Daily Angels

Volume I

by Max Dunaway




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Copyright 1971 Max Dunaway



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TO GOD
WITH GRATITUDE
FOR EVERY ANGEL THOUGHT
THAT HAS BLESSED ME ON MY WAY
AND MAY NOW BE HELPFUL TO OTHERS TOO




Table of Contents




Page 1


DAILY ANGELS


1

God sends us angels every day
To comfort us along our way,
To touch our lives with greater worth,
And bring a breath of heaven to earth.


2

Today God whispered this:
“Be grateful for your place;
Though small your talent seems,
It is stamped with My own grace.”

“See that, wherever you are,
You still show forth My name.
The sun sheds forth its light;
A candle does the same.”


3

Did you fall, my poor heart, did you fail to assert
Your God-given dominion over things of the earth?
Be not cast down nor sleep in sorrow,
Nor wait until a fairer morrow
To declare, in God’s name, your invincible worth.


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“What is the chaff to the wheat?” have you not heard God say?
Or a curtain of sense that will vanish away?
Your Father’s love has never failed;
His perfect child has never ailed.
Then awake from your dreams and behold the new day.


4

For faith that good is all that we shall know,
For hope that triumphs over every woe,
For love of God that will not let us go,
We pray, O Lord, a prayer of thanks.

In faith that is our true, our certain sight,
In hope that glows to make the path more bright,
In love that brings to all God’s healing light,
So may we live our prayer of thanks.


5

O thank You, perfect Love, today,
That we can walk Your happy way,
That all this boundless universe
Is Love-controlled, and nothing diverse
Can add a whit or take away.


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Then why should man, Your child and heir,
Let himself fret and feel despair?
No need for him to strive at length
For life and joy and health and strength,
Since good is here and everywhere.


6

Strange things, I used to think, if God indeed
Can heal a man of sickness or of sin,
Can soothe the heart that knows no peace within,
Fill it with joy, and meet man’s every need.

Strange things, until I found they all were true,
And all my burdens, that for long did seem
Immense, have vanished as a dream.
Now I believe. What cannot our God do?


7

When I feel doubtful of the way,
Dear God, I look to You
And know that I can always say
Where I am You are too.

So my way then must be Your own,
Harmonious and fair.
Nor do I need to walk alone;
Already You are there.



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8

It seems, when mortal sense declares I fell,
To say that I did not would be untrue;
When all the sin and misery of hell
Claim to obscure all of the good I knew.

And yet I know that mortal evidence
Can never separate my God from me.
My Father keeps His child in innocence,
And holds him pure and good eternally.


9

Of all God’s attributes so dear to me
This one I love: immutability;
That quality of steadfast permanence
That knows no dreams of erring mortal sense.

And man is held within this changeless grace,
Not left, as waves upon the ocean’s face,
To rise and fall in storms that seldom cease,
But constant in his Father’s perfect peace.


10

When error says that I must see
How many things are wrong with me,
I go to God in silent prayer
And shut the door to error there,
Then meditate thus quietly.


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I know that nothing can assess
My life save Him whom I express;
And this is Spirit, pure and fair,
Declaring good is everywhere.
Then error fades to nothingness.


11

Dear Lord, how glad I am that Your command
Is never satisfied until obeyed;
Your love too great to take a less firm stand
And let man break the laws that You have made.

But as a loving father rules his son
That work be well performed, demands You make.
The right way then becomes the natural one,
And man then seeks no other course to take.


12

“And he shall lift you up.” What hope, dear Lord!
What joy for him who knows not how to do
Nor where to turn until he seeks Your word,
And find its every promise richly true!

When men have fought for right, yet still they fall,
Have drained the lees of mortals’ bitter cup,
And then are healed and know that You are all,
O, then it is that they are lifted up.



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13

If You were any but a God of Love,
Dear Father, man might well bewildered be,
Not knowing where he goes, nor yet whereof
He came, lost in a mortal mystery.

Yet because God is Love, man must be known
As more than wanderer in paths unreal;
And Love must hold within itself its own,
And be their purpose, cause, and high ideal.


14

If line were drawn from point to point,
Dear Lord, it could not be more straight
Than is the line You designate
For him to walk whom You anoint.

And man can know no peace until
He takes the path wherein You guide,
His human planning put aside,
Forsaking all to do Your will.


15

How natural a quality is good,
So infinite God’s law of brotherhood!
The smile appears with much more ease
Than does the frown; and men may please
Themselves most pleasing others, if they would.


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And how the heart goes out in its accord
Unto a suffering brother, and the sword
Of strife is sheathed as men agree
Against war’s great futility,
And men and nations praise You, gracious Lord.


16

How conceptions are changed, gracious Father, when we
Put aside old beliefs and learn how to be free!
Where we served the desire for much money and fame
We have found our true wealth in reflecting Your name.

We have learned that no honors by mortals conferred
Can compare with the bliss of obeying Your word,
And that meekness and purity and unselfed love
Here and now translate man into heaven above.


17

Sometimes I find unlovely thoughts
Attempt to trouble me; pretending, too,
That they are mine because I once
Allowed myself to think that they were true.

But then I know that never yet
Has ought occurred save that which God controlled.
The past and future are the now;
God’s grace must all eternity enfold.



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18

I marvel at the constant boundless joy
That on undoubting trust in God is stayed;
The joy that cannot be dismayed
At error’s claims, nor feel afraid
But knows God’s laws alone must be obeyed.

The joy that says to evil’s every wrong:
“I know that you are unreality,
For God is here and all to me.
And I can neither feel nor see
What you declare.” Such joy is victory.


19

Not our strength, Lord, but Yours shall base our hope
For triumph over every ill.
And we know, too, we need not blindly grope
To find Your peace and learn Your will.

You have not spoken in a mystery,
Nor asked of man too much to do.
You give us infinite ability;
You give the knowledge of it too.


20

O mighty Love, what is Your power
That all the world can clamor long,
But man within a single hour
Can find You right and evil wrong?


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Then earth’s mad calls and shoutings cease,
Awed by Your silent, holy calm;
And transformed thought, in quiet peace,
Admits the healing of Your balm.


21

Dear Lord, when thought has fallen low
Until, at last, repelled by all its woe,
It looks to You and finds You close beside,
What can describe the raptured heart
That finds itself is not apart
From You at all? For it can never hide
From All-in-all, but you somehow
Are present with it even now.
How thought ascends Your mercy to behold!
And yet how else could You redeem
Poor mortals from their earthly dream?
Nothing short of love could bring men to Your fold.


22

O Father, if I did not know so well
Your love for man remains unchanged and true,
Then should I feel consigned to death and hell,
Condemned alike both by myself and You.


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But I can gain a deeper, purer sense
Until I see myself as by Your sight
And feel the peace of Your omnipotence,
Incapable of being less than right.


23

I thank You, Father, for the man
That You alone have made.
Not some poor sinning mortal sham,
Both sick and much afraid.

But man unblemished and complete,
Harmonious and free.
The only man Your sight can meet
— My fellow man and me.


24

Sometimes there seems so much to do,
And moments for it all so few,
That I must hurry ceaselessly.
And then I sit right down and know
That I need neither come nor go
To do the work God gives to me.


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My Father’s business demands
Nothing that depends on human hands;
But ordered harmony He brings
Into His plan, and time and space
Mean not a thing and have no place
In His unhurried scheme of things.


25

O Love, if You were less than infinite,
If You but varied just a little bit,
There might then be some reason to admit

As real every little mental pest
That whispers subtly and would thus infest
Our thought and dull the brightness of life’s zest.

But how can there be room for such as these
Within the glory of Your harmonies?
No place is made for wanton vagaries.

And more than this, man’s thought must come from Mind,
And therein nothing that defiles we find.
For good, and good alone, is man designed.


26

How glad we are, dear Lord, to recognize
Your children are alike before Your eyes.
One is not meant to be derision’s jest,
Another one exalted over the rest.


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Not one is mean, nor of himself is great.
Each one deserves not more nor less estate
Than Your own son, upright, eternal, free,
At one with You in perfect unity.


27

It is Your fullness, Lord, that we adore,
Knowing You are all, and there is nothing more.
The fullness of Your liberty
Which, even while it sets us free,
It yet requires of us more than before.

The fullness of Your constant harmonies,
Unmarred by any inconsistencies,
The fullness of Your peace and power
And joy that fills each fruitful hour.
Full, too, the thought that these Your wonders sees.


28

There is a will, dear Lord, but it is Yours, not mine.
Nor do I seek my own, I know that Yours alone
Can lead away from self and sense to things divine;
But rather let me find my strength in being meek
And silence mortal will until its voice is still,
And I can hear none but Your own forever speak.



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29

O everlasting Love, how much it means
That these Your children have their work to do,
That each one has his separate niche to fill
Where he is blest and is a blessing too.

How wonderful that all are loved alike
In tenderness that evermore endures,
And each deserves the other’s kind respect,
Since all of them are worthy sons of Yours.


30

O we are children of one Father-Mother;
Put here to help and heal, to love and bless.
Then let us not be judging one another;
God is not pleased with our self-righteousness.

He loves our friendly smiles and happy laughter,
And joy that withholds not itself apart.
And we ourselves do best by seeking after
What God is holding nearest to His heart.


31

True love has such perception that it sees
Beyond the finite forms and falsities
Into the truth behind;
Love feels no hurt when wronged; knows no offence,
Because it understands the lies of sense
Are not the facts of Mind.


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And true love reaches out to meet the heart
Of friend or foe; for love will not impart
An unkind word or thought.
Foes become friends; friends worship at its shrine
And differing beliefs in one combine.
What wonders love has wrought!


32

This is the life, dear Lord, we love:
The one which holds itself above
Supposititious matter laws.
That does not let itself be ill
Because we know too well God’s will
Includes no ill nor gives it cause;

That will not yield to tempting sin,
But feels such love for God within
As cleaves sins spell with Spirit’s sword;
That knows that death can never be,
For You are Life eternally.
This is the life we love, dear Lord.


33

O Love, we know we do not dwell
Within this changing matter realm,
Where wrong and right alike impel
One’s ways, and woes can overwhelm.


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Not in the body but in Mind
We live, and You are Mind alone.
The trials of flesh can never blind
Us to this truth: we are Your own.


34

O thank You, Father, for Your government
Of peace and love, of health and harmony;
Where each one’s boundless good does not prevent
Another’s, and there is no inequity.

Disorder, crime, and chaos have no place
Within Your infinite and perfect reign.
And man always reflects Your perfect grace,
The heir of good, forever to remain.


35

O satisfying Love, You so fill me
Like some all-penetrating element
That reaches to inmost impiety
And crowds away what is not innocent.

And still do You pour forth till heart overflows
With love which finds its joy in lifting men,
Then seeps into another place of woes,
Its healing process to begin again.



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36

O Father, though it seems sometimes I fall
Into the depths of sense where dreams appall
Yet still my heart pours forth its song;
For I can see You yet on every hand
And know if I will only understand
I cannot stay depressed for long.

O there is far too much of good about
For me to withhold joy; I cannot pout,
Self-sorrowing in listlessness,
But rather let me sing Your praises more
For panoramic good that spreads before
My sight, and grateful joy express.


37

Sometimes error whispers this to me:
See, did you not fail today? how then
Will you talk of a God who delivers men?
Are not you held in captivity?
Now where is this God that makes men free?

Then I raise my eyes, and thought expands
To behold Your glories, Lord, immense
Beyond all conceived by mortal sense.
O where are captivity’s cold bands?
Gone before the joy Your love demands.



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38

O how I thank You, Father-Mother Love,
That You have not one love for me, another
For my fellow man; but rather is my brother
Held in that good wherein I live and move.

No God of whims and fancies we serve now;
Your love enfolds the least in true relation.
And well may we, in like consideration,
No thought of inequality allow.


39

O Lord, I see so much of You on every hand:
The springing grass, the bird songs sweet,
And children whose fresh faces greet
Your sunny skies. Are not all these, things You have planned?

Do they not show a joyous proof of tender care?
And when I see love manifest
By fellow men, so all are blest,
O Father, then I know that You are everywhere.


40

I have a mental opposite
For every physical belief,
Rejecting discord as unfit,
An antidote for any grief.


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When ought seems wrong I look to God
And find but harmony profound.
And deeper yet than eyes can see
His presence hovers all around.


41

O Love, my thought shall not be made to bear
The burden of all things not understood.
I need not know the how and when and where,
For You are God and altogether good.

My every answer is in perfect Mind,
Complete and sure and satisfactory.
I need but lift my thought to it and find
The present steps where You are leading me.


42

What wonders are performed at Your behest,
O Lord. The weary heart that knew no rest
Loses its load, hearing your harmony.
The sick who languish as a blighted flower
Are raised from couch of pain to strength and power,
Renewed by sunshine of divinity.

And they whose lives appeared a blotch of sin
Are purified; their hearts made clean within,
Healed by the chastening of Your loving rod.
And death itself is defied so fearlessly
The grave can lay no claim to victory.
The victor: who imputes all power to God.



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43

O Love, what comfort has the heart that knows
You for the peace and power and joy it should.
Unharried by all evil thought, it goes
Forth in perpetual confidence of good.

A Father-Mother God who understands
His children’s needs and leaves them not unfilled,
Who holds their daily lives in His own hands.
Upon what greater trust can mankind build?


44

Yes, we can hear God speak, if inner ears
Are listening for His still, small voice.
When we have silenced sense, then He appears
With thoughts that make our lives rejoice.

Not by a word made audible with sound
Do we discern the voice divine,
But in a holy presence all around
That whispers to your heart and mine.


45

Dear Lord, one blessing I shall not overlook:
The certainty of Your correcting rod.
If You chastened not when errant course I took,
Then You must be less than a loving God.


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But rather let me know that if I stray,
Your love will discipline me till I do right.
I would not seek to have my willful way,
When doing so would dim for me Your light.


46

Dear Lord, if mankind had not You, what would they do?
No higher sense of right than selfhood to pursue,
No destiny except their own misguided aims,
Mere helpless thralls to every one of matter’s claims.

But You lift mankind up to pure reality,
To see that good is power and nothing else can be.
You clean their hearts of dross and give their lives a goal,
Then shunt their soulless sense and send a sense of Soul.


47

O Love, the contact man can have with good
Fills grateful hearts with such infinitude
Of joy, all else becomes as nought;
For restless, worried sense is quickly hushed,
And querulous lament and doubt are crushed
Beneath the joy that leaps to thought.

Where, in such consciousness, can wrong obtain?
All mortal woes and lack and sin and pain
Are swallowed up in Your deep grace.
And man, thus lifted up, then knows the bliss
Of heaven here and now; knows, too, that this
Alone is his abiding place.



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48

Dear God, when someone says, “Do you not sense
That this thing may befall or that one chance?”
Inside I laugh in joyous confidence;
I know You govern every circumstance.

What can occur, except as You direct?
What can it do, save manifest Your laws?
How can I doubt or something ill expect?
When You are good, the one and only cause?


49

Dear Lord, a holy connection have I
With You — union inviolate, whereby
I am established in Your purity.
Sin’s calls are vain, however they may crowd.
In vain they tug upon this matter shroud,
The product of their own false imagery.

This very veil of sense on which sin strains
Must part, until immortal man remains,
Emblazoned with the light of God’s own grace;
And evil, blinded by the awesome sight,
Will disappear, extinguished by the light,
And so be seen to have no truth nor place.



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50

Ah, yes, dear Lord, I do have ears,
And I can hear with them full well.
But this I know, that they shall not attend
To specious pleas which sinful lust may send
That man may know corruption’s hell.

But rather this: they shall be used
To hearken to Your angel thought;
Not mere organs of false material sense,
But that which hears and heeds intelligence.
O let these ears be Spirit taught!


51

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
Like David I would know no fraud.
Then let me make my mental home
Fit dwelling place for thoughts that come
From You, dismantle cobwebbed smutch,
Refurbish all with Spirit’s touch;

Let no unnoticed crannies hide
A cherished wrong, but sweep aside
What would obscure Your radiancy,
Till this home shines with purity.
Then let me keep it spotless, bright,
Reflecting well Your perfect light.



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52

Perhaps if all that mortal sense declares
Were true, well might man magnify his cares
And crowd his sorrows into one great heap.
But knowing with what lies the senses deal,
And recognizing good alone as real,
What profit do we have to sit and weep?

Such evil dreams we can at once reject;
Our attitude determines their effect;
Then let us minimize them thoroughly.
And let us lift our thoughts to that pure place
Where joyous good flows out from God’s rich grace,
Submerging all beneath its buoyancy.


53

When error says of mortal things,
“Would not this be pleasant to know
Just for a while: then you could go
Back to those joys that Spirit brings?”

I know that God knows what I am,
That He supplies all that is best
That I should have, and all the rest
Is left unto its mortal sham.



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54

How we do imagine things! We bind ourselves
With thongs of doubt and fear and trustlessness
Until the operation of life’s laws
Would seem disordered and without a cause,
And wrong beyond all power to repress.

It is not so. This universe is God’s;
We are the children of His constant care.
In ordered harmony, each movement made
Reflects the fullness of Life unafraid.
Let us release these burdens that we bear.


55

I thank You, Father, that I know
I need not yield to what sense may implore;
It matters not I have done so before.
I can resist till errors go.

No time need pass that I be strong;
Clearer perception will bring a quickened sense,
A fuller trust in God’s omnipotence
That leaves no room for failure’s wrong.


56

How well man fares at Your good hand! You give to him
Eternal love, omniscient truth, and deathless life,
The ceaseless glory of a light that grows not dim,
The harmony of Soul that stills all mortal strife.


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Then should we not, dear Lord, give thanks in large amount?
We need not wait till we have proven all these things;
Let us sing praises as your upward stairs we mount,
A sweeter note for higher joy that each step brings.


57

Dear Lord, this universe that You have made
Is ordered — from the stars to smallest blade
Of grass. The rhythm of infinity
But echoes with Your holy harmony,

Too perfect for discordant element.
All things reveal the glories You have sent;
And man, Your child, can only recognize
Limitless good, with nothing otherwise.


58

O wistful heart, no longer wonder
When strife will end and you will reach your goal,
When evil will have ceased to thunder.
This very day you fight the fight of Soul.

Will you sit thus your troubles rueing?
Awake! Behold the truth that makes you free.
This moment is for sin’s undoing.
Arise and seize your opportunity.



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59

Dear Lord, how can I say that I may fail,
My strength may not sufficient be?
When of myself I have no power to do
A single thing. This much I know is true:
I but reflect what You give me.


60

O Love, so many times when evil would appear,
Dilated thought has magnified it with its fear
Until my apprehension gave to it such force
That it would overpower and leave me to remorse.

But I am learning much, and now I realize
I need not feel so terrorized by evil’s lies.
For error, seen as nothingness, must Truth admit.
I master evil when I master thought of it.


61

O I am grateful for Your healing truth, dear Lord,
That frees poor mortal man from every enslaving cord
At which he strains so helplessly.
This mesh of false belief, all seen and heard and felt,
Needs only Your dissolving touch to make it melt
Into its unreality.


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Why do we seek to change that which does not exist?
Why do we claim as real that which we must resist,
Defeating thus our own release?
But all at last must turn to You, their thought correct,
And finding You as perfect cause of all effect,
Open their eyes to present peace.


62

Dear Lord, we need not scan with anxious eye
This universe of Yours, and wonder why
Misfortune seems to wait on every hand;
But we can raise our thoughts and understand

That we look out upon a world divine
Created and controlled at Your design;
For we are born to joyous liberty
That proves each day You made man to be free.


63

So many hours, Love, I have spent in doubt
With longing for Your grace and yet without
An understanding how to be devout.
But now the way is revealed, and even though
There is so much that I have yet to know,
I see at last the certain way to go.


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It is the Spirit-way that I must take,
These feeble mortal fables all forsake,
And to realities of Soul awake.
It is the way of Love, unselfish, pure,
Whose purifying trials I must endure.
This is the way of grace, of peace, of cure.


64

Life’s lessons leave us with this thought:
That man is much by sorrow taught;
When wisdom’s higher ways he spurns,
He heeds affliction — then he learns.


65

O Love, Your strict demand deserves my praise.
I would not have it otherwise than this
That compels me to leave my worldly ways
To humbly touch Your hand and know the bliss
Of serving You and all mankind.
O let me know the fiery crucible
Until the slag of sense is gone from me.
I would not be such stuff as still is full
Of dross, but let me purer metal be;
As gold, when it has been refined.



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66

Dear Lord, I find no reason to lament,
Though sense will say that I have fallen low.
Already for the sin do I repent
And seek a higher course than this to go.

But I cannot sit here in weeping long;
The path to You before me still appears.
Let me pursue Your fullness with a song:
I cannot see You better for my tears.


67

Love, why should I admit that Your control has ceased
And man is but a helpless bit of wreckage, flung
Upon a sea of mortal chance and change released,
Between uncertain hope and fear, existence-wrung?

No, this would not improve my lot; but let me rise
In Your own strength amid the roar of sense and know
Your laws are still supreme, all else but weakling lies,
Then stand upon this truth until I prove it so.


68

Dear Lord, I thank You that I never knew
Success in error’s ways,
That all its woes and trials could ever do
Was turn me to Your praise.


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What had I then in that I know no more?
A dream of emptiness,
Whose very failures were but as a door
To joys I now possess.

I never knew real life or truth or love
Until I came to You
And found that all the joy in heaven above
Is here, already true.


69

Too long, dear Lord, have I protested
Against this barrier that bars my way.
Too long has flesh with soul contested.
Let me surmount the obstacle today.

Let me now cease my plaintive sighing
And do the work that You have set for me;
Make of this thing, with wholesome trying,
A precious proof of Your supremacy.


70

Progress? Yes, it’s true that which I sought
Is not yet seen, yet progress still has come.
Listen to these witnesses: My thought
Make more unselfed and true, made freer from
Selfish sense and woes that it has brought.


Page 31


Love for fellow man that makes me kind
Unto the least of these, God’s little ones;
Yearning for God’s things, till Soul shall bind
Beliefs of sense and Spirit overruns
All worldliness with thoughts from perfect Mind;

Discipline, till self God’s will obeys;
Humility to quiet foolish pride;
Such a trust as turns lament to praise,
For good it knows forever will abide.
Progress? Yes, in a thousand joyous ways.


71

Such a behest, O Love, as this You place
Upon Your man, that he may grow in grace
Unto the stature of the perfect one;
That he may face in understanding zeal
Unlovely elements that claim to steal
His rightful heritage as Your own son.

Though grim the battle often seems, and long,
Yet he may know its fierceness makes him strong,
The using of his weapons keeps them bright.
And yielding not, he gains the victory;
Then thanks You for the opportunity
To know and live and be and do the right.



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72

Dear Lord, Your man is more than half a man —
Now capable of much, now weakly falling.
He is not one time conscious of Your plan
Another, filled with evil thoughts appalling.

But man is whole, beloved, and complete.
He is maintained, in holy, righteous living.
His consciousness is clean and pure, replete
With all the loveliness of Your rich giving.

Then may we every erring claim divest
Of arguments against our God’s reflection.
That which expresses All must manifest
The fullness of its infinite perfection.


73

O Love, how like a little child
Is man upon the course that makes him free.
He totters on, fearful of wild,
Unreal beliefs, pressed and beguiled,
Confounded by his very imagery.

Yet how much easier the way
If he but knew his Father’s constant care
Directs his steps, nor lets him stray
Apart from good, until the day
He finds Love’s arms outstretched to help him there.



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74

Once I thought that I must bitterly
Strive against all evil’s ways of wrath.
I held myself in tensed expectancy
Of whatever ill might cross my path.

But a better way does Love reveal
Wherein good is more and evil less.
Evil becomes impotent and unreal
And disappears into its nothingness.


75

What do I thank you for? Dear Lord, there are so many things;
The wonder and the goodness which each step toward You brings.
And yet if any is more with Your graciousness endued,
This one above the rest fills me with humble gratitude:

That, from a heart that overflows with all Your precious gifts,
I shared with needy fellow man Your healing truth that lifts
Both him and me into a holy consciousness of peace,
Where we can see Your infinite bestowals still increase.



