought to be efficacious in the work of healing our ailments, enabling us to be efficient instruments in fulfilling the purpose of the Divine Spirit The work of overcoming sickness is the work of overcoming obstacles or inhibitions in the way of the operations of the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of Holiness or Wholeness. The Life of God, which is in us, is the original or essential principle of Health. The vibrations of mind and body must be raised into harmony with those of the Divine Life. In order to overcome the hindrances to the free operation of the principle of health, which in the last analysis is the OVERCOMING SICKNESS 5 7 very Life of God, we shall now take up the funda¬ mental principles of spiritual healing. In this term, we here include mental healing, which is intimately related, but we shall see that, strictly speaking, we must distinguish between ordinary mental healing and pure spiritual healing, however intimately related they may be. We have witnessed the dawn of a great spiritual awakening. History records that every new mani¬ festation of spiritual power is accompanied by healing faith and works. The Master himself, in sending the disciples out upon their mission, gave them the two-fold command: “Preach the gospel and heal the sick.” Indeed, these two activities, in their full and genuine expression, are inseparably connected. The awakened and wide-spread interest in spiritual healing is a sign of the times, witnessing to the rebirth of a more profound and comprehensive religion. It marks a return to the reality and vitality of the Apostolic Faith and no doubt at the same time to an advance, under the promised guidance of the Spirit, to even a deeper penetration into the inner principles of life, understood and employed by the Apostles in the early days of Christianity. There are many evi¬ dences that we are witnessing the dawn of the greatest age of faith that the world has ever known, and it therefore follows necessarily the greatest age of healing “miracles.” On every hand is the way being prepared for these healing works, for not only are our spiritual seers proclaiming the supremacy of mind and spirit, but 58 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD indeed our natural scientists are showing that all matter, including that of our bodies, is a form. or expression of energy, electrical in its constitution, and many working on the border-line between science and philosophy, as Bergson, are approaching the con¬ clusion that the Source of that energy is Mind, and that energy which is the basis of our bodies is essenti¬ ally a mind-energy. Again, those who are studying the nature of man, are coming to recognize man,, in his three-fold nature, as a unit. Men are beginning to realize that if faith is a real force at all, it must touch man in every phase of his being. They are demanding a religion that works, in every department of life. In order to establish a foundation for what we may call, in the broader sense of the word, spiritual heal¬ ing, we shall begin by considering the first principles pertaining to the subconscious mind, with special ref¬ erence to healing through suggestion. Though one may have advanced to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom, thus being enabled to ap¬ proach the principles and practice from a higher plane, nevertheless an understanding of the principles in their application to the lower sphere of mere mental healing cannot but increase one s grasp of the subject and his efficiency in practice. Moreover, this approach by the path of the psychologist is helpful in bridging the gap for those who are feeling their way from pure materialistic thought to the higher principles of the Divine Kingdom. As we have indicated before, the most promising OVERCOMING SICKNESS 59 advance in the sciences has been along the line of recent psychological investigation. This investigation has only scratched the surface of things, so to speak, but it has at least revealed to us the possibilities in store for us if we will seek to follow the ancient adage, '‘Know thyself.” Heretofore we have remained in profound ignorance concerning the inner workings of our minds. Now we know something of the com¬ plexity of the human mind. We understand that beneath the surface mind, the ordinary every-day con¬ scious mind, there is the mysterious, sleepless uncon¬ scious mind, largely shaping the course of our lives, and ordinarily referred to as the subconscious mind. The mind, then, may be likened to an iceberg, one- eighth of which protrudes above the surface of the water, and seven-eighths of which remains beneath the surface in the ocean-depths. Navigators do well to reckon with the strength and movements of the whole mass. So mariners on life’s sea will be more skilled in the science of living as they begin to take into account and to understand the whole vast mysteri¬ ous region of the mind beneath the threshold of the ordinary consciousness. In many respects, this sub¬ conscious mind, otherwise known as the subjective mind, seems to be practically identical with that which the Bible refers to as the soul, and so unlimited do its powers appear to be that it seems at times to merge with a larger mind, indeed a universal mind ; in other words it links us with God, if indeed it may not be said to be part of that Universal mind. Perhaps the best way to illuminate those who are 60 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD unfamiliar with the subject, with the ultimate aim of giving them a clearer understanding of its action in healing, is to point out its general activities in a few specific instances. In the first place, it perceives in¬ tuitively. Such powers as those of telepathy, clair¬ voyance, and the like, which are latent in the human mind, are connected with the subconscious. To advise careful medical diagnosis in connection with our heal¬ ing may be a wise precautionary measure under present primitive knowledge, but it must not be overlooked that our subconscious mind has the ability to find any malady in our body, as well as to find its cause and cure. Probably it would be more accurate to say that it knows it already, but that we have not succeeded in getting our conscious mind en rapport with the sub¬ conscious, and therefore we say that we do not know what is the matter with ourselves. This fact opens up great possibilities in diagnosis alone. Secondly, the subconscious mind reasons deductively. For instance, it does not arrive at an hypothesis for some natural law by the empirical methods of science, but works out with absolute accuracy a logical conclusion from any given premises. Then, it gives expression to any impressions received by it, whether pertaining to the moral, physical or other phase of our life.. Again, the subconscious mind is the seat of our emotions, and of our desires and instincts, or rather our instincts may be said to be lodged in the subconscious and the desires that arise in us, arise therefrom. Lastly, the sub¬ conscious mind is the repository of the memory. There every experience is recorded, not only indi- OVERCOMING SICKNESS 61 vidual experiences but race experiences. These func¬ tions of the subconscious mind are referred to in order to indicate their bearing upon the work of mental healing. There are, however, two decisive conclusions which have been arrived at by pioneer students in the field of psychological science, which afford an absolutely sound and unassailable basis for mental healing, aside from the distinctly spiritual aspect of the subject. The two fundamental laws are as follows : first, all functions of the body are under the control of the subconscious mind; and secondly, the subconscious mind is under the control of suggestion. It follows that the func¬ tions of our bodies can be controlled by our sugges¬ tions if we can make them sufficiently powerful to counteract previous suggestions. Let us consider first the fact that all the bodily functions are under the control of the subconscious mind. Hitherto, biologists have generally thought of the vital processes as purely mechanical processes, and of the body' as a sort of machine. This view is no longer tenable. Now biologists must con¬ cede that these processes are essentially mind-pro¬ cesses. What we have already learned from the new psychology clearly demonstrates that the subconscious mind is the Divine Spirit’s medium for creating, building, sustaining, and recreating the human body. The various organs of the body originated through the work of the subconscious in response to sugges¬ tion from without. Physicians have testified that about two-thirds of the cases of recovery from illness 62 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD would have occurred eventually without their aid, and this is so, we may say, because of the recreative powers of the subconscious mind, largely victorious in spite of many adverse suggestions within and con¬ tinuing to enter from an unfavorable environment without. One can readily imagine the tremendous possibilities to be realized by intelligent cooperation of the conscious mind even without conscious drawing upon distinctly spiritual forces. Well authenticated stories by investigators from distant lands show us how advanced control of the forces of the subcon¬ scious can annihilate pain, ward off injury in instances of severe gastronomic tests, and prevent the flow of blood in cases of severe abrasions, not to mention other remarkable supersedures of ordinary laws, out¬ side of the field of healing. We are at once led to associate such accounts with the principles referred to in the scriptural passage which says: — “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” This, of course, refers to a very advanced attainment in control, somewhat re¬ mote from our own present stage of progress in knowledge, conscious or unconscious, of the inner workings of the mind. Again, much importance is being attached to the inharmonious functioning of the ductless glands as a cause of ill-health. No doubt this consideration lies close to the truth, from a physical standpoint. Of course, many medical men hold out hope of great results from restoring a