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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap, Copyright No. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMER: 
 
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Treasured Thoughts 
 
 
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 He held aloft the torch of Truth 
 That showed the better way ; 
 
 His life became the light of men, 
 And changed their night to day. 
 
 For him we weave no fading bays, 
 We crown, him with our love ; 
 
 For life so rich and fair we praise 
 The Lord of Life above." 
 
 — REV. CHAS. G. AMES. 
 
 lN( *W" V.^ 
 
 
 OCT 2 
 
 BOSTON 
 THE SFARRELL PRINT 
 
 1896 
 
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 7> <^> 
 
 Copyrighted, 1896, by The Sparrell Print. 
 
 LC Control Number 
 
 tmp96 029026 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The selections in this little book have been made 
 from sermons and talks of Rev. S. H. Winkley, who 
 has now completed his fiftieth year as pastor of 
 Bulflnch-Place Chapel. 
 
 It is our hope that the truth, in all its simplicity 
 and beauty as shown in his own words, may in this 
 way be a daily help and comfort to all who already 
 know and love him, and through them passed on to 
 others ; for, as he has said : — 
 
 " Let us comfort others with the comforts that 
 comfort us." 
 
 A. F. B. 
 
 Boston, August, 
 1896. 
 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 " Samuel H. Winkley was born in Portsmouth, 
 N. H., April 5, 1819, where he remained until his 
 fifteenth year, and where he passed through the 
 ordinary course of grammar and high school studies. 
 During these years he had also given more or less 
 service in three different stores. 
 
 " The inner life being the real life, it is of more con- 
 sequence than any mere incidents of outward expe- 
 rience. Mr. Winkley was born into a religious 
 society that was strongly Calvinistic, and into a home 
 that was nominally so ; but as there were no trammels 
 put upon his early thinking, or upon his frankly utter- 
 ing and comparing his thoughts with those of his 
 brothers and friends, it was impossible to avoid the 
 tendency to many-sidedness. So far as business 
 training was concerned, each store in which the boy 
 worked had its own characteristic influence upon 
 him ; but to one employer, an honest Scotchman, 
 
 5 
 
Mr. Winkley owes more for aid in establishing his 
 own standard of thorough honesty and moral con- 
 sistency than perhaps to any other person. 
 
 " From his eighth year Mr. Winkley was an 
 interested attendant upon the meeting for religious 
 inquiries. Having been trained in the then common 
 idea of sudden conversions, and not being able, 
 though a diligent seeker therefor, to realize any such 
 instant change, he continued with unabated interest 
 to hope for it until his fourteenth year. The hymns 
 that he had learned, together with the theological 
 atmosphere he breathed, led him to think with dread 
 of the doom which awaited the unconverted after 
 death. In his fourteenth year, during a revival, he 
 came to the conclusion that no ' conversion ' was to 
 be allowed him, and after a great deal of thought and 
 feeling he decided simply to ask pardon for all the 
 errors of the past, and to consecrate his future life to 
 the love and service of God and man, — leaving all 
 else to the Heavenly Father. A man may grow 
 sceptical concerning theological views, he may even 
 become a positive unbeliever ; but no one can ques- 
 tion the reality of such an experience as this. He 
 was soon after received into the Orthodox church, 
 where he continued to be interested in Sunday-school 
 work, in tract distribution, and in other such mission- 
 ary effort as a boy may engage. Soon after his union 
 with the church he left home. 
 
 6 
 
" For the next five years, — that is until his twen- 
 tieth year, — Mr. Winkley was in different stores in 
 Boston, Providence, and Portland. He was then 
 called back to Portsmouth by the death of his eldest 
 brother. After a short stay in his native city he 
 returned to Boston and became a salesman in a 
 wholesale dry-goods house, boarding with a relative 
 in Charlestown, — in every place keeping up his 
 activity in Sunday-school work. It was in connection 
 with a mutual-instruction class in the Orthodox 
 Sunday-school in Charlestown, that he was led dili- 
 gently to study the New Testament in its bearing 
 upon Calvinistic doctrines. Finding no sufficient 
 evidence in the Gospels or the Epistles that Jesus or 
 the apostles taught election or foreordination, the 
 personality of the Holy Spirit, the deity of Christ, or 
 vicarious atonement, he rejected these doctrines and 
 accepted those that seemed to him at once more 
 rational and more Scriptural. This change was 
 wrought very unwillingly, for all his religious sympa- 
 thies were with the Orthodox. It cost him a great 
 many hours of diligent and prayerful study ; but the 
 views that then seemed to him true, and have so 
 continued for fifty years, compelled him to part 
 theological company with his old friends (though it 
 was not at once a denominational separation) and to 
 declare himself not a Trinitarian. 
 
 " The next few years of Mr. Winkley's life were 
 
 7 
 
spent in Providence. He continued to work with 
 the Orthodox as a tract distributor and in holding 
 neighborhood meetings. He attempted to form an 
 association of young men of all denominations for 
 spiritual culture and for general Christian work. 
 From this circle he was practically excommunicated 
 at its first regular meeting, by the members adopting, 
 through the counsel of older persons, a decidedly 
 Trinitarian platform. He then united himself with 
 the Unitarians. He taught in one of their Sunday- 
 schools, and helped to gather the first ministry-at- 
 large Sunday-school in another part of the city, 
 becoming its superintendent. He now gave nearly 
 all his leisure time to the furtherance of this successful 
 attempt to establish a ministry-at-large work. As a 
 result of this he was finally led to take the advice and 
 avail himself of the co-operation of interested friends, 
 and to fit himself to enter the Theological School at 
 Cambridge. From this School Mr. Winkley was 
 graduated in 1846, at the age of twenty-seven, and 
 immediately received and accepted an invitation 
 of the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches of 
 Boston to become its Minister-at-Large, having in 
 charge the Pitts-Street Chapel, in which relation, 
 though afterward occupying the new chapel in 
 Bulfinch Place, he has remained fifty years. 
 
 " During his theological course and the first few 
 years of his ministry, Mr. Winkley passed through 
 
 8 
 
the mental experience to which every candid mind 
 leaving Calvinism is liable, as well as those profounder 
 tests of Christian faith which great afflictions always 
 bring. From that time to this there has been 
 a growing conviction in his mind, strengthened by 
 constant contact with a large number as well as a 
 great variety of persons in every walk of life, that 
 Christianity as taught by Christ is the essential need 
 of humanity, by which the race must be eventually 
 advanced to the realization of its highest hopes ; and 
 that instead of mere creed and ritual — as important 
 as these may be in their way — and the saving of 
 one's self, either here or hereafter, there must be the 
 fulness of that active love which seeks in ail things 
 the pleasure of the Heavenly Father and the best 
 interests of all His children. Working steadily to 
 the realization of this object has not only rendered 
 his long ministry delightful in its heart relations, but 
 also abundantly blessed in its results to individuals 
 and families, — financially, intellectually, socially, and 
 spiritually making his church and Sunday-school a 
 band of co-workers, and his congregation a delightful 
 family. 
 
 " It is very difficult to make one, unacquainted 
 with the inner workings of Bulfinch-Place Chapel, 
 understand the near and dear personal relation which 
 Mr. Winkley has sustained to his people for these 
 fifty years. As a good father watches over his family, 
 
so has Mr. Winkley watched over his people. He 
 has guided the young, warned the erring, encouraged 
 the down-hearted, cheered the afflicted, given counsel 
 to those needing such, confirmed those who were in 
 the right path and by his magnetic influence and 
 beautiful personal example, under all circumstances, 
 been an inspiration and stronghold to young and old. 
 
 " Never until ' the secrets of all hearts shall be 
 revealed,' will it be known how many could say of 
 this pastor of fifty years : ' You were my savior, my 
 deliverer ; you opened my spiritual eyes and showed 
 me the way of Life /' 
 
 " His people love him and have loved him with a 
 very tender and abiding love which time cannot 
 efface, — ■ which eternity will strengthen. 
 
 " Mr. Winkley's influence has by no means been 
 confined to the chapel in which he has so long 
 ministered ; it has gone out far and wide. He has 
 had a happy, God -given faculty of impressing his life 
 upon the lives of others. This is the noblest kind of 
 literature, — not book-printing, but soul-printing. A 
 collection of Mr. Winkley's works in this direction 
 would fill a pretty large library. The faithful, 
 noble, and consecrated ministry of the pastor of 
 Bulfinch- Place Chapel deserves on earth the cordial 
 recognition and benediction which it is sure to get 
 in heaven." 
 
 IO 
 
Treasured Thoughts 
 

January \ 
 
 If you will not love God entirely, at least 
 let Him have supreme control over you. 
 You will pass on into the New Year wish- 
 ing everybody-happiness and mean it ; not 
 a happy first of January, but a happy year. 
 Do you mean it ? Is there enough in your 
 heart to mean it ? Do you care enough for 
 God ? Then let us enter with this spirit the 
 new year as if it were our last year. 
 
 January 2 
 
 You want this new year to be a happy 
 one. Do not try to be happy. You are 
 about to do something God does not want 
 you to do. You are to say, " I will not do 
 it." No matter about the next time ; do 
 not do it now, because it is God's wish. 
 Then the year will be a happy one. 
 
 13 
 
January 3 
 
 Let us enter the new year with more 
 faith. Have you confidence enough in 
 God to know that what seems most wrong 
 must be all right ? Instead of making the 
 best of things, some people dwell upon the 
 wrong ; talk it up ; torment themselves 
 and their neighbors with it. If there were 
 only more love in the world, more kind- 
 ness, if people would only consider others, 
 then we should have happiness. 
 
 January 4 
 
 Everything we have in this world that is 
 worth having is from God. What are we 
 doing in return? All He asks of us is to 
 do His wish, and He never asks us to do 
 anything that is not best. 
 
 January 5 
 
 Each time we eat the morsel of bread at 
 the Communion, let us once more renew 
 our membership in Christ's Sunday-school 
 class ; once more say, " Our Father, nearer 
 and dearer to Thee, e'en though it be a 
 cross that raiseth me." 
 
 14 
 
January 6 
 
 If you cannot say " God," say ''Right," 
 for Right is God, since God is Right. But 
 you cannot act for the right unless you act 
 for God, who is the Source of the right. 
 
 January 7 
 
 Must a man comprehend eternity before 
 he can use time ? Must he comprehend 
 infinity before he can use space? Must he 
 comprehend God, whom he knows as the 
 Eternal Source of his being ? Certainly 
 not ! He understands enough in regard 
 to time and space to use such portion of 
 them as he needs. He has but a finite 
 look of the Infinite. He may not find God 
 though he travel a thousand million of 
 miles. But when he thinks, when he feels 
 his heart beat, when he lifts his arm and 
 uses the power in it, — then he finds in 
 him the Power in whom he thinks, and 
 moves, and has his being. 
 
 January 8 
 
 Sin is indifference toward Infinite Love. 
 A man is freed from sin whenever his whole 
 
 15 
 
inner life is clean ; whenever his intent 
 
 and purpose are on the right side. The 
 
 evidence of being freed from sin is a 
 Christian Life. 
 
 January 9 
 
 So live that everybody who comes in 
 contact with you will be able to say that 
 your tone of voice is just right, your man- 
 ner is kind, everything about you indicates 
 that you must have been with Christ and 
 acquired His disposition. Then peace will 
 abound on the earth. 
 
 January 10 
 
 We have to advance in order to hold our 
 own. There is no true existence without 
 growth. 
 
 January 1 1 
 
 No matter how white the lie when it 
 leaves your mouth, it gets black enough 
 in time. 
 
 January 12 
 
 Physical things are physically discerned. 
 Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 
 There is no way of knowing what love is 
 
 16 
 
except by loving ; no way of knowing what 
 love and trust to God are except by 
 possessing them. 
 
 January 13 
 
 In our homes there are ugly dispositions. 
 The tendency is to stand up for ourselves. 
 Instead of being patient and trying to win 
 the others to the right, we are trying to 
 make out that " I am right." But that is 
 not the spirit of Christ. Now, when shall 
 we learn a wiser lesson than that ? When 
 we understand the Father. When we get 
 to that point, our one thought will be, how 
 we can serve these persons. And the 
 Father is right there and in some way says 
 to us, " Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least 
 of these, my children, ye do it unto me." 
 
 January J 4 
 
 Selfishness separates in a very cruel 
 way. What we need in our homes is 
 interest in each other, not as a family, 
 but as individuals. Let our homes breathe 
 the atmosphere of peace and kindliness. 
 You say you have tried and failed. Well, 
 "let .the dead past bury its dead." It is 
 
 17 
 
to-day, to-day! Only one moment at a 
 time ! We may fail again and again. No 
 matter. " Renew the battle every day and 
 help divine implore." 
 
 January 15 
 
 Jesus knew that his being lifted up on 
 the cross would do more in the world than 
 all the coronations he could have had. 
 
 January 16 
 
 Morality is a correct relation which one 
 person sustains to others. If a man lived 
 on an island by himself he could have no 
 morality. When his morality is inspired 
 by interest in others, then he has philan- 
 thropy. Philanthropy is a positive, actual 
 interest in others. It is character regu- 
 lated to please those about us. It is more 
 than mere honesty, for instance, — there is 
 generosity in it. 
 
 January 17 
 
 The first step in growing into a relation 
 with God is to prove an awakened interest 
 in Him by acknowledging a past indiffer- 
 
ence. God will accept our apology — that 
 is, He will accept us. 
 
 January 18 
 
 Piety is interest in God. Philanthropy 
 is interest in man. Our interest in char- 
 acter never becomes what it ought to be 
 until we get interested in God. Some 
 people come to God with great emotion 
 and fervor, but with no inclination or deter- 
 mination to do what he asks them to do. 
 Piety is not emotion ; it is not a creed ; it 
 is simply interest in God. 
 
 January 19 
 
 Do not be afraid to do the small things. 
 A joke is sometimes the sweetest thing in 
 the world. 
 
 January 20 
 
 It has been said of the Sermon on the 
 Mount that it is mere morality. Well, if it 
 is, the living of it is the way the angels are 
 made. 
 
 January 21 
 
 There is a great difference between 
 forgiveness and having all the conse- 
 
 19 
 
quences of wrong-doing wiped out. A 
 teacher can forgive a pupil for having 
 neglected his studies, but his forgiveness 
 does not make the pupil a fine scholar ; he 
 still has to suffer the consequences of 
 neglecting his studies. 
 