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76

Help me, O Lord, that I more fitly bear
My cross, that I yield not to sad despair
And lay it down when overwhelmed with care.
I would not merely stand it by my side,
Acknowledge it as mine, then seek to hide
From carrying it forth, that I be tried.
Nor would I pray the load might lighter be,
But bear the one I have more faithfully
Till worthy in a greater capacity.
Help me, O Lord, to bear my cross aright,
Till it grows light and to my quickened sight
Becomes a crown of Your own glories bright.


77

Father, may these prayers of mine
Be more than words made insincere
By heart that seeks not things divine
But its own things, and holds them dear.

Let me pray, but silently,
With holy and unselfed desire,
Working till I come to see
The things to which I thus aspire.



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78

I cannot see You, Lord, I know,
When I am sunk in shame and woe;
But neither can those things seem true
When all my thought is stayed on You.

I cannot sing a joyous song
With my heart steeped in mortal wrong;
No more can evil find me when
I go to You in hymns again.

Where shall I look? What shall I see?
Your face in joy, or woefully
Regard my cares? O let me find
My life in You, all-perfect Mind.


79

Dear Lord, let me be slow to speak a thought
Until I know that it is Yours, not mine.
Let self be still till consciousness is brought
To oneness with intelligence divine.

No false decisions made shall I then find,
No paths pursued that tend to lead astray,
When meek enough to know that You are Mind
And You, not I, decide my every way.



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80

Often, it’s true, we may not seem to gain
Enough to note, as on the way we plod,
And we might think our efforts all were vain
And that we know no fuller sense of God.
But when we rise above some old belief
That in times past had caused us agony
And find it can no longer give us grief,
We know that we are nearer being free;
The old landmarks have faded from our view.
Past former fears and desires we have moved.
The old concepts have given place to new,
And we progress with each one thus improved.


81

Once we prayed, dear Lord, to know how much
Of Your good we might share.
But now our eyes are opened by Your touch
To see good everywhere.

No more we ask how much of good You give,
But how much we accept,
How much shall we discard false things and live
By Your own goodness kept.

We see You now as giving everything;
May we have grace to see
Ourselves reflecting all the good You bring
Throughout infinity.



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82

Dear Lord, we love Your saints who faithfully stood
Throughout all evil’s claims and proved that good
Alone is power and Love supreme.
We love them, Lord, yet we know they would not
Have us regard their works only in thought
And do more than of them dream.

But they admonish us to do likewise,
To drink their cup, to bear their cross, and rise
Above all carnal thought, as they.
Thus may our works show how, much we admire
Their lives; so may we labor and aspire
To follow in their godly way.


83

We need not stand in doubt and fright
And wonder if we dare to cast aside
The whispered cautions mortal sense has cried,
And do the thing we know is right.

Let not expedience decide.
If good, the work is God’s and cannot fail;
Supported by His law it must prevail.
Then let Him be our only guide.



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84

Dear Lord, may we possess this life we live,
Make it a thing of freedom, positive
In good, quick to reject all falsity.
May we transcendent Spirit’s vigor know,
Rejoice in all we do, wherever we go,
Always aware of good’s supremacy.

Let us not live in mournful minor strain,
Immersed in matter’s morbid, dull refrain
That makes of life less of a song than dirge.
But let our lives be of more joyous note
That high above all mundane things shall float
And to the very gates of heaven surge.


85

One lesson I have learned, dear God of grace;
It banishes all doubt that I may face.
So often proved, I know it cannot fail;
It triumphs over all that would assail.
It is this: when I am doubtful if the good
Will reign, or feel Truth is not understood
Sufficiently, this is my remedy:


Page 39


I turn from self in deep humility
And look to You in reverent awe and praise;
Then know that nothing circumvents Your ways.
Your laws supreme do not depend on me
They operate all independently
Of anything that I can feel or see.
Good must ensue; it is now reality.


86

Shall I let one unhealed and fleshly thorn
Retard my thanks to God and so make me
Unhappily bewail that breaking morn
Is not as bright as noonday sun shall be?

Already good encompasses my lot;
Let me rejoice till joy shall overrun
The place where mortal sense says good is not,
Accomplish that which it sees yet undone.

Dear Lord, these lingering beliefs must fade
Before the brighter glory of Your ways.
May I give thanks that You have never made
Such dreams, and sweep them out before Your praise.


87

I thank you, Love, for every step along the way,
Not only those upon the mountain’s crest,
But those within the vale as well;
Both bring that love wherein You dwell,
And I am grateful, knowing each is blest.


Page 40


I love your gracious sunshine, Lord. Its living beams
Delight my soul. But I fear not the night.
The day and night as one shall be
While your sure hand is guiding me,
Until I see no night, but all is light.


88

Lord, may I not forget that I have been helped much
By blessings I resisted, not knowing them as such,
And I have gained far more by these
Than had I lived in idle ease
A life that never knew a thing of hardship’s touch.


89

Dear Lord, may I appreciate
The work that You have set for me.
May I not underestimate
The humble task, but let me see
It leads to things by far more great,
If gladly done, as it should be.

And when I meet the higher task
Let my manner not deviate.
Still for humility I ask
To walk within a path made straight,
Still for the courage to unmask
Wrongs that pretend to man’s estate.


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Let me rejoice to do my work
In thoroughness and with a zest,
Dispelling all desire to shirk;
Give to each task the very best
I have, and know it cannot irk,
For doing what I love is rest.


90

We know, of course, that we would not compute a sum
By a review of all the errors that might come.
We would not try to play a lovely melody,
Yet listen for discord to mar its harmony.
Nor would we seek to find the sun’s glad rays of light
Within the shadow’s gloom or darkness of the night.
They why should we allow ourselves to meditate
Upon infirmities and errors, small and great?
But rather let out thought on Principle be stayed
And see the order of perfection God has made.


91

When truth appears it stands alone
With only God beside;
To worldly sophistry unknown,
Reviled by scornful pride.


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But soon or late some faithful few
Come to defend its cause,
And they are joined by others, too,
Who seek its higher laws.

Until at last a multitude
Shall bless truth’s holy name,
And lift their thoughts in gratitude
To God from whence it came.


92

Let us be careful that we weigh
The laws of life which we obey,
See whence they come and where they trend
And what must be their final end,
Discern their purpose, values, and their sense;
See if they be but man-made laws
Without a principle or cause,
Without a power or a will
Except the fear that they instill
In those who know not yet their impotence.


93

What, of all things, is it that treads its fearless way
In utter certainty of that which it believes,
Unmindful of the things that men and nations say,
All undisturbed by the reception it -receives?


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What, indeed, but Truth, immortal and divine;
Maligned, misunderstood, but never overthrown.
Unwavering, it carries forth God’s own design;
Is guided on by Him till its import is known.

Would we know this freedom, unharried, unconfined?
Then we must place ourselves with Truth and live aright.
Let every thought and action be with it aligned,
And stand steadfastly in its penetrating light.


94

What do we worship as our God? Some warlike deity,
Past, or present, or yet to come? Some mortal entity
Bodily in nature as in form?
Can this be God? Can such as this comprise infinity?
A limited being, yet with unlimited things to be,
From life-giver to master of the storm?

Or do we worship the unchanging Principle of Love,
Who orders all the universe in harmony, above
All thought of wail or woe, of fear of fall?
This is that Holy One, and all existence He creates,
The protector and sustainer of that which emanates
From Him, the Mind divine, the All-in-all.



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95

So much we may believe — theories, dogma, philosophies,
Admonition, exhortation, criticism, praise —
A hundred different views of all; conflict in each of these.
How shall we know the right from wrong
In this bewildering maze?

Not within this battle of a thousand different wills,
But in one still small voice that whispers to us silently,
In this alone is that which heals poor mankind’s many ills
And soothes its troubled thoughts and fears
With heaven’s harmony.


96

It is well that men should guard so zealously
The rights of freedom they have won,
Be watchful to preserve their liberty
As their fathers before have done,
Who overthrew harsh tyrants to be free,
Equal with all, servants to none.

But let us see that tyrants of the mind
Do not enslave us even more
With ignorance and fear, the cords that bind
Us in worse thralldom than before.
Then let us seek God’s truth wherein we find
The liberty that we adore.



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97

When I have prayed in sincere mind,
And yet it seems my prayer unanswered goes,
I look within myself to find
What hides from me the light that Spirit throws.

Have I implanted all my lot
Upon Truth’s side, forsaken mortal things?
Or do I yet hold in my thought
The dream of sense that to the carnal clings?

For God demands our whole desire,
No other yearnings, no hypocrisy.
Our lives must burn an inward fire
Consuming all in Spirit’s purity.


98

“O Lord,” I cried, “How long till I shall cease
To be abused by evil as a crouching slave?”
And indignation robbed me of my peace,
Yet evil faded not; its threat seemed none less grave.

And then I turned and saw my brother’s need
And helped him with his load till on his way he sped,
And thanking God for just so small a deed,
I turned again to find the evil sense had fled.



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99

How we batter ourselves against Life’s laws!
Insistent that we have our willful way,
Regarding nothing higher to obey
Than our desires, heedless of what they cause;

Until at last, worn out with trials inept,
We wait on God, chastened and purified,
Then see all good for which we vainly tried
Is given by Him, and we need but accept.


100

What is failure, Lord, but lack of trustingly
Continuing to carry on until we see
Your way is all success, now and eternally!
A thousand times, dear God, that I have fallen low,
A weakling sunk in shame and degradation’s woe
With only You for help, none other place to go.
All this has come; yet failure I have never known,
Nor ever shall, for I know You are God alone,
All that can hold, all that can ever be my own.
I cannot fear, dear God, Your love remains, and will;
And it upholds me yet in all my woes, until
I see that You are all, and sinning sense is still.



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101

Economy must we bring to
The paying of our reverence,
Give more to God to whom it is due
And less to shamming mortal sense.

O how can we do better than
To follow him who wisely spent
For Spirit and its perfect man
Above the non-intelligent?

To God all honor, he ascribed,
But none to worldly things was shown.
Let us, like him, in Truth abide,
Obeisant to the good alone.


102

How the parade of mortal things goes past
Upon the stage that to erring sense appears!
A drab display of earthly hopes and fears,
With never satisfaction gained at last.

O there are nobler views than these to see,
And we should rouse ourselves from wasteful dreams
To see the glory that from God’s hand streams
In Life’s grand drama of reality.



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103

God means man to be free; we are not born
To earthly fetters with a hope forlorn,
All life a chance and heaven afar.
We are free born, the sons of the Most High,
Made not to sin, to suffer, and to die,
Forced to fight against what we are.

Then let us intelligently analyze
All things that whisper to us otherwise,
And see the error of their claim;
Then, since it be not of God’s holy power,
Reject its falsity in this same hour
And henceforth manifest His name.


104

These body ills that claim to be so feared
Are not as utter strangers to me brought;
I knew them once, before they had appeared,
When I allowed some error in my thought.

But just as I have let these errors in
Through thought, through thought likewise I shut them out,
And entertain the good; and so begin
To see the all-harmonious brought about.



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105

Man’s course is forward; he moves ever toward his goal,
Not driven by ill fates, not forth and backward bent.
He goes sublimely on in certainty of Soul,
Unmoved by any chance or undesired event.

Like some great stream whose surface eddies never rest,
Yet cannot halt nor change the never-ceasing flow;
Down deep below all this is calm within its breast
And utter certainty what way its course will go.


106

O when we read some wonder of a bygone day
Wherein our God has come to meet man’s need,
Why do we think these things are past and far away,
Valueless now, save as a tale to read?

These wondrous proofs of God’s availability
Should lift our lives to seek His healing touch,
For He is just as near today as then, and we
Can prove His loving presence just as much.


107

The little steps are necessary too;
It is through them we learn to take the great.
We do not leap from error to the true;
It needs the constant effort’s steady rate.


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Help us, dear Lord, to be patient and see
Each timely step takes us from where we stood
On up in ways that lead to victory,
Then wait on You to compass all in good.


108

Straight sails the ocean liner for its port;
It takes no circuitous course of ease.
Its sharp prow cleaves the waves as they disport
And slices onward through the troubled seas.

May I, like it, hold truly to my goal;
Like it, not for the storm’s subsiding wait.
I ask not that my course be smooth to Soul,
Nor easily taken — just that it be straight.


109

O Lord, we always know the way to go
Whenever pressed by mortal sense.
Love is the way; before it every woe
Must yield to Your omnipotence.

More love, more pure affection, and more grace,
How these will clear the atmosphere
Of fear and suffering, and in their place
Bring peace of Your all-presence here.



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110

Dear Lord, when some unyielding claim of pain,
Makes me struggle, apparently in vain,
Until distress looms large and would appall;
Then let me not with it be so concerned
That I neglect that which must first be learned:
The consciousness of You as All-in-all.

Let me remember that I truly seek
Not for relief from flesh found strangely weak,
But just for unselfed love and purity.
Let me be sure that all my heart’s desire
Be to reflect Your name, and I aspire
Only that I shall Your reflection be.


111

Why do these storms of strife appear to blow
So we are driven from, our ease to hard-pressed fight?
Yes, why, indeed, unless to make us know
We must awake from apathy and claim the right?

O let these winds sweep out our indolence,
Rouse us to Spirit’s call to heal a world of sin;
Go ever on in God’s omnipotence
To meet the foes of man’s immortal good — and win.



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112

Men are not like molecules
Whose atoms ceaselessly bombard each other.
We do not live by loveless rules,
Each seeking to take advantage of his brother.

But men are one in good allied,
Each striving for the whole that all be blest;
And each by Love is glorified,
And each reflects God’s peace to all the rest.


113

Let us, dear Lord, put first things first.
Whereas we live, let us express true Life,
No more seek bubbles that will burst
And leave us on the plane of mortal strife.

And thinking, let us reflect Mind,
Not entertain some fruitless reverie.
True thoughts will come, as we shall find,
To all who listen for them prayerfully.


114

It is not, O my Lord, as if evil were real,
As if man had to fight with a powerful foe;
It is just that we see there is nothing to heal
But a mere misconception of what we must know.


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Let us see, then, that evil but counterfeits good,
Then we shall not submit to its illusive claim.
We have always dominion to destroy a falsehood
When we see it as nothing and keep it the same.


115

Why stand within this stream of mortal things
And try so hard to claim a part
Of that which wounds and leaves the heart
With but the memory of cruel stings?

This cannot be the way to happiness.
Why seek it then without surcease,
When all the time the path to peace
Awaits to lead us to the things that bless?


116

I know, dear God, You are as present now,
When all seems dark and I have fallen low,
As when I walked upon the mountain’s brow
And all the world with loveliness did glow.

You have not gone, Your love that held me then
Must hold me now; Your power has not waned.
Let me forsake my woe and try again,
The wiser for the lesson I have gained.



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117

I know when ought seems wrong and I would blame
It on some turn of fate or circumstance,
The underlying cause is still the same
And independent of all seeming chance.

Some error entertained within my thought
Has been expressed in experience,
And when corrected then likewise is brought
To view the harmony of Spirit sense.


118

Unmoved, dear Lord, are You; and man,
Reflecting You, no more can vacillate
Than his perfect creator can,
But lives forever in divine estate.

Why then should we make such ado
If everything goes not as we had planned?
Be our concern to see the true,
Then leave all things to Your directing hand.


119

Father, even when we let our eyes
Stray to places they should never be,
Even then Your presence holds us still,
Safe within Your love and purity.


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And as a dream from which we wake at last,
Our tired faithlessness dissolves in light,
And we know Your upward-urging tenderness
Starting us afresh to walk aright.


120

Not some of us, dear Lord, but all are kept within Your laws.
All are Your children, and all manifest their perfect cause.
Why do we say, “This man is good; his brother there is bad”?
Does God express through some the good that others never had?

Help us to see of whom we speak, not of a matter mass
Of flesh and brain and bone that claims to live a while, then pass.
But man is God expressed, without another life or mind.
We blaspheme God Himself if to His image we are blind.


121

Dear Lord, how often, as our way we go,
We make ourselves some need,
Saying, “Had I but this, then I should know
Such certain peace indeed.”

And so we strain to make the thing our own
Until we blind our thought
To all the good that we have ever known,
Life’s sweetness all forgot.


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Or if our moment’s whim be granted, then
We go, till soon or late,
There looms before our mortal sight again
Another twice as great.

Whereas if we should take what Your love brings,
Then we should likewise find
Our satisfaction not in, passing things
But in immortal Mind.


122

Without our faith this life were incomplete;
A faith that sees through dark the dawn
And gives man courage to press on
When all about him whispers of defeat.

A faith that sings, when all seems least like song,
In notes that rise both high and clear
And brings God’s presence to us here,
Exchanging right for every tearful wrong.

Such faith as this must conquer all our woes;
It brings a vision of the real,
So all the fears man seemed to feel
Are banished by the healing truth he knows.



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123

How vain, dear Lord, that I should sit and sigh
For some higher post, saying, “Ah, had I
But this, I should serve You in all I do,”
When opportunity lies at my feet
To be improved if I go forth to meet
Each moment’s task as doing it for You.

The higher works I may not understand,
But I can do the simple ones at hand,
Thus make my way to greater things than these.
So let me do my daily tasks, each one,
In such a way to earn Your words, “Well done,”
Depending on their worth, not size, to please.


124

How Jesus ruled his attitude!
He doubted not what God could do,
But raised his thought in gratitude
And proved that good alone is true.

He never wavered, never shrunk
From paying fully the great price
That liberated mankind, sunk
In fears until his sacrifice.


Page 58


Shall we not give what Love exacts
And dominate all error’s wrongs,
Let God control our thoughts and acts
And prove that all to Him belongs?


125

You are our home, dear God, no place can be so far away
But we can dwell within a consciousness of You each day.
We find You in the wilderness; each rock proclaims Your name.
And in the hurried city streets are You, and just the same.
You are our home, dear God, our peace, our quietude, our rest,
And they are most at home in You who know and love You best.


126

How much of thought we give to time and place!
We form our plans by them, build on their base,
And try so hard to halt their flight.
And yet how insignificant they are.
No time is wrong, no place can be too far
For us to think and live aright.

Can they determine, then, our thoughts or acts?
No more can they prevent that which attracts
Us to our God with healing grace.
No, they are empty things that cannot stay,
That neither give us good nor take away.
We live in God, not time or space.



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127

O thank You, Father, that we know
Always the course that we must go:
The way of unselfed love Jesus explored.
And should we fall, we thank You then
That we may take our steps again.
No bounds are placed upon Your mercies, Lord.

The way may seem a fiery test,
But we can know that this is best:
The dross is purged from us and leaves the gold.
We gain not heaven at a bound
But from each time that we are downed
Rising to gain a higher, firmer hold.


128

What promise this: that God shall dwell with men,
As says God’s word. Yet men are asking, “When?”
And in despair, with ancient fears still plod.
Their answer is, “When men shall dwell with God.”

When men shall turn from devious wrong ways
That seek no more than mortal ease and praise,
And nothing less than unselfed love allow,
Then they shall see that God dwells with them now.



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129

Open our eyes, dear God, that we may see
The nothingness of lust and sin,
Of pleasures and pains of sensuality;
And raise our thoughts from matter’s din
To seek Your healing truth and to be free
To find Your peace and love within.


130

I need not ask of You, dear Lord, how long
Sin will remain; nor need I ask how strong
It is. I only have to realize
I need not yield unto its abject lies.

Evil cannot dwell with me one hour
Except at my request; it has no power
Apart from that which I concede to it;
It makes no gain save that which I admit.

O for the seeing eye that pierces through
The mists of sense and sees the real and true,
That sees in God alone that which can please;
And then with all unlike Him disagrees.



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131

First things first. Dear Lord, may we remember this
And see the needlessness of hurry,
See too the fruitlessness of worry,
Since You are All and nothing therefore is amiss.

Let us but understand our first and only need
Is for a fuller, deeper trust
In what You are, all-wise and just,
And then align with this our every thought and deed.


132

Our God has given us a heritage all glorious
Wherein we can maintain a positive dominion
Over earth’s ills, be constantly victorious,
Yet not know arrogance, nor hold a proud opinion.

The gift is free, yet we must strive to reach its portal;
And it is well we must, else we would but abuse it.
But when we seek with all our heart for truth immortal
Then we shall find and, finding, to God’s glory use it.


133

What do You desire, dear Lord? That I should hold
Myself above my fellows in deceitful piety,
Concerned that I should be appearing to uphold
All good, then feast upon approval of society?


Page 62


Or would You not rather that I should recognize
My faults, see them as false beliefs, then pray in gratitude
To know they never were, thus rout their subtle lies?
Is not this the sentiment that gains Your beatitude?


134

We cannot have that which is and that which is not.
If love for God and man is filling all our thought
Then selfishness and sense do not hold us in sway,
And all unlike the good and true is put away.

Then let us claim the good we know is being sent,
And see that since its flow is constant, never spent,
So our reception, too, knows nothing of decline;
For, like the gift, it is not human but divine.


135

Shall we be of the earth and, so, earthy
Or of heaven and heavenly? Ours is the choice;
No circumstance can render us unworthy,
Nor make us fit to walk with God and hear His voice.

But we alone decide: for right, aspiring
To good until all earthliness is lost to sight;
Or wrong, we choose by lack of our desiring
To walk within the path illumined by God’s light.


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O let us choose the better course, nor leave it
Because the climb seems to be steeper than we thought.
God’s truth is ours if we will but believe it.
Shall we not take it now and use it as we ought?


136

What shall we do when evil threatens us
And we seem hemmed about with fears and foes?
Shall we forsake the Spirit animus
Which God gives us and then agree with woes?

No. The very opposite. God gives us strength
According to our day. If it seems long,
His love and truth are yet of greater length,
The presence of His gracious power strong.

We never fight against some entity;
We but resist a lie claiming to be true.
And this is not beyond humanity.
Then let it be the course that we pursue.


137

Moses saw a serpent cross his path
And fled away, afraid.
But when he picked it up at God’s command
It turned into a staff within his hand,
And Moses’ fear was stayed.


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How often we, when faced with ill portent,
Draw back aghast, and yet
God bids us handle these serpents of sense,
Unmask each subtle claim and false pretense
And meet their every threat.

In doing thus we win and reign with Christ;
Then when temptation comes again we laugh,
Knowing we shall tread it under foot
For God gives us dominion. He has put
Within our hand a staff.


138

Let me seek You, Lord, but let me know
That if I have not yielded up implicitly
My every thought and my inmost desire
And felt the cleansing purge of Spirit’s fire
Then neither have I sought You with sincerity.

Let me pray to see You more, but know
If I withhold myself I have not prayed aright.
For You demand my all, not just a part;
It needs the total measure of the heart
To lift our lives away from self to Your pure light.



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139

How poor mankind builds up its heap of woe
To take along its journey down life’s road!
We acknowledge it as ours; then go
Staggering beneath the heavy load.

When we shall see all that would overwhelm
Is not our own, not God’s, nothing to be,
We shall have put it in its proper realm:
Separated from reality.


140

If evil is ever real in any sense,
If it can be in man’s experience,
If there is ought of truth that it presents,
We must indeed permit it.
If we fight truth, we only fight in vain;
We spend our efforts but without a gain;
For truth is true, and so it shall remain,
And so we should admit it.


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If evil is a lie in one degree,
It is a lie throughout and cannot be
Something to know as a reality,
Then neither need we fear it.
Because we know that it is always wrong
Loud may we raise to God our triumph song,
Knowing well evil does not belong
To truth, to man, or Spirit.


141

I shall not fear. How can I fall
When God is here and He is all,
And there is nought beside?
How can I yield to sin’s demand
When God is at my very hand,
And I with Him abide?

Why should I bow my knee to shame,
When I hear my Redeemer’s name
And know He knows no wrong?
Nor can I say that I am weak;
God is my strength. How could I seek
For more or be more strong?