harmonious function by means of proper injections from without. There is, OVERCOMING SICKNESS 63 indeed, a material process corresponding with every inner process. The Divine operates on all planes. Let it be remembered, however, that the most natural and effective treatment may be given through aiding the mind to recover its normal control, thereby re¬ storing perfect harmony throughout the entire system, and a rightly proportioned production of all the necessary secretions in the wonderful inner labora¬ tory over which, normally, the unerring Mind presides. The second law is that this subconscious mind is absolutely amenable to suggestion. Of course, the work of suggestion is ever going on, like the work of erosion upon the hills and valleys. Every word or experience we encounter registers itself in the sub¬ conscious, and works itself out into a visible externali- zation in the mental, moral, and physical life. We often make use of the power of suggestion unwitt¬ ingly as when a parent relieves the child’s pain by means of a caress or by the soothing tones of the voice. Here, however, we use the word suggestion in refer¬ ring to a definite conscious giving of an idea to the sub¬ conscious mind by the conscious mind. When we say that the action of the subconscious mind upon the bodi¬ ly processes can be controlled by suggestion, we mean to say that this is so if the conditions can be fulfilled. In any given case, the situation is infinitely complex. There are many diverse elements to be reckoned with. In that particular mind there are lodged ideas wrought in by the deepest experience and emotion, and there¬ fore of the greatest tenacity. There are lodged there 64 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD race-thoughts of the age-long standing and therefore of tremendous strength. The conscious suggestion given to the subconscious mind must be strong enough and go deep enough to nullify the effect of every counter-suggestion lodged there as the result of pre¬ vious experience, if it is to bring profound and abiding results. In view of the foregoing, it should be borne in mind, then, that we should take as great care about the ideas that are fed to our minds as we do to the food that goes into our stomachs; in fact the latter precaution would become less imperative, were we more careful concerning the former. Are you feeding your mind with the negative and destructive thoughts of sickness and failure, or with the positive and God-like thoughts of health and power and fulness of life generally? These thoughts bring us into tune with the Divine- Consciousness. Not only must we watch over the kind of thoughts which we allow to enter the subcon¬ scious, but also we must take care concerning the manner of their entrance, whether they enter under circumstances favorable to penetration and intensive realization. One should observe times of Silence, with the negative thoughts of the world-consciousness shut out, with intense concentration on the ideas con¬ nected with one’s desires, with the imaging or pictur¬ ing faculties at full play, and if possible at times when the emotional life is in a state of exaltation. Under these conditions, the ideas given to the subconscious take hold profoundly. Of course, the night time, just before sleep, is a very favorable time, for the subcon- OVERCOMING SICKNESS 65 scious is in full control over night and will work out the ideas thus impressed with great effectiveness. These two principles suggest to us the vast possi¬ bilities of the field of psychotherapy, or mind-cure. If it be true that the subconscious mind controls the vital processes and that it is in turn amenable to conscious suggestion, we are forced to the inevitable conclusion that the life processes are absolutely within our men¬ tal control. We are hereby afforded an unquestionable basis for the reality of mental healing. Moreover, it is not to be admitted, even from this standpoint of mere mental science, that God is eliminated from the ques¬ tion. True, to this point there is nothing distinctly and definitely spiritual about it, nevertheless it is intimately related to the principles of the spiritual life. From our larger point of view, God is universally immanent in His world. We do not eliminate God by saying that one of His ways of working is to operate through the channels of psychological law. Howbeit, we do not reach the sphere of the highest possibilities until we pass beyond mere mental healing into the domain of spiritual healing. Even from the standpoint of mental suggestion, the suggestion with the most telling force is the suggestion charged with the power of some deep spiritual truth. In relieving an ailment, the sugges¬ tion that it is passing away may be very effective, but in the suggestion that there is an Omnipotent Power in all and through all, working for fullness of life and given full sway by our faith, you have a far more potent suggestion. Fear may be lessened by suggest¬ ing the presence of favorable circumstances, or by 66 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD bringing to light its hidden and unreasonable basis in the subconscious, but fortify your victim of fear with the suggestion that he dwells in a universe where all things work together for good in spite of every ex¬ ternal evidence to the contrary, and you have given him a suggestion that cannot be easily counteracted, provided you have prepared favorable conditions for its free and full acceptance. Moreover, suggestions involving spiritual truths are charged with the element of emotion, which increases their effectiveness a hun¬ dred-fold. Yet we shall see later that spiritual healing involves even more than this. In approaching the subject from the more distinctly religious standpoint, we are led to discern the healing efficacy of faith. Man is so constituted that to exer¬ cise faith, even its cruder expressions, is to open at least to some extent the channels of healing. There are records of healings experienced at the ancient pagan shrines. We are informed of the many authen¬ ticated cures wrought at Lourdes, where the wor¬ shippers attribute something like a magical or super¬ natural power to the relics of the saints. Occasion¬ ally healings in various branches of the Church are recorded and usually attributed to some supernatural power, often to an arbitrary intervention on the part of a God who seems to be made in man’s image and therefore capable of being moved to unusual pity by some poor suppliant’s insistent pleading. All these expressions of faith are more or less crude and repose in various theories, but all are nevertheless more or less efficacious. OVERCOMING SICKNESS 67 The inevitable conclusion concerning the underlying principle of healing is that it is the principle of faith. The absolutely indispensible element in the process of healing is faith in a Higher Power. All faith is in the last analysis faith in God, however crude or un¬ conscious, and is therefore to some extent efficacious, for it involves at least a partial harmonizing with the law of our being which only a living faith in God can effect. This fact accounts for healing under circumstances so varied. It is to be noted, however, that the deeper the faith penetrates to a true understanding of the inner realities of the Divine Life and a living com¬ munion with it, the greater the efficacy of the faith. Only this true knowledge of God and of the law of our being in Him can lead to sure, permanent and universal healing. In order to arrive at a true understanding of the principles of healing, certain errors in theological in¬ terpretation must be eliminated from the mind. Four mistaken notions occur to us, and these we shall con¬ sider in turn. In the first place, the erroneous idea that God wills sickness for anyone must be discarded. There are many grounds for denying it. First, in the visible plane of nature, we find evidence contra¬ dicting such a theory. Everywhere in nature, in plant and animal life, we see God’s will at work, the divine urge, if you will, in tendencies seeking to overcome abnormal and imperfect conditions. In case of abra¬ sion or injury, immediately the healing processes be- 68 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD gin, in the very nature of things, divinely ordained as they are. Again, Jesus revealed in his ways, the character and will of God. Wherever he found opportunity, he healed the sick. There is no record of his ever having left a needy one unhealed except where his faith was wanting. This indicates the divine will in every instance. Then, if God be God, He is a God of Love- It would be absolutely inconsistent for a God of Love and Perfection to will imperfection. . He must ever seek to manifest His own perfection in us. His only will for us must be perfect spiritual, mental and physical health, and all these manifestations of health are phases of the one principle of life and health in God. He wills so, that we may be efficient mediums for His Self-expression in the great purpose of die ages. There can be no virtue in pain and suffering except in so far as it leads us back into harmony with the One Source and Principle of all Life and all Health. It is always God’s will that we should be healed when we are ready to be healed, and we are ready to be healed when we can rise to the healing prayer of faith. Then the pain which belongs to a passing phase of our evolution, has served its purpose. We recognize it to be a manifestation of the working of the beneficent and perfect law of love, automatically inverted in its action because of our blind human resistance to it. ii Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” But the healing power, by .an unfailing law, is in direct proportion to our faith- It is more sure than gravity in its operation. Let us OVERCOMING SICKNESS 69 give no place to such an unbelieving phrase as “if it be Thy will,” be it born of never so good intentions, for that attached to a healing prayer, is the reservation that takes the heart out of the prayer. Another erroneous theory is that the so-called healing miracles belong to a temporary period of special intervention in the orderly course of the uni¬ verse, for