 January 22 
 
 As we go farther up the scale of right 
 living we become interested in our enemies, 
 and when we bless them there is a feeling 
 of grandeur, of manliness, which lifts us 
 mountains high. 
 
 January 23 
 
 God so over-rules everything we have in 
 the way of difficulties, afflictions and trials 
 that the man who uses them rightly can 
 say, " All things (do) work together for 
 good." 
 
 January 24 
 
 People order things from God as they 
 would from a shop, and then when they do 
 not receive them they become sceptical as 
 to prayer. If they realized the object of 
 prayer they would not lose faith. Prayer 
 is talking with God. 
 
 20 
 
January 25 
 
 I would have the Sunday used to get 
 light, to get knowledge as to how to perfect 
 character, how to interest ourselves in our 
 neighbors, how to make life exactly what 
 God wants us to make it. 
 
 January 26 
 
 Law pervades everything. Because of 
 this law we inherit a great deal of mischief 
 such as disease, etc. If this were not true, 
 we could not calculate about anything. 
 The Infinite Wisdom knew exactly how to 
 arrange this at the start. If we could not 
 inherit the mischief we could not inherit 
 the good which comes to us. 
 
 January 21 
 
 Why should we not comfort others with 
 the comforts that comfort us ? 
 
 January 28 
 
 " Three times three are nine." " Love 
 your enemies." Both of these are eternal 
 truths from God. Why have any more 
 
 21 
 
solemnity about one, than the other? Why 
 not practise one as well as the other ? 
 
 January 29 
 
 God is our Father and whatever He has 
 planned from the remote past is not planned 
 by a mere machine or law-giver, but by a 
 Father, and so we have faith that He will 
 over-rule all things for the best. 
 
 January 30 
 
 Our world comes out of our life and our 
 life comes out of what we welcome into it 
 ourselves. It is not the much, but the 
 kind of things a man seeks that makes 
 life. 
 
 January 3 J 
 
 The object of worship is to come 
 together and sing " Nearer, dear Father, 
 to Thee," and to feel the nearness and to 
 grow into the nearness every day that it 
 may go on for all eternity. 
 
 22 
 
February 1 
 
 Nine-tenths of our actions are based 
 upon faith. The actual knowledge we 
 have of the affairs of life is very limited. 
 
 February 2 
 
 The obstacle between you and perfect 
 peace is the want of perfect faith. Faith 
 is confidence in the dark. Intelligent faith 
 is trust with a reason. The man who has 
 an intelligent faith is a calm, peaceful man. 
 
 February 3 
 
 The trusting child of God is at peace ; 
 the sceptical child, in trouble. The trust- 
 ing child feels quite sure that if he could 
 see the thing as God sees it, he would will 
 it as God wills it. 
 
 February 4 
 
 We cannot pile money high enough to 
 compare it with one single heart filled with 
 affection. 
 
 23 
 
February 5 
 
 The more Jesus was the Son of Man 
 the more He was the Son of God. Let us 
 take Jesus as our Sunday-school teacher, 
 and let each one of us reproduce His life. 
 
 February 6 
 
 We are sure of God's presence. We 
 are sure of His personal interest because 
 He works in no two persons alike. 
 
 February 7 
 
 If you and I want to do the wisest thing 
 with one hour in each Sunday of the week, 
 we shall not forsake the assembling of 
 ourselves together, but shall turn to the 
 right hand and left, and say, " Come into 
 the house of the Lord and we shall have 
 peace. Our lives shall be fountains of 
 blessedness; our homes shall be happy." 
 Here is a good and sufficient reason why 
 we should come together for one single 
 solitary hour on Sunday, to learn to sing 
 love-songs to God, to breathe our little 
 prayers to Him, to awaken in ourselves 
 and in others an interest in Him, so that 
 
 24 
 
we can say, " Nearer, my God, to Thee," 
 and wherever we shall go we shall be chil- 
 dren of God. 
 
 February 8 
 
 We may enjoy a sunset and understand 
 all the science of its production ; how the 
 rays through the moisture of the air, etc, 
 cause it ; but that is quite different from 
 feeling that the Loving Power is back of it 
 all, giving it to us, as well as the power to 
 enjoy. 
 
 February 9 
 
 To treat self well, to care for others as 
 for other selves, and to sustain the right 
 relation to God is to live the Higher Life. 
 
 February 10 
 
 Christ would have us serve people in 
 whatever way they need. Not only should 
 we serve our friends, but strangers, — ene- 
 mies, if we have any. Just as soon as 
 people understand by doing and living out 
 " Love your enemies" they know what is 
 meant by " The pure in heart see God," 
 for the selfishness goes out of them. They 
 
 25 
 
see that God is love and that he that loveth 
 knoweth God. 
 
 February 11 
 
 God speaks to us and speaks to us 
 distinctly, too. When we are hungry it is 
 his expressed wish for us to eat. If we eat 
 or drink to excess we find by the results 
 that he is entering a protest. If we intelli- 
 gently listen and wish to be guided by Him, 
 we cannot misunderstand Him. 
 
 February 12 
 
 The meaning of the cross is this : As 
 Christ was willing to lay down his life, so 
 we should be willing to make any sacrifice 
 that comes in our way ; willing to deny 
 ourselves all that is unchristian. Christ's 
 suffering on the cross has been the inspira- 
 tion of many people who have suffered for 
 the sake of teaching goodness in the world. 
 
 February 13 
 
 A tendency, a thought, a feeling, which 
 we may have in the wrong direction, are 
 all guarantees of our freedom. But when 
 
 26 
 
we cherish any of these, then we are sinful. 
 The character is formed by the way we 
 choose to gratify or use the tendencies, 
 thoughts and feelings. 
 
 February 14 
 
 God protests by consequences when we 
 do wrong, and pleads with us through the 
 beauty of a sweet life to follow that 
 example. 
 
 February 15 
 
 God so loves mankind that He is 
 constantly asking that he may give Himself 
 to His children. He only waits for the 
 door to open. 
 
 February 1 6 
 
 A good-tempered person having the 
 energy to always keep good-tempered, in 
 spite of everything, is much stronger than 
 an ill-tempered person. 
 
 February 17 
 
 Unless a person is filled with heaven he 
 will not find any heaven hereafter. 
 
 27 
 
February 18 
 
 Some people in the midst of affliction, 
 when bearing trial after trial, are so full of 
 peace and gladness, cheerfulness and sweet- 
 ness, that we say, "The kingdom of heaven 
 is here." 
 
 February 19 
 
 The dear Father is always patient. We 
 may be ignorant of him ; live in the world 
 without Him. We may be simply bipeds 
 in the world, not knowing that we are 
 children of the Eternal Father ; yet He is 
 patient; waiting to put a new thought in 
 our minds, a new longing in our hearts. 
 
 February 20 
 
 If you choose to remain in hell, get as 
 many others into heaven as possible, and 
 you will find yourself going in on the tide. 
 
 February 21 
 
 If, as people are drawn to God they will 
 yield to his influence, they will worship in 
 spirit and in truth. 
 
 28 
 
February 22 
 
 How can a man be a bad citizen who 
 bears love to God and his neighbor ? 
 Whatever he can do for his country, what- 
 ever he can do for his family or his 
 neighbor, he will delight to do. 
 
 February 23 
 
 If a person has faith only as small as a 
 grain of mustard seed, and shares it with 
 some one else, he will find his faith grow. 
 
 February 24 
 
 We cannot find a thing that Jesus ever 
 taught which, if we take the spirit of it into 
 our lives, will not work well. There is 
 nothing like experience to give you the 
 test of all the teachings of Jesus. 
 
 February 25 
 
 Everybody has and knows their own 
 sorrows and trials the best. If we can 
 only get into the Father's arms, as a little 
 child gets into its mother's arms, and 
 mother kisses the spot and makes it well ; 
 if we will only feel that in the Father's arms 
 
 29 
 
all is well, and bear a song away, then we 
 will understand faith. 
 
 February 26 
 
 One of the grandest prayers ever offered 
 is that which Jesus offered, " May we all 
 be one as the Father and I are one." 
 
 February 27 
 
 We may deny the miracles of the loaves 
 and fishes and all the other miracles, but 
 we cannot deny the miracle of the benevo- 
 lence of Christ's love. 
 
 February 28 
 
 God made us to be the best physically, 
 mentally, spiritually. When disease comes 
 into a family God is more sorry than we 
 are. How could He prevent the child 
 from being sick and taken away ? You 
 ask him to do a miracle if you ask him to 
 continue the child under such circum- 
 stances. Do you love your child ? Would 
 you do him an injury ? Suppose you 
 loved him one thousand times more than 
 you do, would you kill him ? Well, God 
 
 30 
 
loves your child infinitely more than you 
 do. 
 
 February 29 
 
 Jesus revealed the power of man to rise 
 above all sorts of afflictions up into the life 
 which never asks a question as to whether 
 anything is to be won or lost, but takes 
 every opportunity to run God's errands of 
 love and bless everybody. 
 
 31 
 

March \ 
 
 What makes a bad temper ? Looking 
 out only for Number One, and in a very 
 bad way. The very moment there comes in 
 an interest in some one else, the bad tem- 
 per will be gone. 
 
 March 2 
 
 Christ considered that the truest love to 
 the Father was love to the Father's 
 children. 
 
 March 3 
 
 There is no difference between love to 
 an enemy, love to a friend, or love to God. 
 The difference is in the relation sustained. 
 
 March 4 
 
 The Father will overcome all things for 
 the right. When He made the world He 
 
 33 
 
knew what He was doing. His plan is just 
 as fresh today as it was yesterday. God is 
 not working by machinery. 
 
 March 5 
 
 Divine Providence means faith in God 
 and not in the event ; faith that He is able 
 and wise enough and good enough to lay 
 a plan and execute it, whether we see it to 
 the best or not. 
 
 March 6 
 
 If God is to explain to us everything he 
 does, where is our trust? We should then 
 walk by sight. The question is, is God 
 good? If He is, we can trust Him. If 
 He is bad, then I would not try to trust 
 Him. If you can discover in any way that 
 God is good, that He cares for you as an 
 individual, then trust Him ; but do not ask 
 Him to do impossible things. How are 
 you going to have faith in God without 
 realizing His goodness ? What makes you 
 see ? God is giving you the power. 
 He is in you this very moment, giving you 
 the power to see and hear and exercise all 
 your faculties. Can you get hot and cold 
 
 34 
 
water out of the same fountain ? If you 
 see that in ninety out of one hundred 
 things God is seeking your best interest, 
 then you ought to trust Him in the other 
 ten things that you cannot understand. 
 We certainly have good reason for our 
 faith. 
 
 March 7 
 
 When we have done what we can, — not 
 when we succeed, perhaps, but when we 
 attempt, — if we listen we shall hear the 
 Father saying, "Well done, well done, thou 
 art my beloved son in whom I am well 
 pleased." That is heaven enough ! 
 
 March 8 
 
 We are in the race course. We have 
 made some progress, though we have not 
 reached the goal. We cannot keep out of 
 sight of people. They will find us out. 
 They recognize our weak points and our 
 strong points. This ought to increase in 
 us more ambition. What joy, what glad- 
 ness, to be able to say at the end of life 
 that we have done the thing that has car- 
 ried joy into people's hearts, and that we 
 have confirmed some people in the right. 
 
 35 
 
March 9 
 
 A scholar cannot be one for a specified 
 time and then be an ignoramus. So a 
 person who loves you must love you every- 
 where. If a person loves God supremely, 
 he must do everything" to the glory of God. 
 Everything will indicate his intense interest 
 in the Father. 
 
 March JO 
 
 The aim of the church is to make you 
 exactly like Christ ; to fill your mind and 
 heart with the thought of Christ ; to make 
 you a Jesusite. Christ did not come to be 
 served, but to serve — to give his life as a 
 ransom for others. 
 
 March 11 
 
 We find we have little time for study 
 and the things we delight to do, and this 
 teaches us to use our time properly. 
 
 March 12 
 
 You are simply called upon to take 
 things day by day. Act to-day. You can 
 stand it for to-day, can't you ? You are 
 
 36 
 
not called upon to trust Him for to-mor- 
 row. " Sufficient unto the day is the evil 
 thereof." Sufficient unto the forenoon, 
 the half-hour, if need be. You can stand 
 anything, minute by minute, if you have 
 perfect confidence that the good Father is 
 watching over you and has a good purpose 
 in it all. 
 
 March 13 
 
 Our chief motive in life should be to say, 
 " Father, for you," and then try to do His 
 will for His sake, not for heaven, and then 
 will come the peace which passeth the 
 understanding, for we shall be doing it for 
 no other reason than because we have 
 fallen in love with the Infinite Love. 
 
 March 14 
 
 It is a great pity that we cannot keep 
 distinct our bodies and ourselves. We use 
 these hands, these eyes, these ears, this 
 brain, but these are simply parts of the 
 house in which we dwell. If we could 
 only learn that we never really see the 
 indweller, but only his manifestations, we 
 should understand that we see God through 
 his manifestations. 
 
 37 
 
March 15 
 
 It is very easy to say we love people. 
 We do not love them half the time. What 
 we mean is we want them to love us. We 
 say, " I love you," but the very moment 
 a little coolness comes up, then the love is 
 gone. Now the love that can survive the 
 fading out of the love of the other is Chris- 
 tian. Christ taught that idea of love. 
 People who have this kind appreciate love 
 more than those who drive a barter trade 
 in it. 
 
 March 16 
 
 Jesus thought prosperity was finding a 
 way to bless, to serve, to give himself 
 whole-heartedly to God. 
 
 March 17 
 
 You cannot mention a single tempta- 
 tion, that is, an opportunity with the desire 
 to do wrong, that there is not also an 
 opportunity to bless, to do the right, at the 
 same time. 
 
 March 18 
 
 If books exert such an influence as we 
 know they do, how much greater must be 
 the influence of our lives ! 
 
 38 
 
March 19 
 
 Let us in everything we do, pray. If 
 we eat, or drink, or sleep, let us remember 
 it is entirely under the charge of the dear 
 Father that we are able to do these things, 
 and let us thank Him. If we want to have 
 a closer walk with Him, let us talk with 
 Him. That is the way we cultivate the 
 acquaintance of people — by talking with 
 them. Why not with God ? 
 