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O then I shall not live in doubt;
Almighty God can hold me out
Of fear and sinful ways.
My life shall be no lying dream,
But a reality whose theme
Shall be to sing His praise.


142

I thank You, Lord, to know that You are more than just a. word
That I should utter, thus to make my woes and fears be heard;
And You are more than just some far-off Deity to praise,
But only with my lips, then turn from You to evil ways.

Rather are You a God of such great Love and Life and light
Your allness fully banishes inharmony from sight,
A changeless Principle of Love, with which, if I accord,
I live in good eternally. For this I thank You, Lord.


143

Days we see You, Lord, and days we see You not;
And yet though You may not appear,
We know that You are always here,
Nor have You for a moment Your own child forgot.


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As when tempestuous waves beat over the ocean’s face,
Yet underneath the billow’s crest
Untroubled calm reigns in the breast
Of that great deep that knows nothing of storms that race;

So gusty winds of sense that would lead us astray
Mar not Your love, pure and serene,
A little while and You are seen.
Then may we live as in Your presence every day.


144

Why should I bemoan my present state,
Thinking longingly of what might have been,
And say, “If I could live my life again,
Then I should surely know a better fate”?

When all the while I know if all the good
Were given me to which I could aspire,
I yet could have but this selfsame desire:
To seek You further, Lord, from where I stood.

What does it matter, whether high or low?
My work goes on; the quest is still the same.
So long as I can work on up and claim
Your fullness, Lord, this is enough to know.



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145

When all within our little world seems out of tune
And finite sense declares our efforts are in vain,
We need not brood about it, wondering how soon
The mist will fade away and only good remain.

We need not try to set all other things aright,
Nor of the Principle we seek have any doubt,
But let us scrutinize our thought beneath Truth’s light
And find the error hidden there and cast it out.

O we are blest by woe, does it not show the need
Of purer faith, a firmer stand, a nobler try?
So may we consecrate our every thought and deed
To God, until we have dominion over a lie.


146

When morbid claims of mortal sense
Appear to rise in great offense
Against the consciousness of all that’s good and true,
Lord, may we not let them deceive
Until we fear them and believe
They can perform those things they claim that they can do.


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But touch our thought and lift our eyes
To higher views and clearer skies,
To Truth’s omnipotence and Love’s serenity.
Discordant notes do not belong
To him who hears Your angel song.
No one hears whispered lies whose thought has been made free.


147

Need we listen with credence to evil boast
How it sends among men its unlovely host
Of all that destroys and desecrates?
If we will but remember it testifies
To no other thing than its own mortal lies,
Then we shall discount all that it states.

Has the power that silenced the tempest fled,
And all strength left the hand that uplifted the dead?
What of good that fed a multitude?
All of these are still here; rejoice then and sing,
And our God will put down evil’s clamoring.
Instead will be heard our gratitude.


148

I thank You now, all good and gracious Lord,
Though it is true I may not fully see
All of the good You have prepared for me,
To withhold my praise I cannot afford.


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I contemplate Your peace with thought renewed,
The vastness of the Love that does not fail.
There is no place where good does not prevail,
No thought to have except in gratitude.

What else can mean so much as You allow?
I need but work for sight more pure and clear
To see infinite good already here.
Your work is done, dear Lord. I thank You now.


149

My brother sinned, and I did judge him for the act
And held myself aloof from him because he lacked
In righteousness and fell away to sin.
And then I prayed to God, but my prayer was not heard
Until I sought my brother and spoke the loving word,
And then the tides of God’s dear love rolled in.

O Lord, You made me not to judge my fellow man
For the mistakes he makes, nor place on him a ban,
Thus binding him more tightly with sin’s thong.
But You have meant that I should lift both him and me
From out a sense of sin into Your liberty
Where good is all and man knows not a wrong.



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150

O loving Father, let there be
No serving of false gods with me.
Let me with idols have no part,
But in a singleness of heart
Obey Your word implicitly.

And let Your light more brightly shine
Because I know it is not mine:
Your glory is the one I seek.
And thus in love both strong and meek
Let me reflect the Life divine.


151

Last night the skies were dark and I could not discern
The way that I should go; I knew not where to turn.
But now I stand within the sunshine’s golden light
And wonder that I felt disturbed because of night.

O Love, that I may have a faith that wavers not
Because the night is dark and with temptation fraught,
But let me even then rejoice, nor have a fear;
Darkness will fade, and I shall see that You are near.



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152

How often, Lord, I’ve heard myself exclaim,
“O that I could but call upon Your name
In such a faith that some great wrong would flee,
Thus work a mighty wonder for men to see!”

Yet there is opportunity each hour
To prove the certain working of Your power,
Some selfish act to check, some ill deny,
Some sin to quench or fear to pacify.

These are the wrongs demanding Spirit’s force;
The greater works will follow in their course.
If these be done in love and faithfulness,
Then I shall not have failed to heal and bless.


153

Shall we not raise our voice to praise Your name,
Most gracious Lord, Your mighty works proclaim
Until all men shall hear and do the same?

Shall we not count the wonders You have done,
Rejoice in each, and, overlooking none,
Thus glorify You for them every one?


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O we cannot be still; our joy cries out;
Gone is earthly fear and mortal doubt.
Though lips were silent, yet our hearts would shout.

So let us lift our voices clear and strong,
And give God thanks, which unto Him belong,
Extolling Him in Spirit’s triumph song.


154

It is not a case of whether we decide
To walk in holy ways with singleness of thought,
Or, seeking lesser things, shall turn aside
To that which fades away and let Truth go unsought.

It is not our province to say what shall be,
For law is not pronounced by us but by God’s voice.
That we shall image Him is God’s decree,
And it must follow as He says; not ours the choice.

Though we sought to avert what He has planned
His word is law; immutability it bears.
And we at last shall come to understand
The truth that even now we are as He declares.



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155

O Love, I know that You are near,
Though You may not appear to darkened sight,
That all these dreams of earth-bound fear
Will flee when eyes behold Your wondrous light.

Have I not seen a night so black
That timid thought could not foresee the morn?
Yet morning broke and light came back
To all the earth with radiance reborn.

When comes the morning of my thought,
Which needs not time but only ways made right,
I shall know You have not forgot
Your child but watch over him through the night.


156

Do we feel bound by woe, with faith undone,
Oppressed by wrongs around, beneath, above?
One thing is needed then and only one,
A greater sense of ever-present Love.

For Love dissolves our bonds; they fade away
As dark before the morning’s shafted light.
It heals our thought and turns it to the day
Where we before had seen nothing but night.


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And love flows in from God’s infinitude,
Unless its way be barred by greed or fear.
It brings us health and joy and gratitude;
All we need do is keep the channel clear.


157

When much seems wrong with those near me,
And I feel I am closely confined
With little opportunity,
Then these few truths I bring to mind.

Only my thought of other men
Makes them seem either small or great.
The wrong I think I find with them
In my thought must originate.

And I need never change my place
To know Life’s fullness to the brim.
I need but grow the more in grace
And let Love’s light become less dim.

All opportunity is here
To love my God and fellow man.
And doing so brings heaven near
And so fulfills God’s loving plan.



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158

How shall we know how much sin is forgiven?
Only by knowing this: how much we love.
An unselfed love leaves worldliness for heaven,
Forsaking things of earth for those above.

While we are constantly with Love united
There is no thought for sin; its claim is void;
By nothing that it says are we affrighted.
Sin is forgiven, because it is destroyed.


159

When we receive a gift above all things on earth
We give our thanks because we feel imbued
With the desire to show our gratitude,
And this brings us a fuller sense of that gift’s worth.

And so I give my thanks, for Truth that heals all strife,
To him who lived and loved it most of men,
To her to whom it was revealed again,
To God who is this healing Truth of Love and Life.


160

Who has not sometime felt within his breast
Some murmuring — he knows not what it is —
Some reaching out for higher, fuller rest,
The touch of Spirit’s thought to lighten his.


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It is ever more of You, dear Lord, we seek,
A deeper sense of God wherein to grow.
Then when this Spirit sense again shall speak
We question it no more: we know; we know.


161

God’s love possesses us; our lives are not our own;
All that we are, all we can be, to Him is known;
Every thought and act expresses His design.
Held in His love, His infinite and tender care,
Beyond the reach of whatsoever would impair,
Man’s being is preserved in harmony divine.

Then let us bring our lives to live at His behest;
Never have we obeyed His word but we were blest,
Never acknowledged Him but good did richly flow.
This be our life: to live so much at one with Him
Through us will shine His light progressively less dim
Till word and deed and thought with heaven’s love shall glow.


162

O stay within the sunshine of God’s love.
No shadows there distort our certain sense;
No fearful thoughts can crowd their way and shove
Into this dwelling place, our sure defense.


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Go forward fearlessly, treat every ill
As though it were not there, for it is not.
We render error impotent at will
The moment that we put it out of thought.


163

Come. Cease not your work because it seems both hard and long,
But rather let devotion be more pure and faith more strong.
For who will ask his man, “Was your work hard in that hot sun?”
But rather, “Did you do your work, and was the work well done?”

Have you labored heartily and yet did fall? Well, then,
No man condemns you for your try. Arise and try again.
God gives us work to do, and if we meet it joyously
Then soon or late it’s done, and we have earned the victory.


164

Who will say that is defeat
Which robs man of his self-conceit,
Although it first must bring him low
Until he learns what he should know?

And who will claim a victory
From conquest made so easily
That from it he no lesson learns
And to old ways too soon returns?


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Let us not judge by what appears;
We cannot tell by shouts or tears.
But that which brings us greater good
Is victory when understood.


165

A way to walk, dear Lord, but not as these we shun,
That twist and turn in fantasy, whose journeys run
Afoul and end no place because they point to none.

A way to walk with some degree of wisdom’s light,
A straight and certain path that follows only right,
The way to You. O Lord, may we in this delight.


166

We run a race, we humans do,
Though each may seek a different prize.
Yet none of us but will pursue
That which seems dearest to his eyes.

Some run for power, some for fame,
And some for sense satiety.
Some think to halt, yet just the same
They run their race for apathy.


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What of the prize for all this strife?
Who gains the most for effort spent?
Who lives the deepest, fullest life,
And ends his course with most content?

So long as we shall run a race
Let us select the noblest one,
Then let it be for Spirit’s grace —
Start now, and see it be well run.


167

“Heaven and earth shall pass away,
But my words shall not pass away,” said he
Who said what others could not say
Of all they talked and did so fruitlessly.

Yet he who spoke was crucified;
The truth he taught was met with mocking jeers,
But still his words are undenied;
That truth lives on through all these many years.

What fearless confidence had he!
He knew that truth could never be disproved,
That it would stand eternally
Although all other things might be removed.



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168

Like water rushing out on arid ground,
So pours the understanding into thought
That has prepared itself; and where was found
But barren waste, a fruitful life is brought.

What is this quickener of human sense,
This unseen, silent power for liberty,
That lifts men so they touch omnipotence
And know the freedom of infinity?

It is the power of Truth that makes its way
Into deluded thought, whereby men find
Those things have always been, for which they pray,
The ceaseless harmony of perfect Mind.


169

O Father, keep Your call forever in our ear,
Lest we should fall asleep and, sleeping, fail to hear
The grander tones of harmony sublime.
We would not want to miss the deep, eternal truth,
Ensuring our success, preserving well our youth,
For that which gives us back but wasted time;


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Nor follow anxious-thoughted in some finite dream
From which we wake to find that which important seemed
Is nothing more than dust within our hands.
So then fill well our ears, our eyes, our thoughts, and lives.
Let other things be lost to us while good survives
And brings us into higher, fairer lands.


170

Mankind’s ways, alas, are not divine.
They ask: “What do I get? What shall be mine?”
Each one contesting with the other.
Pell-mell they rush, seeking feverishly
For happiness where it can never be,
None considering his brother.

Not so God’s ways. Herein His children find
Their highest good in helping their own kind,
A good made greater still by sharing.
And men need not elsewhere for goodness fare,
Since God alone is good and everywhere,
On wings of love His riches bearing.

O let us learn the simple truths of life.
If we must strive, then let it be a strife
Made worthy by an honest, fearless living.
And let us cease our greed and live to bless,
Thus learning that life’s fullest happiness
Is not in getting but in giving.



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171

That which I have and am and hope to be
I pray, dear Lord, to spend most usefully.
For I would seek not many gods but one,
Lest knowing many I be serving none.

O let me part from dreams that come and go,
And in their place but one existence know.
Thus shall I hold a clearer, purer sense
As dwelling place for Your intelligence.


172

“I am afraid!” O binding, stifling word.
How much of good you have delayed,
Because men thought they were afraid
And let your lying whisperings be heard.

Yet what are you? A presence, truth, or power?
Can you overthrow ought that is real,
Or one command of God repeal?
Can you withstand the light of truth one hour?

Ah, no, you blackened cloud of nothingness.
Man need not in your bonds be held;
By Truth and Love you are dispelled.
And men may rise from fear to sure success.



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173

“But what,” asks mortal and shortsighted sense,
“Shall we be grateful for before this throng
Of woes and sin? How can intelligence
Find joy in face of this great sum of wrong?”

O gullible, deluded unbelief!
Be grateful that these things were never true.
Let not your lack of vision be a thief
That robs you of the joy that is your due.

God knows no ill: hence there is none to know.
No longer look at error’s empty part,
But set your gaze upon God’s things and go
In fullness of His good with grateful heart.


174

How often I have seen some weakness in my fellow man
And thought it inexcusable, contrary to God’s plan;
And so it was, but I held to the thought till I was bound
By just the selfsame error that I had in his life found.

O give us, Lord, a love that underneath the surface delves,
That claims no less for others than we claim for our own selves.
Give us to see Your way, divinity in brotherhood,
And learn that we and fellow man, like You, are truly good.



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175

“God help me now,” I cried, “or else I fall.”
Yet I was overcome despite my call,
And failure’s fog seemed to envelop all.

And then I learned to pray, “God helps me now.”
Then was the fog dispelled. I knew somehow
No harmful, evil thing could God allow.

Where I had seen only the gloom of night,
Effulgence now I saw that shone so bright
It bathed all things within God’s crystal light.

No more could I believe wrongs would assail,
Nor fear to press on through a misty vale;
God held me in His care; I could not fail.

O ever-present Love, we need not plead
For You to care for Yours; our only need
Is that we see how good You are indeed.

From nothing more than fog, fear forms its molds
That seem so real; who pierces them beholds
The perfect universe God’s love enfolds.


176

A one-hundred-percent efficiency
Is not known to materiality.
Always it seems that something must be lost;
The gain is never equal to the cost.


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It can be found only in Spirit sense
Wherein the one divine intelligence
Is known to its perfect reflection, man,
And then expressed to all; this is God’s plan.

Thus the result of power, good and great,
Unto its cause must be commensurate,
Perpetual and perfect God-design;
This is efficiency of Love divine.


177

In step with God! O happy march!
That men should know the rhythm of this beat
And walk with Him on eager, joyous feet
Beneath Love’s ever-gracious arch.

In step with God! Not fast nor slow;
Neither moving before God gives command
Nor tardy following His guiding hand,
But perfect unison to know.

In step with God!! O hear the call.
Let no purpose prevent you nor delay
In this heavenbound march. Fall in today,
A soldier of the All-in-all.



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178

Dear Lord, You can do so much more for me
Than I can for myself that I would leave
My human planning and unreservedly
Put all my trust in You and just believe.

For when in careful study I have planned
Some matter out, it follows not my chart,
Something goes wrong, leaving me with empty hand,
More badly off than I was at the start.

But when I work for Love unselfishly,
Why, every ordered step is harmony.
Then serving You let me forever be,
And this I know: that You will care for me.


179

What shall we do when storms of sense bear down on us at length
And beat us back and make us reel and cling to God for strength?
Shall we be inundated by the threatening and the fear,
Or lift our head above the waves, and know that God is here?

What though the storms do not abate but gain intensity?
God is not driven back by them; how can His children be?
Yes, we are grounded on the rock of Truth. Do not despair.
The storms will cease, the waves be still, and skies again be fair.



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180

Two goals there are to beckon me,
And I can choose but one;
One holds all things the eye can see;
The other one holds none.

One tells a tale of mortal sense,
Of things that pass away;
The other of intelligence,
With all it can convey.

The one cannot for long endure,
Can never truly be;
However much its ways allure
In unreality.

It is what I could never own,
For all it seems so near;
If I should think it mine alone,
Then it would disappear.

The other one is always mine,
If I will let it be;
It raises me to heights divine
Of love and purity.


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It fills my thought, directs my life,
And fashions all my ways;
It helps me live above all strife
In showing forth God’s praise.

Two goals there are to beckon me,
And I can choose but one.
Thank God for this. Let that one be
The right, and sought till won.


181

Love, what could ever shut You out,
When You are in and through all things?
Your presence compasses us about
On healing, lifting, blessed wings.

Even when we would turn from You
In mortal doubt and shortened sight,
Yet we return to what is true,
Knowing that You alone are right.

Where shall we find more good than here?
What else could ever satisfy?
O may Your truth be still more dear.
May we on it alone rely.



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182

Man is greater than whatever can befall.
Sorrow, sickness, fear, disaster, pain —
After these have done their utmost to appall,
Immortal, perfect man will still remain.
Still the child of God above, beyond them all,
Living on a higher, grander plane.

All too lightly men regard their entity;
Sense beguiled, one often identifies
Himself with some unimportant vagary
Mortal mind repeats. If he were wise,
He would see the everlasting harmony
Of that wherein his truest glory lies.

Man endures, untouched by sin or death or hell;
One with God in that eternal grace
Of a flawless good from which he never fell,
But forever in his rightful place,
Thinking truth, living love, doing well,
Reflecting God throughout all time and space.


183

We find You, Lord, in everything,
Yet not in things at all.
The only good is good You bring
When we have heard your call.


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In strength we live, with good health rife,
Yet You are not physique,
But just the Principle of Life
That never can be weak.

And wealth we have for all our need,
But money You know not;
And yet a multitude You feed;
Dollars don’t equal thought.

With all of good do we abound
In Your security;
Yet You cannot in things be found
For sense to touch or see.

We find You as Your love we feel,
To mortal sense unknown;
Essence of all divinely real
And seen in Soul alone.


184

Thank You, Father, that I can of some service be,
Can give of what I have to bless humanity;
And if the task be less than I would seek,
May I yet do it well and be more meek,
The better to prepare for higher capacity.


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The carpenter to whom came mankind’s highest call
Was not ashamed to grasp the hammer and the awl.
May I, like him, let myself be concerned
Rightly to do so much as I have learned
And wait on You for works that more of good extol.


185

Our thanks are as a fruitful stream that flows
Into our consciousness to fertilize
The barren sentiments, until there grows
A recognition of what satisfies.

A stream of gratitude whose endless roll
Will soon or late wash out sordid excess
And bring the crystal clarity of Soul
That beautifies our life with holiness.

And still the stream pursues its happy course,
Increasing constantly from where it starts
Til it becomes a mighty, moving force.
Its source? The love with which God touched our hearts.


186

I thank You, Father-Mother Love, for just a way
Wherein to set my feet and move a bit each day
Toward understanding You and learning to obey.


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I ask not that You make it easy to pursue.
If You both gave the path and took it for me too,
Then I were nothing blessed, for what had I to do?

And if I stumble sometimes, let me on You wait
For greater light that I no more shall deviate;
Narrow is the way, but for that none less straight.

A way to walk so I shall Your commands fulfill!
Let me but look to You and onward move until
I come to know You well and well to do Your will.


187

Although others may say we are long on the way
And the progress is slow that we make,
Even so we shall sing to our God and our King;
We are grateful for each step we take.

Our advance may seem slow to those who do not know
There is good that the eye never sees;
And those things we first sought may appear dearly bought,
Yet we’re blessed by much more than just these.

We are richer for love and for living above
All the down-dragging weights of mankind,
And the hearts that long yearned for great truths now have learned;
God is good, God is Love, God is Mind.


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O we cannot conceal the deep joy that we feel
To perceive we have heaven at hand.
So each golden today we give thanks as we pray
To a God we can now understand.


188

Dear God, these many words of my profession
Of love for all You are and all You give
Were nothing more than meaningless expression
Unless I prove them by the life I live.

It would be as if to feast me, one intending
Had bidden me, and I had come with haste,
Had praised my host’s rich food, his drink commending,
And yet of neither food nor drink would taste.

O let me eat Truth’s bread in its completeness,
And murmur not if when it is in me
I find it bitter where it had seemed sweetness;
With much already there it will not well agree.

And let me drink Love’s wine as I am dining,
Although I drink it from a cup of woe.
It can but better be for this refining,
A purer, richer draught for me to know.


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Then may I say that I have held communion,
Eaten Christ’s bread and drunk His fruitful wine,
Have turned from other things to know that union
With Him who is the true and living wine.


189

Not because God’s power is great and evil’s small,
Victory shall rest upon the side of right;
But because evil is not a power at all,
Unto God belongs the total range of might.

It is not that evil’s substance disappears,
But instead it is simply that it has none.
Good is unopposed; it knows no qualms nor fears;
Its reality must be the only one.

Truth is absolute, and we cannot compare
It with something else that never can be real.
So we state it fully, its ultimate declare,
Then from where we are work up to this ideal.


190

We thank You for a harbor, Love,
Into which every weary heart may sail;
And on its calm, untroubled breast
May find its refuge and a rest
From buffetings of every stormy gale.


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Port of peace and purity!
And yet must man before the billows flee?
We need not fear the waves unkind;
God’s love and care are not confined;
He has dominion over all the sea.

Did we but know it, we could prove
The wildest storm submits to God’s control.
Then like our Master we could say,
“Peace, be still,” while storms obey,
Leaving but the gentle breeze of Soul.


191

I never get in trouble, Lord, until I look away
From You to something else and let my thinking go astray;
Nor from this trouble do I ever find that I am free
Until I bring my thought to where I know that it should be.

This world’s woeful noises never jar upon my ear
Until I turn from You and error’s subtle whispers hear;
And neither do I know the peace of Your sublime refrain
Until I lose discordant thought for Spirit’s sweeter strain.

How many lessons must I have until at last I learn:
What I experience must come from things for which I yearn?
For Spirit’s perfect thoughts make strong; all other thoughts make weak;
All good is found in You, and there is nothing else to seek.



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192

Great Giver of all good, though I am blest
Beyond my dreams, one prayer must be expressed;
It is this: O give the heart within my breast
To know more love.
A love that has no room for selfishness,
Whose only mission is to heal and bless,
A love not of this world, I will confess,
But from above.

A love which can all mankind tolerate,
Impartial love that does not designate
To whom it is given, but its precious freight
From none withholds.
A love that in a sweet humility
Seeks only that it shall a blessing be,
And with a broad and gentle charity
All things enfolds.

A love that with a holy light shall shine,
Illumined by a radiance divine,
And that shall nothing speak of me or mine,
Your love to show.
A love that sets aright all things amiss,
And then in faithful service finds its bliss —
The love of Love. Dear God, my prayer is this:
Such love to know.



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193

Sin beckoned me, and I could not withstand
The subtle argument of its demand.
Nothing could keep me from
The blow I knew would come;
This midnight darkness of immoral hell
Held not a ray of light, I knew full well.

Then someone spoke to me of God’s dear love;
Somehow my thought was touched and rose above
The incubus of sin,
And I felt changed within.
Where I had known sin’s urge in all its might,
I wanted nothing now but to do right.

It was strange. He never mentioned sin at all
And yet that hour I knew I should not fall.
Where did temptation go?
Dear Lord, I do not know.
One moment it seemed overmastering;
The next, an impotent and unreal thing.

This only do I know. Effulgent light
Streamed in my thought where once had been the night.
Love, be so close to me
That I shall nothing see
Of lust and sin which seemed so real before.
Your purity I want and nothing more.



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194

Sometimes, as on my way I walk with footsteps sore,
Some great affliction comes, engulfing me;
And yet from out the depths of misery
There comes a better work than I had done before.