a special purpose. This view has become utterly untenable, with thinking minds. The present- day revelation of God as a faithful Creator, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, even in the realm of natural law, where effect follows cause in an absolutely dependable way, forbids us to admit a miracle in the generally accepted sense of the term, — as a break in the chain of cause and effect, or as a violation of natural law. All life is miraculous in the sense of being mystic and wonderful, but nothing is miraculous in the sense of being out of harmony with eternal law. What seems miraculous, in this sense, involves the play of some higher law, of which we are as yet ignorant. Any section of the Church in any generation offer¬ ing as the explanation of the absence of healing works the fiction that the power of healing was withdrawn after it accomplished its purpose of overcoming opposition to the gospel in the early days, is witnessing to its own spiritual poverty and blindness. Divine laws, whether natural or spiritual, (in the last analysis they are one, ) that obtained then obtain now, for they are, as Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. We pray, therefore, for faith in the present, eternal ;o FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD law of the healing Christ, that there may now be signs following as in the days of old, and greater according to the sure promise. Surely much of our religion of today is a mutilated, fragmentary thing, a broken light. The Master intended that his religion should minister to the whole man, body, mind and spirit. By no means are the healing miracles confined to a past period. The age of greatest faith and of greatest miracles lies not in the past but rather in the future. The third erroneous attitude toward healing, closely connected with the previous consideration, is that it is somewhat too daring, if not blasphemous, to claim to employ the power exercised by the Master. This thoughtless point of view is due largely to a defective understanding concerning the relation of Jesus divinity to his humanity, and the true mode of his earthly life, to say nothing of the very burden of His message. This whole question is in great need of interpretation in terms of modern thought and involves tremendous practical consequences. In some respects we have drifted from the real orthodoxy of the early Church. The notion that Jesus performed His miracles by virtue of some supernatural power peculiar to a sphere of being remote from human life and that He arbitrarily committed this supernatural power to a chosen few, is simply impossible from every point of view except that of ignorance of the facts. There is manifestly no warrant for this view in the Scriptures. It is hopelessly inconsistent with modern knowledge and with experience. If we say OVERCOMING SICKNESS 7 1 that Jesus performed His miracles by virtue of His perfect humanity, we are nearer to the truth. Yet it was a humanity infused with divinity. The greatest trouble lies in the defective sense of the real univer¬ sality of the Divine Christ, of the Christ in us the hope of glory. If we really believe that He is in us, very life of our life, seeking to manifest in us and operate through us, the whole difficulty vanishes. It would be well, in connection with the present consideration, to note a saying of the Master which seems even to imply His own inability to perform the works, in His merely human capacity. “I can of myself do nothing/’ “The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” This serves to bring His human life nearer to our own. Again, there is no indication that Jesus ever claimed powers for Himself that He did not claim for mankind. “Greater works shall he do,” He declared. Jesus, as the great Master of Life, knew what is in man. He knew and applied higher laws, of which we are comparatively ignorant. The promise is to everyone who follows unswervingly in His steps, in accordance with the higher laws of our being. Let us not only trace His steps through Galilee of old, but also go apart often into the Silence and in prayer and meditation receive the guidance of His Spirit. I venture to say that we are now witness¬ ing the dawn of a new era of discovery in the higher region of the life of man, which holds in store for us undreamed of revelations, and untold riches of knowledge and power. In obedience to His command, let us not be content simply to say, “Lord, Lord,” in FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD veneration of His ancient works, but let us rather enter into the secret of His power, that His ancient dream of present power may find its larger fulfilment. A fourth common error hindering spiritual healing is the idea that healing is performed by the man him¬ self, through some peculiar power of his own, howbeit divinely bestowed. Strictly speaking no man is a healer. There is but one healer, God. It should be understood that man is the agency through which the power of God operates. As Emerson says, ‘ Man is the inlet, and may become the outlet of all there is in God.” One man may for some reason have native or developed tendencies rendering him a more efficient medium, but the power lies more or less dormant in every man, waiting for the conditions to be complied with. The power is the power of God at the center of every man’s being, where Christ dwells. Man has ever sought some fountain of external healing without. Let it be known that that fountain is to be found within, a fountain of living water, as it were, spring¬ ing up unto everlasting life, from the center through every plane of our being to its utmost circumference. A lesser Christ than this we know not. An important step in the understanding of the principles of spiritual healing, then, is that the power^ is not “somewhere in heaven,” to be called down here by our external peti¬ tion, but that it is within at the inmost center of our being, where God dwells m all His fulness. Though within, it is not a finite power, subject to the limita¬ tions of our person; it is at once within and beyond, enabling us to draw on the limitless and inexhaustible OVERCOMING SICKNESS 73 reservoir of the Infinite and Eternal Being. By yield¬ ing to conscious contact with it, we can open the flood¬ gates, that the surging life-giving tides of the healing Spirit may course through every fiber of our being, and, perchance, flow through into other needy liv6s. We have seen that faith is a prerequisite for healing. We have considered the elementary faith exhibiting itself as trust in some external person or power. In such a stage, faith is very crude and comparatively inefficient. Now, having eliminated our erroneous theological opinions, we pass on to faith in its highest reaches. Paul defines it as “The evidence of things not seen.” It may be defined in terms of modern psychological thought as “Spiritual consciousness.” It is the clear inner vision, attained through the development of the spiritual or intuitional senses, on the invisible plane of Reality, where we touch most intimately God, Christ, Spirit, Life. We are con¬ cerned, then, with the faith that unfolds as an intense and dynamic spiritual consciousness, involving the development of vision in the unseen realm of Reality and Perfection, heaven, the sphere of causation whence all things proceed, to manifest themselves on the visible plane of earthly existence, — rather than the faith that is merely a blind trust in some theolog¬ ical proposition or in some capricious, celestial Potentate. It is this direct vision that brings the immediate experience of the Healing Presence at the center of that world of Reality and Perfection and yet in our midst, “Whose touch hath still its ancient power.” To come thus into this Healing Presence 74 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD is to enter into the full consciousness of God as the Eternal Love that enfolds us and of Christ as His Life that dwells within. The highest form of faith, then, is to enter into something like Jesus’ unclouded consciousness of God as the Universal Father-Spirit, in whom we ever live and move and have our being. The further we advance, the more convinced do we become of the fact that the secret of the solution of life’s problems is hidden in that profound, mystic saying of the Master ; “I and my Father are one.” We are too apt to forget that our lives, too, are hid with Christ in God. This is the expression of the consciousness which is able not only to exercise domin¬ ion over every circumstance of life, but to bring healing. It is essentially the healing consciousness; the consciousness of realized oneness with the Eternal Principle that is the Source of all life and health. Not only must we be gripped by the truth of the reality of the Divine Healing Presence, but also of our own essentially spiritual being; that man is an offspring of God, a veritable son of God, made in the divine image, full of undreamed-of powers and capable of the highest perfection. The great truth to be impressed upon the mind is that the inner man, the spiritual man, the real man himself as God made him, is whole, sound, well, perfect, not able to be touched with evil of any kind, a life truly hid with Christ in God. This is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. The deepest realization of this truth about man’s being is an important element in the faith that finds its OVERCOMING SICKNESS 75 expression in the healing consciousness. Then, it is an unfailing law of the mind and spirit, attested by many who have given these principles a trial, that the inner realization of the truth of this absolute perfect inner wholeness will register itself in the flesh, that it will communicate itself to the outer, visible, physical life of the man. The inner life will externalize itself in the outer conditions, for as we have shown the mind governs the flesh, even as the Spirit governs the mind. Again, we must be conscious of the everlasting reign of spiritual law, including the law of faith, as sure in its operation as the law of gravity on the material plane, and wrought into the very nature of things as God has created them. Everything in the