 March 20 
 
 There is nothing which God has given 
 us which is not a cause for gratitude. We 
 sometimes charge Him with our own follies, 
 as well as those of other people, but we 
 know God intends always to bless us. The 
 question is do you wish to rise into the 
 manly and womanly condition of gratitude 
 to the One from whom you receive all these 
 things ? If you do, do you care to spend 
 an hour a week in ascertaining whether 
 He has any choices ; to express your grati- 
 tude and hear His wish ? 
 
 39 
 
March 21 
 
 Are you prepared to say to a friend who 
 has lost a loved one, " Do not believe in 
 death for a moment. Your loved one has 
 merely gone out of the shell into the next 
 condition of things, and you presently are 
 going into the place prepared for you in 
 the next world to meet your loved ones, 
 and their going gives an added charm to 
 the next world ? Mothers never forsake 
 their children : the Infinite Mother will 
 never do so." 
 
 March 22 
 
 Seven-eighths of all we do in this world 
 is done through faith by dire necessity. 
 We ascertain through knowledge the path- 
 way of faith, and then we walk in that 
 pathway by faith. 
 
 March 23 
 
 Scepticism comes from charging God 
 with human folly. 
 
 March 24 
 
 If there is anything true known concern- 
 ing God, it is that He is long-suffering. 
 
 4 o 
 
March 25 
 
 Love is never blind ; affection often is. 
 The more interested you are in another, 
 the more you will see his faults and try to 
 help him correct them ; but you will also 
 try to hide them from the sight of others. 
 
 March 26 
 
 What was the need of the crucifixion of 
 Christ ? Because His work could not have 
 been accomplished without it. 
 
 March 27 
 
 Many people are essentially affected by 
 disagreeable weather. This, then, is the 
 time, the opportunity, to cultivate cheerful- 
 ness and hopefulness. There is no chance 
 to cultivate it in pleasant weather. The man 
 who has the opportunity to cultivate his 
 cheerfulness, is the man who is blessed. 
 
 March 28 
 
 The missing of our loved ones is a sort 
 of prophecy that we are going to see them 
 again. 
 
 41 
 
March 29 
 
 Have you risen with Christ ? Have you 
 begun the resurrection ? If you have, do 
 not stop at any low level. Come up high- 
 er, and say to yourself, O, for a closer walk 
 with God, until you and the Father are so 
 completely one that there is not a single 
 thing that separates you from Him. Then 
 this Easter Sunday will be a grand Easter 
 Day. We shall be risen with Christ indeed, 
 and we shall be all right for the day and all 
 right for eternity. 
 
 March 30 
 
 God never deals with us in a mechanical 
 way. He deals with us just as He does in 
 every heart relation. 
 
 March 31 
 
 We talk of " Fate " about things because 
 we are ignorant of the cause. As soon as 
 we become enlightened we understand it is 
 no blind force (fate), but God's plan. 
 
 42 
 
April \ 
 
 Do not seek for the living among the 
 dead, but let us lift our eyes, if we are 
 risen with Christ, and seek our loved ones 
 above ; then when the meeting comes we 
 shall not only have cherished the thought, 
 but we shall be ready to join these eternal 
 throngs in service to God. 
 
 April 2 
 
 No matter if a man does not believe in 
 immortality ; he cannot put out the sun 
 because he is blind. 
 
 April 3 
 
 I am amazed to know how little real 
 faith there is in the world. People talk 
 faith, but they do not possess it. They 
 say God is good, that they ought to trust 
 Him, and then when anything happens in 
 the way of affliction they say, "Oh, why 
 
 43 
 
did this happen ? Why was my child taken 
 away?" Is that faith? Faith is walking 
 not by sight, not by explanation. It is 
 knowing in whom you trust and trusting 
 without sight. It means if He takes my 
 child, it is all right. If He takes my health, 
 it is all right. Yes, you say, but how do 
 you make it all right ? I do not try to ; 
 that is just the point. I have faith that 
 it is. 
 
 April 4 
 
 Do people go to a bureau drawer and 
 look at the clothing of a friend who has 
 gone and say the friend is there ? Well, 
 graves are God's bureau drawers in which 
 are laid cast-off garments, and there is no 
 more reason in saying our loved ones are 
 there than in saying so when looking in 
 the bureau drawers at home. And not 
 so much, for broadcloth and silk last much 
 longer than the body. 
 
 April 5 
 
 Do you suppose that if we do our part 
 without fretting or worrying, just going on 
 cheerfully, cheerfully, no matter what the 
 circumstances may be, doing what God 
 
 44 
 
wants us to do, being what God wants us 
 to be, that He will not hold us closer to 
 His heart and recognize that we are trying 
 to be angels on the earth ? We have only 
 to put our hands in His. He is our guide 
 and we have nothing to do but to put our 
 hands in His and trust. 
 
 April 6 
 
 Climb up on to the cross and make it a 
 matter of self- crucifixion, and say, I am 
 going to do all I can for others, appreci- 
 ated or not appreciated. 
 
 April 7 
 
 Shall a farmer instead of plowing and 
 sowing ask God to give him a crop ? Cer- 
 tainly not ! Let him make his verbal 
 prayer a prayer of action. The seed is 
 God's, the soil is God's, the germinating 
 power is God's. When the farmer pre- 
 pares God's soil and sows God's seed, he 
 thereby asks Him to cause the seed to grow. 
 "Actions speak louder than words." In 
 this case they are acceptable to God, but 
 the mere words are useless. Here the 
 farmer asks for a crop by deeds. His 
 
 45 
 
request meets a response. Does this man 
 show any less faith in God than the man 
 who prays verbally ? Certainly not ! This 
 man has both the understanding and spirit 
 as far as he goes. What he may lack is 
 the consciousness of the Source and so the 
 gratitude which ennobles the recipient of a 
 gift. So it is in the spiritual life ; let us 
 plow and sow and pray. While we work 
 God will work in us to will and to do. 
 
 April 8 
 
 We are working for the next generation. 
 It is not enough for us to recognize that 
 our wrong-doing affects ourselves ; we 
 must realize that we transmit the conse- 
 quences. 
 
 April 9 
 
 If we would be true disciples of Christ, 
 if we would attain to the highest, let us 
 go about doing good. 
 
 April 10 
 
 Justice is perfectly fair dealing ; a prac- 
 tical recognition of the rights of others ; 
 seeing things just as they are. 
 
 4 6 
 
April U 
 
 What has become of my loved one ? 
 Dead ? Some people say " Yes." Crape 
 is appropriate for them. But here is a man 
 who comes and sits at the feet of Jesus. 
 Jesus says to him, " In my Father's house 
 are many mansions. I go to prepare a 
 place for you." Is that true ? Well, this 
 man is just foolish enough to have faith in 
 Jesus. He asks himself one question. Is 
 the Eternal Father as good as this Jesus ? 
 Is it true that we are growing here in this 
 little nursery, until, having gained expe- 
 rience, we shall presently* move on — 
 where we cannot tell — but somewhere 
 under God's care? This man thinks it is 
 simply sufficient to have faith in Jesus, 
 who seems to have known the Father as 
 very few people have known him. Out of 
 this faith springs a hope, an expectation 
 (not a proof), that the Father has some- 
 thing in the next world for him. It is 
 God's arrangement that hearts shall come 
 together and he will not separate them. 
 What a difference it makes! Can it be 
 possible that we can thus be cheated by 
 this joy and grandeur if it were not the 
 
 47 
 
truth ? Error leads people down hill into 
 the darkness ; truth is always elevating 
 and ennobling. 
 
 April 12 
 
 The only one who achieves perfect suc- 
 cess in life is the true child of God. 
 
 April 13 
 
 The way to redeem people is to so fill 
 them with the good that the good crowds 
 out the bad. 
 
 April 14 
 
 The tempted should be as strong in 
 resisting as the tempter in tempting. If 
 you yield to temptation you are an enemy 
 to the other person. If you tempt, of 
 course you do wrong. 
 
 April 15 
 
 We are running a race. Christ is our 
 goal and also our leader. There is not a 
 thing which comes in our way which does 
 not help us reach that goal, led by Christ. 
 
 April 16 
 
 He who through his interest in others 
 undertakes to work along a pathway of 
 
 4 8 
 
right, gets his perception sharpened and 
 sees the right more clearly. 
 
 April \1 
 
 The man who seeks the light and works 
 with God, doing what He would have him 
 do, will find that there is not a solitary 
 thing that will not contribute to his eleva- 
 tion. 
 
 April 18 
 
 The matter of prayer has been an obsta- 
 cle in the way of a great many Christian 
 people. It would not be so if they followed 
 Paul's advice to pray with the spirit and 
 the understanding also. Some people 
 think the only way to pray is by words, 
 but prayer is any expressed wish to God, 
 whether formulated into words or not. If 
 when a man plants seed he is conscious it 
 is God's seed, that it is God's soil, and he 
 then asks God to give him the harvest, he 
 is praying with the spirit and the under- 
 standing also. God has ordered certain 
 means through which we obtain certain 
 results, and we must of necessity comply 
 with those means in order to get the de- 
 sired results. He never gave the world to 
 
 49 
 
understand that a man could become an 
 athlete by verbal prayer. No, but he 
 must go to the gymnasium and comply 
 with the means necessary in order to be- 
 come strong. While the man works to 
 obtain his strength, God will work with 
 him. He who complies with the condi- 
 tions God has made is filled with love and 
 gratitude to Him and understands prayer. 
 
 April 19 
 
 That which promotes the best interest of 
 a nation is a truth from God. The man 
 who receives this truth and then puts it 
 into practice, because God asks it at his 
 hands and because man needs it, is doing 
 the right thing. 
 
 April 20 
 
 Let us be sure in our heart of hearts 
 that we are not ready to fling an evil for 
 an evil. 
 
 April 21 
 
 If there is anything in any line by which 
 we can improve ourselves, we do it because 
 it is better for us, but that is a very poor 
 motive. I doubt if anyone will succeed for 
 
 50 
 
any length of time in trying to reach his 
 ideal if he looks out only for Number One. 
 He will forget his aim and think that self 
 will be better cared for in some other way. 
 He would then, by-and-by, lower the level 
 and descend. But let us say that we will 
 be what is best for ourselves and for every 
 man, woman and child, for our Divine 
 Father s sake, and so regulate our lives. 
 
 April 22 
 
 It is astonishing that we do not seek to 
 develop more of God in us. We should 
 use all means by which we can grasp the 
 truth, be able to take broad views of sub- 
 jects and go deep into them, and really lay 
 hold on that which shall be to the mind 
 what nourishment is to the body. 
 
 April 23 
 
 Are you in the habit of cherishing some 
 thoughts which you had better not ? Turn 
 your mind into different channels, — it will 
 be better for all about you. We can tell 
 what some people are thinking about just 
 by the expression of their countenances. 
 Let us in the secret chambers of our 
 
 51 
 
thoughts cherish such only as we could 
 have in public ; not for ourselves alone, 
 but for the sake of others. 
 
 April 24 
 
 People are afraid to trust others at all 
 because they cannot trust them in certain 
 lines. So it is with God. They always 
 have faith enough when they want to 
 grumble, but they fail to thank Him for the 
 good things of life, and have not faith 
 enough to believe that the things they 
 grumble and complain about will be made 
 to work for their good if they will help Him. 
 
 April 25 
 
 If coming together once a week to wor- 
 ship, to show our gratitude to God, lifts us 
 up into the highest possible condition, how 
 important it is ! If all the morning you 
 have been down the harbor, reading stories, 
 skating, or anything else of the kind, 
 (though I don't believe in these doings) 
 yet I say that if you spend this one hour, 
 week in and week out, until you have 
 thought out the beauty and purity of life, 
 have brought your heart in closeness to the 
 
 52 
 
Infinite Heart, the question will be, how 
 much time on Sunday, or any other day, 
 in fact, how much time every day shall you 
 give. 
 
 April 26 
 
 A man may have a great deal of religion, 
 interest in a ceremony, creed, or religious 
 sentiment, and have very little that may be 
 called Christianity. A man to be a Chris- 
 tian must have a Christ-like disposition 
 and Christ-like character. 
 
 April 27 r 
 
 Some people regard trials as crosses. 
 They are benedictions if rightly used. 
 One person takes everything of sorrow in 
 a terrible way, and talks it over and wants 
 pity and sympathy, and thus loses his 
 chance of heroism. On the other hand, a 
 person who is willing to take every little 
 thing in the way of trial and accept it hero- 
 ically, encouraging all that is noble and 
 manly, will become noble and manly. 
 
 April 28 
 
 It is a pity we do not understand the 
 meaning of love. It would save us a great 
 
 53 
 
many heartaches. I cannot conceive if 
 anybody really holds me in his heart, how 
 anybody else can turn me out. I am the 
 only individual of my sort that God has 
 created. 
 
 April 29 
 
 Goodness compels respect from every- 
 body. 
 
 April 30 
 
 There is a higher ideal in the church 
 than out of it, and nothing testifies to this 
 more than the severe criticism made upon 
 the misconduct of those in the church. 
 And this is all right. Scholars expect to 
 receive greater criticism than the ignorant. 
 
 54 
 
May \ 
 
 I doubt very much the intelligent piety 
 of a person who is not cheerful. " God 
 loves the cheerful giver." Those people 
 who have so much religion and so little 
 piety that they cannot rejoice in all the 
 good things of this world are defective. 
 
 May 2 
 
 Worship means an act of devotion to the 
 Eternal Love. 
 
 May 3 
 
 Some one said "There is a great deal of 
 friction in this world that needs oiling. The 
 Christians are the ones to apply the oil 
 where the friction abounds." Now I say 
 that is just it. Show me a Christian and 
 you will show me one who has the oil of 
 grace, who moves smoothly without any 
 creaking wheels and helps others to do the 
 same. 
 
 55 
 
May 4 
 
 Some people argue that it is always 
 easier to take the wrong road than to take 
 the right. This is only so when one is in 
 the habit of taking the wrong path. Now, 
 if you have been in the habit of being fret- 
 ful and fussy, it will be easier for a time to 
 keep in that way. But if you will be 
 watchful and try to be kind and patient you 
 will find it is easier to go in that way. 
 