O Love, Your ways are not as ours; sometimes we need
The chastening of Your righteousness until
We can be meek enough to do Your will,
And then is seen Your love again in some good deed.

Our lives are idle things if they speak not of You.
The servant, of himself, can make no claim;
He lives to glorify his master’s name.
So may our lives show forth Your works in all we do.


195

How many hearts have found relief,
Been lifted up from stony grief,
And lost their doubt and unbelief,
Because they turned from woe to sing a song!

How many faltering before
Discouragement both deep and sore
Have risen up to try once more,
Because they had the faith to sing a song!


Page 101


Tired sinners see sin disappear,
And sufferers gain strength and cheer,
The dying lose their deathly fear,
Because they hear somebody sing a song.


196

That all my thought may dwell in You, all-loving One,
Thus constantly to know Your pure affection.
The necessary human things that must be done
Can better be performed at Your direction.

For man has not a principle to demonstrate,
Unless it be of perfect Mind’s ordaining,
His efforts fail perforce, brought low by earthly weight;
He needs the thought divine for their sustaining.

O I have known Your love, and I am grateful for
The holy harmony of Your creation;
But I would go farther and know You more and more
Till all my thought shall be Love’s inspiration.


197

O Love, we know wherever we may fare
We still are kept in Your unceasing care;
No place nor circumstance can shut us out
From Your protecting presence all about.


Page 102


We need not dread a change, need not debate
If You can care for us, nor hesitate
To walk our present path in confidence,
Surrounded always by omnipotence.


198

O God of Love, of infinite and perfect love,
Whose mercies are so wide, so vast, that even when
Poor mortal man by himself stands accused
For wrongs he thinks too deep to be excused
God’s love can lift him up and bless him once again!

A God of love, of boundless, understanding good;
No doubt of what our every moment’s task shall be.
Man lives but to reflect that perfect love
And dwell in constant consciousness above
All worldliness in love-filled immortality.


199

If all the wrongs that seem to be were real
And all of mankind’s many discords true,
Then well we might give up to these and feel
That there was nothing else for us to do.

But not so long as God is God and holds
Supreme command, with no contrary claim;
For He does all, the universe enfolds
In fullest good, untainted, free from blame.


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Then let us put our weight on Spirit’s side,
Accept all good, all unlike good deny,
And we shall prove the fearful sense has lied;
Man lives in God, His love to glorify.


200

Why should we doubt that God His promises can fulfill,
Or fear some other force may controvert His will?
Has He not of His own perfection spoken?
Is not God more than all those lies that would oppose?
With Him is all of power; so there is none in those.
His word of peace and love shall not be broken.

Then rout your unbelief, O weak and timid heart;
Let God accomplish that which He has called His part;
Enough for us that we are in His keeping.
We need but stand assured His goodness cannot fail,
And we shall surely see how Love and Truth prevail
Over all fears, all woeful wrongs, and weeping.


201

All the world sings of God. The stars that shine
Chant of His magnitude.
The rich, warm goodness of the sun accords a sign
Of life each day renewed.


Page 104


And hills whose pure white peaks are shouted to the sky
Speak of stability,
While treble-throated birds that sing a song, then fly
Reveal His harmony.

And humble blades of grass and broad-branched sighing trees
Tell of His gentle care.
His love in tender watchfulness enfolds all these
In kindness everywhere.

O this is Spirit’s universe, and these things show
The joy of all that lives;
Well may they sing, for there is nothing else to know
Except the good God gives.


202

Our gratitude, dear God, were incomplete
If we but spoke of easy, pleasing things;
We thank You for the bitter with the sweet,
The trials as well as joys that Spirit brings.

For which of these the greatest good has paid:
The placid comforts of a life of ease,
Or some hard-pressing problem that has made
Us launch our bark of faith on stormy seas?


Page 105


With grateful hearts may we our problems face;
We need not let them weight our thoughts and irk.
Our greatest need is that we grow in grace,
And this is done through patient, tireless work.


203

What is the greatest lesson man can learn,
That which will help him on through every day?
Above all else his wisdom should discern
The simple course of learning to obey.

Beyond acumen, might, or strategy
That seeks to light for us our human way,
Nothing is done with greater certainty
Than what we do when we learn to obey.

Yes, learning to obey, just to be still
And hear God’s voice, for His wise guidance pray,
Then faithfully go forth to do His will;
We work aright only as we obey.


204

We have no right to doubt if we can do
The task of love that God has led us to;
No right to say how little we expect.
Our work is to obey, not to direct.


Page 106


We should not limit what God can fulfill
And question thus the wisdom of His will.
Do we not hear Him say, “I am with Thee”?
No place therein for false timidity.

Our province is to let His will be done;
His outstretched arm will help each faithful one.
In meekness and in love that grow not dim
Let us trust God; the issue is with Him.


205

Fear is afraid and rightly so;
It has no sense, no truth to know.
It has no substance, is not real,
Cannot to Principle appeal.
Fear has no base, no valid claim;
Existing only as a name,
It fears lest truth to it be brought
And show what is and what is not.

But not so man, for he is made
Of that which cannot be afraid,
Reflecting as he does God’s power,
Which meets his needs in every hour,
Rejoicing in the thoughts of Mind
That give dominion God-assigned,
Knowing that Love is always here,
And where Love is, there is no fear.


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Let us not link ourselves with it
But see it as our opposite,
Since it must fear, then we cannot;
It finds no place within our thought.
Let us meet it and dominate,
Its falsities repudiate.
Fear fears, knowing it is not true,
While man fears not: he knows it too.


206

What do I thank You for? Dear God, I hold,
Though I should live for endless days
And spend each day in constant praise,
The smallest part of it were scarcely told.

What would a starving man be thankful for
To whom there came, when almost dead,
The life-reviving taste of bread,
The bread that lets him hunger nevermore?

What thanks would stir a man of blinded sight
Who suddenly felt light turned on
And found at last his darkness gone
And all the world flooded with new light?

And what the thanks of some poor hopeless one
Who, nonetheless, begins to feel
The breaking of his heart’s dark seal,
As deepest night unsealed by shining sun?


Page 108


What do I thank You for? O Lord on high,
This man who starved for Spirit’s bread,
Upon whose sight no light was shed,
This man of heavy, hopeless heart was I.

And now, behold, what endless good is mine!
Your love has met my every need;
What do I thank You for, indeed!
I thank You for a God of Love divine.


207

Our hearts go out in deep commiseration,
Remembering how our Lord was crucified;
And we hold little else than condemnation
For those by whose hands the Master bled and died.

Yet do we not join in this crucifixion
Each time we turn from Love to human will?
Are we not guilty of that dereliction
That brought our Master to Golgotha’s hill?

Too often are our works our condemnation.
Yet we may still have faith, remembering
That after tragedy came exaltation:
Our Master rose above death and its sting.


Page 109


So we can rise above the mortal seeming
Which would imprison us in selfishness,
And cleanse our lives of sinful, greedy dreaming
And walk in ways that God can love and bless.

The Christ could not be buried in a prison,
And Truth and Love can overcome all things.
Then shall God’s angels say that we are risen
When thought ascends on holy, Christlike wings.


208

For this, dear Lord, our hearty thanks we give:
That when we seek for good, yet fail to live
Consistently with all that’s true and just,
The opportunity will still exist
To do the right. Indeed, You will insist
We strive the more to do the work we must.

The God who holds us in His perfect love
Does not excuse us till we rise above
What seems to be our inabilities
And well may we rejoice that this is so;
Does it not show that we at last shall know
All the perfection God already sees?



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209

Sometimes I think if I could only flee
From my body I would know liberty,
Then I recall it would not help to go;
I need but stand right where I am and know
This matter body is not really me.

Just as a pencil scratch upon a sheet
Is not a unit unless thoughts complete
The sense of what the mark but intimates,
So matter body only designates
That which no mortal eyes can ever meet.

Whether the body goes or it remains,
Still man’s identity in God obtains
And finds therein the perfect harmony
That marks the life supreme and full and free,
The harmony that comes when Spirit reigns.


210

We have set our foot upon a straight and narrow way;
Now let us not turn back nor wish that we could stay
Always where the road begins, but forward start
With steady step, and joyous, never-fearing heart.


Page 111


Let us hold our gaze upon the path ahead;
Leave the dead beliefs to bury their own dead.
We need our every thought to walk the path we take;
Why should we look about to see what we forsake?

Neither shall we seek a shorter route to God,
But with an honest measure let each step be trod.
No road is shorter than the one that’s truly straight,
And walking well the way will gain the gladsome gate.


211

Let me live, dear Lord, not just exist,
But take fast hold of joyous life, resist
The deadening claims of carnal sense
And prove man’s true intelligence
Until all human wrongs shall fade as mist.

Let me live! O let me be awake
To hear Your ceaseless call! What rest I take
Will sweeter be because well earned,
And sweeter yet when I have learned
Th fullest rest is working for Your sake.

Let me live a life so positive
That I shall with the fullest measure give
Of what You give to me, and when
This much is done, dear Lord, O then
Help me to help my fellow man to live.



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212

Dear God, who raises up from death to life,
Our hearts go out in thanks, bereft of voice,
For what could tell our gratitude
For health returned and life renewed,
So all the freshened world seems to rejoice?

You raise to life the buried hopes of men
From sepulchres of doubt and deep despair
To shining trust until they see
Their faith has gained the victory
And know that with Your power nought can compare.

You raise as well men’s blighted thoughts and lives
From out the musty depths of sense and sin
And bring them to a holy place
Illumined by Your loving grace
That fills with love their darkened hearts within.

Dear God, who raises up from death to life,
What seems a mighty change is nothing more
Than just our thoughts learning to view
Ourselves as we are known to You
Where Life is all, with nothing to restore.



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213

What do I want above all else? I know, dear Lord:
A consciousness of You; and this may best be gained
By learning what it means to love — not just the word;
If this were all, then love could never be explained.

But in each least desire, in motive, thought, and deed,
To be always at the standpoint of love that waits
Only that it may meet some yearning one’s deep need,
May fill with love the empty heart it liberates.

Let self be sacrificed until there shall remain
Nothing but lets Love shine, as shines the golden rays
That we see streaming through a well-washed window pane;
So men may see Love’s glow and lift their hearts in praise.

For all this troubled world needs is Love’s rich light
To banish the distrust that wraps it like a pall;
To warm its fear-chilled thoughts and lift its stricken sight
To that immortal good that God bestows on all.


214

When on some worthy work we start
With much of zest and hope held high,
Then error comes to try the heart,
And all our claims to good deny.


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It says: “Why should you start today?
Tomorrow will do just as well.
It is not very far away
And may be better. Who can tell?”

Or else: “Suppose you start this thing
And then you find that it falls through?
What disappointment it will bring,
All of your work to start anew!

“And even though the work succeed —
And chances are not good a bit —
Why, who will know you did the deed,
And how much good will come of it?”

So error chatters on and on,
If we will only lend an ear.
But when we charge that it be gone
Its dark forebodings disappear.

We do not heed its call to wait,
Nor fear for failure in God’s plan,
Nor care that men appreciate
The work that’s done for God, not man.

We shut our thoughts to words of doubt;
It is God’s will that good prevail.
We feel His presence all about,
And then we know we cannot fail.



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215

The unknown path, O Love, I cannot view
Yet walk it without fear.
Unknown to me, perhaps, but not to You
And You are very near.

No need that I should see what lies ahead;
Nothing but good is there
So long as I will let myself be led
By Your protecting care.

Not mine to doubt Your all-sufficient power,
By things unknown be vexed.
I know that You are with me in this hour.
I will not doubt the next.


216

Your universe, dear God, and Yours alone,
Your creatures here, unhampered, good, and free;
The Godliness by which all things are known,
The love that keeps them through eternity:

The steadfast trust a faithful life bespeaks,
The joy of knowing all divinely right,
The steady progress of the heart that seeks
To know above all else Your blessed light:


Page 116


These are the things we gain through Spirit’s sense,
Through constant walking with uplifted thought.
These are the things in our experience,
These things the Christ to all mankind has brought.


217

We thank our God for all His love has given us:
The constant fact of man’s unfailing health,
The knowledge of the truth that keeps it ever thus,
The sweet security of Love’s great wealth.

The love that cleanses thought of sordid, sinful, stains
And makes it brightly glow, so other men
May see what God has done, submit their woes and pains
To Love’s pure touch, and come forth whole again.

The ceaseless, singing sense that only good is real,
That man is God’s own child, held in His peace.
This is the joyous fullness we forever feel;
This is the cause of thanks which never cease.


218

O Mother-Love that lifts us from this mesh
Of sin and sense in which we seem to be,
You cleanse our sordid thought and make it fresh
With tender touch of Spirit’s purity;


Page 117


O Father-Love, You help us comprehend
We need not fall into sin’s subtle snare,
For we have strength and virtue without end
If we will use them and our rights declare;

O Father-Mother Love, You cleanse and heal,
Even while You show us that we need not fall.
Of evil’s many claims not one is real;
We coexist with You, our All-in-all.


219

What right have I to say the sun sheds not its light
Because I see it not? Somewhere it is as bright
As it has been before.
And if I wait until the coming of the dawn,
Then I shall find again its goodness has not gone
And see its light once more.

In like manner, may I not be an egotist,
And when I seem to be apart from good, insist
That good has been withdrawn.
It is as full, as rich, as it has ever been.
I need but come into its light to see again
The beauty of the dawn.



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220

Give thanks for one of mankind’s greatest joys:
The opportunity to overcome.
Too often we neglect the good it brings
Or sigh and say the task is burdensome.

O we should meet it with an ardent zest
And gladly against wrong our efforts pit.
If it seems strong, our glory will be more
To have at last dominion over it.

For do we not desire steps that progress?
Then let us be as grateful for the one
That brings us to some error to defeat
As that which takes us past, our battle done.


221

I thought that I had read Your Word, dear Lord, but I had not,
For now I find therein such things as I had never thought.
Such promises of good, such courage and such strength, I find,
Such peace and harmony, such love of God for all mankind,
Such magnitude therein that I feel like a little child.
All this from what once seemed no more than words by men compiled.


Page 119


I thought I knew Your commandments, Lord, but I knew not one,
All I could read was “thou shalt not.” But now I have begun
To recognize that “thou shalt love” means more than all the rest,
That You are not obeyed till each desire within our breast
Is brought into Your light of purity and found unstained,
And every thought is serving You with selfless love unfeigned.

How was it I had read Your Word yet missed so much of good?
It had but met my eyes; its truth was not yet understood.
But when it reached my heart some sense that dwelt therein was stirred,
Something that never could have been aroused by just man’s word.
The flame of Truth touched there the tinder waiting to be fired,
And then the Word became God’s law, a message Soul-inspired.


222

Humility! Lord, let me humble be.
Humble enough that I shall thus perceive
The fullness of Your kingdom constantly,
Where pride could not bring itself to believe.
Let no perverted thought of self-conceit
Obscure infinitude’s effulgent glow,
Nor any worldly aim of mine compete
With Your design, which humble hearts shall know.


Page 120


Humility! Lord, let its gentle word
Be always on my lips so I shall speak
Only the healing thought when strife is heard,
Quell men’s fierce thoughts because my own is meek.
Let not my brother’s deed of deep offense
Find in my attitude its counterpart;
The thought that knows no wrong, no wrong resents;
There is no malice in a loving heart.

Humility! How much we need it, Lord!
How it will heal and mend the broken breach!
How it will make all men of one accord!
How it will bless and silent lessons teach!
O we must every proud suggestion check,
And for humility both work and wait.
The head held high upon the stiffened neck
Must bow before it enters through Your gate.


223

Sometimes when I have prayed, yet am not satisfied
That truth has been affirmed enough or error been denied,
I think of how the Master worked — so thoroughly
That error fled into its unreality.

He never failed to heal the woes of mortal men,
Nor said, “Tomorrow come, and I will heal you then.”
And once he prayed so earnestly in thought profound
That sweat did fall as drops of blood upon the ground.


Page 121


How weekly I have prayed — such little effort spent,
Small wonder that the work still seems so impotent.
May I no more believe that good is from me kept;
Today You give it me; today may I accept.


224

How often I have watched a little child
Take its first strides, have watched it stand erect
And take a few glad steps only to fall
At just the moment it would least expect.
Yet when it fell it always rose again
To try once more till it became more stout;
The falls grew less and less, and finally
The little one ran fearlessly about.

So have I fallen, too, when I have tried
To walk a straighter path than I had done,
And yet I know a fall has never meant
I cannot try again the course to run.
For if the child had never tried to rise,
No more would it have learned to walk or stand.
Like it, I shall gain strength until I find
I shall not fall, upheld by God’s own hand.



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225

All roads lead to You, dear God.
Even the path of sin
Will lead us to such suffering
That we will turn from it and bring
Our ways to You, anew begin.

All roads lead to You, dear God.
The lonely, aching heart
Is being emptied to make room
For joy where once had been the gloom
Of old beliefs now drawn apart.

All roads lead to You, dear God,
But none more certainly
Than that which holds itself above
All wrong and goes in unselfed love
To prove Your power to make us free.


226

Even a little bit of light
Means so much more to mortal man
Who gropes about in blindness than
Does all the darkness of the night.

So just a little bit of good
Does more to lighten weary thought
Of heavy burdens sin has brought
Than all the claims of evil could.


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Then let the good be magnified,
For evil’s voice is meaningless;
We shut it out of consciousness
As we in God’s pure love abide.


227

“In my Father’s house are many mansions,” said our Lord.
Shall we not accept the peace his words of truth afford?
Many mansions — many rooms whereby the good may come.
Why should we try to name a few and say, “This is the sum
Of all the ways in which God’s blessings unto me may fall;
What good I gain must come through only these or not at all”?

“I go to prepare a place for you,” the Lord declared.
Christ comes to show the good that God already has prepared
And then receives us in this consciousness of good to dwell
And know that where the Christ-love is, there we must be as well.
O holy, happy understanding, let its way be mine.
Christ is the way of Love, of perfect Truth, of Life divine.


228

If I have learned one thing from my mistakes,
Or by more pleasant means of mercies from God’s hands,
It is this: that nothing can do so much for a man
As absolute reliance on the God he understands.


Page 124


All human intellect, all man-made plans
Reveal their fallacies at last and turn to dust.
But he is rightly led whose thought is Spirit-fed,
Who knows the power of God and puts in Him his trust.

Let men their earthly panaceas vaunt,
Turning to this one, then to that; but as for me,
Let me more clearly gaze upon God’s certain ways
And walk therein, for this is my necessity.


229

Christ’s followers walk calmly on
Through all the clouds of animality and hate
Though foes of sense and mortal wrath
May press them hard along their path,
Yet they have learned to watch and pray, to work and wait.

Do they not know as other men
The toil and strife, the struggling heart, the tears they shed?
Ah, yes, all these — they know them, too,
But they know there is nothing to do
But march straight on, no way to go except ahead.

All the temptations others have
Are theirs as well; but they look to their glory’s dawn,
And this sustains them in their need
Until their thoughts from foes are freed;
They fear them not but through them all walk calmly on.



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230

I sinned, and then to God I bitterly complained:
“O Lord, what hope I held, what high desire
To do Your works and other men inspire
To do them too; now all is lost and nothing gained.”

And so I mourned, but more because my hopes were dim
Than for all else; it was as if I sought
To blame God for the sin I held in thought,
Then bewail that so much of good was lost to Him.

Then came this thought, to my self-pity a rebuff:
Such sorrowing as this is selfishness;
It makes not good seem greater but the less.
You sinned simply because you did not love enough.

For had you loved enough, then fear had not crept in
To master you, nor thought been made a pawn
To think sin aught to which it could be drawn.
Give God your every thought; then you will never sin.

Now rid yourself of these unfaithful doubts and fears
And learn to better love and live the right,
For this is dearer in your Father’s sight
Than all sin’s aftermath of woes and fretful tears.


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O love of God, from my own self deliver me,
From pride that seeks not your own things but mine,
From vanity that draws its own design.
Let these give place to simple truth that makes me free.


231

“O Lord,” I cried, “have I not worked to overcome
So much in my own life that’s wrong, so much that stands
Against my efforts and has grown so burdensome?
And now for all my work I have but empty hands.”

And then God’s healing thought: “O man, do you not know
That good results will follow all the good you do?
Go gaze upon the sower going out to sow.
When he has cast his seed, his hands are empty too.

“Yet he does not come in and mourn his loss of seed,
But waits for it to grow as he knows that it will.
So you, when you have done a good and fruitful deed
Should never doubt that God His purpose will fulfill.

“Then leave no weeds of doubt within your thought to dwell
Nor call that barren ground wherein a seed does sleep,
But sow your seeds of good and cultivate them well,
And manifold will be the blessings you shall reap.”



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232

So much of satisfaction, Lord, we find
In putting on the qualities of Mind,
That which is greatest we cannot decide.
There is the satisfaction of a peace
In unity with You that cannot cease,
The sense that You are ever at our side.

There is the satisfaction of a trust
That You will lead in paths that ever must
Bring us to fullest good, to greatest joys.
There is the satisfying surety
Our needs are met by Your sufficiency
And life for us holds nothing that destroys.

And many more than these we have to bless
Our lives with satisfaction You express.
But of them all I count this not the least:
When for some good thing we have nobly tried
And yet time and again have been denied,
At last we gain our goal with strength increased.

For this is satisfaction, full and sweet,
That comes to him who knows his work complete,
And gains God’s own commending word, “Well done.”
O we must reach for more than we yet touch
Till it is ours and we have gained this much:
The satisfaction of true victory won.



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233

When I survey the magnitude of life
As lived by him who most reflected God,
And think of all the mighty works he did
And yet with what humility he trod,

When I consider in what broad expanse
He lived and triumphed over even death,
My thought is overwhelmed; I feel as might
A newborn baby drawing its first breath.

The richness, fullness, deepness of it all
Must any finite sense of life transcend.
For here was Truth itself made manifest,
And here was Life divine that knows no end.


234

Two birds I saw who flew against the wind.
One was a sparrow. He beat his tiny wings
Against his breast in desperation, yet
Scarcely advanced for all his flutterings.

Then high above, outlined against the blue,
I saw a great-winged raven soar and sail;
Without an effort, so it seemed to me,
He poised in confidence upon the gale.


Page 129


What made him such a master over the wind,
I knew. He held his wings at such a plane
That rushing winds could only lift him up;
So he must greater altitude attain.

O when these gusts of sense would rage and roar,
Let us remember then the fearless flyer
And meet the storm with thoughts upheld and sure
So it can do nothing but lift us higher.


235

Our God when thought soars high above these mortal dreams
Into the purity of heaven’s atmosphere,
Where man no longer as a passing shadow seems
But rather God’s own child and His reflection clear.

And our God too when thought is deep in shame and woe,
When storms of sense assail us with afflictions sore,
When through a doubtful world man seems destined to go,
A fear-filled earthbound mortal — that and nothing more.

You are our God when we walk in Love’s radiant glow
And when to clouded, finite sense we seem to fall.
You claim us every hour, and all to You we owe,
For You are Love, unchanging Principle of all.



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236

What medicine is needed for the one
Who feels his body racked by aches and ills?
Just Love to quench pain-forming fears
Until the light of Truth appears
To show how man God’s law of health fulfills.

And what is needed by the shame-filled heart
Which finds that it is fathoms deep in sin?
Nothing but Love can cleanse the stains
Made when a tarnished sense profanes,
For these will fade when Love shines bright within.

But what can help him whom death comes to claim?
Why, Love can overthrow the claim of death
And show its unreality
With Life that cannot cease to be,
The Life that gives to every creature breath.

What misery is there Love cannot heal?
It conquers death and ill; it rights all wrong.
O let us link ourselves with it
And know its blessings infinite,
So all the world will sing Love’s joyous song.



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237

“Behold,” they say, “to serve the Lord is this man’s goal.
How much he must forsake, that we can know so well;
What pleasing ventures ours his tongue can never tell.
How great his loss; how life must press upon his soul.”

