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they will kill you," he added, anxiously. I saw my danger at once. I became instantly weak with fear-the result of my friend's suggestion. Of course, I acted upon his advice and hastily withdrew to a place of safety.

This incident taught me a valuable lesson. I had plunged into the danger without counting the cost. It was thought that prompted me, not "a thought." When we begin to live wholly in the spirit, every act we perform will be the product of divine thought, which is entirely wordless and not of self. In later years, as I have thought over the episode above described, I have been forced to believe that it was the immortal man who hastened to the rescue of the despised victim, and that it was the mortal or reasoning man who ambled away in fear.

Living in the spirit, to the exclusion of self, has made many a hero famous. It is what the churchman's faith styles perpetual salvation. Eternal vigilance is the price of safety. To be eternally vigilant and safe is to admit the spirit of Love into our consciousness, to sweeten our lives and illumine our faces with joy and confidence. Some children seem to be born in the spirit: they do right, not from discipline but from native impulse. To live and know that we have at this moment the power to turn aside any open or secret thrust from another, and meet it with a smile of love and forbearance, forearms us with mighty weapons.

When the desire Some do, and their

The writer who

Inspiration is thought heaven-sent. seizes us to write, do we think in words? sentences are the product of the intellect. reaches the public heart frequently uses words strange to himself. A deep glow of good feeling wells up in his breast, the nether world fades in the distance, and a realm of divine light seems to surround and aid him. Is not such a soul safe from the clutch of astral or earthly hindrances?

The time has come for the student of metaphysics-who would live the life unremittingly-to learn the distinction

between thought reasoned out and thought that has no reference to words. You discover your neighbor's house to be on fire. Do you stop to think of your feelings toward that neighbor? No; with a thrill of God-love at your heart you rush to the rescue of the inmates of that home, and dare to face dangers that may appall you later. That is the love that is yet to move the world-when we have risen in our might and endeavors above precepts based upon human standards. Love thus known and felt is going to clasp the hands of the artisan and the capitalist, the Christian and the non-Christian, the peace advocate and the promoter of war. It will make men honest without boast or pretense.

It is pleasant to imagine a law that would tell us what we ought to do, rather than what we must not do; one, for instance, that reads: "It shall be lawful (and holy) to keep the peace, love one another, and enjoy the fruits thereof as brothers in common. In return for such lawful recognition of good will, each citizen shall be happier, enjoy better health, and find heaven on earth," etc. Our present statutes read: "It shall be unlawful to enter the premises of another and take therefrom any article of value. Said crime shall be punIs it not strange

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ishable by imprisonment and fine," etc. that our lawmakers have not hit upon the expedient of making constructive rather than prohibitive laws and penalties? When the fireman, clinging to the window-ledge, rescues the babe from the burning building, does he for one moment look down at the frenzied crowd for applause? No; to him the crowd does not exist. A wise Creator has thrown about him a mantle of safety unseen by mortal eye. He does not think; his deed is not the product of thought. It is divine-therefore selfless.

Again, we have the matter of moods. Is it safe to humor this or that mood in our contact with a discriminating public? In portrait painting a single delicate line drawn by an expert may change the entire expression of a face. A grave feature

can be made to look less distraught; a happy face can be saddened. It is equally true with our moods. A mere look of distaste, of weariness, or of indifference may send our best patron away with a resolve to take his favors elsewhere; or the briefest possible word or look of kindly cheer may turn the tide of fortune our way.

Are we truly living in the spirit, and drawing from the Akasa that alone which insures our perpetual safety? Right here we have the basis of a religion suited to the needs of every human being. It is not a religion to be found at "revivals" or during mighty sorrows: it is Nature speaking with kindly tongue to the children of earth. Moods of every name and nature come upon us—we know not why; but well equipped is the soul that is proof against them. I have stepped into the offices of business men where the atmosphere seemed to be blue with contagion; and, though I may not receive one word of discourtesy, yet I am made to feel the prevailing moods of both proprietor and employee. Something must have gone wrong, for little animosities are chasing one another from this mentality to that, and I go away more or less dispirited and distrustful of humankind. Some of our business men have and act upon these moods despite the wellestablished principles of right and wrong taught in our schools and colleges. The traveling salesman scents these unfavorable conditions as the hound scents his game. He is paid to ignore them, and so he does as best he can; yet, though he maintains a jocular countenance, he goes his way with a decided heaviness of spirit. Mighty is the tradesman whose store of vital life is constantly felt by his patrons-whose fund of generosity never gives out, but is added to hourly. Successful indeed is that teacher of Truth whose furnace-fires of love are kept constantly burning.

Prayers, of all things, are most unavailing if they reflect a mood of discontent. The prayer that bubbles forth in the fulness of thanksgiving, of realization, of love, is ever fit for

the lips of a Master. Our safety in thought and action equals at all times just what we choose to appropriate of the divine, clarified soul-substance of the heavens about us. That same love which chasteneth the heart and allays the thirst of the multitude can save the most troubled soul among men. It is heaven-sent; in it we are safe; and deeds thus inspired are ever righteous ones.

Since the race is every moment growing more refined, we are amply forewarned to keep constantly to the right. Our safety depends upon our measure of refinement, for our misdeeds must necessarily bring us greater sufferings. In the stone age the moral standard was the lowest; to-day it is divine, for man has discovered that he is a living image, responsible to the utmost farthing. The inebriate, under the ban of habit, feels more deeply the pangs of distress than did the drunkard of a century ago. A decade hence the torment of a soul in the toils of any vice will be even more excruciating. This is the edict of Nature-the will of a just God made manifest. It is the voice of eternal wisdom that whispers to us in the silence and bids us live in the spirit constantly, unswervingly, cheerfully. Safety in thought and action is but a step into the sunlight. It behooves us to be vigilant and calmly guarded against the shadows of self. Life is worth living even in its minutest aspects.

GOOD-NIGHT!

I stood in the land of the midnight sun,
And tried to say, "Good-night";

But as this day was never done

Those useless words took flight.

How can we ever say, "Good-night?"
There is no night at all;

For every shadow takes its flight

When at God's feet we fall.

SIRI E. SWANANDER.

MENTAL INFLUENCES.

BY CHARLES BRODIE PATTERSON.

Very few persons have an adequate conception of the wonderful power exerted by their thoughts. All of us know something of the action of thought upon others, and also of the action of thought upon ourselves; but this knowledge is usually very limited. We do not realize the tremendous influence that we are exerting every minute of our lives-an influence that makes for good, for strength and happiness, both to ourselves and others; yet this influence can also produce ill effects.

We do not understand the thoroughness of our relationship to our fellow-men. We do not realize that we are members one of another. We regard ourselves individually as being separate and detached from all other personalities; yet there is no detachment-there is no separation. Each and every one of us is a part of one Life Principle-a controlling and directing Supreme Intelligence-which is omnipotent and is imparted to every entity in the universe according to its need or demand. So we may have health, strength, and intelligence to the measure of our fullest requirements; but we must make our demand in accordance with the eternal law.

If we would successfully accomplish any undertaking we must closely follow the law that regulates such activities. In life, if we would be strong, whole, and happy, we must understand more of this law that regulates life. and learn to conform thereto. We find that everything in life has its own vital center whence it develops outward. In the past we tried to reverse this eternal order by working from the circumference toward the center. This, perhaps, was right enough until, in the course of evolution, we learned that there was a better way to grow than that of working from the outer to the inner.

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