 May 5 
 
 Unless you want to set the dog barking 
 you must not stir him up, for the spirit of 
 wrath is like a wild animal in people and 
 the wisest thing to do is to learn not to 
 wake it up. 
 
 May 6 
 
 Manners are wonderful creatures of 
 influence. 
 
 May 7 
 
 Let us be peacemakers in this world, 
 that whatever influence we exert it may be 
 as if we were angels. 
 
 56 
 
May 8 
 
 I have been told again and again that if 
 you give a kind answer for an unkind one 
 people will impose upon you. I think they 
 impose upon you when they put the same 
 kind of a spirit in you, and you give back 
 the same kind of a word. They impose 
 upon you when you resent and do not ride 
 over their backs heavenward. 
 
 May 9 
 
 Can we not do more toward getting the 
 faith, the strength, which will harmonize 
 homes ; that will redeem people from their 
 wretched, unhappy condition ; give them 
 something more to live for than the mere 
 idea of keeping body and soul together 
 and then dying without any great struggle ? 
 Let us tell them that God loves them and 
 that they can become Godlike. 
 
 May 10 
 
 A child never learnt to walk when it first 
 got down from its mother's arms. Nobody 
 became a perfect singer by running up the 
 scale once. Why should we expect in one 
 
 57 
 
of the grandest attempts of human life, 
 namely, the gaining of a sweet disposition, 
 to succeed at once. 
 
 May \\ 
 
 It is a great help in anything we are 
 attempting to accomplish to see the imper- 
 fections of other people. This is perfectly 
 true in regard to the bothering dispositions 
 of the world. They render great service 
 for they give us opportunities to develop 
 the Christian life. Let us rejoice in our 
 opportunities, though we pity the people 
 who furnish them. 
 
 May 12 
 
 People sometimes say that cheerfulness 
 is a matter of birth or temperament. Non- 
 sense ! A man may be born a very strong, 
 muscular man, and from want of using his 
 muscles become a very feeble man. And 
 a man may be born a very weak man, 
 and by use of the gymnasium develop 
 into a strong man. It is a miserable plea, 
 this matter of birth. I like muscular 
 Christianity. 
 
 58 
 
May 13 
 
 A great many people are frightened 
 away from all sorts of Christian influences 
 by melancholy. They are made to think 
 that in order to be noble it is necessary to 
 wear a long face and put out of one's mind 
 and life all cheerfulness. This is all wrong. 
 
 May 14 
 
 If you want to get rid of blueness, 
 sweeten your disposition ; come out of that 
 everlasting sour mood. Look out into 
 God's grand heaven and earth, and think 
 of somebody who is cheery and gladsome. 
 
 May 15 
 
 The whole secret of my joy and satisfac- 
 tion in this world is Love. To love first 
 the Eternal Father and out of that to serve 
 people because they are God's children. 
 A dream of heaven where all hearts are 
 like this is something to think about. 
 
 May 16 
 
 How many times I have heard young 
 people say, "When I am young I do not 
 
 59 
 
want to sacrifice the joys of life, as some of 
 these religious people do." What folly ! 
 Sacrifice what joys ? Holiness ? Right- 
 eousness ? Are the joys (so-called) of the 
 sinners something to be proud of ? They 
 bring slavery. 
 
 May M 
 
 Whenever we get into the habit of doing 
 the right things we enjoy doing them 
 because that is the way God made us. 
 
 May 18 
 
 There are more than a thousand bless- 
 ings bestowed upon us by God, and what 
 are we giving in return ? What would you 
 think of a person who begged at the door 
 every day and said nothing in gratitude ? 
 Would you think he was noble ? 
 
 May 19 
 
 Let us appreciate what we have, but let 
 us give. 
 
 May 20 
 
 If we would be true disciples of Christ ; 
 if we would attain to the highest among 
 them, let us go " about doing good." The 
 
 6o 
 
grandest disciple is he who serves, whether 
 appreciated or not. 
 
 May 21 
 
 People come to me and say they are 
 perfectly willing to leave off this or that 
 bad habit, but this one particular one they 
 will not. Very well, but you are on risky 
 ground, and do not for your right hand 
 allow yourself to add any other bad habits 
 to it. Put yourself under the very best 
 social and religious influences so that just 
 as a physician narrows a disease, trying to 
 keep all the rest of the body sound, you 
 will keep up your standard and not lower 
 your ideal. 
 
 May 22 
 
 A diamond is a diamond without regard 
 to setting. Nor does it matter what its 
 reputation is. It may be reputed to be far 
 more costly than it is, but nevertheless, is 
 a diamond of just its own intrinsic value. 
 So a man is just what he is, regardless of 
 reputation. 
 
 May 23 
 
 For the sake of thoroughly understand- 
 ing how good God is to us, we come 
 
 6i 
 
together on Sunday. There need be noth- 
 ing religious about it, but just simple, lov- 
 ing gratitude. If you were all my children 
 I should say to you, ''Give me your hearts 
 and I will risk you." The Infinite Father 
 says just that, " Give me your heart. 
 Your creed will take care of itself." 
 
 May 24 
 
 When you think that a man's religious 
 life has more to do with his happiness and 
 his home than anything else, it seems very 
 strange that so little time is given to it and 
 that so little intelligence accompanies the 
 little time that is given. 
 
 May 25 
 
 An opportunity is a blessing. Suppose 
 I am associated with somebody who tries 
 my patience incessantly and is unreason- 
 able. Very well, what a grand opportu- 
 nity to have patience. A man cannot be 
 strong unless he goes to a gymnasium. A 
 man never grows strong in patience unless 
 his patience is tried. 
 
 62 
 
May 26 
 
 Heaven is the eternal inflow of the 
 Infinite into us as our capacity increases. 
 
 May 27 
 
 People are apt to believe that they have 
 to leap into perfection or else they cannot 
 have it. They forget that they had to 
 walk before they could run. 
 
 May 28 
 
 There are no circumstances which can 
 prevent a man from being a child of God. 
 There are circumstances which are very 
 much more difficult to manage than others. 
 But so it is with scholars ; some studies 
 are much more difficult than others. Let 
 us manage all the trying circumstances of 
 life so as to let our light shine that other 
 people may see the truth and glorify our 
 Father by doing the same thing. 
 
 May 29 
 
 If you want heroism you must be put 
 on the battle-field of life. 
 
 63 
 
May 30 
 
 Blessed is he who can look upon graves 
 and believe none dead. 
 
 May 3 J 
 
 It is not enough for you to get clear 
 thought of Christianity. You must spread 
 it. Let us give all we can. Begin with 
 the first person you get hold of. Only do 
 not do it with an eternal preach. If you 
 have Christianity in your soul it will come 
 out; you cannot bury your knowledge on 
 any subject. Do the children who go to 
 school leave their knowledge in the school- 
 house? If you have Christianity in your 
 souls you cannot leave it in the church ; 
 you must carry it out into the world. 
 
 6 4 
 
June 1 
 
 Marriage is not a business partnership ; 
 it is not getting a house with some one to 
 look after it ; it is not getting a landlady to 
 board with ; it is something very much 
 beyond partnership. It is two persons — 
 that is the idea in creation — becoming 
 one ; in the real and actual sense, becoming 
 one. 
 
 June 2 
 
 Nothing pulls us down more than treat- 
 ing persons according to their position in 
 life. There is many an angel hidden away 
 behind some of these serving persons. 
 
 June 3 
 
 Belief is simply the intellect rendering 
 assent upon evidence. 
 
 65 
 
June 4 
 
 In love service we have nothing to do 
 with the humiliation of failure. We are 
 simply looking out that we serve. 
 
 June 5 
 
 If we should make up our minds to be 
 satisfied with reading just what we have 
 time to read, and not try to be mental glut- 
 tons, we should have more actual life. We 
 undertake to do in the reading line that 
 which, instead of giving clear thought and 
 mental vigor, gives us confused thought. 
 
 June 6 
 
 We should never have thought of God 
 pitying a sinner, if Christ had not done so. 
 We should never have realized how He 
 sympathizes with the blind and rejoices 
 when their eyes are opened, if Jesus had 
 not opened blind eyes. I often think that 
 when Jesus took little children in his arms 
 the mothers must have understood God 
 better in consequence. 
 
 66 
 
June 7 
 
 A book is not worth anything to us until 
 it passes into ourselves and is ourselves. 
 
 June 8 
 
 To many people the words religion and 
 God have been spoiled. Interest in the 
 dear Father appeals to us more. 
 
 June 9 
 
 People who worry do not live ; they 
 merely exist, and their existence is upon 
 the rack all the time. 
 
 June 10 
 
 Excess in the way of possessions does 
 not add to the happiness of life. All 
 excess is loss, no matter in what line. 
 
 June 11 
 
 There is a class of people who never oil 
 their wheels ; they always work hard. They 
 need to get out of themselves and find 
 somebody who will give them the oil of 
 cheerfulness and gladsomeness. 
 
 67 
 
June 12 
 
 It requires a much more lovely character 
 to be God-like than it does to be religious. 
 Everyone who is filled with the Love-spirit 
 is God-like. 
 
 June 13 
 
 In losing my life, that is, giving myself 
 to God and His children, I pass into a 
 grander life. 
 
 June 14 
 
 The man who loves knows what love is, 
 but he cannot explain it, or prove it. The 
 man who has faith in his neighbor knows 
 it, but he cannot prove it. The man who 
 loves God knows it, and out of it he is led 
 to the hope, the expectation of immortality. 
 He has an experience which those who do 
 not love God know nothing about. It 
 cannot be reached by logic or reason. 
 
 June 15 
 
 Everyone can judge what he is by the 
 way he receives the highest truth and the 
 good he is doing in the world. If he 
 sweetens, purifies, makes better all who 
 come in contact with him, he need not fear. 
 
 68 
 
June J 6 
 
 God without Jesus would have been 
 heard in the thunder and recognized in the 
 roll of the ocean, in the beauty of the 
 flowers and in the sunset, but would have 
 been too great for finite perceptions to 
 grasp. Jesus has done more towards 
 changing laws and customs, more towards 
 affecting character, more towards bringing 
 our ideal direct to God than all other peo- 
 ple put together. 
 
 June 17 
 
 How many people look upon a China- 
 man, an Armenian, a Roman Catholic, a 
 Turk, all these different children of God, 
 with anything but the recognition of a 
 brother ! What we need is to love the 
 Father in such a way that we regard every 
 one as His child. You may say, "Are we 
 to regard every foreigner as we would a 
 native ? Are we to regard every stranger 
 as we would a friend, or the members of 
 our own family?" Why, God made us to 
 love the home and the family circle, the 
 father, mother, brothers and sisters, and 
 meant no other place or people to be the 
 
 6 9 
 
same to us. But the man who loves his 
 home, who really knows what it is to love, 
 is the very man to go outside and find a 
 brother or sister. He knows what Infinite 
 Love is. When this love rules, then there 
 will be no difference in people ; no north, 
 no south, no east, no west. This cannot 
 come about through mere self-interest, but 
 if God asks it to be done, we can do it for 
 Him. 
 
 June 18 
 
 We can laugh and sing and dance and 
 discharge life's duties better, if we are 
 God's children, — if we become His sons 
 and daughters as He is surely our Father. 
 
 June 19 
 
 The man who is a child of God, who is 
 interested in Him, does not forget it behind 
 the counter, in his business or anywhere 
 else. Jesus would be Jesus no matter what 
 he was doing or where he was. When 
 he was a carpenter he was one of the best 
 of carpenters you could ask for. When 
 he was with the people he was one of 
 their brethren. 
 
 70 
 
June 20 
 
 Jesus did not gain his victory oyer temp- 
 tation simply by being virtuous. It is all 
 nonsense to say that Jesus was merely 
 moral. What gave him his victory was 
 his love to the Father, his piety. 
 
 June 2 J 
 
 Jesus makes us long to be tempted in 
 all points as he was, because those are the 
 ladders up which to mount to the grandest 
 development. 
 
 June 22 
 
 In this world the object lesson is what 
 we want. To define the principles of 
 music is one thing, to hear and enjoy the 
 music is quite another. To define what it 
 is to be a child of God is one thing ; to be 
 a child of God is another. 
 
 June 23 
 
 We must become a loving being before 
 we can begin to conceive the meaning of 
 the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of 
 heaven cometh not by observation ; it is 
 within you. 
 
 71 
 
June 24 
 
 When Jesus said " I am the Way, the 
 Truth, the Light," he was not understood. 
 He meant that love was the truth — that 
 was the only truth he believed ; love was 
 the way ; love was the foundation of life. 
 That was the whole of it, and he that is 
 filled with love is the one who understands 
 all this. 
 
 June 25 
 
 We are having a new race of beings 
 evolved in the world. The difference 
 between the highest animal and the lowest 
 order of man is not as great as between 
 the selfish man and the race of altruists, 
 as they are called by scientists, — the race 
 of lovers, as Christ would use the word. 
 Eventually all other races on the face of the 
 earth will give place to this final race of 
 altruists, as the present civilization of 
 Europe and America has succeeded to the 
 ignorance of the Middle Ages. 
 
 June 26 
 
 Jesus had but one thought in his mind, 
 but one purpose in his heart. He had 
 
 72 
 
fallen in love with God and he was a per- 
 fect son of Infinite Benevolence. He had 
 not a selfish thought in his whole being. 
 
 June 27 
 
 The question we should ask is, What 
 can I do for you ? That was the question 
 of Jesus. He was willing to lay down his 
 life for others ; not for martyrdom, but for 
 service to mankind. He cured the sick, 
 attended feasts ; anything that was needed. 
 He was here to serve ; to be just like his 
 Father. 
 
 June 28 
 
 The man who only cares for himself lives 
 in a decent, proper and excellent way ; 
 certainly makes a good citizen, a good 
 companion ; but he knows no more about 
 the condition of love — of altruism — than 
 an idiotic brain knows about education. 
 
 June 29 
 
 Just in proportion as a person is wrong 
 or self-indulgent, the wrong is an impassa- 
 ble gulf for union between him and his 
 friend, or between him and God. 
 
 73 
 
June 30 
 
 In patience, in cheerfulness, let us pos- 
 sess ourselves and be cheerful when other 
 people are cheerless. Do not pray that 
 people who are disagreeable be removed 
 from your surroundings ; let contact with 
 them develop you ; let them be your gym- 
 nasium. Cheerfulness is a cure for harsh 
 judgments. It is easy when cheerful to act 
 charitably towards other people. There is 
 a power in cheerfulness to change the 
 whole person so as to become a grander 
 and better man. 
 