Dear Lord, how life does press upon my raptured soul,
So overwhelmingly that I cannot describe
The glory of which all who follow You imbibe,
The wonder of existence, free and sound and whole.

I cannot set my foot upon this joyous earth
Without a prayer of thanks for universe benign
And every creature here immortal and divine
That nothing knows of birth or death, decay or dearth.

And pleasures? Lord, I could not be contented now
With something less than that rich good Your ways impart,
The ever-present sense of You that fills my heart;
There are no pleasures great as those which You allow.

Yes, I have lost so much — Thank God that it is gone —
Of mortal will, of pride and fear, of selfish sense;
And gained instead a measure of intelligence
To know that which is true and good and watch them dawn.



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238

The right desire sent forth in sincere mind
Begets its own fulfillment in the end.
The faithful prayer will faithful answer find
And gain the good a loving God must send.

Does not a flower pointing to the sun
Receive the golden rays for which it yearns?
And birds that fly south when summer is done
Abide in warmer realms till spring returns.

Yet bird would know no south, nor flower feel
The sun’s effulgent light that makes it grow,
Were not these things they seek already real.
Their only need is that they prove them so.

Likewise, our only need is that we know
What God has done for us, till it appear.
Then we shall see in Love’s enriching glow
The answer to our prayer already here.


239

“Every idle word that men shall speak”
Must be accounted for on judgment day.
So says the Word. And yet, how vainly weak
Must be any defense of all we say.


Page 133


How many thoughtless things escape our lips
That we regret as soon as they are told!
Our wagging tongues upon their ceaseless trips
Bear cargoes they might better never hold.

O help us, Lord, to use the gift of speech
Discreetly, wisely, only at Your will;
To say the things that bless and help and teach,
To speak the loving word or else be still.


240

You are our Life, dear God, and when we stray
In paths apart from You we lose our way
And wander in a world of make-believe.
Dismay and doubt at length replace our trust,
Our fancied joys become as empty dust,
And we learn then how mortal things deceive.

How necessary that we walk aright
And stay steadfastly in God’s blessed light,
No other way or policy admit!
And then at every turn there shall be heard,
Directing us in all our ways, the word
Which says, “This is the way; walk ye in it.”



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241

“Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?”
Shall our God break His promise of goodness and worth?
Shall we find when we need Him our Father is gone?
Shall He leave us at night and forget to send dawn?

Not so. How could a God who is love without end
Become heedless of those who on His love depend?
And how too could a father leave what he loves best,
Or a mother forsake her own child at her breast?

O our God knows our needs even better than we
And supplies them each one with a hand quick and free.
Let us know, if we suffer, with Him we shall reign
And be glad for that which makes His love the more plain.


242

If we would know, if we would only know
What things belong to us through pure desire,
Then, like the prophet’s man of old,
Our eyes might open to behold
The mountains full of chariots of fire.

If we would see, if we would only see
What hosts of good encompass us about,
No longer then could we believe
These lies of sense that so deceive.
Peace should we know within and peace without.


Page 135


If we would love, if we would only love,
The sin and pain and death on which we gaze
Would fade as mist from out our sight,
Dissolved by Spirit’s healing light,
And we would walk with God in all our ways.


243

Has not our God commanded us to be
Strong and of a good courage, to know
The Lord our God is with us constantly
Whithersoever we may go?

Are we not witnesses for God’s success,
The servants of a mighty cause,
Knowing the power of holy consciousness,
The certainty of Spirit’s laws?

Then let us march straight on nor turn aside
Because some lie would bid us stay.
We put it at our feet in fearless stride
And march steadfastly on our way.


244

These be our thoughts when tempted to believe
That ought apart from God is true or real:
When sickness sends its symptoms to deceive,
Then we claim health, and health is all we feel.


Page 136


When sin would tempt us with mesmeric sense,
Then we hold fast to flawless purity
And know evil has no intelligence
With which to draw us by its specious plea.

And death, before which men are most dismayed,
Though it should threatening suggestions send,
But turns us to our God. We meet it unafraid,
Rejoicing in our Life that knows no end.

These be the thoughts that we shall ever think,
The thoughts that counteract all evil’s pleas.
We shall not bow to fears nor from them shrink
But know the truth that heals all falsities.


245

O Lord, my Lord, what can I say?
What thought can words of mine convey
From heart that overflows with gratitude?
A penury of speech is mine
To tell the bliss of things divine,
Of man redeemed and life richly renewed.

So laden with Your love is all,
So sweet is Your perpetual call,
So mighty is the good You give to see
That nothing but Soul-sense can speak
For hearts that live for You and seek
To dwell within Your presence constantly.



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246

We know, dear Lord, what heals the sick and quenches sinful thought,
What raises up from bed of death the dying to it brought,
What, comforts every stricken heart and checks the mourner’s tears.
What gives man strength and makes him bold, where once he knew but fears.

We know what lights the lamp of faith for men so they press on
Through darkness of the night until the coming of the dawn,
What lifts their thought to higher views and drives the mist away,
Rolls back the curtain and reveals the everlasting day.

We know that it is You, dear Lord. No other power or sense
Can do such things as You can do through Your omnipotence.
We need not know a single fear, for we have but to call
On You, dear God, the First and Last, the Only and the All.


247

Poor heart, have sorrows so increased your care
It seems as from the grave you now must speak?
Well, what of that? Can God not reach you there
As much as on the highest mountain peak?


Page 138


Remember that the grave was made the scene
Of the sublimest victory yet met.
Our Master stepped therefrom alive, serene;
And on the grave the seal of Life he set.

Count not all lost. The grave is not the end.
And if we look to Life then we shall see
The grave give up its dead, our thoughts ascend
To find their wholeness in eternity.


248

The only thoughts that I can think are those that come from Mind,
And nothing of unloveliness in them is there to find.
The only things that I can see are God’s realities,
And imperfection never can be possible to these.

The only voice that I can hear is Love’s unceasing word,
Whereby the underlying truth of everything is heard.
And all that I can feel or touch must be through Spirit sense,
That knows no sentient fleshliness, but just intelligence.

All that I think or see or hear or feel, All-perfect One,
Is done in Your reflection and performed as Your own son.
These arguments of sin and sense are utmost falsity.
My every faculty is Yours. What claim has wrong on me?



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249

What do I thank You for, my Lord,
Now that the sun of my success has fallen low,
When mists becloud with thoughts untoward
And woes portend? What are my thanks? Dear Lord, I know.

I thank You there is no reverse,
No darkening of the radiance of Spirit’s light,
For this is still Your universe,
Illumined by a love that never knows the night.

You have not left Your child alone
Just when he needs the most to know You are at hand,
Nor when asked bread, sent him a stone,
Nor cast him from the good that Your great love has planned.

Dear Lord, what do I thank You for?
I thank You for the truths that never cease to be,
For all I thanked You for before,
The fullness of the good You send unceasingly.


250

“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”
And how, dear Lord, could man with greater gift be blessed?
To realize that You are ever at our side
To strengthen us, deliver us, protect, and guide.


Page 140


Why should we seek those things that mortals deem so fair,
But which envelop them in heavy-hearted care,
When we can know a life renewed each day with zest,
Your presence, Lord, to go with us and give us rest?


251

Straight points God’s finger to the upward road
Which every man must now or later take.
Well may we rid ourselves of our false load
Of sense and self, and worldly ways forsake.

Nor shall we falter at the steep ascent
And seek to find an easy path around,
Lest we shall find our path is downward bent,
And we, alas, are only losing ground.

Is not the very fact that God insists
That we pursue this way a guarantee
Of sure success for him who but persists?
Then let us take our steps rejoicingly.


252

I thank You, Father, for each day that You have planned,
Whether to me it seemed to bring the bad or good,
The days were all alike when they came from Your hand,
But I have made of them whatever thing I would.


Page 141


Each one was filled with golden opportunity
To rise to heaven’s consciousness and there exist,
And some of it I grasped and some I failed to see;
But, thank You, both for what I gained and what I missed.

O thank You for each day that follows after day,
For all are filled with You and Your infinitude.
And each one brings another step along the way
That we may see how all is with Your love imbued.


253

How I have tried to run my own affairs!
And sometimes those of other people, too.
Yet daily they grew worse to my despair,
Until at last I knew not what to do.

And now, dear God, I bring all things to You
And ask that You will take them in Your hand.
You be the ruler; show me what to do
And I will humbly serve at Your command.

So shall my ways become more sound and true
To learn intelligence and You are one;
And I shall do what You would have me do,
And do it, too, as You would have it done.



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254

What do I thank You for, O God of mine?
Why, just to live within this world divine,
To be a part of that which You create,
And sing of man’s incomparable estate;

To glimpse Your glory in a bright sunrise
While happy-throated songbirds harmonize;
To note life’s joyousness all undefiled
Within the laughter of a little child;

To see Your love unfolded in a flower,
And feel beside the sea Your surging power;
To reap the riches of Your holy word;
To lift my thought in prayer already heard.

To know all things from yonder lowly stone
To shining stars are Yours and Yours alone.
What do I thank You for? O singing soul,
To be a part of one all-perfect whole.


255

Peter, Peter, how like to you am I!
How quickly do I pledge my faithfulness,
And yet how quickly, too, that pledge deny
To yield before a dreaming mortal lie.


Page 143


Like you, how prone I am to draw my sword
Against another who is doing wrong,
But leave it sheathed in circumstance untoward
And in the hour of stress forsake my Lord.

Those selfsame bitter tears that you have wept
Have I shed too, and how it hurts to know
How thoughtlessly and selfishly I slept
When for my Lord I should a watch have kept.

How like to you! Yet I remember too
That when the misery of those days was past
And all your anguish of repentance through,
How greatly did our Lord your faith renew.

“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”
Three times he asked and thrice did You affirm,
And he received Your pledge of fealty
And placed on You his charge of ministry.

O may my bitter tears wash clean my heart
Till I shall see the risen Christ is here,
Demanding that I make another start
And feed his sheep with love he shall impart.


256

When I am pressed by many things that must be done,
Each one imperative, and I have time for none,
I know that somewhere I must firmly take a stand
And yield all things to God and put them in His hand.


Page 144


You are my business, God, and I can do it best
When I place all my thought in You and leave the rest
To take the ordered course I know shall surely be.
And then my work is done, and all is harmony.


257

This world is full of fear, and men cry, “War!”
Although they want it not and hope for peace.
And neither need they know it any more;
When God’s great truth’s are learned, then wars will cease.

When men perceive that all men have one Mind,
And in this one all dwell in brotherhood,
Then they will put their warring ways behind
And so enjoy the fruits of peace and good.


258

A mighty truth is given us. Shall we not use it,
Or pass on by and to our old ways cling?
If we but temporize with it then we abuse it.
It must mean all to us or not a thing.

This truth brings God’s own power, if we receive it,
And from earth’s every ill can set us free,
But we must understand it and not just believe it;
And we must live it, too, implicitly.


Page 145


Nor can we wear it as a sunny day’s selection,
Then cast it off again when storms assail.
The truth must be our only trust, our one protection,
Our living proof that God can never fail.

If we will do these things with utmost consecration,
Forsaking paths by many mortals trod,
Then we shall see at last in final revelation
The glory and the grandeur of our God.


259

Shall I be faithless, God, because I fell
And let this mortal mind and thought rebel,
And say, “Why try? I cannot break sin’s spell;
I have no choice save this enslaving hell?”

Such thoughts I shall not have, nor life deplore.
O God, eternal Love, I thank You more
For this same battle with its stingings sore
Than for the pleasures I have known before.

You have not said the way would be all bright,
Neither that I should conquer overnight,
But this: that I be strong in Your own might.
I have no choice except to serve the right.



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260

I want You more, dear God, and O I need You much,
Your gentle grace to fill my life, Your tender touch
To soothe my fears and sweep away a burdened sense,
To turn me from myself with Love’s intelligence.

And yet I know I could not recognize my need
Had I not a measure of that for which I plead.
My heart could not cry out for You and seek You more,
Did it not have a sense of You now to adore.

O let me seek You constantly, yet realize
There is already much for which my thanks may rise.
With each advancing step Your goodness shall allow,
Let me be grateful for so much as I have now.


261

What do we need to grow in strength and grace?
Just this: to use that which we now possess,
To spend of that we have and in its place
Behold with what broad measure Love will bless.

No interest builds the fund that idle lies;
The unused talent all too soon decays,
But put to proper use it multiplies
Itself, and goodly interest it repays.


Page 147


We need not wait because our fund is such
As makes us feel that it could little do.
A little truth is just as true as much.
Let us use it; it will itself renew.


262

“A good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Momentous words! How great a tryst
Must man make with his God to qualify.
The soldier’s life is not his own;
The cause he serves, and that alone,
Allegiance gains from him who dares to try.

Upright in thought Christ’s soldier stands,
Attentive to his Lord’s commands,
His eyes fixed straight ahead on his high goal,
His weapon ever at his side,
The faithful sword of Truth well tried,
His orders known: “Go forth to war for Soul.”

Forward to battle now he goes,
False dreams of sense his only foes,
The power of Spirit’s truth his only might.
Calm in the confidence of good,
He presses on, as soldiers should,
Nor will he waver in the face of fight.


Page 148


This is the soldier Christ commands,
Not one of hate and blood-stained hands
Whose business is a fellow man to kill,
But soldier of Christ’s peace and love,
Who gets his orders from above
And knows no call except to do God’s will.


263

“Where are You now, my God?” I cried from out my great distress.
“The night is dark and You are gone, and heavy burdens press.
Have you forsaken me, my Lord, just when I need You most,
And left me as a helpless prey to evil’s fearful host?”

These things I cried, until I grew ashamed, and I thought then
Of how my Father had sustained me time and time again,
Of how His love had never failed to meet my deepest need,
And from despairing depths had lifted me till I was freed.

“Dear God,” I said, “forgive my faithlessness. I only seek
To let Your will be done. And lo, now that my thought is meek.
My foes have disappeared, and in the east shines forth the dawn.
O Lord, I just begin to see that You were never gone.”


264

One God for me, dear Lord, I cannot serve
A dozen different ones; there is not space.
Though I might try, I know that I should swerve
To one above the rest and these lose place.


Page 149


One power in which to put my utter trust,
One love demanding all my heart’s desire;
One Principle whereby to know the just,
One goal to which all of my thoughts aspire.

The world’s attractions glitter as the stars.
But You, O God, are as the shining sun,
Whose glory nothing even so much as mars.
One God for me, dear Lord, and You that one.


265

Simplicity! Lord, make this virtue mine,
A setting wherefrom other jewels shine
In gracious diadem of God’s design.

And let men say, if they would speak of me,
Not, “What a range of arts and skills has he!”
But this: “Behold the man’s simplicity.”

I do not pray that I may be renowned,
But, Lord, if any good in me be found,
O let it with simplicity be crowned.


266

O we are grateful, Lord, for these: for family, home, and friends.
They prove to us Your tender care and how Your love defends
All that is good here in this life of ours, and rightly viewed
They speak to us of You and gain our humble gratitude.


Page 150


But we are not deluded, Lord, though these things have their place,
They cannot mean so much to us as does Your changeless grace,
They cannot fill our lives with good as Your love fills them, Lord.
They cannot make such great demands or bring such rich reward.

Let these be real and good to us only to that extent
That they can bring us nearer You to follow Your intent.
The gift is less than is the Giver by whom it is disbursed,
And we will know and love them more because we put You first.


267

O God of Life, how good it is to go
To meet each day’s demands with You, and know
It is Your will that leads me to my task,
And for the strength to do it I may ask
In fullest confidence that it will be
Supplied me by Your love abundantly.

O I remember other days less fair,
Before I knew about the power of prayer,
When I would meet each day almost with dread,
In doubt before the trials that lay ahead,
As one who felt he fought the laws of life,
And confident of nothing save of strife.


Page 151


All this has changed. I know a harmony
That no false sense can ever take from me.
The laws of life no more fill me with fear:
I bless them now; each day they grow more dear.
O God of Life, I know not how to say,
But O I thank You for each blessed day.


268

I sing in the morning hours, because it seems so right
To sing when all the world is new and fresh and bright.
I lift my heart in happy song again at noon,
Because the whole world hums a friendly, busy tune.
At eventide I sing a song of grateful praise
For good that meets my need throughout these joyous days.
I sing when I am happy. Who would not sing then?
And I sing when all seems wrong, to know God’s love again.
A song will lift man up on fearless, soaring wing.
God’s love brings songs of joy. Why should not all men sing?


269

What do we do when trials assail?
Do we admit that we must fail,
That harmony must cease and discord reign?
Or do we hold steadfastly to
As much as we have proved is true
And wait for light to come and show our gain?


Page 152


What traveler, when comes the night,
Turns from the course he knows is right,
Thus losing all he gained during the day?
No, he will find himself abode
At this far point along the road,
Or, better yet, continue on his way.

Let us be traveling to Soul,
Nor turn aside from that high goal
Because sometimes we seem by darkness bound.
In patient hope let us abide
Till dawn shall break and shadows glide,
Or else press through the night to higher ground.


270

O what can break through bitterness
And turn hate’s sting to love’s caress,
Save Love and Love alone?
What else can still the harsh complaint,
Brought on by man’s own unrestraint,
With sweeter undertone?

And what can quicken burdened hearts
But Love itself, which strength imparts
And makes them light again?
Yes, what turns thought from evil ways
To God with magnifying praise?
Love in the lives of men.


Page 153


O love Love’s loved; no other power
Destroys the evil of this hour.
None else can good restore.
But Love can every wrong displace
And heal all ills with God’s rich grace.
Then let us seek Love more.


271

Thank You, dear God, for revelation,
Whereby we see in Your creation
Nothing that works abomination,
Neither that makes a lie.
But all is bright with God’s own shining,
And there is neither pain nor pining,
For former things have ceased confining,
And all is new and nigh.

This is the city of the Spirit,
Which they who overcome inherit,
A city with no temple near it
Except God and His Lamb.
Here mighty kings from every nation
Grow meek in love and adoration
And bring their gifts for consecration
To God, the great I AM.



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272

Eternal query, “What is truth?” Is it not this:
That man should walk in simple justice, equity, and love?
That he should separate himself from prejudice
And see all things aright with light that flows from God above?

Is it not this: that man in meekness recognize
That he is nothing of himself, but as God’s perfect child
Reflects perfection, too, like Him of too pure eyes
To look upon iniquity; so man is undefiled?

Is it not this: to render unto every man
Whatever is his rightful due, and unto God the same,
To know all things as held in one all-holy plan
And honor them as such? Truth is an action, not a name.


273

A right and wrong, and every man must choose
Between these opposites which one he serves.
None can postpone decision, none refuse;
Each by his choice receives as he deserves.

A right and wrong, and mankind’s destiny
Hangs on the course that every man will take.
If right, then hope of immortality;
If wrong, no hope at all but swift heartbreak.


Page 155


A right and wrong, O let us choose the right.
Why should we waste ourselves on vanity?
And if we have to fight for it, then fight.
But make the choice and live it fearlessly.


274

None ever fell so low but he could still look up,
Nor strayed so far away that he could not turn back.
None ever drank the dregs of life’s most bitter cup
But yet could have a thirst for sweetness it did lack.

And no man ever found himself so deep in sin
But he could look to God to wash away its stain,
Nor felt the anguish of a sense of shame within
But God could yet deliver him from all his pain.

O we must have more faith in good. God does not mean
That our mistakes should separate His son from Him.
He is not impotent before these things unclean;
His love has not been changed nor glory grown dim.

What though we have sinned, as all have some time done,
Are we to be condemned never to know the right?
But let us see ourselves, each as God’s perfect son,
And sinning, suffering sense will disappear in light.



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275

Those selfish things I once prayed for, dear Lord,
They seemed so all-important yesterday.
But now they seem so insignificant
Beside these other things for which I pray.

May I be loving, humble, meek, and kind,
Instead of worldly wise or much renowned.
In place of fame or name or great prestige,
May I in Spirit’s qualities abound.

More than authority or rank, I want
The willing gladness of a little child;
And mercy, justice, faithfulness, and truth
Mean more than wealth, by mortal man so styled.

O men may say I am ambitionless;
Of all things great to them, do I seek none.
But I have one ambition, loving Lord,
And this is it: to let Your will be done.


276

For tolerance, dear Lord, we plead,
That remedy for men and nations’ ills
That unites all in brotherhood
Because it takes account of good
And is not overcome by many wills.


Page 157


Yes, tolerance. This is our need,
That sense of justice that seeks out the true;
Nor holds less strongly to its own
Because another’s thought is known,
But cedes each man the right to his own view.

Not tolerance of what is wrong,
But tolerance, dear Lord, that You can bless;
So we may come to understand
That all are held within Your hand,
Your love love’s all, and ours should do no less.


277

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
How sing the songs of Soul, joyous, noble, grand;
When all the while our very hearts within us break
With sin’s sharp sting. O Lord, what music can we make?

O blessed little ones, does not the Father say
That in the wilderness He yet shall make a way?
And what land can be strange with God already there,
Enfolding you within His ever-loving care?

Lift up your eyes from all this grieving over wrong
To see God’s love for you and then burst forth in song.
He makes a way; be grateful for His guiding rod.
You are no stranger now: you are the guest of God.



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278

Dear God, what sends a man into the night
With heart so filled with fear it overflows;
Yet brings him singing back with morning’s light,
Courageously to face again his foes?

What could, except the love that casts out fear?
That man has somehow touched the healing hem
Of Christ’s own robe and then saw disappear
His fears and every thought that would condemn.

O this is heaven, just to walk within
The presence of the thoughts God sends abroad
To heal men of their woe and pain and sin.
O thank You, loving Father-Mother God.


279

Thank You today. Tomorrow may not be
So free from care as now; I may not see
The riches of Your good along the way.
Why should I wait, my Lord? Thank You today.

Thank You today. Too soon I may forget
The songs of joy and listen to regret.
While good is here my thanks I cannot stay.
This is the proper time. Thank You today.


Page 159


Thank You today. I know Your love will bring
New joys tomorrow about which to sing.
To tell of present blessings while I may
Is my delight, dear Lord. Thank You today.


280

Stand fast!
Our God has not left us alone;
His strong right arm defends his own.
By Him is evil overthrown.
Stand fast!

Be strong!
His is the power by which we stand.
All heaven and earth are in His hand;
No greater might on sea or land.
Be strong!

Fear not!
For all things real our God has made
That His commands should be obeyed.
All life for us is unafraid.
Fear not!

Press on!
Soon night and fears will all be gone
Before the breaking of the dawn.
We cannot fail if we press on.
Press on!



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281

Mountains we build of our own fear,
Then try to scale them with our might;
Mountains that must disappear
As shadows flee before the light.

And yet we call upon our God
To free us from what is not real,
Then turn again and onward plod,
Nor wait for His pure touch to heal.

O let us listen to His voice
Saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee,”
And then in gratitude rejoice.
God’s grace is our sufficiency.


282

How shall we know which way to go,
Which will assure success?
So many roads but bring new loads;
So few of them bring less.

There is no way of men we may
Pursue to our release.
It is the way of Love each day
Alone that leads to peace.


Page 161


They best discern whose hearts most yearn
For truth with which to bless,
Who walk aright within the light
Of love and Christliness.

And then God’s word by them is heard
As they, unceasing, pray.
O fall in line with God’s design
And win all good today.


283

Heaven above and chaos down below —
And mortals in between with bonds that smother.
And who will guide the hand that grasps for one
And stay the foot that slips into the other?

For we are not sufficient of ourselves
To free ourselves from woes of our own making;
But Christ’s eternal truth can lift us up
To consciousness of Love’s immortal waking.

Then man shall no more seem a castaway,
Incapable of good, to evil given;
But he will be the perfect child of God,
Already in the holiness of heaven.



Page 162


284

How can man sin and yet love God? I do not know.
But only this: that I have often fallen low
Until sometimes it seemed that I could never go
In paths of truth. And yet, dear God, I love You so.