Scriptures and in the heart of man points to the bewildering fact that the only limit to our power is imposed by the limitation of our faith; it lies in our present imperfect state of consciousness. Jesus said : — “ According to thy faith, be it unto you.” He who is wise let him ponder these things. Again, “if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place;’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Again, “Have faith in God.” This has been translated, “Have the faith of God.” Know no doubt as God knows none. Recognize no opposing power, as God recognizes none. Think God’s thoughts after Him, as becomes a child of God, and you will possess the power of God. Wait, then, on the perfect and unfailing law, in absolute confi- 76 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD dence and assurance, knowing that with God all things are possible. There now arises the question concerning how to attain to the type of faith that is the healing con¬ sciousness, that is the consciousness supplying a free channel for God’s healing. It will be recalled that after the descent from the Transfiguration Mount, made glorious by a wondrous prayer-experience which occurred there, and subsequent to the healing of the demoniac boy, and the disciples’ disappointment because of their own failure, Jesus declared that such works issue only as the result of prayer and fasting. Let us consider these two important factors. First, let us consider prayer as one of the prerequisites indi¬ cated by the Master. He had already demonstrated the vital importance of faith. We must conclude that he is here pointing to prayer as the way to the required faith. While prayer may be faith in action, the means to transmitting the energy of God operating through our faith, it is also faith in the making. It contacts the divine reservoir of power and stores it up in a living consciousness of divine power, to be called forth to meet some future need. Paul says: — “I will pray with faith, and I will pray with the understanding also.” Those attaining to the higher faith, pray not in blind and faltering trust, but pray the prayer of understanding, with the realization that prayer is not mere begging an unwilling God to change his purpoii e, nor is it calling out anxiously to a far away, outside heaven for the arbitrary granting of a petition. It is an opening of one’s being, that the Universal Spirit OVERCOMING SICKNESS 77 may operate by an unfailing law through its special¬ ized center of energy, man, as it ever strives to do. With faith, and joy and thanksgiving in the heart, it is known that the prayer is already answered in the realm of the real, in the realm of causation, and that according to the faith, it is about to find expres¬ sion on the plane of visible manifestation. This principle is revealed in the saying: — “What things soever when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Again, it was said by the Master: — “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me.” This is eternal law. The healing prayer of faith, then, first of all, breathes the consciousness of the universally imman¬ ent Father-Christ-Spirit. It is actual, immediate, con¬ scious communion with Him in Whom we live and move and have our being, the Most High God that inhabiteth Eternity, and yet who dwells within, “Closer than breathing, Nearer than hands and feet.” It knows and feels God as the Healing Presence. There is a summoning of mighty forces from the inmost. There is a conscious opening of the man to the inflow of the divine life and power from within and beyond, in vibrations of Love and Power emanat¬ ing from the great Heart of the Eternal beating at the center of the Universe, and yet centered within, in the inner depths of his own being. This consciousness is unclouded by any shadow of a doubt; it sees, it feels, it knows the mighty power of God that worketh within. The ways are open within, and we find a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. Eternal 78 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD Love’s Power overshadows us, and its overwhelming and cleansing tides surge through us, and behold we are whole again. We now pass on to the second requirement. In his reference to fasting, Jesus indicates discipline and restraint in a broad sense, we take it. This does not mean ascetism, nor does it necessarily refer to a diet save where peculiar circumstances may require such an application. Certainly it advocates no arbitrary fast to be regarded as a virtue in itself. At this point we are brought to the consideration of certain things which must be eliminated from our lives if we would attain to the fulness of the healing consciousness and power. This is another reason why mere mental healing is inadequate. A mental suggestion may relieve a pain for the time being, but no real and per¬ manent cure can be wrought until the whole man is transfigured by the Spirit of God, until there is a reorientation of the whole life, and the man begins to function from the Christ-center of his being, so that it may no longer be said that he lives but that Christ liveth in him. If the life of Christ enters into full possession through the whole range of his being, be¬ hold he is a new man altogether. This involves spirit¬ ual healing, which is the only real, radical healing, and which is produced through the transfiguring power of prayer and faith, bringing us into dynamic contact and communion with the Divine and Perfect Life of The Eternal One. When a man is wholly possessed of the Christ, the touch of his spirit, as a medium of God may hold all the potency of the Divine and impart OVERCOMING SICKNESS 79 perfect healing through all the being of another. This is, par excellence, spiritual healing. Even if in this instance, the element of magnetism is involved, its source is from Mind and Spirit. But, as in the last analysis, it is God who heals, each one may become his own medium of healing, through an understanding of the truth about God and about man, for as the Master said: — “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” The fasting which we must achieve through prayer in connection with the work of spiritual healing includes the putting away of three outstanding forms of sin which inhibit the healing consciousness, namely, sensuality, hate, and fear. These three must be cast out. This involves real fasting, fasting from indul¬ gence in grave and disastrous spiritual sin as well as in the sins of the flesh. It must be borne in mind that discord in the inner life of man inevitably issues in inharmonious action in the bodily processes. Complete healing cannot be reached until all the God-qualities are finding expression in our lives. The Divine Spirit cannot work efficiently through a bodily medium rendered inefficient through viola¬ tions of its nature. Hence the necessity of overcom¬ ing sensuality. We do not refer to the natural instincts, which are good, nor to their legitimate expression, but to their perverted activity. It is unnecessary to undertake to point out the great extent of physical ailments resulting from intemperance in every form, although doubtless many do not pause to realize the wide-spread havoc it plays with human go FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD life. It is the work of a vital religion to free men from these bondages. Moreover, we can do little in the work of healing until we have broken these bonds in our own lives. Meditation, revealing the divine in us, and bringing us into the exaltation of the Spirit, together with prayer, establishing the harmony of the Christ-Life within us and feeding us with the satis¬ fying food of the heavenly Kingdom, starves out sensuality or banishes it by the expulsive force of an all-consuming fire. Next we must confront our spiritual sins, as they are called, sins more obviously connected with the inner life. These are the sins which the Master con¬ demned much more severely than the sins of the flesh. While all realize to some extent the harm done by sins of the flesh, few recognize the extent of the physical as well as the spiritual weakness due to such spiritual, or rather very unspiritual sins, as hate and fear. These sins, with their companions, envy, jealousy and the like, have not been sufficiently emphasized by many of our religious teachers as breaches of the law of righteousness, as violations of the law of our being. Indeed neither physicians of the body nor physicians of the soul have given due recognition to their destructive effects. We are coming to see that we need a more radical treatment of disease, both curative and preventive. In the past, we dealt largely with symp¬ toms and effects by external methods of treatment, rather than by getting at root-causes, reaching them as far as possible through the deepest region of man’s being. The clear-visioned Socrates said that the OVERCOMING SICKNESS 81 reason that so many diseases elude the physicians of Greece is because they do not understand the soul of man. There are many evidences of a profound dissatisfaction among the members of the medical profession. Already progressive pioneers in the modern medical profession are largely substituting psychological treatment, in one form or another, in place of the comparatively superficial external methods of treatment. The physicians of the soul are begin¬ ning to understand more concerning the laws of the mind and spirit of man, and are preparing for closer and more intelligent cooperation with their medical brothers in the advanced methods of psychotherapy, bringing with them the distinctive contribution of a living spiritual force. More and more will these two branches of human service come together. It ought not to be necessary, however, for the Church to sit at the feet of the remnant of the Old School medical men for instruction as to how to make application of spiritual principles to the work of healing. How often has the intuitional vision of the inspired seer discovered truths which have supplied a lead for science, or has at least anticipated science by many years, only to be confirmed by science at a later period. Let the Church lead the way. Regarding the sin of hate, we may