 74 
 
July J 
 
 We cannot forgive a sin until the sin is 
 repented of and quitted. 
 
 July 2 
 
 Opportunity tells us what to do. 
 
 July 3 
 
 • We are continually praying, " Thy will 
 be done," and yet we are continually post- 
 poning the doing of God's will until we 
 get to heaven. 
 
 July 4 
 
 Do that which is best according to your 
 own judgment, but do not do it because it 
 suits you. Ask whether it is better for a 
 community. Every man can choose his 
 own pathway, but let him choose it as a 
 
 75 
 
citizen of the community, as a child of the 
 everlasting Father, and as a possible child 
 of immortality. 
 
 July 5 
 
 We always desire a leader who under- 
 stands our difficulties and has gained his 
 victory through similar experiences. We 
 have a leader who knows how to sympa- 
 thize with us and he is Jesus. 
 
 July 6 
 
 If we keep our eyes open to the value of 
 little things, we shall appreciate the contri- 
 butions of the little ones and of the widows, 
 not merely in money, but in the kind word, 
 the "Good morning" and the "How are 
 you ? " It is an easy matter to give awa'y 
 money if one has any, but not so easy to 
 be always ready with the kind word or to 
 keep patient. 
 
 July 7 
 
 Do you know how much we love to be 
 trusted ? If there is anything which 
 strengthens a person and lifts him up into 
 something grander and stronger, it is the 
 fact that some one has confidence in him. 
 
 76 
 
July 8 
 
 An angel is not a creature with wings, 
 but one possessed of a large heart, filled 
 with kind and thoughtful consideration. 
 
 July 9 
 
 There is an apparent bluster in the man 
 who gets angry, but not half the strength 
 there is in the man who controls his temper 
 and returns good for evil and conciliates, if 
 not himself, at least those who look on at 
 the time. 
 
 July 10 
 
 Things come to us in one way and 
 another and attack us on our weak points 
 and we are afraid we shall fall. Jesus 
 would say, " Listen to the higher voice and 
 stand up clean before God and man." 
 
 July n 
 
 The failure of Christ's life was the failure 
 to lift his nation from external formality 
 into real piety. 
 
 July 12 
 
 Do good in little ways; in a "Good 
 
 77 
 
morning ;" in a joke ; in all sorts of things 
 that mean making others happy, all the 
 way from washing the disciples' feet to 
 dying for people. 
 
 July 13 
 
 We cannot teach the higher truths by 
 words. When people get the holy spirit 
 by deeds they understand it. 
 
 July 14 
 
 We can define anything, but a definition 
 does not fill the entire soul. We perceive 
 the fragrance of the rose, the blush of the 
 peach through the intellect, and can define 
 what we mean by these poetic expressions, 
 but that is not the whole of it. 
 
 When we undertake to define love, let 
 us seize the central thought ; but we can- 
 not associate one experience of love with 
 another experience of love. An enemy 
 comes to me hungry and I rejoice to feed 
 him. Now I turn to my friend : there 
 accompanies my interest in my friend an 
 entirely different emotion from what my 
 enemy awakened. While I am interested 
 in both the relation is different. 
 
 78 
 
July 15 
 
 God has put his Son before us. and says, 
 "This is my image. Fill yourself with this 
 love. The only way to know me is to fill 
 yourself with unselfishness." 
 
 It takes a philosopher to understand a 
 philosopher. It takes a poet to respond to 
 a poet. It takes a perfectly God-like child 
 to understand the Eternal Father. 
 
 July 16 
 
 Fervor without interest is sentiment 
 only, — not love. 
 
 July 17 
 
 We can have a conversation with God 
 any time if we will learn the language. 
 
 July 18 
 
 If we have around us neighbors, friends, 
 in whom it is possible to increase the real 
 life, ought we not to do it ? No matter if 
 we are church members or not. We either 
 administer to the life of those around us 
 or we do not. We use our experience in 
 such a way as to bless them or we do not. 
 
 79 
 
July 1 9 
 
 People excuse themselves for not going 
 to church when in the country in summer 
 because they go all the rest of the year ; 
 because they hear poor sermons. I made 
 up my mind that I had better go into the 
 most miserable schoolhouse and hear the 
 most miserable sermon, if need be, because 
 thus my influence would be better on the 
 community. 
 
 July 20 
 
 Do not marry a pretty face ; do not refuse 
 to marry a pretty face. Do not marry from 
 fancy. Thoroughly acquaint yourself with 
 the other, even if you have to wait until 
 you are old before marrying. 
 
 July 21 
 
 Nature is God in action. 
 
 July 22 
 
 If we should compare our look at the 
 color and form of the daisy and rose with 
 that of other people, we should be sur- 
 prised to find the difference. Our relation 
 
 8o 
 
to God is so individualized that each of us 
 sees things differently. 
 
 July 23 
 
 A spirit is material, but not substantial. 
 It is an intelligent, affectionate, conscious 
 being, and God is simply that carried to 
 infinity. 
 
 July 24 
 
 We are never satisfied with what we have 
 attained. It is always the next book, the 
 next game we are looking forward to. 
 
 July 25 
 
 May the spirit of Christ so fill our hearts 
 that whatever we shall do will be a mani- 
 festation of that spirit and be the joy of the 
 Father and the peace of man. 
 
 July 26 
 
 I believe there are more people who have 
 the spirit of Christ in them than we imagine. 
 There are more people who are altruists 
 than we have any idea of. 
 
 8i 
 
July 27 
 
 The genius of Christianity is love to God 
 and love to man. 
 
 July 28 
 
 So many people fail to see Jesus. They 
 merely see an historical character about 
 whom many stories have been told, but 
 they fail to see the real Jesus. 
 
 July 29 
 
 There is no more glorious way of being 
 crucified than in quietly enduring, by throw- 
 ing oil on the troubled waters, and by giv- 
 ing a kind word for an unkind one. 
 
 July 30 
 
 If I do the best I can ; if I am filled with 
 the spirit of Christ, I am sure that the work 
 I do here will be just as important as if I 
 were somewhere else, in some larger work. 
 
 July 31 
 
 I do not believe in the saying, " God 
 appoints and man disappoints," but rather 
 that God appoints and man reappoints. 
 
 £2 
 
August 1 
 
 Angels are made through little, quibbling 
 things. To bear, day in and day out, the 
 little aggravating things, the little cambric 
 needles pricking into you every five minutes, 
 requires a great deal more patience and 
 heroic courage and love to God, than some 
 seemingly great things. 
 
 August 2 
 
 There is only one attitude to assume 
 when we come in contact with a horrid, 
 trying disposition, and that is one of pity, 
 compassion. 
 
 August 3 
 
 We want to be just like Jesus, to have 
 more of his spirit, more of his disposition, 
 so that whatever we may do we shall stop 
 and ask, " Is this the way, is this the man- 
 ner to help on the heavenly kingdom? " 
 
 83 
 
August 4 
 
 Activity is rest, if it is the right kind of 
 activity. 
 
 August 5 
 
 Jesus would say, " What I can do to-day 
 I will do cheerfully, patiently, in the pres- 
 ence of the Infinite Father, and for the 
 good of humanity ; and if I cannot do all I 
 have planned to do, I will understand it is 
 His will, and not worry and fret." 
 
 The principal point in our work is not to 
 reach a certain point at sunset, but that we 
 should stand right in our place with those 
 about us, and try to catch this Christ spirit 
 and let others about us see it that they may 
 catch it, and go away inspired with love to 
 God and man, and have a little more trust 
 in Him. 
 
 August 6 
 
 God supplies the power and then lays a 
 plan before us, and, if we use our powers 
 as he wishes us to do, we bless ; if not, we 
 curse. 
 
 August 7 
 
 Some people say they do not know how 
 to love God, " Go about and do good." 
 
 8 4 
 
"He who loveth not his brother whom he 
 hath seen, how can he love God whom he 
 hath not seen?" Do good because people 
 need it, without regard as to whether they 
 deserve it or not. 
 
 August 8 
 
 People complain because they occupy 
 low places ; -because they are carpenters, 
 for instance. Why, Jesus was a carpenter, 
 but that did not prevent him from being a 
 Son of God. Housekeepers have as much 
 to do in advancing the kingdom of heaven 
 as anybody else. 
 
 August 9 
 
 You know we can be mirthful and still 
 be ugly down inside, but that is not being 
 cheerful. 
 
 August 10 
 
 We start in life caring for the body, and 
 we ought to care for it, because it serves a 
 double purpose. First, as the house in 
 which we dwell ; and secondly, as the 
 instrument through which we receive the 
 contributions of the outer world. As a 
 
 85 
 
tenement, it becomes us to keep it in good 
 repair. As a complicated instrument, it 
 deserves to be developed so that we can 
 receive all possible through these five 
 senses. 
 
 August 11 
 
 We are to do what Christ would do, to 
 be perfect Christs in the little matters ; and 
 if we consent to have the Father with us, 
 we shall know that we are not alone, because 
 He is with us, and that these little tormenting 
 things are really opportunities to lift us to 
 the Father in loving trust. 
 
 August 12 
 
 Do not lose faith in prayer ; that is, faith 
 in communion with the Eternal Father. 
 Let us pray without ceasing, not only with 
 the spirit of a certain religious zeal, but 
 with the understanding also. Let us throw 
 ourselves into the dear Father's arms, and 
 allow Him to take us into His heart. Then 
 we will indeed be His children and will do 
 His will out of love for Him and His 
 saints. 
 
 86 
 
August 13 
 
 Life is being one with the Father, and 
 being loyal to His children. 
 
 August 14 
 
 To intelligently like a person you must 
 study his character. 
 
 August 15 
 
 I do not believe in the statement that 
 " everything is intended for the best." I 
 believe that God over-rules the evil that 
 good may come from it. 
 
 August 16 
 
 The person who seeks to bless every one 
 with whom he comes in contact sends 
 forth an influence which is not lost. 
 
 August 17 
 
 It is because we are free to do certain 
 things, right or wrong, that evil comes 
 upon us. Providence has nothing to do 
 with it. It is entirely the derangement of 
 God's plan, and not at all the arrangement. 
 
 87 
 
He could prevent all the results of our 
 wrong-doing only by a miracle. 
 
 August 18 
 
 We complain at the wrongs done us ; at 
 the evil things. How are we going to learn 
 patience, skill, tact, returning good for evil, 
 unless evil is done toward us ? 
 
 August \9 
 
 Let us be cheerful not simply for our own 
 sakes. Those who believe in God do it 
 for His sake. Let us be cheerful, if we 
 have no belief in God, because the nation 
 needs it ; because it will send out from the 
 land the demons of harsh judgment and 
 meanness. 
 
 August 20 
 
 We cannot mention a single temptation, 
 that is, an opportunity with a desire to do 
 the wrong that there is not also on the 
 other hand, an opportunity to bless, to do 
 the right. 
 
 A temptation is an opportunity for the 
 son of God to grow. 
 
 88 
 
August 21 
 
 Blind love is lack of judgment. Senti- 
 ment is the feeling, the emotion, the sugar- 
 coating to the cake. Love, true love, is 
 unselfish interest in others. 
 
 August 22 
 
 If we are to eternally grow, we have not 
 a moment to lose, for " what a man soweth 
 that shall he reap." How important it is, 
 therefore, that we hurry up and begin at 
 once. 
 
 August 23 
 
 People receive things from God as if 
 there were no God. They say it is a law. 
 Law is but a mode of action, and this mode 
 of action is the power of God. 
 
 August 24 
 
 God cannot, at the same moment, do me 
 a favor and an unkindness. 
 
 August 25 
 
 We all have our Gardens of Gethsemane ; 
 our trials in one way or another. Some- 
 
 8 9 
 
times the threatening approach is more 
 bitter than the experience itself. We 
 have a perfect right to say, " Father, if it 
 be possible, let this cup pass from me." 
 But, out of our faith, we can add, " Do not 
 mind the cry of Thy child, the anguish on 
 my part ; Thou knowest what is best for 
 me." It was perfect confidence in his 
 Father that made Jesus breath his prayer. 
 
 August 26 
 
 Are we a long ways further ahead in the 
 higher life than we used to be ? Are we 
 watchful lest some deed should do an 
 injury ; or the omission of some word or 
 deed may fail to do good ? As we get 
 more watchful along these lines, we get 
 closer to God, and, as we draw closer to 
 Him, we draw other people in the same 
 direction. 
 
 August 27 
 
 Error does mischief ; fanaticism does 
 mischief ; but belief in immortality has 
 elevated people and will elevate us. 
 
 90 
 
August 28 
 
 Talk about sending missionaries to the 
 heathen ! There are heathen enough in 
 this community, that is, men and women 
 who know nothing about the loving Father's 
 care, who need to be taught. 
 
 August 29 
 
 You are born into this world God's child. 
 Whether you will be a good child will 
 depend entirely upon your choices. These 
 choices give you character. God cannot 
 give you character; man cannot prevent 
 your having one. It depends entirely upon 
 yourself. 
 
 August 30 
 
 It is not the amount of work done, but 
 the manner, the spirit in which it is done. 
 We are to be redeemers of everything that 
 is evil and loathsome, and do it as if we had 
 just one day to do it in, cheerfully, patiently 
 and beautifully. Let the body get tired, 
 but let the spirit keep calm and cheerful. 
 In doing this we will be bringing in the 
 very reign of heaven. 
 
 9i 
 
August 31 
 
 My life is entirely from the Father. He 
 thinks of me as an individual and gives me 
 my life, and I should recognize this personal 
 interest in me and turn round and respond 
 to it. We do not cultivate God's acquaint- 
 ance. We sing " Nearer, my God, to Thee," 
 but we do not know the meaning of the 
 words ; they do not fill our souls ; they do 
 not come from the heart. 
 
