All our weaknesses serve it; vanity and pride forbid us to let it go. We will to go here or there in the pursuit of happiness, and because we have not the wisdom to choose we are disappointed when we arrive-disappointed if we do not arrive. But when at last we let go the wild horses of our ambition, what a relief is ours! In the mystical language of the Upanishad :

"Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.

"On the same tree man sits grieving, immersed, bewildered by his own impotence. But when he sees the other lord contented and knows his glory, then his grief passes away."

Oh, happy day for him who gives up striving to be richer, wiser, more clever than his fellows, and settles down content to be himself! And when abates the fever of possession and he perceives that the riches of the rich, the joy of the happy, and the strength of the strong are his as well-then indeed for him has the millennium dawned. Then shines the sun for him; for him blooms the rose; for him the waters murmur and the wind sighs in the forest, or croons to the rustling corn. He shares the speed of the trout and the song of the wren. He welcomes the souls that are coming and bids God-speed to the souls that are parting. Alone on the mountain or one of the crowd, everywhere is he in touch with the heart of humanity. All joys are his joys; all sorrows are his to assuage. Child is he with childhood everywhere. To him flow the love and heroism of the world; for he has no longer a private and particular life. His bark has sunk to another sea-sails now on the serene and smiling waters of the Universal.

become more real, Religion is not a

AS RELIGION has deepened its hold and broadened its sway, every part of life quickened by its touch has more sacred, more joyful, more satisfying. department of human life. Religion is a spirit partments of human life.-Mary Emily Case.

pervading all de

FREEDOM-INDIVIDUAL AND UNIVERSAL.

BY CHARLES BRODIE PATTERSON.

The Nazarene said on one occasion, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." When Jesus gave utterance to these words he was having a discussion with certain ones among the Jews, who referred to Abraham as their "father." We find the Jewish people everywhere dating their birth from Abraham. The Jewish idea was very different from the Christ idea: "For One is your Father, which is in heaven." And the Hebrews referred their religion to "the God of Abraham." With Christ it was different: to him there was one great Father of all-our Father.

It has been men's custom throughout all time to quote "authorities" in defining their position. True authority is not to be found outside of one's self. It is not what some other person, however distinguished, may say; it is not what any institution or any book may say; it is the voice of God speaking to man in his own soul that constitutes the ultimate authority of life. There is no real authority to be appealed to elsewhere. It is not the acceptance of anything from an "authority" that makes us free; it is the Truth that does this. We should seek, therefore, to know all that can be known about truth.

"What is truth?" asked Pilate. The question is always pertinent. While truth is eternally the same, man's relation thereto is ever changing. Sometimes we live in a valley, wherein the objects that surround us seem very large; but when we begin to climb the mountain side they appear to grow smaller. As we continue to ascend, our view becomes enlarged, but the things in the valley have apparently dwindled away. So it is in life, wherein one change seems to necessitate

another. What seems true to us to-day may be untrue on the

morrow.

Many people believe that, if they arrive at a certain decision, "consistency" requires them steadfastly to maintain it. We can only hold to a thing until we get something better. When something larger comes into the life, the smaller thing must go out. Yet we find many people tenaciously adhering to old things while trying to lay hold on the new. They are trying to balance themselves between two conditions. They declare that, having derived benefit from the old in the past, they have no desire to abandon it; that, while they may get no good from it now, on account of its former usefulness it should not be set aside. Just as soon as anything becomes an impediment to one's growth, the obstacle should be removed; otherwise there can be no real development. It is only as we die to the things of the past and live to the things of the present that we enter to any degree into the fulness of life. We should not hamper our lives with traditions, but rather seek to make a new way for ourselves. It will be a living way if we put our real selves into it. Whatever we do, it will partake of our own life and power. The past may have helped us to reach a higher plane of thought and action, but if it does not assist us in the present it has outlived its usefulness. It can no longer be a part of ourselves.

We wish to adjust ourselves to life in the best possible way, and we try to do this with the least possible effort—often making serious mistakes. We think that it is our duty to satisfy, in some measure, the people of the world about us. But we cannot satisfy the world, no matter what position we take. Is it not better to live in the fulness of individual freedomin the fulness of our own power-than in a way that is apt to minify the life? Is it not better to live a great life than a little one? Which, think you, would eventuate in the ruling of our world?

Freedom is something that we have the power to choose.

A man may make his own life free if he only will. We may have the full freedom of life, but only in one way-through knowledge of the truth and conformity thereto. That way leads to peace. Coming into this freedom and peace, however, we all may sound notes of discord; but this seems necessary in the evolution of life. We should not be affected by what others say or think; yet we should heed the voice of God within our souls. If we are obedient to this, everything good and true will come into the life. If we are consciously disobedient we must accept the consequences of such disobedience. That which to a certain degree is demanded of one may be required to a much greater degree of another. We are all in different stages of development; no two have developed alike. All any one may be asked to do is to live up to his highest knowledge-his loftiest ideal of life. If he does this he is free, and if he refuses to do it he is in bondage.

Now, on the lower plane-in the valley-there are very few requirements; but these must be met. The law of that plane must be fulfilled. If we view life first from this physical plane, and consider its demands-that one must be temperate, kind, and considerate, to the extent of that plane's possibilities

-we shall bring about a state of mental poise and physical harmony. But the things required of a person living on the next higher plane, where people think and reason about life's problems, are more varied; there are here more things to think about. Such a person has entered into a higher knowledge of life, which brings with it added responsibilities; and these he cannot evade if he would be free. Freedom is essential to perfect development. Where there is not freedom there is no real growth. Many things are required of us on this higher plane-something greater than kindness, and something greater than temperance, as that term is commonly applied. It is the temperance of right thinking; i. e., to think kindly, and to form in mind true pictures of life.

When we come to the highest plane of development, the

spiritual, the requirements, we find, are vastly greater than those of the other two combined. Knowledge of life on the animal and mental planes is very partial. But we come to a clearer and higher knowledge in the realm of the spirit. We are required to know, first of all, in order to be free, that there is but one authority in the universe; that is, God, as expressed in the life of man. If one would speak out of the fulness of his own life he must always depend on this Authority. On the physical plane authority is required. There exists in most minds the worship of symbols, wherein formal religion got its first impetus. On the intellectual plane there is authority -that of personalities, who formulate dogmas for others to believe in. This may be legitimate on the purely mental plane, but on the spiritual plane there is only one Authority. We desire to be free spiritual beings. We wish to unfold to all that is in us; but we cannot unfold to our highest and best if we recognize any authority other than that of the divinity within. There is where the real freedom of life is to be found.

"But," says some one, "in doing this we will have to live in a way entirely different from the ways of the world—the ways of others." "If any man be in Christ," said one, "he is a new creature: old things are passed away." That is why all things have become new to the dweller on the spiritual plane, and why real authority is in man's own life. It is not something apart from man. So the new creature does not allow any other soul to dictate as to what he shall think or do. The voice of God in his own soul is his only criterion. There is no other source of leadership; and when one determines to be led by the spirit he comes into the only true freedom of life, remaining no longer in bondage to the customs and forms of the world, or to his own desires. The desire universal comes into his mind, and he realizes for the first time that he is one with all things, with all power, with all intelligence, and with all love and faith and hope. His whole life is immersed in this oneness. He no longer leads a personal life, but lives universally.