say that it is an arch-sin, for it is a violation of the law of love, which is the law of God’s life and of our own. To indulge in it is to set up violent discord through our being. Science is now telling us that hate actually produces poisons in the physical system. It is clear, then, that 82 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD hatred is a destructive agency in the human body, and a prolific producer of disease. Obviously it is a serious inhibiter of healing. In fact no real healing could possibly be effected, with hatred lurking in the heart. The last remnant of it must be cast out. In our high and exalted communion with the Eternal One Whose very Name and Essence is Love, all traces of hatred are annihilated. On the plane of the Eternal, we see nothing in the wide world to hate ; we behold only God, God everywhere, the Altogether Lovely One, in His many manifestations, to love and to adore. He calls forth the expression of Himself in us as Love. In regard to the sin of fear, we venture to say that despite the fact that there is ordinarily no great con¬ demnation of it in religious circles, it too is one of the arch-sins. It is the absence of faith. From every stand-point, what sin could be more enormous? In fact the sin of fear is truly the arch-enemy of the human race. How few are there who are not the victims of fear in some one of its forms: fear of sickness, fear of calamity, fear of death and what not. We are all constantly under the temptation to yield to it. It is fear itself that issues in calamity, sickness and disaster. It leaves a train of miserable victims in its wake. Science shows how this tyrant, too, paralyses every muscle and sets up destructive action in the body. How terrible a record against fear would be found if we could trace its hidden, insidious influence. Fear produces disease, fear inhibits the healing conscious¬ ness. In fact without faith, which annihilates fear, we can accomplish nothing. In true prayer we can OVERCOMING SICKNESS 83 rise to perfect faith and love. This consciousness of the Christ is essentially the healing consciousness. Through it, God can do all things; can bring mighty miracles to pass. In reviewing these considerations, we discern the crying need of a spiritual rebirth that will lead men to freedom from their bondages. In many instances the latter day religion seems to have been powerless to release struggling men and women from the clutches of these monsters of hate and fear, and their attendant evils including physical wreckage and failure to achieve their highest aspirations. We have pointed with pride to our hospitals and charities as evidences of our splendid Christianity, but, splendid and neces¬ sary though they may be under present primitive con¬ ditions, they are from another point of view shameful evidences of our failure to proclaim and practice the religion of the Healing Christ, a religion that must inevitably heal first the disordered consciousness of man, and then, because man is a unit in his constitu¬ tion, render the body which is moulded and controlled by the consciousness, an efficient instrument for ser¬ vice. While retaining all past methods which prove helpful and as long as they prove helpful, let us employ more largely this more radical treatment of disease, probing to the root of the trouble, and we shall see that about four-fifths of our disease will be eliminated, if not more. Gigantic strides in these methods of treatment will be made within the century, and who would dare to say that the next step will not lead to the elimination of disease, according to the 84 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD Bible prophecies. Most of us fail to realize that man, in his evolution and unfoldment on the visible plan of his existence, is not a finished product. He is in his infancy. Some day we must grow to a measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. It is also true that all the Bible prophecies which in the past have been interpreted in such a manner as to be relegated to some remote heaven of the future, are to be realized in our present sphere. But far greater forces than those now understood must be called in to achieve these ends. “Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. . Let us have the courage to go forward, for, men s minds are widened with the process of the suns.’ In closing this subject, let us summarize our thoughts, centering them about three mighty declara¬ tions from scripture, embodying truths which we might well fix deep in our consciousness. The first is, “Have that mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” What must have been the wonderful consciousness of Jesus? It was the unclouded vision of Reality. It was an almighty God- consciousness. It knew no other power than God. It knew that Power to be within. It knew that power to be limitless. He said that we, too, by abiding in Him, might possess it, and He prophecied concerning its wondrous results. Let us seek earnestly in prayer to rise to this wonderful region of God-consciousness. Thus are we transfigured, like Jesus, in soul and body, by the renewing of our mind. OVERCOMING SICKNESS 85 The second is, “Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.’’ This declaration points to the funda¬ mental truth of our being : that the Christ is identical with the Central Self of you; that the law of your real being, of the Christ in you, is unchanging and unchangeable; your real being is incorruptible and inviolable, the same yesterday, today, and forever, for it is established in Christ. Its law is the law of holiness and health. In prayer, you can open the way for God to bring your body into harmony with it. The third is, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” It declares that the Christ-Life in you holds the promise of your great salvation, spiritual, mental, and physical. It avers that God is your strength and health, and is become your salvation. It declares that whatever the outward manifestations of disturbance may be in your life, the hope of your salvation through the whole range of your being, lies in the Eternal Christ in you, at the center of your being, with whom you may come into correspondence. It declares that God is seeking to express Himself, to realize Himself in you; that the divine purpose and goal for you is perfection, and that the unfailing promise of its fulfilment lies in the Christ in you, the hope of glory. Yield to the Christ urge within you, then stand aside and see the salvation of the Lord. The Master said : — “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” You believe, you cannot but believe in God, the Supreme Being, the Source of all good, of all there is; believe, then, in me also, as the perfect 86 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD expression of God; believe in yourself, or rather believe in Me in you, the real Self of you, as the perfect expression of the Perfect God, because in your real being you are part and parcel of me. Your faith shall make you whole throughout. Be perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Be conscious of your absolute inner perfection, and rejoice in your glorious liberty as the emancipated sons and daughters of the Most High. Rejoice also that it is given to you to see the dawn of the golden era of spiritual supremacy and dominion, and to have a share in the spiritual emancipation and wondrous transfiguration of mankind. MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS FOR HEALING “But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” “The power of the Lord was present to heal them.” (The power of the Lord is present to heal us and ours.) “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” “According to thy faith, be it unto thee.” “The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up.” “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.” “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do.” “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” “With God, all things are possible.” Psalm 23, 91, 103, 121. OVERCOMING SICKNESS 8? Before Prayer—* Be still and know that I am God the mighty One in the midst of thee. Dear God, in whom we live and move and have our being, we open our hearts that Thy Divine Spirit may flow into us and through us into the lives of others, and that Thy divine power that worketh in us may make us sound and whole again as in thy image, through Christ whose touch has still its ancient power, the same yesterday, today and forever. O Thou mighty Divine Healer in our midst, whose touch hath still its ancient power, manifest in the power that worketh in and through us, we thank Thee that Thou hast made us in Thy image for dominion and perfection, and that through our strong faith in Thy healing Presence, Thou dost stretch forth Thy hand to heal, by the power of Thy Holy Child Jesus. O Eternal Fountain of all life and health, who dwells within me, I thank Thee that Thou hast made me in Thy perfect image and that Thou art ever seek¬ ing to manifest Thy life in me as perfect health, that Thou mayest fulfill Thy purpose of love in me. I open myself to Thy healing power. ‘‘Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you this day.” “Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in the Lord Jehovah is ever¬ lasting strength.” O Infinite Spirit of the Christ within us, we seek Thy healing power. HEALING MEDITATIONS FOR THE NEEDY ONE In God, the Source of all life and power, you live and move and have your being. 88 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD You and your Father are one, for your life is hid with Christ in God. God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory. God is your strength. God’s healing touch is upon you. God’s healing work is going on within you. God is seeking to manifest His wholeness in the image of His child. We see with the eyes of the Spirit the com¬ pletion of His perfect work, sound, whole, radiantly transfigured. In the name of Christ, be thou healed. God is healing you, God pours His very life through soul and body. In the name of Christ it is decreed unto you. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits ; Who forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thy infirmities.” “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.” MEDITATIONS IN TRUTH Lift your mind above the world of sense, and center it, calm and serene, on the healing Presence of the God of Love at the heart of the Kingdom of Reality and Perfection within. Let the way to the great deep be opened within. Peace, be still and know that I am God the holy and mighty One in the midst of thee. In God, the Source of all life and power, I live and move and have my being. At the inmost center of my being, Life and Health are forever mine, for I am one with the Universal Divine Life and Energy. My life is hid with Christ in God. The Infinite God is my strength. OVERCOMING SICKNESS 89 The Master said: — ‘‘According to thy faith, be it unto you.” My faith in the healing Presence, that hath still its ancient power, is strong. Peace, Harmony and Health shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the consciousness of God’s healing and protecting Presence forever. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” I cast my burden on the Lord, resting in sure con¬ fidence on the perfect law, whereby the Love of God heals and shields and protects me and mine, the Wis¬ dom of God directs us, the Power of God sustains us, the Peace of God surrounds and enfolds us. OLD SELECTED PRAYERS Almighty God, who art the only source of health and healing, the spirit of calm and the center of the universe ; grant to us, Thy children, such a conscious¬ ness of Thy indwelling presence, as may give us utter confidence in Thee. In all pain, weariness and anxiety may we throw ourselves on Thy besetting care, that knowing ourselves fenced about by Thy loving omni¬ potence, we may permit Thee to give us health and strength and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O God grant that according to Thy riches in Glory we may be strengthened with might by Thy Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith ; that we being rooted and grounded in love, may comprehend, with all saints, what is the length and breadth and height, and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 9o FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORM) O God who hast prepared for us such good things as pass man’s understanding, pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O Christ of God that dwells within, Thou dost freedom bring from every sin, I bathe myself in healing rays, As I meet Thee on the inner ways. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have en¬ tered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” CHAPTER VII Overcoming Death It is said in the scriptures that the last enemy to be overcome is death. Truly death has ever been the outstanding discouragement with which human faith and endeavor has had to cope. It is the cause of one of the worst and most morbid forms of fear. From the very limited viewpoint of the world-thought, it is the most horrible and formidable evil, the inevitable blight that fastens itself upon all life, even at its best, and holds it in its withering grasp. Its dread shadow stalks at high festivals and its sinister presence seems to haunt men at high noon of life, threatening to change at any moment their bright light to darkness. Nevertheless, all great revelations have held out the promise that d,path at last must yield to Life. The great and momentous undertaking of overcoming death, fraught with the grandest triumph of man, may be regarded as a progressive work advancing by successive steps. The first step in the great conquest is to overcome or destroy the consciousness of death ; to establish the sure knowledge that ever in the realm of man’s real life, which is hid with Christ in God, there is no death. This is to carry on the work of the Master, “Who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light.” 91 92 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD The truth is that the popular thoughts about death are a delusion. As we have indicated in reference to overcoming Fear, many live their whole life in the fear of death, because they are not looking at life whole, they do not see life in the light of the Eternal and Universal. Their minds are ever fastened on the physical, the visible, the transitory. They identify themselves with their bodies though the body is but the temporary instrument by which they function for a while in the visible world, or the temporary garment, as it were, which they cast off when they rise into the higher planes of being. Men, dwelling consciously in the Secret Place of the Most High, will come to stamp death, in any real sense, as a lie, and glory in the gift of their Eternal Life in God, which they will feel within them, and which they will know no external circumstance can touch. In this connection we feel constrained to help to bring life and immortality to light in the minds of those who are mourning because of the passing over of dear ones. We direct our message to them on this wise. We commend you in our prayers to the tender care and unfailing guidance of Him whose strength is sufficient to sustain and uphold you through all your trial. Seek in prayer to know the infinite sympathy of the great Heart of Love throbbing at the center of the Universe, to enter into a very real sense of the healing Christ-Presence and of the reality of the Spirit’s power, which is the renewing and sustaining power in every need, and to realize a deep, abiding consciousness of the boundless Divine Love that OVERCOMING DEATH 93 enfolds you and yours, whether in the body or out of the body. In the sublime words of the poet, “I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.” Again, Paul says, “I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor any other creature is able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” All things work together for good to them that love God.” Our message is one of hope, not merely the hope of reunion in some future life, but one born of the promise of present fellowship with him who has passed beyond the veil. We are not insensible to the natural sorrow and sense of loss that comes with the first shock of the mysterious change and physical disappearance. We can have only profound sympathy as we realize how hard it is to see things as they really are, in their true perspective, when the shadow falls with its paralizing effect. We realize fully the difficulty of rising above the physical plane, to which we are attached by strong bonds in this earth pilgrim¬ age. One naturally yearns for “the touch of the vanished hand and the sound of the voice that is still.” We feel that somehow God must sympathize with us in our struggle to overcome our blindness and to penetrate beyond the limitations of our physical sight. We read that “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” Again, he who was called the man of sorrows and who was acquainted with grief, 94 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD and who reveals to us the Heart of the Eternal Father says : — “Come unto me all ye who are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” Yet, while realizing the natural sorrow, let us seek to point the way, not to forgetfulness, nor simply to the poor consolation of a distant reunion, but to the radiant hope of intimate contact and growing fellowship here and now in the eternal life which may be a present experience. Then, out of the yearning for the touch of the vanished hand and the sound of the voice that is still, we may learn to realize the presence of the unseen hand and to hear with the awakened spiritual faculties the echoes of the beloved voice caught up into the vibrations of the higher planes of being. First of all, then, these are days when you must consciously keep close to God in prayer. Strive^ to come face to face with Him, as it were, in a vital prayer-life, in which your prayer will not be a mere repetition of formulas, but a veritable lifting up of the heart to God, a full and glad surrender to his eternal purpose of Love, which overrules every appar ent evil and works for the highest good. Live in this higher prayer, which is silent conscious resting in the strength of God, and which will render you “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” God is your strength. His love and power enfolds and keeps you always. There will unfold within you more and more of the Christ-consciousness— of that mind which was in Christ-Jesus— which lifts one triumphantly above the assaults of grief and fear. “He that dwelleth in OVERCOMING DEATH 95 the Secret Place of the Most High, shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. The mystery sometimes seems unfathomable, and yet the deeper our experience in the valley of the shadow, the nearer we seem to come to the heart of things and the deeper becomes our realization of the operation of a perfect law of love working toward some great purpose, and then we know surely that we and ours cannot drift beyond His love and care, even in circumstances which, to human vision, often seem so sad and tragic. Continue in prayer, always walking and talking to God as the dear Friend and Great Com¬ panion, till his Spirit guides you into all Truth and your heart burns within you as there is borne in upon your soul a clear vision of the glorious truth, “There is no death, there are no dead.” One of the consola¬ tions of God that will come to you is the sure knowl¬ edge that he is not really dead, but living. Do not for a moment think of him as dead, nor say that he lies buried. Only the body is laid away, very dear because of tender associations, but still only the outer sheath, the temporary instrument of Spirit, now cast off like a used garment. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The scriptural reference to the risen Jesus has its application to him also — “Why seek ye the living among the dead, He is not here, He is risen.” He lives! He lives! He himself, the real man, the inner self, spiritual, made in the image of 96 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD God, cannot be touched at all. You will recall how Addison says of the Soul: “But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amid the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.’' There will be stamped upon your inner consciousness, then the fact that death is a lie, save on the physical plane, which is comparatively incidental, in the great long drama of life. We must learn to so free our minds from bondage to the material and transitory that we may see life in the light of the Eternal. His real life is hid with Christ in God. What a comfort to know that he is beyond the reach of the world’s strife, abiding in the Great Peace, safe in the embrace of the everlasting arms. A love is sustaining and guiding him, that is infinitely greater even than your own deep love can be. Indeed, he is gloriously alive, his is the life more abundant, he rejoices in taking up life anew in the wondrous land of eternal morning. It is a life of spiritual activity and progressive unfoldment. He will go on wonderfully growing in spirit and developing in the graces he possessed here which are akin to the divine and heavenly glory. He goes from strength to strength and from glory to glory in his progress through the heavenly mansions of the Father. How happy he must be in his new life of heightened energies and richer relationships. How he must yearn to have you overcome your grief and rejoice with OVERCOMING DEATH 97 him in his new-found blessedness, and share the joy of his higher spiritual consciousness and life. Again, in the hour of high communion, there will come to you the deep consciousnes that in a very real sense he has not been taken from you, that only the visible presence has been removed. There can be no real separation of spirit from spirit, in spite of all outward seeming. His life is hid with Christ in God, who is closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, in whom we also live and move and have our being. His is not a far country. “The spirit-world around this world of sense Floats like an atmosphere.” “That true world within the world we see, Whereof our world is but the bounding shore.” The spirit realm is round about us and in our very midst, penetrating and encompassing this world of sense, but we are all so bound to earth by the grip of our materialism that we are blind to it. As we grow in spiritual understanding, we come into closer con¬ scious touch with it and mingle in its life. In these higher moments, under the Spirit’s illumination, our inner eyes are opened to the wondrous vision of that mystic glory-land, and we find that in the great deep within “There is a place where spirits blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend.” In your close touch with God in the hour of prayer, you will feel the living touch of him who stands in 98 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD His nearer presence. You will come, then, to rejoice greatly in the wonderful realization that your dear one has not really been taken from you at all, that he is yours, forever yours, through all Eternity. Love is a part, nay, more, the very essence, of the eternal order, and therefore defies the separations of space and time. God never takes from us our own. “Mine are they by an ownership, Nor time, nor death can free; For God hath given to Love to keep Its own eternally.” Likewise we can interpret John Burrough s verses to apply here : “Nor time nor space nor deep nor high Can keep my own away from me/ Therefore, we must try not to live wholly in the past, hopelessly longing that the old life might be renewed under the same conditions, but to grow in the knowl¬ edge that even a deeper, closer, loftier fellowship is possible here and now, a fellowship that is to be a growing experience, inexpressibly wonderful, beauti¬ ful and intimate. It may not be accompanied by any physically perceptible phenomena, but it is none the less real. The old life is not broken off, then, to end in a tragic void, but is mysteriously and wonderfully caught up into a higher plane. Let us seek to strengthen the ties that bind us to our dear dead, and look forward with a holy joy to this ever-deepen- OVERCOMING DEATH 99 in g fellowship that is to be, beginning here and now, and finding its full consummation in the joyous home¬ coming in the great Beyond, when we shall behold them face to face in that glorious fellowship, when, symbolically speaking, we “drink anew of the fruit of the vine” with them and with the Master in the glory-kingdom of our Father. If these great truths break in upon our conscious¬ ness with such irresistible force in our more exalted moments on the mountain-top experiences of life, by more vital prayer and deeper consecration we can come to live continually in this higher consciousness. That was Jesus' experience. In His hour of trial, He fell back on the great unfailing resource — dynamic prayer with the Father. Let us, too, tap this bound¬ less reservoir of knowledge and power. Then shall we cry out with Paul, in joy triumphant — “O death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory?” “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let us rejoice that Jesus Christ hath brought life and immortality to light. Let us realize deeply that “The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Let us meditate deeply, again and again, on some of these great scriptural passages pertaining to eternal life, until the wondrous truths they hold sink deep into our inner consciousness and our whole being is thrilled with a mighty faith in the reality of the boundless love of God that underlies “the maddening maze of things,” and in the absolute deathlessness of the souls 100 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD made for eternal fellowship with Him and with each other. “Beneath the Shadow of the Great Protection, The soul sits hushed and calm,. . . Bathed in the peace of that Divine affection , No fever heats of life, or dull dejection Can work the spirit harm. Not any power the Universe can know Can touch the spirit held with Christ in God, For naught that He. has made, above, below, Can part us from His love. Then let our meditation close with the sublime words of the Twenty-third Psalm— “The Lord is my Shepherd’ —until its golden truths are burned into our very souls, and we feel within ourselves eternal life and know ourselves one with God, the Universal Life, and with those who live in Him. Through the strong prayer of faith, you will receive a radiant vision of the Life Eternal, and God will abundantly bless and keep you and yours, and give you that Great Peace of His, which passes all under¬ standing, and which the world with its things seen and changing, can neither give nor take away. Not only is it our task, however, to make a begin¬ ning of overcoming death by bringing the thought of the immortality of the real spiritual Ego to light in the minds of men, but to ultimately abolish death, root and branch, even upon the physical plane; to literally “build eternity in time,” through the whole range of life. “Impossible,” cries the man of sense again and all the “little judges that hearken not well OVERCOMING DEATH IOI nor see/’ Those whose minds have run in grooves and who have not trained themselves to see life whole in all its manifold aspects seem uncapable of grasping such a startling truth that seems to run counter to what they regard as the inevitable facts of life. To trace past aeons of our physical development, how¬ ever, even without recourse to the deeper spiritual aspects of the question, together with the aid of a little imagination to glimpse the future from the past, would give them a vision of the wonders yet to be. Howbeit, we venture to say that increasing knowledge of the laws of life, and especially the full flowering of that mighty Christ-consciousnes which we have already described, will eventually transform the inci¬ dental birth-process called “death” into a glorious transfiguration and ultimate translation. This truly is a marvellous age, when faith is prepared to chal¬ lenge even the inevitability of death. From time out of mind, men have dreamed of the possibility of evading the experience of death by bathing themselves in some wonderful fountain of eternal youth. Let us beware lest we seek to over¬ throw the persistent dreams of men, though they be clothed in fanciful symbolism, for there is always an underlying truth in them. We shall see later that this wonderful fountain of youth is a reality, to be found, however, not in some distant land but in the mysterious regions within man himself. In the first place, it should be pointed out that from the point of view of natural science itself there is an increasing interest in the possibility of prolonging human life on 102 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD earth. It is true that for the most they are plodding along the good but hopelessly inadequate and com¬ paratively superficial way of careful diet, ample rest, regular bathing and what not, along external lines, which may be very helpful in contributing to the pro¬ longation of life but nevertheless fail utterly to pene¬ trate to the heart of the secret. It is significant, how¬ ever, that scientific men are beginning to hold the idea of extended life, and even to go so far as to say, in one quarter, that science finds no real reason, on general principles, why life should not go on indefi¬ nitely. Far more significant and promising is that branch of the new science of the mind whose more advanced spokesmen are beginning to tell us that the issues of life and death rest with the subconscious mind. There can be very little doubt about the fact that we die physically at seventy-five or so because the idea of the inevitability of it is registered in the sub¬ conscious through transmitted race-thought and through the powerful suggestions impressed by envi¬ ronment. We know that the body is created, built up, sustained and recreated by the Life-Principle operat¬ ing in the subconscious mind. We know that every idea given to the subconscious mind is worked out by it with absolute fidelity, according to the force and depth of the impression and its relative strength as compared with other conflicting suggestions. If we carry out this line of reasoning, based on most obvious