 92 
 
September 1 
 
 What is the church ? It is the oldest 
 society in Christendom. It traces its his- 
 tory way back nineteen centuries to Jesus 
 of Nazareth as its founder. It has assumed 
 a great many different forms along the line 
 of its history. Just so far as these different 
 churches have become schools for creed 
 and ritualism, so far have they failed to 
 accomplish that which Jesus intended. Yet 
 in the midst of it all, such a power has Jesus 
 had in the world that his spirit has moulded 
 characters and raised a standard. This 
 was the intention of the church. Just as 
 schools have led people out of their physi- 
 cal life into mental training and mental 
 vigor, so the church has led people into 
 spiritual living ; led them to be children of 
 the Infinite Father ; to become as far as 
 finites can become, angels on the earth. 
 
 93 
 
September 2 
 
 One thing that keeps us away from God 
 is the feeling that He is infinite. How can 
 we grasp the infinite ? Suppose a child 
 has a very great man for a father and when 
 he nestles in his father's arms, he should 
 undertake to equal his father in his abilities, 
 — what a mistake he would make. But if 
 the little child just nestles in the father's 
 arms and thinks about the intelligent mind, 
 the kindness, the tenderness of the father, 
 the child understands him. 
 
 Let us try to think of the Eternal Father 
 as near. Let us hear him, of course, in 
 the voice of the ocean, in the storm, but let 
 us hear him when he exhorts us to do 
 something better than we have done before. 
 Let us realize his tenderness. 
 
 September 3 
 God does not like drones. 
 
 September 4 
 
 You and I expect some of these days to 
 come to the end of this journey. The 
 question will be when the time arrives, 
 
 94 
 
have we any reason to expect that we shall 
 survive these bodies ? All we have to do 
 in this world is to hope for a life to come. 
 Those who begin by saying they know there 
 is a life to come are the very ones who first 
 become sceptical. You and I expect to 
 live to-morrow because we have a right to 
 hope for continuance of life ; so we have a 
 right to hope for the eternal life. 
 
 There are three classes who give three 
 different reasons for expecting a future life : 
 The first is composed of the Spiritists. 
 They believe from their testimony that 
 there is a life to come. I have been to 
 forty-five mediums, but I could get nothing 
 to satisfy me that they have anything con- 
 clusive in their arguments. The second 
 class is made up of those whose faith in 
 Jesus is such that they take his testimony 
 on the subject and expect to realize what 
 he has promised. The third class do not 
 depend either upon the communications 
 from the Spiritists, or the testimony of 
 Jesus, but draw their conclusion entirely 
 from the character of God as manifested 
 in creation. They say God could not have 
 brought into being intelligent, affectionate 
 children and then annihilate them. 
 
 95 
 
Now putting these conclusions together, 
 I cannot help believing, though I cannot 
 prove it, that we are not separated from 
 our dear ones, but are re-united in the next 
 life. 
 
 September 5 
 
 We are limited and conditioned, but not 
 governed by circumstances. 
 
 September 6 
 
 We have not to walk miles to find God. 
 These beating hearts are conclusive evi- 
 dences that He is within us. These con- 
 sciences show His watchfulness ; this peace 
 shows the result of doing His will and the 
 kingdom of heaven is established within us. 
 
 September 7 
 
 There are times when you and I and 
 every other person cannot see daylight. 
 As Father Faber puts it in one of his 
 hymns : " It is as if there were no God." 
 It seems as if all good things had gone 
 from us. When everything is clear, there 
 is no trust, but trust comes when you are 
 ill-treated ; when you are poor and others 
 
 9 6 
 
are rich who have not worked as hard as 
 you have ; when the few friends who ought 
 to serve you turn against you ; when you 
 are sick at a time when you can least afford 
 to be. These and a hundred other condi- 
 tions are those in which the question is, — 
 Can you trust ? Can you trust intelli- 
 gently ? Can you trust God enough to 
 keep perfectly peaceful and contented? 
 Out of this trust, this perfect confidence, 
 you will be led to the expectation that it is 
 all coming out right if you do your part. 
 
 September 8 
 
 When we go to a person to redeem him 
 or to criticize, we should go in a spirit of 
 meekness and love, and not in a fault- 
 finding way, and so fill him with the good 
 that it will crowd out the wrong. 
 
 September 9 
 
 God is not an exacting ruler, but an 
 interested Father. 
 
 September 10 
 
 Suppose some one should speak to you 
 a great many times and you never an- 
 
 97 
 
swered ; suppose some one reached out 
 his hand to you and you refused to take it. 
 How long would it take you to cultivate a 
 relation with that person ? When we re- 
 spond to the Father ; when we say, " Yes, 
 Father, I see because You have given me 
 eyes to see with I understand, because 
 You are helping me to think. I do not 
 know how it is done. I long to do right 
 because You whisper to me some lofty 
 ideal. I am sorry to have done wrong, 
 not because there is any penalty attached, 
 but because You are not pleased with me " 
 — when we come to the Father in this 
 way, the result will be that the conviction 
 will grow upon us that we are in the pres- 
 ence of the Father ; that we see him just 
 as we see everybody else. 
 
 September J 1 
 Perfect trust means perfect peace. 
 
 September 12 
 
 Let us stop and consider from whom all 
 our blessings come. Where do you sup- 
 pose man gets his brain with which to 
 
 98 
 
invent ? Where do you suppose man gets 
 his generosity with which to give ? These 
 come in the constant stream flowing from 
 the Infinite to us. 
 
 September 13 
 
 The people who do the largest amount 
 of work with the least amount of wear and 
 tear are the people who cultivate cheer- 
 fulness. 
 
 September 14 
 
 The question is, is God good ? If you 
 can discover in any way that He is good, 
 trust Him ; but do not ask Him to do 
 impossible things. 
 
 September 15 
 
 God is the Father of our spirits, the 
 Creator of our bodies. 
 
 September 16 
 
 People fail to see their privileges in this 
 world. You tell them to interest them- 
 selves in their enemy and they say they 
 cannot. If he is hungry, can you not feed 
 him ? The very moment we begin to see 
 
 99 
 
God and live the life of love, we have begun 
 to grow. The great difficulty is that we 
 do not see the privilege. One part of my 
 education has been utterly neglected ; that 
 is, the chance to love an enemy, for I never 
 had one, and I believe the majority of 
 people have never had enemies. We 
 exaggerate people's impatience and weak- 
 ness and call them our enemies. I say it 
 is a privilege to come in contact with ugly 
 dispositions. It is a privilege to surfer the 
 torments and sickness and evils that come 
 upon us. There is not a position in which 
 people are in this world which is not a 
 privilege, if we will only understand that 
 we are to bless those who curse us ; to 
 return good for evil. If we can only see 
 this once ; only live it once ; just be willing 
 to be misunderstood, ill-treated or abused, 
 so as to be able to say, " Now is my chance ; 
 this is my crucifixion ; what my great 
 Master said, ' Forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do,' I can say ; " then we 
 shall understand our privileges. 
 
 September 17 
 
 Justice, fair dealing, lies at the foundation 
 of God's throne. 
 
 100 
 
September 18 
 
 To be filled with love is to be willing to 
 run God's errands, to be willing to bless 
 anybody who comes in your way. 
 
 September 19 
 An illustration is not an argument. 
 
 September 20 
 
 Nature reveals God to an extent, but 
 nature cannot reveal the love of God 
 as Christ did. 
 
 September 21 
 
 The most conclusive proof to me of the 
 benefit of the higher life is not a theo- 
 logian's argument, but my experience. I 
 know that love is better than hate. I know 
 that patience is better than irritability. I 
 know that a peace- maker is better than a 
 war-maker. I know that a trusting heart 
 is better than a distrusting heart. I know 
 that the man who is living to serve, lives a 
 happier, more delightful life than the man 
 who lives selfishly. 
 
 IOI 
 
September 22 
 
 You must become a loving being before 
 you can conceive of the meaning of the 
 reign of the kingdom of heaven, or the 
 reign of love upon the earth or anywhere 
 else. The kingdom of love cometh not 
 by observation ; it is within you. Suppose 
 there was a kingdom of knowledge and 
 people said where is this kingdom located ? 
 You would say, here in the head. So it is 
 with the kingdom of love, kingdom of 
 heaven, — it is within you. 
 
 September 23 
 
 Which would you prefer to be, the 
 strongest man that ever lived ; the greatest 
 scholar in the world ; or this little Jew, 
 Jesus, who, at thirty-three years of age, was 
 executed? I suppose there is not a person 
 on the face of the earth who reallv sees 
 Jesus, who would not prefer to be him. 
 You do not really see the athlete, or the 
 scholar, but they reveal themselves by 
 what they do. Now he who sees Jesus, 
 who can lift the veil and look into his heart 
 and see the peace and joy and gladness of 
 his life, can understand that between him 
 
 I02 
 
and the Father there was a perfect union. 
 There is not one of us who would not 
 rejoice to be that Jesus. 
 
 September 24 
 
 If you are "risen with Christ;" if he 
 has grown into your thought ; if he has 
 possession of your heart ; if he has presented 
 the vision of love to your souls, so that you 
 have come up out of your vices of the past, 
 it is indeed a resurrection. But do not 
 stop there. Drive out everything that is 
 selfish, and fill yourself with everything 
 that is heavenly and the resurrection will 
 be complete. 
 
 September 25 
 
 Jesus was a perfect Son of Infinite 
 Benevolence. He had not a selfish thought 
 in his whole being. It was, " What can I 
 do for you ? Lay down my life ? Very- 
 well ; anything that will serve you." 
 
 September 26 
 
 Jesus was here to serve every moment, 
 whether it were feeding the hungry, visiting 
 the sick, or anything else. He was hereto 
 
serve, just as his Father does, whose sun 
 shines on the just and unjust, and whose 
 knowledge enters the mind of all. If his 
 Father asked him to go anywhere, he went. 
 If he asked him to surfer, he said," Certainly." 
 His meat and his drink, the gladness of his 
 life was in doing his Father's will. 
 
 September 27 
 
 What is it to love one's enemy? It 
 certainly is not to love as you would your 
 wife, or sister, or friend. It is to be interested 
 in one's enemy. If you dislike your enemy 
 you can, if he need it, give him food and 
 drink or assist him in any way. 
 
 The man who knows what it is to say to 
 his enemy, " If you are hungry, worit\ love 
 and feed you ; if you are in any need, wont 
 I like to serve you," knows the meaning 
 of the kingdom of love. 
 
 September 28 
 
 Contrast two persons ; one who is filled 
 with gratitude to God, and another who 
 says, "O, dear, dear! There is that thing 
 which somebody else has that I might have." 
 
 104 
 
One has the kingdom of heaven in his soul, 
 and the other has the kingdom of selfishness, 
 shall I call it ? It certainly is not the 
 kingdom of joy and peace. 
 
 September 29 
 
 God rejoices over his child who does the 
 right, mourns and laments over his child 
 who will do the wrong. 
 
 September 30 
 
 There is a new order of beings who have 
 the spirit of Christ. An order that will 
 increase in number, in fullness and power 
 in the world. Let us have more of this 
 love. Do not let us be particular about 
 whom we serve. If there are people in the 
 world who need us, let us serve them. If 
 they can serve us, all the better for them, 
 but no better for us. If they are ungrateful, 
 all the worse for them, but no worse for us. 
 The Father is pleased. But we shall not 
 fail. I can tell you, after forty- nine years 
 of ministry, that " There is no such word 
 2^ fail T 
 
 1G 5 
 
October \ 
 
 Let us see how many people we can win 
 over to belonging to the new class of altruists. 
 The creed will not answer ; the religious 
 emotion will not answer. It must be a 
 good, clear, honest surrender of the will to 
 the Infinite will, so that we can say to the 
 Infinite Ruler, " Thy reigri be established 
 in human hearts ; Thy will be done." 
 
 October 2 
 
 What hinders the nearness of our relation 
 to God ? The trouble is in the mind, in 
 the intellect. How thoroughly do you and 
 I comprehend God? We are told of His 
 unlimited knowledge, and that His wisdom 
 is commensurate with His knowledge. Our 
 reverence is increased, the sense of His 
 exceeding greatness is increased, — but 
 there is no such thing as getting into His 
 arms like a little child. Let us sustain a 
 heart-to-heart relation with God. 
 
 107 
 
October 3 
 
 Notice the things which God is doing 
 for us a Father, not merely as a Powerful 
 Being. 
 
 October 4 
 
 What is God's idea of our good ? Some 
 people think it means money ; others that 
 it means popularity, or prosperity in any 
 line which promotes the happiness of the 
 individual. This is not God's idea at all. 
 If it were we should have to say that He 
 fails in a large majority of cases. What is 
 His purpose ? It is to make every indi- 
 vidual a child of His own, the life aim being, 
 not self, but first the Father, and then, as 
 a natural result, the Father's children. 
 This should be our aim, and there is not a 
 person in the world who succeeds in 
 reaching that aim who is not satisfied with it. 
 
 October 5 
 
 Marriage is the loveliest relation that 
 God ever arranged for man, but it cannot 
 take place to please fathers and mothers, 
 or for the sake of getting wealth or a home. 
 It cannot be done on the theory that because 
 
 108 
 
love does not come before marriage, it will 
 after. It must be entered into out of a 
 tender, strong attachment, which makes 
 this particular one more than all else. 
 
 October 6 
 
 Under no circumstances am I alone, no 
 matter what may happen to me. God is 
 always present, not as a Great Being, but 
 as a Father. 
 
 October 7 
 
 We do not realize the blessed gifts we 
 have in our five senses, to which the Father 
 gives His constant attention. All these 
 blessings come to us whether we are in an 
 ugly or pleasant frame of mind ; whether 
 we are selfish or generous. His hand is 
 never shortened. 
 
 October 8 
 
 We are constantly told of the infinite 
 power of God ; of His mighty thought ; 
 but God is love vastly more than He is 
 power or thought. 
 
 109 
 
October 9 
 
 When you send some little thing to a 
 sick friend to cheer him, that is a true 
 Communion Service, because it is a heavenly 
 thing. God smiles and the angels rejoice. 
 
 October JO 
 
 In doing the right thing, have a motive ; 
 do it for some one else. " For thy sake" 
 will accomplish everything. 
 
 October 1 1 
 
 Try to see without God ; to love without 
 God ; to remember without God ; you can- 
 not do it. You will find that he is giving 
 you sight, affection, memory, every moment ; 
 whispering to you to be an angel every 
 moment. Well, then, let us turn round and 
 say, " Father, you draw near to me, I will 
 draw near to Thee and respond to Thee ; 
 then I shall do Thy will on the earth as the 
 angels do it in heaven. I shall not think 
 of Thy greatness, but think of Thee as a 
 baby does of its mother when in her arms." 
 