This sin, that seems to separate all good from me,
By its own emptiness at last must make me see
That it is but a dream, an unreality,
From which I shall awake to find that I am free.


285

This much we know: that that which is
Forevermore shall be.
Since God made all, then all is His
Now and eternally.

Why then admit these fearful claims
Of darkness and of doubt,
These woes of sense of many names
When we can cast them out?

Hold fast, my heart, to this one fact:
Our God is good and All.
And then through His own power act,
And you will never fall.



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286

Even in the night, dear Lord,
We can sing praises and rejoice,
As Paul and Silas did.
When midnight gloom had hid
Their freedom, till they raised their voice.

And they were loosed, and others too,
So mighty was the truth they saw.
The very earth did quake
And bonds of steel did break
Before the power of God’s law.

The God of then is our God now;
So shall we sing when night comes on.
His is the shortest night
Whose face is to the light,
Who waits expectantly for dawn.


287

Come now, pure Christliness,
And fill my waiting thought
That I may heal and bless
Those who to me are brought.
Like him whose thoughts You filled
So well in bygone days,
May I of good works build
A temple to Your praise.


Page 164


Come now, true Godliness,
And let Your ways be mine,
So that I may express
A harmony divine.
Then I shall understand
That all must perfect be,
For all are in Your hand
Sustained eternally.

Come now, Soul-consciousness,
Till I shall nothing know
Of woes and fears that press
Upon poor mortals so.
But as a burning light
My life with Truth shall shine,
Sure in the strength of right,
Steadfast in God’s design.


288

The greatest moment of my life? Ah, well,
It is not like another’s. I cannot tell
Of mighty victories or great deeds done,
Of plaudits in my ears or honors won.

I have no memory of wealth or fame,
No cause for men’s remembering my name.
My life has been a thing almost without
A bit of greatness men would talk about.


Page 165


The greatest moment of my life? Well, that
Has come when silent and alone I sat;
So still, with thought so selfless, pure, and meek
That in that hour of prayer I heard God speak.

This was the greatest moment of my life,
A moment I repeat when care or strife
Besets my path. I claim a quiet hour
And know again the workings of God’s power.

O different men have different desires.
This is the one to which my heart aspires,
The one above all others that I seek:
An hour of prayer in which to hear God speak.


289

How did Jesus treat the mortal boast
Of sin and pain, of sorrow, death, and shame?
“He is a liar and the father of it.”
Those were the words of him who overcame.

No fear, no flinching there, and no retreats;
No willingness to let a wrong abide.
He knew that error never could be real,
That from the word of God it could not hide.


Page 166


So we shall gain our own deliverance
When we as fearlessly name wrong a lie.
Then we shall do the works the Master did,
The truth he lived we too shall glorify.


290

Tear-filled experience has taught me this:
That I shall never know a bit of bliss
So long as I shall seek it for myself alone.
For often I have gazed upon a thing
And thought how much of pleasure it would bring,
But, selfishly pursued, it still remained unknown.

Something desirable, I thought, would meet
My moment’s need for it and taste so sweet,
And yet, when greed laid hold on it, it lost its taste;
Or something that I seized lest it be lost,
If I had gained it at my brother’s cost,
It turned to dust within my hands, to idle waste.

For God gives good just as He gives the light,
Not to be swallowed up, then lost in night,
But that it may go forth so everyone may view:
So may I live at one with God’s design
And understand that good cannot be mine
Only by taking it. I must reflect it too.



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291

Sometimes, when I become impatient at delay
In something which I feel that I must have today,
I think of those whose names we bless.
I think of Moses, who spent eighty years before
He heard God’s voice to him, and then spent forty more
Within a rugged wilderness.

I think of Jesus, who, though God’s beloved son,
Lived thirty years before a single deed was done
To prove the power of God with man.
I think of her whom God ordained in our own time
To show the law and gospel one in love sublime;
How she did wait upon God’s plan!

O what is all our hurry? Is it not Christ we seek?
And what is time to him, a year, a month, a week?
But let us do our work aright.
Then we shall no more say, “When will God hear my prayer?”
But we shall turn to see our God already there
With hands outstretched to us in light.


292

Sinners sow the wind, an empty, maddened gust
That shrieks and howls at them and turns all things to dust.
But wind is not a thing that man cannot resist;
He turns his back on sin until its cries desist.


Page 168


And then the storm will cease and all be calm and mild,
And man will see himself as God’s own perfect child.
No more wind in his face to frustrate and delay,
But breezes at his back to help him on his way.


293

Who has seen a river running backward,
Its course reversed, retreating from the sea?
Why, such a thing, we know, can never happen.
The laws of nature could not let it be.

Then who has seen a man who ceased progressing,
Who is not pressing forward on to Soul?
If true, the laws of God have met reversal,
The laws that draw man to his perfect goal.

Like as the ocean draws to it all rivers,
However they may creep or wind about,
So God draws man inevitably to heaven.
Let us press on and cast away our doubt.


294

No more the power of God is hid from me,
For I have touched the robe of purity;
And wickedness that ran rampant before
Has disappeared, and I see it no more.


Page 169


The streets that once I walked along in fear
Mean nothing to me now. My God is near
To save me from whatever lurks within
That I once thought could hold me fast in sin.

O saving, healing Christ, how man is blest
By Your dear love! The suffering heart finds rest
From fears whereon it once did meditate,
And feet can walk again in paths made straight.

What shall we do, in what way shall we go
To pay the debt of gratitude we owe?
We can but labor with our heart and hands
In faithful love and follow Your commands.


295

For you who seek that which most men desire,
Success in everything they undertake,
Here is a rule that will success inspire,
A method for the efforts you would make.

First, turn all thought from human means and ways
From finite principles and mortal cause;
No more consider every different phase
Of that which men define as natural laws.


Page 170


Now, take the problem to all-perfect Mind;
Let each detail conform with it, no less.
Then from this basis act, and you will find
Your efforts will be blessed by rich success.

And this is why: all good must come from God,
Who blesses what accords with His own plan.
Then see you have the matter right with God,
And you will find you have it right with man.


296

“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee,
And the fowls of the air and they shall tell thee.
Or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee
And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.”

Yes, the beasts of the field. Have I not seen them go
To the green mountain side when the forage was low?
And the fowls of the air. Have I not watched them fly
As they searched for their food from on high in the sky?

And the plants of the earth. How the green waving corn
Holds up high its broad palms to the moisture of morn.
And, yes, even the fish of the sea may be gone
From their low-lying depths up the river to spawn.


Page 171


Now do all these not teach of a seeking up higher
Which alone can fulfill all the creature’s desire?
Should not man then be seeking a place not yet gained
That is higher than any he yet has attained?

Should he not likewise be forever reaching out
From the depths of despair, from his darkness and doubt?
Let us heed the good lesson God’s creatures can teach,
For we grasp more of good the higher we reach.


297

We thank You, Father, for the little things;
Fragments, the Master said, should not be lost.
We often extol great joys Your goodness brings
But seldom count these things of lesser cost.

These are the things we mean: the cheery smile,
The handclasp of a friend, warm and sincere,
The silent thought, yet loving all the while,
The selfless love that brings You very near,

The little kindnesses in word and deed,
The gentleness of human courtesy,
The willingness to help men in their need,
The love men show each other naturally.


Page 172


O these are all of You, none are apart;
The remnants of the feast that Love prepares.
Then let us gather them into the heart,
And make glad mention of them in our prayers.


298

That I might be more like intrepid Paul,
Whose life exposed the falsity of sense!
Forsaking all for Christ, he yet had all;
Dishonored often, he knew no offense.

He sang in praise when bound by bodily woes
Until his fetters fell aside at length;
Undaunted, faced a multitude of foes
And fought the fight of faith in Christ’s own strength.

Help me, dear God, to live above earth’s lies
As the Apostle to the Gentiles did,
Ascribe to good all power and realize
My very life with Christ in God is hid.


299

Accept, accept, you men, what God prepares for you.
Must He both send the gift and take it for you too?
Must He pour forth all good that you refuse to see,
Then listen to your cries of insufficiency?


Page 173


Or do you fear to grasp the new lest should be lost
The old to which you cling — but, O, at what a cost?
Well, who would close his hand around a counterfeit
While someone tried to put good money into it?

Awake! Awake! all good is yours and ever here.
You only need to turn from worry, doubt, and fear:
And look to Him whose hand enduring substance holds
And then accept the good His tender love unfolds.


300

A cross and crown. I see, and how unlike they seem!
One rugged, cold, and gray; the other with jewels agleam.
And I have tried to put the cross from out my sight
That I might better see the crown’s effulgent light.

But Christ has said to, take my cross, nor lay it down,
For only thus shall I receive the treasured crown.
And He who gives all good imparts no shame to bear;
If my cross be of Christ, it cannot be unfair.

O let me look at this from God’s own perfect view.
What is my cross except the trial of being true?
And does not this, well done, win God’s praise and renown?
That which I make a cross I well might make a crown.


Page 174


O Love, my cross is not a curse. Let me not shirk
But, rather, be glad that I am called to such high work
As You in Your wise plan have given me to do.
A cross to me, perhaps; perhaps a crown to You.


301

I think that I would rather walk within
The wilderness, directed by God’s hand,
Than to abide in ways of sense and sin
And in the palaces of kings to stand.

Of Meribah’s waters would I rather drink
Than sparkling wine upon the festive board,
And bread of manna rather eat, I think,
Than costly food set by a temporal lord.

In wilderness my God is near to me,
And gladly would I walk at His command.
It is the way from mortal apathy.
The wilderness leads to the Promised Land.


302

You men who say there is no God, come now;
Account for all these things your eyes allow.
You who, except you see, will not believe,
Explain these things which you yourselves, perceive.


Page 175


What do you say occurs when one is cured
Of some dire malady he long endured,
And nothing else than selfless silent prayer,
Has brought the healing so apparent there?

What do you say when someone steeped in sin
Feels such a burning of the heart within
That all his wrongs are purged by inner fire,
Not only sin itself but sin’s desire?

Again, when one upon the deathbed lies,
Whence comes, pray tell, the power that makes him rise,
Obedient unto the strong, clear call
Of Him who knows for man no death at all?

Well, speak! You who have ridiculed the thought
Of higher things and said that God is not.
What do you say of that which you discern?
Will you admit that you have much to learn?

O doubt your doubting; doubt your unbelief,
And understand how God brings men relief.
Drop off the false beliefs you blindly wear
And see that God is here and everywhere.



Page 176


303

Never did man do a noble deed
But that Truth’s cause a champion did find;
And never has he done a base, ignoble one
But that he hurt himself and all mankind.

Not one right word, not one degrading thought,
But lifted or deteriorated men.
Our actions know no bounds for their effect resounds
Throughout all time again and yet again.

Count not the choice as insignificant
What you will do when tempting lies entice.
Overcoming, you bless all; submitting, make men fall.
You weight the scales with virtue or with vice.


304

Dear God, You know our thanks for all these, proofs of Your protection,
The manifold expressions of
Your tender, ever-present love,
So plain that they are seen even by mortal sense perception.

But there are other things that would almost defy our telling,
Inaudible and unseen things
That lend our secret thoughts such wings
As make them soar above this very earth we call our dwelling.


Page 177


There are such things as these: the aspiration for perfection,
The reaching out for holiness,
The love that makes us want to bless
Our fellow man and binds humanity in one affection.

The satisfying knowledge that all life must be invested
With one great law, one holy plan
Controlling universe and man,
The willingness to wait on God to see it manifested.

The confidence that knows all wrongs can be annihilated
Be seeing their own falsity
And trusting God unfalteringly,
The peace that comes before and after this is demonstrated.

These are the things that call from us our innermost devotion,
These things invisible, unheard,
And difficult to put to word,
And yet that bear our lives upon Love’s sacred, joyous ocean.


305

What do we thank You for, our All-in-all?
We thank You for the golden, gleaming sun,
We thank You for the breeze with soft-voiced call,
We thank You for the night when day is done.


Page 178


We thank You for the sleep upon our bed,
We thank You when we wake to see the dawn,
We thank You for the heavens overhead,
We thank You for the earth we walk upon.

We thank You for a hundred different flowers,
We thank You for the birds with sweet-toned song,
We thank You for the work that fills our hours
With happy, right endeavor all day long.

We thank You for the good that knows no end,
We thank You for each joyous day renewed,
We thank You for all things Your love does send,
But most of all, dear God, for gratitude.


306

How different to know evil can be resisted
Than weakly to believe that it cannot.
One is the guarantee of certain victory;
The other is a self-defeating thought.

Then don the panoply of Spirit-consciousness,
For you know well upon whom you rely,
And grasping truth, your sword, you warriors for the Lord,
Throw down the gage of battle to the lie.


Page 179


One garrison need you defend and only one,
The secret realm of your own consciousness.
Destroy the error there and it dies everywhere;
Therein the enemy grows great or less.

O helpers of humanity, go ever on;
Be steadfast, faithful, loyal, right, and true,
In Christly love abide; all power is on your side.
You know the truth, and you well know you do.


307

“And now what do you thank God for?” men say.
“You who sing songs of praise unto His name,
Behold how you have fallen low today,
Sinning, sick, and put to open shame.”

What do we thank God for? What do we see?
Dominion over this that meets their sight.
Thank Him in sin for sinless purity,
Thank Him in darkness for His radiant light;

In poverty thank Him for boundless wealth,
Thank Him for peace when senses shout of strife,
In sickness thank Him for our perfect health,
In death thank Him for uninterrupted life.


Page 180


Why should we think our thanks should fluctuate
According to that which the eyes behold,
In sunshine let our gratitude be great,
Then in adversity let thanks grow cold?

Ah loving God! What do we thank You for?
We thank You for the total sum of good.
No misery makes us cease to adore
Nor hides from us Your Father-Motherhood.


308

I never saw so much of kindness manifest
As when I lived the most that other men be blest.
I never saw so much of true nobility
In other men as when I tried to noble be.

I never saw so much of gentleness and grace
On every hand as when I gave to these first place.
I never saw so much of holy harmony
That filled the universe as when it first filled me.

“What thou seest, that thou beest,” said the Greek
It’s true, but I would a reversal of this speak.
“What thou beest, that thou seest,” also is true.
In other men we see ourselves expressed anew.



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309

Meek and loving let me be,
Knowing, God, Your harmony,
Dwelling in Your purity
Let me live in love.

As a mother leads her child,
Let Your spirit, gentle, mild,
Guide in paths all undefiled.
Let me live in love.

Safe within Your loving care,
I see goodness everywhere;
Nothing wrong can find me there.
Let me live in love.


310

A little more meekness,
A little more love,
A little more faith
In the good God above;

A little more patience,
A little more trust,
A little more mercy,
To make us more just;


Page 182


A little more kindness,
A little more truth,
A little more friendship,
A little more ruth,

A little more courage,
A little more prayer,
A little more vision
Of good everywhere;

A little more gladness
A little more joy,
Will heal all our troubles,
All ills will destroy.


311

The most contagious thing I ever saw
Was not disease based on some mortal law.
It was not panic, horrific and severe,
Nor anything that filled men’s hearts with fear.

For what is more contagious, now, than these:
The good of life; its simple harmonies;
The things that bring all men in one accord
With Love their only Mind, their only Lord?


Page 183


A friendly happy smile will multiply
Much faster than will any evil lie.
A loving deed itself will reproduce
More readily than any cruel abuse.

Even the laughter of a little child
Will touch the stony heart and make it mild.
And men will give of time and thought and deed
To help a fellow man in some dire need.

Good is the most contagious thing I know.
To what immense proportions does it grow!
For it is propagated by God’s hand
And therefore in His allness must expand.


312

Upward and upward man must go;
The climb is long, the progress slow.
Sometimes we slip and lose our place
And must begin anew the race.

And yet withal man’s course is up.
The stony path, the bitter cup —
All these he takes to gain his end,
Yet never ceases to ascend.


Page 184


And why? Because the law of God
Makes every step by mankind trod
Yet higher than the one before,
Till we shall know the false no more.

And then old ways will be forgot
And man by God Himself be taught.
So must we climb till we shall see
The realm of God’s reality.


313

I walked along a mountain trail
And saw great pine trees growing tall
And fine and clean, with arms outstretched
In benediction over all.

I walked beside the fishers’ wharf
And saw logs made of that same pine
Warping and rotting in disuse,
No longer strong and clean and fine.

How sad, I thought, that men have come
With bitted axe and crosscut saw
And laid these forest monarchs low
To rot away while termites gnaw.


Page 185


And then I thought, How sad as well
That men made to be strong and clean
Fall down before the axe and saw
Of evil and grow weak and mean.

But men are more than helpless trees.
We can resist the axe and saw,
And grow in truth and graciousness,
Protected by God’s holy law.


314

“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood.”
But, Lord, must I resist till blood shall flow?
Have I not sought You long and prayed for good?
And yet, it’s true, I have not much to show.

But unto blood — O no, Lord, not that long,
For I have felt a weakness in my heart,
And I have yielded when the foe grew strong
And given up before the blood did start.

And yet my Master resisted unto blood
And proved its loss could never sap his life.
May I resist till evil be withstood,
Be worthier of him who conquered strife.



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315

There may be mist and fog, there may be wind and rain,
There may be darkened skies till little light remain,
There may be stony paths, there may be steep ascents,
There may be slips and falls, there may be burdened sense.

But just as surely as God is a God of love
Then He will draw His child, lifting him above
These many earthly woes with His abundant grace,
And bring him safely to his true abiding place.


316

Something to heal? Something that God has left undone,
That He forgot to give to His beloved son?
Or even worse, some great misfortune come about
That God in His infinitude could not keep out?

Something to heal, to remedy? How very odd
That we should be so cruelly treated by our God!
A God of Love, we say, yet how could Love allow
Such trouble for His child as we are claiming now?

Something to heal? Then it must be something apart
From man forever held close to His Father’s heart,
A false belief to be replaced by what is real
And nothing more. There is no troubled man to heal.



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317

God first, in early morning light,
Before I go upon my way;
God gives me vision clear and bright
With which to meet the coming day.

God first, when I prepare to go
By some new path I come to see.
Let me ask God: then I shall know
What way His hand has set for me.

God first, when hurried, human will
Would take some course apart from Love.
Let me stop then and listen till
I gain my guidance from above.

God first, in every thought and deed,
In every case, in every hour.
To put God first is all I need.
Mine is the blessing, His the power.


318

Two travelers began a journey along the selfsame road
To the same destination and each with an equal load.
The one hummed merrily a tune the while he marched along.
The other thought how hard the road and had no time for song.
Each met with obstacles, the second no more than the first,
But one man made not much of them; the other stood and cursed.


Page 188


And so they went until the gloom of night enshrouded day
And shot long shadows from the trees that grew along the way.
One traveler looked straight before him at the road ahead
The other cast his eyes at shadows that filled him with dread,
And finally exhausted by his fears, his courage gone,
This man fell down beside the road. The other man marched on.

O, what is it, my friends, that fills for some this life with sorrow,
While other men live glad todays with rich hope for tomorrow?
Is it not we ourselves that make our task seem light or wearing?
Let us be more concerned with good than with the load we’re bearing.
Let us think joyous, happy thoughts, not doubtful ones and dreary,
And we shall march along the road with steps that never weary.


319

Clouds! Clouds of war, deep and dark and grim
That mesmerize men’s thinking, making dim
The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man.
Clouds! stormy clouds that thunder, flash, and blind
Until they threaten to engulf mankind,
Yet substanceless without a Principle or plan.


Page 189


What said the Master of these clouds that spread?
“Then shall they see the Son of man,” he said,
“Coming in the clouds.” In clouds like these? Why, yes,
The truth of man so greatly must outshine
These clouds of mortal sense with light divine
That they will disappear from human consciousness.

Clouds! Clouds that come from nowhere and that go
Back to their nothingness when God’s winds blow
Them from our thought with Truth’s divine intelligence.
O let not clouds arouse in us such fears,
For through them all the perfect man appears
And shows man free from all these warring lies of sense.


320

Nearer than darkness to the night,
Nearer than morning to the light,
As near as truth is to the right,
So near is God to man.

Nearer than sin to one defiled,
Nearer than peace to mercy mild,
As near as Love to its own child,
So near is God to man.

As near as what is found to be
Father and son eternally,
Inseparable in unity,
So near is man to God.



Page 190


321

“So little time,” I said, “so much to do.
I must depart if I hope to get through.
I shall not take much time for prayer.
Tomorrow I shall have more time to spend
And then make up for what today shall lend.
I know my Father wil not care.”

And so I hurry off; but soon I find
That there is much confusion in my mind;
And I find fault with fellow men,
And great disorder everywhere I see
That makes me lose all sense of harmony,
Till I return to God again.

O You who evermore have time for me,
Why must I turn from You so hastily
That I can only go astray?
And then I hasten once more to Your side.
But it were better that I there abide,
And take more time to watch and pray.


322

Ever the way of love it is for us,
The honest way, the faithful, fair, and true;
The way that seeks to walk no other path
Than that we know our God has led us to.


Page 191


Ever the way of love, of joy supreme,
Which sacrifices self that men be blest;
The way that hears and heeds God’s least command
And faithful stands through every pressing test.

Ever the way of love, of truth and life,
Which only seeks that God be glorified,
That in Him men may find their truer selves
And then in Him, complete and safe, abide.


323

Through error overcome
Is man’s salvation won;
While error left to dwell
Is all that tells of hell.

One error overtrod
Bespeaks the power of God,
Or left alone to ply
Admits as true a lie.

One error proved to be
An unreality
In like degree proves too
That all of Truth is true.


Page 192


So shall light in the gloom
Foretell all error’s doom,
Each slightest victory
Man’s heavenly peace foresee.


324

Who can declare what loving hearts have done?
All silent and alone they stand,
Fulfilling daily Love’s command
Until they shall come forth with victory won.

Like him who toiled along the rugged slope
That led him to Golgotha’s hill
To prove to men they could not kill
The life that lived in love, in faith, in hope.

Or she, who in a lonely attic room
Communed with God for love of men;
Till He should move her waiting pen
To write the book whose light should banish gloom.

O we cannot repay them for such good.
But we can let our lives declare
How richly did their own lives bear
And do the works that prove our gratitude.



Page 193


325

Last night I dreamed a dream of disappointment deep,
So filled with trouble that it roused me from my sleep.
And then I cried, “O Lord, is it not serious
That I, even in dreams, am persecuted thus?”

And grieving greatly, off to sleep again I went,
And now I dreamed a dream of pleasure and content.
“Now, this is better, Lord,” I said, “as it should be.
This is the kind of dreams that most appeal to me.”

And then I thought: Why, how ridiculous it seems
To base my thanks to God on what appears in dreams!
Yet, even so, are not the night dreams just as real
As daily happenings I see and hear and feel?

No more should thanks depend on erring mortal sight
Than they depend upon the dreams I dream at night.
But if my thanks are based upon reality,
Then, like God’s blessings, they shall flow continually.


326

O thank You, God, we need not lose our song
Because the way is hard, the battle long.
We need not be bowed down in sorrowing;
Our inmost thought can soar to You and sing.


Page 194


Like dainty butterflies that search the hay
For honeyed blooms, nor care how hot the day,
May we so seek the sweetness of true Life
That we think nothing of the moment’s strife.

Hardships do not appall; our hearts can see
Through them and know the pure reality.
What though the trial is long? It will shorter be
Because we sing Your praises gratefully.


327

My business is to love. There may be other things
That I must likewise do,
Yet this I know is true:
They are but means to manifest Love’s offerings.

Just as we say the sun gives light and warmth benign,
Brings sundry plants to birth
And blesses all the earth;
And yet we know its only business is to shine.

My business is to love. Not just as I direct,
But as the smiling sun
Beams down on everyone,
Impartial, universal love must I reflect.



Page 195


328

Because the Magdalen loved much
Her many sins were all forgiven.
And it is this same healing touch
Of Love that points our way to heaven.

