Infinite Traits in True Manhood

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. — 2 Corinthians iii. 17.

The Spirit of the Lord is Mind, — infinite, and therefore omni-present. Where He is, sin, sickness, sorrow, pain, and death can never come. He is everywhere; therefore the fundamental sin is, that we are looking at these seemings, and admitting them as realities in His presence, — virtually saying that discord exists in Him. By recognizing them as real, we put ourselves in bondage to that which seemeth to be, but is not; when to know the Truth about them, is to be freed from their giant grasp, as we are freed from the bondage of the ghost, by knowing its nothingness.

“Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” Our God-given birthright is liberty! Toward it, mankind and all things tend. Go where we will, and into whatsoever house we enter, — that of the tiniest plant or insect, or of man, — and we see written upon the face of all, in language full and clear, this one injunction, Be free!

Of all that God has made, we may not seek to fetter aught; for eternity is thereon inscribed, and progress must be everlasting. Concerning everything we see, and every statement made, there is the true and there is the false. The true is; but the false is not, and only seems to be.

From this seeming we may not strive to make ourselves free, but to know ourselves free. We need not strive to make ourselves better, but to know ourselves better, — not to make ourselves perfect, but to know ourselves perfect. We can not “add one cubit to our stature,” or make “one hair white or black.” To know ourselves perfect, we must perfectly know ourselves ; and to arrive at this, we must know perfectly our true origin. We can not of ourselves create anything, except (it may be) error, mortality, which cannot favor us, but must be against us, — because having no foundation in the Truth, for there is no Truth in it. This must fall, and reveal its nothingness, causing us to look away from ourselves to the true Source of all. The one creative Principle is Spirit, Mind, — the embodiment of all good.

We can not have evil unless we first have good; hence good must be the primal, and from the primal, all things must proceed. Since nothing but good can come from the Substance of all good, we must therefore be ” perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.” As we can not realize in ourselves the opposite of what we know ourselves to be, we must grow out of the false conception of ourselves, and into the realizing sense of our true being:

Out of the false, into the true;
Out of the old, into the new;

Out of the wrong, into the right;
Out of the darkness, into the light;

Out of the cloud, into the sun;
Out of the many, into the One;

Out of the impure, into the pure;
Out of the mutable, into the sure;

Out of the sickness, into the health;
Out of the poverty, into the wealth;

Out of the matter, into the Mind;
Out of the flesh, the Spirit to find;

Out of mortality, into God.
This is the way our Master trod.

We, the children of self-existent and eternal Life, are as primal as infinity, and as lasting as eternity. “Before Abraham was, I am.” We are children of Truth. In Truth we are free moral-agents, having absolute liberty; but in error we have nothing but disappointment and bondage, and this lesson we all must learn, either through acceptance of His loving-kindness, or by being driven by terrible experience, though in confusion and shame, to Truth at last.

We are the children of Love Divine; hence the desire of all, like their Parent-principle, to love and be loved. Love is active. ’T is “the fulfilling of the law.” He who is prompted by its unselfish nature, will never be idle. Love seeks no reward and fears no punishment. Its motives are fair and perfect, and will never yield to discouragement.

We are the children of Wisdom and Intelligence; hence the tendency and desire of all to be, and to be considered, intellectual and wise.

We are children of Omnipotence; hence our tendency is to become like Him, omnipotent. Leaning upon the Infinite for strength, and knowing whence and through what avenue it comes, we must grow into companionship with Jesus, our Elder Brother; who said: “All power is given unto me, both in Heaven and in earth.” We should fulfil also that other Scripture: “Nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Wisdom is Science, and all Science is divine. There is nothing that Science will not interpret. We, the children of Omniscience (omni-science), are indeed omniscient. “Nothing is hid that shall not be revealed.” “We shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known.” We are children of Omnipresence; hence the tendency is to grow and expand, until our influence, our character, our real selves, will be felt to earth’s remotest bound, — like Jesus Christ’s.

We are out on a boundless ocean. Infinity is the sea, Eternity is the haven, Life is the voyage, Principle is the ship, Spirit the sail, Truth the compass; and with the gentle breath of Love wafting our vessel onward, and Wisdom at the helm, we may not swerve to the right hand nor to the left, but press steadily forward in the way of Truth’s appointing, knowing, even though it be at the fourth watch of the night, that we shall hear His voice saying to us: “It is I, be not afraid.” The waves will be stilled, the adverse winds be calmed, and immediately we shall be in port.

Representing, as we do, Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence, let us not be content with gathering up the dew upon the grass, — so inconstant and impure, at best; but let us rather dig down to the clear running water, and drink deeper draughts of the celestial fount, that “shall be in us a well of water, springing up unto everlasting Life.”