 Let us draw nearer to God, that God 
 may draw near to us. 
 
 no 
 
October 12 
 
 Where does the Father ever fail ? The 
 failure is not on His part in any of the cases 
 of sickness or poverty, or any of the many 
 disagreeable things. Sickness' is a derange- 
 ment of His plan, not an arrangement. 
 Poverty is a derangement ; God intended 
 all should have sufficient, and provided for 
 all. 
 
 October 13 
 
 Where does trust in Providence come in ? 
 We hold a two-fold relation to the Father ; 
 we are sons of God and sons of men. As 
 a child of the Eternal Father, I am per- 
 fected, as His Son was perfected; through 
 suffering. If I am to become a nobler, 
 grander child of His through what I can 
 get from suffering in my home, from sick- 
 ness, from poverty, then does he not make 
 all things work together for good, just in 
 proportion as I love Him ? 
 
 October 14 
 
 It is not a question of what you want to 
 do, but what is best for you, what will work 
 out for you the grandest sum of good, 
 
 in 
 
When God over-rules the weakness and 
 folly of His children, so that you turn to 
 Him and say, moment by moment, " Father, 
 I want to be just what you want me to be, 
 having just the manner, the calmness, the 
 kindliness, the sweetness that I should 
 have, because You want me to be that," 
 then, as a child of God, you cannot help 
 being a success. 
 
 October 15 
 
 I have had many experiences in life, and 
 I cannot conceive of any, whether poverty, 
 sickness, trials or difficulties, where the 
 Father has not fulfilled the promise of 
 making all things work together for good 
 just in proportion as I have loved Him. 
 
 October 16 
 
 God is not responsible for the miseries 
 of life ; for the bad husbands, scolding 
 wives, bad companions. He mourns over 
 them as much as we do and has infinitely 
 more compassion for them than we have. 
 
 112 
 
October 17 
 
 Let us learn the lesson of faith so that 
 we can say, "To-day, Father, or to-night, 
 to-morrow, wherever I may happen to be, 
 I will do Thy will." Then just when we 
 are starting to do something not angelic, 
 we will hear the Father's voice, " My child, 
 my child !" and we will say, " Nobody shall 
 see me do anything that is not in perfect 
 harmony with being Your child ; I will do 
 Your will on this earth as the angels are 
 doing it." 
 
 October 18 
 
 We may have a grand exterior ; be 
 every Sunday at church ; read the best 
 books ; and everybody may think about us, 
 and we about ourselves, that we are pretty 
 good, anyway. But there is an eye that 
 looks inside. " Ye are the temple of the 
 living God." It may be that the kind of 
 thoughts we cherish, the tendencies we 
 gratify, corrupt the temple. We are in the 
 same condition as the money changers in 
 the temple. Jesus would say to us, " Purify 
 the temple ; the pure in heart shall see God. 
 You need to regulate these thoughts. 
 
 in 
 
You need to remember that you are naked 
 and open unto the eyes of God. If you 
 will be perfectly at one with Him, cleanse 
 the temple." 
 
 October 19 
 
 A watchmaker makes a watch not at all 
 with regard to the accidents which may 
 happen to it ; not at all with regard to the 
 derangements which may take place in the 
 watch. Still he is quite ready to repair 
 the watch when it is brought to him. 
 
 God created man without any regard to 
 his injuring himself or his neighbor, but 
 He has laid a plan in such a way that man 
 cannot spare anything in his make-up. 
 We find that He has made man free so 
 that he can use his brain in the way God 
 intended, or he can abuse it. When he 
 dissipates he sees fit to use himself in that 
 way. If anybody is to be blamed it is the 
 man ; if anybody is to be pitied it is God. 
 When the man repents of his wrong-doing, 
 or when he brings himself back to God, 
 and attends to all which shall increase 
 rather than diminish strength, he will find 
 the Father ready to forgive the past and to 
 
 114 
 
increase the vigor, whether mental, moral 
 or physical. 
 
 October 20 
 
 You would think that if anybody was to 
 escape the evils of life it ought to have 
 been Jesus. But did he ? He had not 
 where to lay his head. He was misunder- 
 stood continually by other persons. Finally 
 he had the martyrdom of the cross. And 
 what did he say ? At first, in all his disap- 
 pointment, " My God, why hast Thou for- 
 saken me?" and then, " Nevertheless, Thy 
 will, not mine, be done." 
 
 October 21 
 
 There are times when we feel as if God 
 had removed from the universe; as if we 
 were left utterly alone without Him, just 
 as Jesus felt on the cross. But do you 
 suppose he had any doubt as to the finality 
 of it ? His was the most crushing disap- 
 pointment that could have come to any 
 man. He came to lift man out of his cold- 
 ness into warmth ; out of selfishness into 
 love. Yet though he was executed like a 
 criminal between two criminals, he said, 
 " Into Thy hands I commend my spirit." 
 
 "5 
 
October 22 
 
 The dreaded evils of the future are 
 always worse than the present. The things 
 that may happen to-morrow, or next week, 
 or next year are those we worry about. 
 That is the time we need trust, which 
 means that the Eternal Father knows best 
 and loves us dearly. 
 
 October 23 
 
 " He went about doing good." That is 
 the picture we should look at when think- 
 ing of Jesus. Had the world done so all 
 these years it would have progressed much 
 more than it has. 
 
 October 24 
 
 Sometimes we get discouraged and it 
 seems to us that we are failing in working 
 out the good. Never you fear so long as 
 you are doing your part. God has as much 
 interest in your brothers and sisters as you 
 have. 
 
 October 25 
 
 If we only have faith as a grain of mus- 
 tard seed; that is, if we have a little faith 
 
 n6 
 
in the Eternal Father, it will grow like that 
 grain of mustard seed, until it removes all 
 the obstacles in our pathway, and we 
 become Christs ourselves. 
 
 October 26 
 
 The Eternal Father never lets His chil- 
 dren drop into nothingness. They occupy 
 a place in the Infinite heart that is never 
 empty. 
 
 October 21 
 
 You can no more expect God to work 
 miracles to accommodate your temporal 
 affairs, than to work miracles in every other 
 case, for then utter confusion would reign. 
 
 October 28 
 
 Let the future alone. Let the past 
 alone. Let even to-night alone. Let us 
 take moment by moment and say, " Father, 
 I will be Thy child, and a brother or sister 
 of humanity, and so use the appointments 
 and disappointments of life that I may 
 exert a Christ-like influence." 
 
 117 
 
October 29 
 
 Faith comes by faithing, as hope comes 
 by hoping and love comes by loving. 
 
 October 30 
 
 There is no such thing as fate in the 
 universe. Fate is a blind, unintelligent 
 force. We should substitute the word 
 opportunity for chance, and fortune and mis- 
 fortune for luck, and then we shall better 
 understand. It is a matter of ignorance 
 on our part instead of a matter of fate. 
 
 October 31 
 
 Remembering Christ is not simply an 
 act of memory, but it is breathing his spirit 
 and living as he did. 
 
 n8 
 
November 1 
 
 The whole secret of happiness is gener- 
 osity, the seeking not our own, but every- 
 body's good. Every one of us can do this, 
 giving our life as a ransom for many. 
 Shall we not do it ? . 
 
 November 2 
 
 One of the great mistakes people make 
 is in giving too much thought to the im- 
 mensity of God ; to the Infinite attributes. 
 Of course, we should recognize all these, 
 but they do not draw us to God. Rever- 
 ence, mere reverence, separates ; love, real 
 love, wins, draws. 
 
 November 3 
 
 We have not the remotest idea of how 
 much we are under obligation to this Jesus 
 of Nazareth. It does not matter what your 
 
 119 
 
theology is about this Son. Do you see 
 the Son ? Do you understand the dispo- 
 sition and character of this Son of Man, of 
 Humanity, this Son of God ? If you do, 
 and are drawn towards Him, you will turn 
 to the Father. Through the Son you know 
 more about the Father than all the theolo- 
 gies in the world can teach you. 
 
 November 4 
 
 Just in proportion as we become relig- 
 ious we get away from God. We substi- 
 tute something else instead of God. Just 
 as soon as we see the simplicity of Christ 
 we understand the Father. 
 
 November 5 
 
 You may or may not believe in the mir- 
 acles. It does not matter a particle. You 
 must believe that these stories would not 
 have been told of a cruel, unkind, ungener- 
 ous man, but would only have been told of 
 one who was generous, large-hearted. 
 
 November 6 
 
 We have the tenderness of God revealed 
 to us in Jesus. Whenever I see a mother 
 
 120 
 
with her baby in her arms looking at the 
 baby in a way as only a mother can, I say, 
 " God is Love." I have it revealed to me 
 as I cannot get it in the ocean or in the 
 wind or in a landscape. 
 
 November 7 
 
 People who are doing all kinds of ser- 
 vice, whether to the rich or poor, ignorant 
 or wicked, out of pure unselfishness, are 
 nearer the Father than they would be by 
 merely singing hymns and going through 
 merely religious forms. They have caught 
 the spirit of Christ. Let us catch His spirit 
 and live as He lived, and we cannot possi- 
 bly get up any scepticism. We shall not 
 merely say it in our intellects, it will fill our 
 lives and we shall know it because our 
 souls are filled. 
 
 November 8 
 
 God is your Father and my Father. He 
 has more sympathy with us than any 
 parents ever had. He has more ambition 
 for us. He will never be satisfied until we 
 are angels. He will not give us up until 
 we come up from a lower condition into a 
 
 121 
 
higher. Our very safety consists in His 
 looking out for us. 
 
 November 9 
 
 God does not hold Himself in ignorance 
 of us up to a certain date and then when 
 that time comes compare what we have to 
 say for ourselves with an account and ren- 
 der a decision. He knows the whole his- 
 tory from the first choice up to the present 
 moment. We may veil all this from other 
 people, we cannot from Him. There is no 
 such thing as cajolery with God. 
 
 November 10 
 
 What is the use of having an account 
 with God ? An account generally is made 
 for a result, as a financial account, for in- 
 stance, and drafts are made upon it. We 
 make a draft on God every day by our 
 actions. The man who volunteers to do a 
 bad thing, draws upon the Father, and in- 
 stead of exciting His approval, excites His 
 pity, His compassion. He draws upon the 
 Infinite Source to go below the grade. 
 On the other hand, the man who works out 
 his salvation from all evil, who accumulates 
 
 122 
 
not only clear thought, but righteousness, 
 love in all directions, is transformed into 
 the image of the Father and is filled with 
 joy and peace. 
 
 November J J 
 
 How is our account with God made ? 
 It is made each moment ; we write it out. 
 When night comes the events of the day 
 are entered into our character. We may 
 have wished that we had not said a certain 
 word of unkindness, done a certain deed ; 
 we may have wished to recall moments 
 and do something which we may have 
 neglected to ; but what is written is writ- 
 ten and the account is made. 
 
 November 12 
 
 Selfish people are insane when indulging 
 in selfishness. They do not see things as 
 they are. They are always drawing upon 
 their imaginations, tormenting themselves 
 and their neighbors. You long to say to 
 them in a trumpet tone, " Wake up, and 
 come out of this eternal self and rise in 
 love to God and your neighbor. You are 
 not only tormenting yourselves, but you 
 
 123 
 
are influencing other characters, and they 
 are so many witnesses to the account you 
 are rendering to God." 
 
 November 13 
 
 Sins of omission mean a pile of wealth 
 out and beyond one's self that might as 
 well have been transferred into the soul. 
 
 November 14 
 
 Scientists have taught us the invariability 
 of law ; that everything will act in precisely 
 the same way under precisely the same 
 circumstances. What is law ? It is God's 
 regular mode of action. A law cannot 
 work of itself. People talk about the laws 
 of nature as though the laws were so many 
 little gods setting up to do things of their 
 own accord. For instance, it is your law 
 to come with more or less regularity to 
 church every Sunday afternoon. Your law 
 does not come, but you come ; it is your 
 mode of action to come. God was infin- 
 itely wise at the start, and has seen no rea- 
 son to change a single plan of His. We 
 have to study His laws to understand how 
 best to get along. We may go to the fire 
 
 124 
 
to warm ourselves. That is what God 
 intended. If we put our hand into the fire, 
 it burns our hand, whether we are angel or 
 devil, and it depends entirely upon us 
 whether we choose to do it or not. God's 
 plan is that the fire shall burn under those 
 circumstances. Somebody may say, " Sup- 
 pose I should meet with an accident and 
 come in contact with fire, God ought to 
 prevent the fire from burning then!' If He 
 should prevent the fire from burning under 
 such circumstances, it would be a miracle, 
 which would be a violation of His laws. 
 
 November J 5 
 
 We are every one of us to stand before 
 God. When ? Now! How ? By our 
 choices. Our account is being written. 
 Do you like what you are writing ? If you 
 do not, go and change it. Co-work with 
 Him so that without regard to anybody 
 appreciating you in the least you will say, 
 " Yes ! increasing and intense interest in 
 the Eternal Father is what I want," so that 
 when the record is at last made up it shall 
 be said, "Thou art my beloved son, in 
 whom I am well pleased." 
 
 125 
 
November 16 
 
 Those who are not economical in this 
 world are doing the wrong thing. If peo- 
 ple would begin life by laying up five cents 
 a day even, they would find it would make 
 a great difference in their future comfort 
 and happiness. 
 
 November J 7 
 
 Suppose that a large area of land is sur- 
 rounded by a high wall in which there are 
 several apertures, through which various 
 persons are looking. One person sees 
 simply a collection of trees. Some one 
 looking through an aperture some distance 
 away from the first person sees only a plain 
 and a pond. Still another person sees 
 from his point of view nothing of the plain 
 and pond, but a hill and a valley. So all 
 around the area, every one sees something 
 entirely unlike the views of the others. 
 God Himself sees only the whole area. 
 
 This is precisely the same in regard to 
 truth. We open our eyes to the light and 
 see according to our standing-point at the 
 time and according to our ability. We do 
 not create the landscape ; it is there before 
 
 126 
 
us and everyone sees according to his point 
 of view and his ability. We open our intel- 
 lectual and moral eyes, and we are com- 
 pelled to see what is before us, and we 
 necessarily see differently. If the man 
 who saw the plain and the pond in the 
 landscape could change places with the 
 one who saw the hill and the valley, he 
 would see that they were both right. He 
 would not only see the plain and pond, 
 but add the hill and valley. 
 