For God is Love that heals all wrong
And as we love, is Love reflected.
Nothing of sin, then, can belong
To him whose thought is Love-protected.

Love changes sinner into saint
And brings new joy to all creation;
Unblemished Love that knows no taint:
Herein man finds his full salvation.


329

How mankind has progressed upon this earthly sphere
Since first it woke to see what lay about it here!
Where once men, walked as animals, now they can fly
On soaring metal wings that roar across the sky.

Where once their language was but grunts of pain or glee,
Now words resound through space almost instantly.
And once man’s work was done slowly and by hand;
Now buttons pressed reveal a world at his command.


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“And let them have dominion.” Almost, it seems they do.
Yet certain things they lack — of great importance too.
The very wings they ride upon are being made
As instruments of death, and men are much afraid.

The words that they have taught to rocket out through space
Abound in warring insults, all devoid of grace,
The force of their atomic energy now splits
As bombs upon the ear and blows the earth to bits.

O there is something wrong with this, some great mistake,
That men should die because of progress that they make.
Should man, to whom God gave dominion over, all,
Become the victim of himself and thereby fall?

What is it we need to learn? It is this alone:
That only as we love is true dominion known.
Yes, God gave man dominion, but it comes to light
Only as he perceives and uses it aright.


330

Govern my desire, dear God, and You will govern me,
For who can separate a man from what he longs to be?
Through right desire a man receives the answer to his prayer.
It grasps upon the thing he craves and clings steadfastly there.

Whatever obstacle would interfere must fall at last.
It cannot halt the deep desire that holds its vision fast,
By his desire is man enslaved, or else by it made free.
Govern my desire, dear God, and You will govern me.



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331

A man toiled selflessly two thousand years ago
And gave the world a truth nothing can overthrow.
Denying that the works of his own self were wrought,
He pointed ever to the Principle he taught.

The years went by, and then at last in our own day
Another lived who trod the Master’s faithful way.
She too from personality forever turned
To bring to men the holy Science she discerned.

How now, my friends, shall we serve those who best served men?
By worshipping their personality again?
Ah, no. They would not have it so, and we should not.
But worship God, the perfect Principle they taught.


332

If I forget to love, then I forget as well
To be at one with good, where I should ever dwell;
Forget to take my food of life, my daily rest;
Forget how fellow man and I by God are blest.

If I forget to love, then I forget the peace
That flows into the heart and makes rich joys increase,
Forget the fullest, sweetest sense that man can know;
Forget the Principle that heals all earthly woe.


Page 198


If I forget to love, then I forget to live;
Forget to take the good that God Himself would give;
Forget the best on earth, the best in heaven above;
Forget that I exist, if I forget to love.


333

No sin can be so adamant
But by God’s power it can be dissolved.
And there can never problem be
Of weakness or infirmity
But by the right idea can be solved.

No error is as true as Truth;
No discord is as real as harmony.
And Love must ever be more great
Than is the deepest, ingrained hate.
Death dies, but Life lives on eternally.

God is supreme; all else must fade
Before the splendor of effulgent light.
Since this is true, why must we go
About in such distressing woe,
As though the wrong could never yield to right?

We walk where we direct our gaze.
Let us look up and fill our hearts with cheer,
Not bow our head and sadly plod.
O let us sing our way to God,
Rejoicing now in that which shall appear.



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334

Much more there is to see with unseen eyes
Than any mortal sense can realize.
Earth’s beauties that the human organ sees
But hint of things more wonderful than these.

The human eye sees both the day and night,
While everlasting day meets spiritual sight.
The former sees the things that disappear
The latter sees the good forever here.

We look at yonder towering mountain height
From depths below and say, “How great the sight!”
And yet all of the grandeur there endued
Is but a speck beside infinitude.

We see the spectrum’s bow upon the cloud
And think, “How nearly beauty cries aloud.”
And yet immortal sight sees things more fair,
With which the best of earth cannot compare.

O there is more to see than men believe,
That only Soul-perception can receive,
And when this sense has God’s rich good espied
The glories of the earth are magnified.



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335

What should we say if one we knew to be
Devoid of power and authority
Should come to us demanding that we serve
Him as our lord, his pseudo-rule observe?

Should we not rise steadfastly to resist
This demand and on our rights insist?
And should we not maintain our stand for right
Until the false pretender fled from sight?

Well, then, likewise, what shall we say of those
More subtle but marauding mental foes
That come to steal our peace with false belief
And bring a train of sickness, sin, and grief?

Should we not every bit as firmly stand,
Refusing all unlike our God’s command,
Insisting on our right, as God’s own child,
To health and peace and goodness undefiled?

And should we not remain steadfast and true
Till error sees how little it can do
And disappears in frothy nothingness
While angels come to minister and bless?

So did the Master; and so too can we,
If we adhere to true fidelity.
So shall we prove dominion is our own;
One God have we, and we serve Him alone.



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336

“All things that the Father hath are mine,”
The joy supreme, the love divine,
The boundless good He richly gives,
Eternal life in which man lives;

The rock of Truth in which to trust,
Compassion, merciful and just,
Dominion of omnipotence,
Infallible intelligence;

Serenity and heaven-rest,
Abundance of all that is best,
A purity that knows no wrong,
A never-ceasing, joyous song.

“All things that the Father hath are mine.”
Not mine alone, these things divine,
But likewise theirs who on Him call.
All that God has — and He has all.


337

So many flying flags, of great and little nations
So often set against each other in their strife,
Each waving over men who in their agitation
Go forth to give their own or take another’s life.


Page 202


There is one flag beneath which all would be united,
If all could say, “His banner over me was love.”
Then prejudice and hate would vanish, wrongs be righted,
And men would dwell as angels in heaven above.


338

Thanks be to God that we can grow,
Whatever be our present station.
Whether we now be high or low,
We can improve the situation.

Was not the newborn baby Jesus
Too helpless then to raise his head?
Yet through the love of God that frees us
He grew until he raised the dead.

We too shall grow in like perfection,
Shall do good works and love as he.
Each forward step at Love’s direction
Is of such grace a guarantee.


339

I walked beside a little silvery pool
And saw within its waters clear and cool
A stick halfway submerged beneath the water’s face.
And to my sight, as. I gazed there intent,
Where air and water met, the stick was bent;
And greatly wondering, I drew it from, its place.


Page 203


And now I saw, at first to my surprise,
The stick lay straight and true before my eyes,
Without the crookedness I saw at my first sight.
“Of course,” I said, “the different density
Of air and water made this seem to be.
The only bend was in refracted rays of light.”

I dropped the stick, and on my way I went,
And saw a man, withered, old, and bent,
Hobbling along the road with feeble steps and slow.
“How sad,” I thought, “that man, who is God’s son,
Should find life’s journey thus so nearly done,
And he, crooked as the stick I saw, must go.”

“As crooked as the stick I saw.” But wait!
The stick had not been crooked; it was straight.
Only the light was bent to different densities.
Is it not possible that this man too,
Just as the stick, is whole and straight and. true,
If I would see him through the light in which God sees?”

And so I looked through Spirit’s atmosphere,
Unmarred by densities, but pure and clear.
And now the man I saw was straight and free and whole.
O that we might see all things in this light,
Then we should see that God makes all things right;
We see reality through perfect light of Soul.



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340

Who has not sometime felt such lack of strength
As would portend he was about to fall?
Yet God’s name quavered on his lips at length
And trembling heart sent forth its pleading call.

And in that hour as by an unseen hand
The fear diminished and no more ensnared;
While he who feared was given strength to stand,
Though he himself of so much had despaired.

O watchful God, who loves man even more
Than he cares for himself, what can thanks be
Except to pray more, work more, and adore,
The while we live our love more selflessly.


341

If through this fiery trial, my watch I keep
And do but cleave to God more earnestly.
I shall not care how high the flames may leap,
For they are powerless to injure me.

Like those three Hebrew youths, who worshipping God,
Were cast into a burning furnace bound,
Their thongs fell off. as through the blaze they trod,
Yet not the smell of fire on them was found.


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What can the fury of the flames consume
Except the errors that are binding me?
When these have fallen to their certain doom
I shall come forth again, unsinged and free.


342

As a father with his son,
So does the all-perfect One
Hold us in His constant care.
Strong His love, yet tender too;
Ever ready, quick to do
All we ask in righteous prayer.

Merciful and kind is God,
Yet withal His chastening rod
Does not let us go astray.
Love that loves its own so much
Leaves them not to evil’s clutch,
Neither lets them fall away.

Father-Mother God is Love,
Holding thought and lives above
All the cheapness of earth’s ways.
Let us look to Him each hour,
Know His love and feel His power,
Then go forth in grateful praise.



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343

Evil loomed before me dark as night;
Impenetrable it seemed before my sight.
And as I stood aghast and fearful
With horror-stricken eyes and tearful
I could not see. a single ray of light.

And then I said, “Well, I may not see through
This cloud of sense. What better can I do
Than to go forward through it singing
Of all the good God’s love is bringing,
And thus lift thought into the good and true?”

So I went forth with song and much of cheer,
Unworried that the foe appeared so near,
Till through the dark clouds I saw streaming
God’s rays of light, all bright and beaming.
The cloud had vanished when I lost my fear.

O why is it we make so much of wrong
Until through fear of it we lose our song?
We magnify it and explore it
Only to bow ourselves before it,
Yet it and fear to nothingness belong.

Evil is but a cloud, a mental haze
That breaks before our songs of prayer and praise,
And then, no more its poor illusion
Can bring into our thought confusion,
For we shall walk with God in all our ways.



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344

“Awake! thou that sleepest, . . . and Christ shall give thee light.”
Rise from your dreams of old mortality and night.
Awake! behold the glories of the risen day
Wherein all things are new; old things have passed away.

Awake from dreams of life where life can never be,
From lusting wanderings in sensuality.
Gaze on the wonders of love-filled realities,
Unmarred by imperfection, by sin, or by disease.

Arise this hour. Christ’s truth is here to point the way.
Awake to see yourself as God sees you today.
Put off the old! Put on the new. Receive your sight.
“Awake! thou that sleepest, . . . and Christ shall give thee light.”


345

Forward, is the song of Christly Science;
Forward, on, and upward without fear,
Placing in our God a full reliance,
Growing stronger should a foe appear.

Forward in the steps the blessed Master
Trod in his brief sojourn here on earth,
Triumphing over darkness and disaster,
Using trials as steps to man’s new birth.


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Forward still. There is no retrogression;
Happy, buoyant, sure of God’s rich love,
Working out an infinite progression,
Leaving earthly things for things above.

Forward, then, singing our glad new story,
Vanquishing the foes and woes of sense;
On to God in everlasting glory,
Children of divine omnipotence.


346

Failure, so men say, is lurking on every hand.
Members of organizations all too soon disband.
Businesses bankrupt and governments collapse.
Powders and potions fail, pills sooner still, perhaps.
Panaceas fade in which men put their trust,
And buildings made of stone crumble into dust.

In all this universe of things soon past and done
Is there one thing that does not fail? Yes, I know one.
“Love never faileth.” Throughout all time it has prevailed,
Through all the ages in which mortal men have failed.
When human will destroys itself, and all seems vain,
Then Love comes as a lamp to make rough places plain.


Page 209


The remedy for ills, the safeguard of all good,
Revealing God with men and men in brotherhood,
In every circumstance, in every clime and day,
There Love divine is seen as the unfailing way.
Rejoice, all people, in this sovereign guarantee:
“Love never faileth.” What greater blessing could there be?


347

“Thou hast been faithful.” Lord, what other word
Could sound so sweet as this, though it be heard
At the conclusion of some famous work
Or of some little task we did not shirk?

What else could make such grateful teardrops start
And overwhelm the humble, loving heart?
What else could bring such warming, soul-filled bliss,
Or such a deep serenity as this?

No sweeter music, human or divine,
Could equal that within these words benign,
God grant that it upon my ear shall fall:
“Thou hast been faithful to the All-in-all.”


348

Men may plan, but God fulfills His own design
All independent of the dreams and schemes of men.
The shaping hand is never human but divine;
For God determines what shall be and how and when.


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Did not the Master say for all our taking thought
We could not add a single cubit to our height?
And if our planning in the least avails us not,
Why risk the greater things to shortened mortal sight?

Our human planning, which so many times has erred,
Were best exchanged for guidance from the infinite.
Then, as the prophet said, “Thine ears shall hear a word
Behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.”


349

Jesus “went a little farther,”
And so, O Lord, likewise would I;
A little farther in Your goodness
On toward the goal for which I try.

A little farther from my weakness,
A little farther in Your strength;
A little farther on the journey
That brings me to Your peace at length;

A little farther, like the Master,
Out of darkness into light,
Until at last the heavenly vision
Shall glow forever on my sight.



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350

Nearer to me is God than sickness, sin, or death;
Nearer than mortal life, nearer than passing breath,
Nearer than whisperings of sensuality,
Nearer than this matter body that men call me;

Nearer than aches or pains of finite sense can be,
Nearer than anything that mortal eye can see,
Nearer than woes or foes, than names or claims of sense,
Nearer, much nearer, than any human experience;

Why should I worry then and fret and mourn and lower?
There is nothing so near as God in every hour;
Nothing so near, nothing so dear as Love divine.
Behold the fullness, gladness, joy, then, that are mine.


351

Thank You, dear God, that every truth we see
Is that much more of immortality,
That every moment spent in holy prayer
Is one which knows Your all-providing care.

Thank You that every step in which You guide
Means that we have Your presence at our side;
That every selfless, sinless right desire
Gains good only Your richness could inspire.


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O thank You, Lord, that You are All-in-all,
Our Life, our strength, our hope on which to call;
Our Father-Mother, our helper, and our friend,
The first, the last, the beginning, and the end.


352

Why do you sorrow so, my mournful one?
Or say: “O that this error now were healed.
How happy I shall be when I at last am free
And God’s pure light of truth has been revealed!”

What would you do if you this very day
Were healed of all the ills that seem so near?
Give grateful thanks? Rejoice? Praise God with heart and voice?
Then do so now, for all of good is here.

Not one thing you so very much desire
But that already God has made it true.
All things you now possess in Christlike consciousness.
Awake to claim the good awaiting you.



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353

Thank You, thank You, thank You,
Evermore our song shall be.
Thank You, Lord, for light of Truth
That brings us liberty.
Thank You for the selfless lives
That help to set men free,
And thank You for the bearing up
Of broadwinged charity.

Thank You, thank You, thank You,
Endless song of grateful praise.
Thank You for the guiding hand
That leads in all our ways.
Thank You for the daily task
That You have brought us to,
And thank You for intelligence
With which to know and do.

Thank You, thank You, thank You.
And may our lives our thanks resound
So loving thoughts and kindly words
And selfless deeds abound.
Then shall our aspirations and
Our daily lives be true
And thought and word and deed shall say,
Thank You, thank You, thank You.



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354

Thank You for blessings, Lord, against which I rebelled,
Not seeing them for what they were, but rather held
They were but plagues that made for misery in my lot,
And never saw what opportunities they brought.

But is there nothing good in that which causes me
To turn from selfish ways to You wholeheartedly,
That lifts trust from earth’s things to You with thought renewed
And brings humility and love and gratitude?

These woes can only bless so long as Your love brings
Such angel messages on holy, healing wings.
And error’s end will find me better than at its start,
With greater strength and fuller love and purer heart.


355

O have we not been turning all things upside down,
Clothing ourselves in mourning, casting aside our crown?
We see some mortal thing take wings inevitably
And then lament that which we call our poverty.

And yet how foolish that for substance we should look
To metal coins or notes or figures, in a book,
When all the while it lies in holy consciousness
Where nothing can deprive; all. things are made to bless.


Page 215


Where did the Master say God’s kingdom should begin?
Not here nor there; for lo, God’s kingdom is within.
Let us no longer seek prosperity elsewhere
Than in God-consciousness. Shall we not find it there?


356

This much have I discerned from battles won and lost,
His is the greatest gain who pays the greatest cost.
He who will strive for righteousness most faithfully
Gains more than he who merely seeks in apathy.

Must not man pay the price for what he would receive,
And work assiduously for all he would achieve?
Must he not sacrifice the lesser for the great,
Enduring trials to grow to an improved estate?

O let us not despair if we seem to have less
Of good than we desire, but strive for righteousness
More vigorously than we have ever done before,
And as our effort grows so will our gain be more.


357

Worry is the antipode of trust.
It tramples all life’s riches into dust.
It warps the mind with fearful thought
So it sees not what God has brought.
It stains one’s metal with its useless rust.


Page 216


Worry is a consciousness of fear.
But trust beholds a saving presence near,
Rejects the shortened mortal sight
And sees with richer inner light
The fullness of a good already here.

Dear God, how long till I at last shall see
There is no profit in anxiety?
And turn from worry unto trust
In You whose every way is just,
And learn to let You have Your way with me?


358

Thank You, dear Lord, for good today did bring,
The loveliness I found in everything,
The light of Truth that shone so bright about,
The peace and joy I knew within, without.

And thank You for the progress that I saw
As it became unfolded in Your law,
Fruition of each yearning, hopeful hour
In which I sought, but did not see, Your power.

Yes, thank You for today, for every day.
For good is all; it cannot fade away.
Each day, then, I with grateful heart can say:
“All good is here; I thank You for today.”



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359

I thought I knew what satisfaction was,
But now I know, dear Lord, I never knew.
I thought if sense was satisfied
And I had much to feast my pride
That I knew satisfaction full and true.

But now how empty seem those selfish, things
Before the satisfaction of Your love.
Now meekness and humility
Bring more that satisfies to, me
Than all those passing things I once dreamed of.

And there is more of satisfaction in
Faithfully, walking in Truth’s golden light
Than I had ever hoped to find
Of that which was another kind,
That seemed sometimes so near, then fled from, sight.

O satisfaction is of You, dear God;
All else is fit only to, be denied.
Of You and through You, to You too,
For this must satisfaction do:
Exalt man’s way; then is he satisfied.



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360

We love the beauties of this earth, dear Lord:
The golden sunrise spreading far and wide,
The thrilling splendor, of the morn,
The song of birds on crisp air borne
That bid good morning to the countryside.

We love these happy things, and yet we know
What mortal sense perceives must pass away.
And we would be like faithful John
Who gazed with inner eyes upon
Heaven and earth of an eternal day.


361

All-loving Lord, if someone were to ask
How many, many things my thanks to You include,
My lips must be helpless before their task
And words as drops in oceanic gratitude.

I thank You for the blessings which You send
As freely as the bright sun shines or soft winds blow.
I thank You for the love that knows no end,
The love that from the very heart of Love must flow.

I thank You for uninterrupted good
With arms extended out to mankind everywhere,
As though to say, “O live in brotherhood,
And you shall know a Father-Mother’s loving care.”


Page 219


I thank You for a heart so overfull
That it must share with others of its precious store.
I thank You for the touch of heaven’s pull
That draws men up to God, to Spirit’s golden shore.

O Lord, my thanks are more than words convey,
Yet less by far than that I should be thankful for.
With grateful heart bereft of words I pray,
Accept my fullest thanks; I still shall owe You more.


362

One thing, our God, we greatly thank You for.
However long our path, however slow,
There is this much, if there were nothing more
To gain our gratitude: the way we know.

And knowing it, shall we not wisely take
Each step in cheerfulness and happy trust?
Does not the grateful heart more progress make
Than that which frowns and turns all hope to dust?

Ours is a privilege beyond compare;
To walk man’s grandest road, his noblest choice.
O let us walk it then with grateful prayer,
With hearts that sing and evermore rejoice.



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363

Dear God, we thank You when we feel that we
Stand on mountain top of purity
Where winds of Soul, of Spirit’s atmosphere,
Blow out the fog and keep the bright skies clear.

Yet should we fall, thank You that nothing harms
For “underneath are the everlasting arms,”
And even in the vale, of Truth we sup,
Rejoicing that the way from here leads up.

And as we make the glad ascent again
We thank You for Your presence with us then.
We thank You if we climb, or seem to drop,
From height to depth, and back to mountain top.

The ups and downs that mortal sense would bring
Can never make us halt nor cease to sing.
We know too well the hand that shapes our way
Leads from the dark into eternal day.


364

This much I ask, dear Lord, of Your rich grace,
That when I find myself in some hard place,
Perhaps of my own making, perhaps not,
I shall not cause others to share my lot.


Page 221


No subtle satisfaction may there be
In making others taste my misery
And no attempt to lessen my own shame
By heaping upon someone else the blame.

But let me be so charitable and kind
That men no trace of bitterness shall find.
So shall my own affliction be the less
Till swallowed up in love and gentleness.


365

Dear God, what secret thing do You impart
That so regenerates the human heart
Till it discerns rich good in everything
And knows no impulse but to soar and sing?

For now with happy, undimmed eyes we see
How full is life, how joyous work can be,
How good our fellow men, how grand and true,
How blest we are in all we have and do.

What is the secret of this happiness?
What can it be but love with which You bless
Your children everywhere, so they behold
The good that turns the commonplace to gold.



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366

Sometimes when I feel greatly pressed
And from temptations know no rest,
I think of how the Master too
Had these temptations to go through.

When he was in the wilderness
Temptation came to prey and press
Itself into his sinless thought;
Yet he withstood and yielded not.

And even later, who will say
Those hours he went alone to pray
Held not temptations of such length
As made him turn to God for strength.

And finally in Gethsemane,
After a life of purity,
Temptation sought to rob his grace
So that he fell upon his face

And prayed, “Father, . . . remove this cup.”
Then taking strength and looking up,
He prayed this prayer, “Yet not my will
But Thine, be done,” and triumphed still.


Page 223


Yes, even the master Christian knew
Temptations as all mortals do;
Yet through each one to Truth held fast
Until the claim was overpast.

And each one done, left him with more
Of strength than he had had before.
Each one a step by which he rose
Into the life perfection knows.

We too can outlove and outlive
All that we know God does not give,
Can hold to Truth until its light
Breaks forth like dawn upon our sight,

And through it all know joy and peace
That brought the Master his release.
The “man of sorrows” lived in joy
That death itself could not destroy.

Let us like him be faithful until
The clamor of the hour be still,
And each temptation we have known
Denied, resisted, overthrown.



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367

I cannot see the evening sun decline,
Puffing golden breaths across the sky,
Without a reverent sense of the divine,
A silent, solemn awe for the Most High.

All day my thought may be hurried about
Seeking in earthly ways for earthly things,
Pressed upon by worry, care, and doubt,
Heedless of higher thought and what it brings.

But when the blushing sun retires behind
Its golden fan and leaves with its descent
A world of loveliness — it’s then I find
Myself at one with God in deep content.


368

Give me, O Lord, a grateful heart,
Not such a one as must depend
On what the eyes can apprehend,
But finds immortal good its part.

Give me to know such gratitude
That when the senses speak of lack
The grateful thought shall answer back
With songs of thanks for good renewed.


Page 225


Give me, O Lord, a grateful heart,
Rejoicing through the midnight gloom,
Knowing well Your wondrous power
Will bring dawn’s goodness into bloom.


369

Where shall we turn from all the blatant blares
That shock the finer sensibilities,
The pleasure hawkers calling out their wares
Of sentiency? Lord, give us rest from these.

“Taste of this,” they shout, or “drink of this,”
Or else hang screaming signs before our eyes.
“Do this,” they call, “and you will find sure bliss.”
Suggesting, urging, thus they advertise.

Did not the serpent, father of all lies,
Such methods use? “For in the day,” said he,
“Ye eat thereof, opened shall be your eyes.”
And so they were — to untold misery.

Only the consciousness that hears God speak
True pleasure, comfort, and success can find;
The substance of all things these others seek
Is found alone within the perfect Mind.



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370

Fret not, my heart, because your moment’s task
Seems hard and long, and blessings which you ask
Have yet to come, and you are still unhealed.
Press on with God, all good will be revealed.

When this is past and gone shall you not be
Even as you are now, expectantly
Awaiting more unfoldment of the Word
That blesses all by whom it is truly heard?