fact, there is no doubt as to the conclusion to which it leads, and we can readily see that it may easily hold the solution of the problem of indefinite physical life. OVERCOMING DEATH 103 The subconscious, given absolutely the idea of renew¬ ing the tissues indefinitely, would go on recreating the body as it has been doing for years, only with the present retarding influence of absolute faith in the necessity of declining powers removed. Now these retarding influences, together with the further dis¬ couragement of sickness brought on by other negative and destructive thought-germs, (materializing in the visible germs of science,) prove too much for the subconscious efforts despite its limitless possibilities for producing life, and the needlessly worn-out body is discarded. Even this last resort of nature, however, by no means means death. Students of the mysteries of life, as Paul of Tarsus, know that the physical body is merely the outer sheath of a series of bodies, corresponding with a different plane of existence, each subtler in its substance as they approach the inner core of life, the constitution of which is pure Spirit, after God’s own image. A physical body may be material¬ ized again by the inner body of which it is a counter¬ part, and start anew by rebirth into another earthly career or the life may go on in its orderly evolution on a different plane of life, but as for death, it can never taste of it save in the distorted illusion of the world-consciousness. The Kingdom of Eternal Life must be made manifest upon earth. To this end, we give ourselves to the task of overcoming “death.” In this phase of our studies, as in the others, we pass from the merely mental aspect of the subject to the spiritual plane. We have seen before that the subconscious, deep and vast as it is in comparison with 104 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD the conscious and objective life, does not constitute the heart and core of our life. If in prayer, we succeed in opening up the inmost depths of our being, so that the Christ-Life that is in us wells up freely from within, and the full forces of the spiritual King¬ dom become operative in us, every barrier to faith goes down before its surging tides, every negative and destructive idea is obliterated, not simply by the more or less effective ideas fed externally to the sub¬ conscious, by the uncertain conscious mind, but by direct perception of the Truth of Life and Being coming immediately from the Divine Source. The whole region of the subconscious is cleansed as by the Divine Fire. The body must needs then become a purified temple of the Christ, and eternal life will be regnant from center to circumference, as the vibra¬ tions of the whole being are raised into tune with the Infinite Being. Possibly the question has already arisen in our minds as to what would eventually become of our body, should a sufficiently powerful suggestion be registered in the subconscious to enable it to live indefinitely, and would such an indefinite existence on the material plane be desirable or in accord with the divine plan. Everything in God’s universe progresses in an orderly manner. Everywhere law prevails. When in due course of time the Ego, having gained the experience and unfoldment and rendered the service on the earth plane that the law of its life determines, has arrived at the point of spiritual mastery issuing in the complete spiritualization of its OVERCOMING DEATH 105 mortal body, by a gradual process of what might be called spiritual chemistry, (analogous to natural chem¬ ical action,) the energy of its spiritual forces would dissipate the grosser material particles of the body and the Ego would begin to function wholly with the more etherial inner body upon a more exalted plane of life. This beautiful translation has many analogies in nature, is glimpsed in recent scientific conclusions on the electrical constitution of the human body, is foreshadowed in a number of Old Testament accounts of mysterious passings, and is in accord with the principles of life as revealed, first in the Master’s transfiguration and finally in his resurrection and ascension, which hold the promise of our own glorious destiny. “There is no death; there are no dead.” “Tho I walk through the valley of the Shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” My life is hid with Christ in God. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” “Never the spirit was born; The spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and beginning are dreams. Birthless and deathless and changeless Remaineth the spirit forever; Death hath not touched it at all, Dead though the house of it seems.” — Arnold. io6 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD “There is no death! What seems so is transition. This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life Elysion, Whose portals we call death.” — Longfellow. “And ever near us, though unseen, The dear immortal spirits tread. For all the boundless universe Is Life. There are no dead.” — Lytton. “Dear Lord, how shall we know that they Still walk unseen with us and Thee; Nor sleep, nor wander far away? He smiled. ‘Abide in Me.’ ” — Raymond. MEDITATIONS FOR OVERCOMING DEATH Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, (from death). This is the bread, (Divine-Consciousness) which cometh down from heaven, (welleth up from within) that a man may eat, (feed upon mentally in the sub¬ conscious) thereof and not die. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. “If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death.” I am one with the Eternal Father-Spirit, the Uni¬ versal Life, for my life is hid with Christ in God. In God I live and move and have my being. Eternal Life is within me. The Christ in me is overcoming death. CHAPTER VIII Conclusion The foregoing considerations bring us to the con¬ clusion that the faith which the Master taught is a living force, a dynamic consciousness, developed and released through true prayer, operating in accord with an eternal and undeviating law, and capable of com¬ pletely transforming the individual, society, and the entire face of the earth. What we call “The Faith” is, in its pure form, simply the truth about God, Man, and The Universe, in their spiritual essence, which the development of this higher faculty reveals.^ This higher knowledge, in turn, generates greater faith and greater power, enabling one to advance still further in the transformation of himself and of the world. This influx of light and power resulting from the development of the faith-faculty is, of course, ever in accord with the revelations of the Master and of the great spiritual seers through whom the Christ has revealed Himself through the ages. Man, attuned through faith to the higher vibrations of God-consciousness, becomes a free channel for the flow of the Omnipotent Power of God, a center o operation and distribution of the divine energy, whic touches and transfigures man in every phase of his 107 io8 FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD being and the world with which his mind and spirit are in such intimate relations. It banishes fear in its every form by revealing the Divine Presence and the operations of the universal law of love and good. It does away with ignorance by opening the higher faculties in man which put him in direct touch with the Omnicient Mind of God. It eliminates failure by opening up the invisible channels of the divine supply and by effecting progressive control over the laws governing “matter.” It destroys carnal sin by reorientating the whole life about the Christ-center, bringing the body under the harmonious control of the Christ-Spirit within. It abolishes sickness by giving the Christ-Mind full sway through the whole range of the being, charging the body with harmoni¬ ous, high-tension vibrations and tuning it to the Life of God. It destroys death by eliminating mental, and therefore physical obstructions, permitting the free and uninterrupted flow of the life-forces of the Eternal Energy which is the God in whom we live and move and have our being. Thus, we have seen that faith is the greatest power in the universe. All obstacles must go down before its irrisistible force. There is nothing that it cannot accomplish. It opens to the inflow of the creative energy of the Divine ; it enables us to tap the infinite resources at our command. It is a dynamic force which brings mighty things to pass. It is the victory that overcomes the world. We read of spiritual Supermen of old, — “who through faith subdued king¬ doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, CONCLUSION 109 stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,” and of “women who received their dead raised to life again.” At last the Truth emerges in new splendor to greet the dawn of the golden era of spiritual supremacy and dominion. Let the fearless Friends of Truth unsheathe the Sword of the Spirit, and go forth to glorious conquest, until the idols of materialism lie crumbled in the dust of a forgotten past, and the wondrous image of God’s own Truth is set up to shine undimmed in all its glorious fulness upon the eager, upturned countenances and shining forms of the emancipated sons and daughters of the Most High. We vision the wonderful and glorious day when there shall be no more sorrow, strife, or pain; when the full flowering of faith, called by the olden prophets the ‘‘knowledge of the Lord,” shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream ; and when, behold, there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, for the former things shall have passed away. Rejoice, O Children of the Eternal, for your Great Salvation draweth nigh. Rejoice greatly that it is given to you to see the radiant dawn of the age of the Great Light and of the Great Peace, and to have a share in the spiritual emancipation and wondrous transfiguration of mankind. “And the work that we have builded, no FAITH OVERCOMES THE WORLD Will not perish with our years. It will last and shine transfigured In the final reign of Right, It will merge into the splendors Of the City of the Light.” FINIS. I > DATE DUE GAYLORD | PRINTED IN U S A.