 We must remember that our neighbor's 
 view has an element of truth in it, although 
 it may not give a complete idea of the view. 
 While we may believe that our ideas on a 
 subject are correct, we must remember that 
 our neighbor sees according to his point of 
 view and according to his ability. I am 
 sometimes surprised that some people call 
 themselves philanthropists when they are 
 so narrow and bigoted. How many peo- 
 ple become scolds because they cannot 
 understand the one little fact that two peo- 
 ple cannot see exactly alike ! 
 
 If we would be Christians in this world, 
 let us not trouble ourselves about people's 
 beliefs or theologies, but let us aid them in 
 controlling their tempers, in trying to make 
 
 127 
 
their lives sweeter and truer. You can 
 depend upon it that in this way the Holy 
 Spirit will enter their hearts, when all logic 
 and argument would have failed. 
 
 November 18 
 
 If friendship had been upon a more ele- 
 vated plane, people would understand love 
 to God better ; but there has been so much 
 sentiment called friendship, people are apt 
 to think that religion consists of tremen- 
 dous emotion and religious excitement. 
 Love will go to the stake if need be ; will 
 die for another. Real interest does not 
 depend upon emotion. 
 
 November 19 
 
 It is easier for a camel to go through the 
 Needle's Eye than for a man who is always 
 looking after himself to be a true citizen 
 of the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 November 20 
 
 There is nothing which requires more 
 patience, meekness and generosity than in 
 bearing with scolding people. They are 
 
 128 
 
in the world to perfect others. How are 
 we to become perfect in patience, to be 
 forbearing", unless we have such people ? 
 Let us then be glad if we be crucified 
 forty times a day. 
 
 November 21 
 
 The good Father provides us with a 
 spiritual gymnasium in the circumstances 
 and conditions of life, and instead of becom- 
 ing stronger, grander, nobler, and being 
 perfected by suffering, we are apt to cry 
 out as the child does in learning its lessons, 
 "I don't want to practice this or that," and 
 so we become just as babyish as the chil- 
 dren are, instead of rising into a noble 
 manhood. * 
 
 November 22 
 
 We have often confused the meaning of 
 the word " Piety," or love to God, with 
 something else, and made it mean one 
 thing in one place and another thing in 
 another place. Love is love, whether ap- 
 plied to to an enemy, a friend or God. 
 
 129 
 
November 23 
 
 Just in proportion as we are true children 
 of God, we shall have reason for saying 
 that we have confidence in the plan He has 
 laid, and shall have more and more confi- 
 dence until we graduate from this world 
 into the next. 
 
 November 24 
 
 To give one's life is not simply dying 
 upon the cross at a certain time. It is 
 every moment devoting one's self to the 
 well-being, the actual improvement of every 
 person with whom one comes in contact. 
 Whoever came in contact with Jesus be- 
 came the better for it. He was the magnet 
 of the world drawing all people to Him. 
 
 November 25 
 
 People with violent tempers are apt to 
 say, " Well, I am as God made me." No, 
 you are not. God gave you the capital of 
 energy, and you have turned it into 
 temper. 
 
 130 
 
November 26 
 
 Every gift of God is a rap at the heart 
 asking us to admit Him. If we do, then 
 our thankfulness for His gifts amounts to 
 something. These thanksgiving people 
 dwell on the very borders of heaven. 
 
 November 27 
 
 Let us consider a little the gifts of God. 
 When we wake up in the morning let us 
 realize that He has given us the sunshine, 
 the atmosphere to breathe, water to drink. 
 At first we will say, " Father, I am glad." 
 Then we will go on and tell Him we are 
 thankful. And when we can look into the 
 Infinite Heart and feel it going out to our 
 own, then we are one with Him. 
 
 November 28 
 
 We have found that merely having a 
 religion, a creed, or "reading our titles 
 clear to mansions in the skies," is not suffi- 
 cient. We have gone back to Christ. We 
 are sitting at His feet and learning that the 
 one who loses his life in service to others 
 finds it. 
 
 131 
 
November 29 
 
 Let us ask for what we may, God can 
 give us only what we are capable of 
 receiving. 
 
 November 30 
 
 Friendship implies response, but we 
 should not look for the response, the 
 appreciation. It should be — I for thee, 
 and thou for me ; each looking out for the 
 other. If there had been more of this 
 definite, unselfish relation between mortals, 
 people would understand better a love 
 relation with God. 
 
 132 
 
December I 
 
 People say they cannot comprehend the 
 Infinite. Comprehend the Infinite ! Of 
 course not. But just listen to His voice. 
 There is not a man, women or child who 
 has not heard it. Respond to it. Do His 
 will. Trust Him. The more you do His 
 will the more you know Him. The more 
 you trust Him the more you will do so. 
 
 December 2 
 
 If, instead of arguing about creeds, and 
 rituals, and all that sort of thing, the spirit 
 of Christ had been understood and adopted 
 by people, the millenium would have come 
 long ago. 
 
 December 3 
 
 Suppose you and I, led only by the 
 spirit of Christ, say, no foreigner shall ever 
 
 133 
 
have occasion to say we have not done 
 exactly as though Christ were at our elbow, 
 and the Farher were looking right' into our 
 hearts to see how we acted toward His 
 children. Suppose we also regard different 
 denominations in the same light. Let us 
 not only recognize their peculiarities, but 
 also their honesty and whatever is beautiful 
 and sweet and Christian. Prejudice will then 
 pass away. 
 
 December 4 
 
 Let us avoid prejudices in connection 
 with political parties. Why not recognize 
 the spirit of the man who takes this or 
 that ground because it is the best course, 
 he believes, for his country to pursue ? If 
 a man deposits his vote conscientiously, 
 though he be alone, why not recognize 
 him as a true patriot ? Honor him, because 
 he is loyal to his position. 
 
 December 5 
 
 When we discover that God, the great, 
 intelligent, affectionate Being, loves every 
 one of us as individuals, then we are brought 
 into a condition in which we know what it 
 is to say " Our Father." 
 
 134 
 
December 6 
 
 It is a good thing, once in a while, to be 
 reminded of all the blessings we enjoy. 
 We are rather apt to be indifferent to them. 
 We fail to realize what these constant gifts 
 are. They are so common, so constant, 
 given to the thankful and unthankful, to 
 those who work with or against Him, that 
 we lose the elevation which ought to come 
 from true thankfulness for them all. 
 
 December 7 
 
 God cannot prevent the mischief which 
 people bring upon themselves by their own 
 doings, but He can and does over-rule it. 
 
 December 8 
 
 Loving God and loving man bring into 
 light the virtues of people. Selfishness, on 
 the other hand, not only brings to the light 
 the failures of people, but creates in the 
 imagination other failures. 
 
 December 9 
 
 Gratitude is more than gladness ; more 
 than thankfulness. It is a real apprecia- 
 
 '35 
 
tion of the gift bestowed and a sending 
 out of one's heart to the giver. 
 
 December 10 
 
 Look at God's picture-gallery! We look 
 upon a sunset and are stirred by it. Every- 
 thing which the Infinite Father touches is 
 full of grace and beauty, and brings joy 
 and gladness to His children. 
 
 December 1J 
 
 How beautiful the Common looks in the 
 winter season with the sun shining on the 
 trees covered with snow and frost ! People 
 are apt to forget the Author of the sun, 
 and they do not know how much they lose 
 by not realizing that He gives it. A rose 
 is beautiful that is bought ; but a rose that 
 is given me by a friend has much more 
 beauty and joy in it. 
 
 December 12 
 
 Did you ever notice the beauty of frosted 
 windows ? We can see on them fern-leaves, 
 trees, all sorts of things, made beautiful 
 with the sun gleaming upon them. Did 
 you ever think that the Infinite Father, busy 
 
 136 
 
as He is, looking after that enormous sun, 
 has plenty of time and a wonderful amount 
 of inclination to look after His children 
 going through the streets — the poorest and 
 the richest — and so gives them this marvel- 
 lous tracery of art because they are His 
 children ? 
 
 December J 3 
 
 Suppose we were made blind. Think of 
 it ! No more starlit nights, no more frosted 
 windows, no more sunsets. Would we not 
 beg of Him to lift the veil? And suppose 
 He should, and all these beauties should 
 pass before us. Could we help the flood 
 of gratitude we should have ? Well, why 
 not now ? Let us take advantage of this 
 time to thank Him for all He gives us. 
 
 December 14 
 
 People cheat themselves out of a great 
 deal by dreaming away about what they 
 want instead of fully realizing all they have. 
 
 December J 5 
 
 The legacy which I care to leave is the 
 building up of individual characters, not by 
 
 !37 
 
dwelling upon the importance of character, 
 but by filling all with the desire to do God's 
 will. 
 
 December 16 
 
 The rap at the door comes in some way 
 to every one of us, if only through our love 
 for a canary bird. We must have some 
 loved object to lead us up to Infinite Love. 
 
 December 17 
 
 We must learn to trust God ; to have 
 confidence in Him. You say, " How can 
 you call Him good? Why does he permit 
 all the hardships ? " How can God, at the 
 same moment, give you eyesight, hearing, 
 reasoning, give you all the pleasures of 
 society, all the enjoyments of affection, all 
 the delights of nature, the growth we have 
 every moment, and, at the same moment, 
 do us injury or be indifferent to us ? 
 
 December 18 
 
 Just in proportion as we are intensely 
 interested in a cause, in our family, in any- 
 thing, it is not self-sacrifice, but our joy to 
 
 138 
 
work for them. The person who really 
 loves is on the lookout for little things as 
 well as large things, in the interest of the 
 one loved, and it is his privilege to supply 
 them. 
 
 December 19 
 
 It is he that doeth the Father's will who 
 knows the meaning of it. If you have 
 been merciless and begin to exercise the 
 spirit of mercy, do you not begin to experi- 
 ence an amount of joy and peace you have 
 never had before ? 
 
 December 20 
 
 Why does God care anything about the 
 praise of mortals ? If you and I were 
 looking upon an army of ants, or a swarm 
 of bees, I think we should be quite indif- 
 ferent as to their opinion of us. In size, 
 we are very much less, in the sight of God, 
 than these ants and bees are in our sight. 
 Then why does God care anything about 
 our opinion of Him ? We say He is 
 infinite — boundless in every direction. 
 Because He is boundless, His love is im- 
 measurable. His interest in us is intense, 
 
 139 
 
and it is because of this interest that 
 He desires that we should have an intense 
 interest in Him. 
 
 December 2 J 
 
 We should not shrink from any suffering 
 that will make us exactly Christ-like. He 
 said, <4 If any man will come after me, let 
 him take up his cross and follow me." 
 
 December 22 
 
 One of the greatest mistakes people 
 make is judging whole characters by single 
 traits. 
 
 December 23 
 
 Here are two persons. One is filled with 
 selfishness — he only exists. The other is 
 filled with love to God and his neighbor — 
 he lives. Just in proportion as a man lives 
 for selfishness he is filled with the kingdom 
 of hell. Just in proportion as he lives 
 for others, he is full of the kingdom of 
 heaven ; full of peace and gladness. It is 
 impossible for a man to live a life of ser- 
 
 140 
 
vice and not find himself having a heavenly 
 life. 
 
 December 24 
 
 Just in proportion as we get the spirit of 
 Christ and try to give it to the members of 
 the family, to every one with whom we 
 come in contact, we know what Christ meant 
 by saying, ''As the Father sent me into the 
 world, so send I you into the world." 
 
 December 25 
 
 The morning light is breaking. Christ 
 is really entering the minds and hearts of 
 the people whether they know it or not. 
 
 December 26 
 
 Instead of saying we will lay aside this or 
 that sin, if we will give our hearts to God 
 we shall be purified by the Love Spirit. 
 A man cannot be a drunkard and love God 
 with all his heart. The moment the motive 
 is changed from self to God he need not 
 sign the pledge ; intemperance is forgotten ; 
 it is a necessary result of loving God with 
 all your heart. 
 
 141 
 
December 27 
 
 If you love God with all your heart, you 
 must love His children. If you purify the 
 fountain the streams will be pure; selfish- 
 ness gives place to love. 
 
 December 28 
 
 It is not the creed ; it is not the ritual ; 
 it is not being a Unitarian ; it is not being 
 a Trinitarian. It is whether you and I have 
 found Jesus to be the Lamb who has taken 
 away the sin of our hearts, as manifested by 
 the tone of our voices, our patience and 
 forbearance, and doing the right thing on 
 all occasions, not for our own.sakes, but 
 because it should be our meat and our 
 drink to serve others. 
 
 December 29 
 
 Do you love the Father or are you 
 among the indifferent? Do you, down in 
 your heart of hearts, care enough for Him 
 to do certain things, not to go to heaven, 
 but just because He asks you ? Are you 
 ready to say, " Certainly, Father, my meat 
 and my drink shall be what you want me 
 
 142 
 
to do ? " If you are, then you are qualified 
 to be a citizen of the heavenly kingdom to 
 be established on this earth. 
 
 December 30 
 
 The old ideas of God in the past, through 
 which He was so fearfully misrepresented, 
 are passing away. It was impossible to 
 go to such a Being like little children, and 
 know that He was ours, and we His, in any 
 tender sense of the word. Just in pro- 
 portion as the false ideas of God are removed, 
 we shall love Him. God is seeking our 
 love that He may have opportunity to 
 serve us more and more, and lift us up to 
 the height for which He created us. 
 
 December 31 
 
 What kind of an account with God are 
 you writing to-day ? Are you of the selfish 
 sort ? Are you leading a life in the home 
 where your tone of voice, your manner, 
 your disposition, your influence, are all such 
 as will raise discord, and you will reap a 
 harvest in the same kind? 
 
 On the.^other hand, are you doing that 
 which brings down a benediction ? Are 
 
 143 
 
you of that sort that every child turns to 
 you, every sinner turns to you for help 
 and sympathy, and everybody who wants a 
 companion is drawn to you ? , Are you a 
 peace-maker? Your account is being 
 written, and if of this latter kind, a blessed 
 record it is, and you are entering into the 
 " joy and peace of our Lord." 
 
 144