O cleave to God, you cannot then go wrong,
And soon your plaint will turn to joyous song.
He enters heaven now who walks Truth’s way.
Open your eyes and see. Rejoice today.


371

If God be All, as All He is,
All that can be is God and His.
The vastness of infinitude
Is filled with His eternal good.

From farthermost celestial ball
To this good earth, our God is all.
He fills all life, all thought, and place,
Fills all dimension, time, and space.


Page 227


Since this is so, whence then arise
These manifold discordant lies
Of blame and shame the senses see,
Of pain and stain and finity?

These are but dreams that mortals fear,
And seen as such they disappear.
That is not real, cannot be so,
Which neither God nor man can know.


372

The clash of right resolve and wrong desire
Produces hidden, burning, inward fire,
That does not cease until it has consumed
That which, by its own falsity, is doomed.

The flames may roar, and man may seem to be
In peril with his life; yet he will see,
If he endures until his peace returns,
The good remains, the dross is all that burns.

Does not our heart forever whisper this:
The way to happiness, to peace and bliss
Lies not in yielding to the false desire,
But facing it till it consumes in fire.



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373

Dear God, we cannot help but trust Your care.
Even the tiny creatures at our feet
Chirp of Your divine protection there,
And heavenly bodies Your bright praise repeat.

As when the dawn breaks forth like drifting tide,
Sweeping golden waves before its face,
And white sunlight comes out with silent glide
To clasp a shivering world in warm embrace.

Or yet again, when stars are glittering bright
Like frosted tinsel at the Christmastide,
Each in its proper place is held aright,
With order manifest on every side.

If this be not of You, Lord, whence is it?
What else can with Your wise control compare
From the minute unto the infinite?
Dear God, we cannot help but trust Your care.


374

Now may all men rejoice,
Praise God with heart and voice
For unrestricted liberty;
Put inhibitions out
With old beliefs and doubt,
And so rejoice that they are free.


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To us has been revealed
The way whereby is healed
All sin and pain, all loss restored;
That which all men have sought
Has fallen to our lot.
This age is blessed by our great Lord.

To her whose selfless life
Has healed our mortal strife
This song a grateful tribute pays.
And may our lives as well
Her revelation tell
With deeds that soar to God in praise.


375

If man is as inconstant as often would seem,
As unable to hold to the true,
Only man of all things in God’s glorious scheme
Fails to do what God made him to do.

For we look overhead at the moon and the sun
And we find no inconstancy there.
There is nothing more sure than the journeys they run
Or the light that they graciously bear.


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And the seasons renewal year after year
Give no hint of mere whimsical change,
And the ocean’s great tides that so surely appear
Prove the presence of power as they range.

O then how can man be an exception, apart,
And from good unto evil ways swerve?
And how too can he hold good and bad in his heart
And let both be his masters to serve?

We refuse to believe that such things can be true
For we must in the Father’s plan stay.
We are living for God each happy day through
And are doing it every day.


376

“Why do they come, these ills I feel,
If, as you say, they are unreal?
Why is it, then, they rack my frame
And plague my thought with fear and shame?
Why do they come to injure me
If they are unreality?”

They come, dear one, to be denied
To be proved false, to be decried.
Why does darkness come to light?
Why does wrong confront the right?
Only to be destroyed, to be
Annihilated utterly.


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These woes will cease their claim on you
When you refuse to grant them true.
Can man feel what is not in thought?
Can body ache if mind does not?
Then to their source these evils trace
And know that you control that place.

These errors come, then disappear,
But Truth and Love are always here.
Then learn of them and as you do
These counterfeits will fade from view.
So God shall be, through sense denied,
In thought and body glorified.


377

You have blessed us, Father, out of Zion,
Healed our wounds, quenched impure desire,
Stilled the fear that seemed a roaring lion,
Brought us forth unharmed from out the fire.

Now, O God, our hearts are overflowing
With the thanks with which they have been filled.
May our lives their gratitude be showing
By the noble temples they shall build.

Bring us, Lord, to know Your own perfection,
Humble us, and purify our ways.
Make us fit to serve at Your direction,
So to show the power of prayer and praise.



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378

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find.”
So spoke the Master on the mount.
He knew God’s love, an open fount,
Is given to all who humbly ask and seek with open mind.

“Knock,” said he again, “and it shall be opened unto you.”
The door of Love swings freely in,
And all who will may now begin
To learn the healing truth that shows to men a life made new.

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh finds.”
The door is open wide to all
Who hear and heed the Father’s call.
Let us go in and take what God in His great love designs.


379

The rain dropped down from sodden skies, and all the world was gray.
A dreary, dismal sight it was upon this rainy day.
Then far out toward the west the sun broke through its gloomy shroud,
And in the east a brilliant bow was framed against the cloud.


Page 233


Whence came this great-arched gladdening bow of varicolored hue,
Where but a while before nothing but clouds had met the view?
No transformation in the clouds had brought this thing about,
But they had only needed light to bring the colors out.

Do our lives seem as dreary as a cheerless rainy day?
Then we need nothing more than light to chase the gloom away,
To bring a bow of beauty into lives that do not smile
And show the sparkling colors that have been there all the while.

O what can man desire but that already it is his?
Is he not the recipient of all the good that is?
We hide our lives behind the clouds of worry, fear, and doubt,
When all we really need is light to bring the colors out.


380

True, it fills my heart with shame and woe
That I so inexcusably fall low.
But I need not stay down, my thanks are then
That from each fall I rise to try again.

It will not always be that I must fall;
Sometime I shall perceive that God is All.
And then this dream of my infirmity
Will vanish in the holy light I see.


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Yet even falls cannot prevent my joy;
They touch not truth nor any good destroy.
And I shall stand above their temporal fraud
Within the promise of my mighty God.


381

When mortal sense says Yes; then we say No.
When mortal sense says Stop; then we say Go.
When mortal sense says False; then we say True.
When mortal sense says Wait; then we say Do.

Always with evil’s claims we disagree,
Reversing them that we the truth may see.
Always we take the course it disapproves
To reach that goal to which it never moves.

We cannot walk in paths of Spirit’s light
Depending on an erring, mortal sight.
We must put off the old to gain the new,
Then we may see the path God leads us to.


382

The love unspeakable wherewith You love us, Lord!
What else in all the world can such sweet peace afford?
What else can triumph over the waves of finite sense
And bring, where fear had ruled, a fearless confidence?


Page 235


What else can quiet claims of passion, lust, and hate,
Can humble pride and make the selfish purpose wait?
What else can bring new life to men and hopes thought dead,
Revive the fainting heart and give the hungry bread?

What else can turn the unbelieving atheist
To see You are the cause of all things that exist,
And all are held in You in one bliss-filled accord?
What else except the love wherewith You love us, Lord?


383

Sometimes I find myself complaining thus:
“How tired I am. I cannot help but fuss,
For everywhere I look, nothing but work I see.
It seems to me my tasks are never done,
For just as soon as I have finished one
Another takes its place, and sometimes two or three.”

And then I know that what I need the most
Is not less work but freedom from this host
Of false beliefs and unresisted apathy.
And so I stop all else and turn away
To walk amid the wonders of a day
And learn the lessons there always awaiting me.


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I rise at dawn and the first thing I hear
Is the sweet sound of songbirds in my ear,
Rejoicing first before they go their different ways.
And lesson number one for me is this:
The happy grateful hymn is not amiss,
For it is always best to start the day with praise.

I walk across the fields with thought more meek
And feel the morning breezes on my cheek,
And think how very little effort they require.
And they teach me my lesson number two:
I need not tire if work is not yet through.
These winds blow constantly and yet they never tire.

And then I look at yonder smiling sun;
It must be true his work is never done,
Yet he rejoices to bathe all in white sunlight.
And thus I find my lesson number three:
Whatever work is done unselfishly
Does not fatigue but helps to make the world more bright.

Even the very grass beneath my feet
Proclaims how grand it is, how good and sweet,
To live and grow in this divine activity.
And this would be my lesson number four:
Of joyous meekness, if I needed more,
But I have found by now that which I came to see.


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So I return to work with happy heart,
Rejoicing gratefully to be a part
Of all this universe of never-ceasing good.
And now I thank my God for every task.
I know no greater thing that I could ask
Than just to serve wherever God tells me I should.


384

I thank You most, my God, for things invisible.
What mortal eyes can never see
Are life’s realities to me;
It is the things unseen for which my heart is full.

There are so many things but here are just a few:
The thought that goes to You in prayer,
The sense that You are everywhere,
The love for everything we know is good and true;

The confidence in right, the freedom from all fear;
The calm, strong peace that knows no end,
The sweet affection of a friend,
The recognition that all good is ever here.

The meekness that is born of true humility;
The gentleness that keeps us kind,
The wisdom that is ours from Mind,
And firmness in the truth, man’s first fidelity.


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So on and on, into an endless list we go
Of things from mortal sense apart
That nonetheless reach to the heart
And bring to men the greatest riches they can know.

There is not one that we can see or hear or touch,
And yet so certain and so sure
They are that they will still endure
When all else flees. These are the things that profit much.


385

Life is a book, and it can be to us
As noble and inspiring as a sermon,
Or else a dull and boring narrative
Of sordid things which work as mental vermin.

He gains the most who reads each daily page
Attentively and with appreciation,
Who does not dwell on what had gone before
Nor pry into each future situation.

For yesterday is a page that we have read,
And from the days to come we cannot borrow.
But from the living page we read today
Unfolds the loveliness of each tomorrow.



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386

Sometimes we gain much good though we may be
Unable to discern how we progress,
Make great advances that we never see,
When we hold fast to Truth in consciousness;

Like some great ship that furrows through the night,
Its path determined by the compass hand,
Boldly sails on, none doubting its course is right,
Until it gradually approaches land.

So may the compass of our lives point straight
To that unchanging Principle of good.
And we shall reach our port with precious freight
Of Spirit’s gifts, just as we knew we should.


387

It matters not how far we may have strayed
Down paths that lead at last to matter’s doom;
We still can turn to ways that God has made
And walk in light, though once we trod in gloom.

The patient love that waits to bless waits still,
Though we may seek to turn our face and hide,
Or wander down some errant way until
We come to God again, unsatisfied.


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O marvel of a Love that never fails,
Too great for human mind to understand,
We turn from mortal ways and stormy gales
And safely place ourselves within Your hand.


388

Thank You, dear God, for light, when first that light appears,
A beacon beckoning to clearer views,
A gleam to penetrate dreams that confuse
Our weary thought, a ray of hope to shine through fears.

And thank You for this light, when as we gain it more
All things are touched anew by its rich glow;
A sweeter, purer world for us to know,
A grander universe than we had seen before.


389

Were there no other cause for thanks, dear Lord, we know
We could not tell the debt of gratitude we owe
To feel that You are near, whatever mortal woe
Besets us on our path, and with You we may go.

Sometimes, when sorrow grips as would an iron band,
And we are left alone with none to understand,
Then through it all we feel Your reassuring hand
That signals us to go in ways that You have planned.


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Then evil’s hosts that hung upon us like a stone
Fall from our weary thought when Your rich love is known,
And we rejoicing need no longer walk alone,
For You will lead the way, and hold us as Your own.


390

Truth is a buoyant thing. It cannot be
For long confined in prisons men may make.
Men call it bound, then turn to find it free,
Unhampered by the trouble that they take.

Prisons of ignorance, of fear, and sin
Are touched by Truth, and doors spring open wide
Till there is nothing left of doubt and dark wherein
It once was thought that Truth could be denied.

Truth is a buoyant thing, and it will rise
Above whatever bar obstructs its way.
Let us begin this fact to recognize
And link ourselves with its wise power today.


391

We always know, dear God, if we are on Your road,
For there are signs that speak plainer than any code;
Such certain signs that we need never lose our way,
If we will hearken well to what they have to say.


Page 242


If we see sin or selfishness or hate or greed
Within ourselves or fellow men, we know we need
To gain again that Spirit-road that brings to view
The loveliness of God and His reflection too.

Dear God, that will not let our erring feet go far
Till we are chastened by Your love, Your signposts are
Inscribed with love, with selflessness, and purity,
And meek obedience; in these Your way we see.


392

Dear Lord, there is so gloriously much to do!
O who would not give grateful thanks if he but knew
The joy of seeing You working Your purpose out
In every little task that he may be about.

Behold, how good unfolds to Spirit-quickened sight
As does the loveliness of day from darkest night.
What seems an unproductive, empty thing at best
Becomes a thing of service whereby men are blest.

So may our lives be likewise touched by Spirit’s grace,
And bloom and bear much fruit, each in its rightful place.
For everything that’s done is done for good, it’s true.
There is so much to do, and all is done of You.



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393

I thank You, Lord, for what today shall bring.
If it seem good, my song of thanks shall rise;
If it seem ill, still I my song shall sing:
It may hold good I do not recognize.

For who, dear Lord, am I that I should choose
What things to thank You for and what to not?
If I did so, then I should surely lose
The blessings to my very threshold brought.

For I know only good can Love afford,
And only good shall be my attitude.
Since Yours is one of constant giving, Lord,
Should mine not be of constant gratitude?


394

O gracious God, Your ways are not as ours.
We see our impotence and come to You,
Yet would direct the working of your power,
As though You did not know what things to do.

But better that we left within Your hands
Not just our plans alone, but our desire,
And set ourselves to live by Your commands
With consecrated love which You inspire.


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For otherwise we but obscure the light
Whereby we see ourselves with You at one.
While we shall find, if we will live aright,
The things which we desired already done.


395

These winds of mortal sense, O how they blow!
They rage and roar with such a threatening sound
That we believe their fearful tale and go
With bended forms and eyes upon the ground.

Yet what substance is theirs for all their roar?
For we can walk straight through their stormy gale.
Though they may claim much power, yet we have more;
Ours is the power of God that cannot fail.

Fear not. These winds at last blow themselves out,
And all is calm and peaceful once again.
Then shall we lift our eyes and look about
To see that all is well with God and men.


396

Not what we are of our own selves, dear Lord,
But what we are of You.
Thereon is founded faith and hope and love,
And all things that are true.


Page 245


If we should seek within a mortal self
The answer to our prayer,
We should but waste ourselves upon ourselves,
For there is nothing there.

But we must turn from self to find ourselves,
Complete in Your design.
Then may we claim all good expressing You,
Immortal and divine.


397

What heals? Not man — not what he says or does or even thinks.
It is the spirit of Christliness, and whosoever drinks
At this pure fount is healed of all inharmony and ill
That plagued his path, and he is satisfied with Spirit’s will.

For man does not make truth; of man himself, nothing is done.
Truth is of God. Yes, more than this, for Truth and God are one.
He hears it best who turns away from self and mortal sense
And listens to the thoughts of God’s divine intelligence.


398

Man is complete. No lack of any good,
No deprivation God’s man knows.
Recipient is he of boundless love,
The love a loving God bestows.


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Why should we charge our God with faithlessness
And say His son is poor and weak,
Because our eyes are filled with mundane views
That blind us to the good we seek?

O let us lift our eyes from earthly things
That turn into their native dust,
And see the good that flows from out God’s love,
In which should be our constant trust.


399

What God can do for man! How He can lift man up
From looking hopelessly into his bitter cup
To confident serenity.
How He can cleanse the heart made over-foul from sin,
Can rid it of its filth in order to begin
To make it pure renewedly.

The stricken one, with body bent that he may bear
The burden of a life unfriendly and unfair,
Beholds himself upright and free.
And as the stooping body is again made straight,
So do his hopes arise from underneath the weight
With which he toiled so helplessly.


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What God can do for man! No word can intimate
The wonders of a love that does not hesitate
To bless its child abundantly.
May we look to that love whatever be our need,
Let it direct for us each thought and word and deed,
And so rejoice unceasingly.


400

“Behold,” you say, “how year succeeds to year.
And how have I progressed? Am I not here
With many of my problems still unmet
And hosts of false beliefs confront me yet?”

Ah, error speaks in just such terms as these
To all of us, if we but heed its pleas.
It seeks to separate us from our source,
Discourage us, and turn us from our course.

Hear Jesus’ words: “The son of man,” he taught,
“Cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
So man’s constant perfection will appear
When we may least believe that it is near.

And have you not progressed? Do you not know
Where freedom lies and by which way you go?
Has not a true desire lived in your thought?
That prayer is answered now. Then doubt it not.



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401

I watched two clouds one day in early spring
While strong winds played to earth’s awakening.
One cloud was dark and raced across the sky.
And one was white; it stayed serene and high.

“Ah, now,” I thought, “these two must surely meet,
While one moves not, the other one is fleet
And moves upon that place, as I can see,
Where it must strike the first one presently.”

On came the darker cloud across the white.
It covered it and hid it from my sight
Then sailed on by: and when I looked once more,
The white cloud was where it had been before.

I then saw what at first did not appear:
The white cloud dwelt in higher atmosphere.
It stayed above the clouds and storms below
And did not care how much the wind might blow.

We too, if we desire, can live above
These low earth storms and dwell in Life and Love;
We can remain in Spirit’s atmosphere
Where no dark clouds can make our skies less clear.


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Or if some cloud should sweep across our face,
It sails on past if we but hold our place.
It may appear to hide us going by
But never touches us; we dwell too high.

O why should we descend to lesser height
Where dark clouds puff and blow with all their might?
When we can stay untroubled, free, and whole
Above it all in atmosphere of Soul.


402

Lord God of hosts, who hangs the heavens out,
Who gives the skies their blue or brilliant gold,
Who lights the stars and guides the moon about,
Who in Your grasp the winds of earth can hold,

O mighty God, who keeps all things intact
From fiery suns to sparrows small and mild,
Can You not govern man in thought and act
And make him fit to know as Your own child?

How can we say that man has fallen far
And lusting after hate and greed has gone,
While brothers meet in an unholy war
And make a hell of earth we walk upon?


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Was God at one time perfect and then fell,
So He cannot control the man He makes?
Or has that Mind that does all things so well
In man been guilty of its first mistakes?

Such thoughts are blasphemy, no more can man
Be guilty of these sins we say are his
Than God Himself can fall from His own plan
And cease to be what He forever is.

Lord God of Hosts, our changeless God of Love,
Need we for Your own children be afraid?
Teach us from earth’s low dreams to look above
And see the perfect man that You have made.


403

O tell me not that I must go to galleries
To see a master’s painting or a gorgeous frieze,
For I have seen God paint a picture in the sky
More beautiful than canvases that please the eye.

Have seen Him touch a cloud so lightly with His brush
It brought to billowed white the faintest dainty blush,
Have watched Him boldly dash a fiery-furnace red
Into the wind and paint the heavens overhead,


Page 251


Until they glowed with such a radiant color scheme
As avant-garde of dilettantes would scarcely dream.
O do not say that artistry has passed me by,
For I have seen the Master Artist paint the sky.


404

In a world so beset with great problems and small
How refreshing to know there is no problem at all,
That throughout the great vastness of infinitude
Not the least bit of wrong or care can intrude.

Here is good uncontested by all evil’s lies
And a fullness of life only God’s love supplies.
There is peace here on earth and good will among men
And the song of God’s angels again and again.

Here is strength and salvation and courage and cheer
And a sense of God’s presence that dissipates fear.
For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof,”
And God’s children are held in the joy of His love.


405

Lord, silence this unlovely sense
Of my self-righteousness, I pray;
This sense that cares not how much smart
It brings into another’s heart,
If it may have its selfish way.


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O let a blessed silence reign
When thought would barb my tongue with sting.
Better to seem unjustified
Than let self-will be undenied
And guilty of some loveless thing.

Let me be meek enough to see
The path illumined by Your light,
And in my heart of hearts to say,
“Not right because it is my way,
But my way, Lord, because it’s right.”


406

My brother’s word of thanks falls sweetly on my ear,
His gratitude is such a pleasant thing to hear.
Yet if his thanks are warm for that which I can do,
Then how much more, my Lord, should be my thanks to You.

For Yours are double gifts — they bless now and anon,
Both when You give me them and when I pass them on.
Yes, more than this, the giving leaves me with yet more
In my possession than I ever had before.

Who can evaluate something which multiplies
Itself so many fold before one’s very eyes?
It is incalculable, and this I do believe:
The hand outstretched to give is open to receive.



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407

I wonder at Your wonders, wondrous Lord;
The wonder of the clouds against the blue,
The way they bring of that which they have stored
To sweeten earth with blessings ever new.

The wonder of a bird whose tiny throat
Pours forth a melody so rich and clear
It gladdens thought with every golden note,
Sustained and balanced, pleasant to the ear.

The wonder of a crimson-petaled flower
Sprung forth, men say, from nothing but a clod.
(But this I disbelieve; some holy power
Wrought this. I know but one, and that is God.)

I cannot look on these but wonder starts.
Yet greater still is this one often renewed,
The wonder which Your love works in men’s hearts;
To me, the wonder of infinitude.


408

Come, come, discouraged heart. Why do you delay?
Why sit beside the road and think how hard the way?
Why speak of giving up, of yielding to the foe?
Would that bring happiness? Would it assuage your woe?


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What benefit were it to quit here in this rough?
No peace would you find here. Have you not cares enough?
The path is not all hard; good roads you found behind.
So too they lie ahead, if you press on to find.

O leave your fears and come. Does not your heart say this:
This toil is insignificant beside the bliss
That will be yours as faithfully you press along?
Your gloom will change to light, your weeping to a song.


409

“Take, eat,” the blessed Master said
As he divided holy bread
To his disciples at the midnight hour.
This was his body he gave of,
Embodiment of truth and love,
The secret of his never-equaled power.

The food for which all men had sought,
Its substance in immortal thought,
Was placed before this little group of men.
I find myself often wondering,
Would it not be a precious thing
If he were here to break that bread again?


Page 255


And yet I hear Truth softly say,
That selfsame bread is here today,
Man’s every hungering desire to meet.
Dear Christ, today abundantly
You break the bread of life to me.
Shall I not heed Your word to take and eat?


410

God’s blessings fall as gently as the snow,
Whose crystal flakes robe all in garments bright
And yet no partiality will show
But clothe both shrub and giant tree with white.

In Like manner God’s blessings mantle all
With sure protection from whatever harms,
So neither tiny bird nor man shall fall
From out the Father’s all-protective arms.

Do you not see the wonder of the snow,
How it turns all to shining loveliness?
So does God’s love a glistening glory throw
Upon a life touched by its pure caress.



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411

A mortal-mind reaction, so men say,
This quick reversal whereby wrong holds sway.
But it has no action, overaction, nor reaction here.
Does light react in darkness, right in wrong?
The truth in error? Does ill to good belong?
It is supposition, superstition, inhibition, fear.

How then shall we maintain the truth we know
When these reversals seem to overflow?
By consecration, inspiration, penetration broad.
We meet the lie that lurks within our thought,
Refusing it the power it had sought,
The lie denying, truth applying, glorifying God.


412

What should we think today of any soldier,
Prepared as head of his own troops to stand,
Who yet refused the post, afraid to face the host
Of obligations of the new command?

What should we think, as well, if our dear Master
Had not assumed the burden of his hour,
Refusing to pay the price of earthly sacrifice
That brought to men the proof of God’s great power?


Page 257


What should we say if she whom God commissioned
To write “the little book” in human words
Had idly turned away, nor loved enough to stay
And write the angel messages she heard?

Well, we too have a charge of God upon us:
That we posses our thought with true desires,
Let us rise to our task, for strength and patience ask,
And work for that perfection God requires.


413

Joy! Let it ring from us
As golden notes ring from a bell.
O let it fill the air and swell
Upon the saddened ear and tell
How God Himself with men does dwell.

Joy! Let it shine from us
As happy, sparkling sunbeams shine,
Alight with loveliness divine
To pierce the gloom with healing sign
That shows God’s radiant design.

Joy! Let it flow from us
As waters from a river flow,
Around, above, about, below,
And touch men’s hearts so they shall know
That God heals them of every woe.


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Joy! May we live forever
In such an everlasting joy
As all earth’s wrongs cannot destroy.
Let us its gracious means employ,
Reflecting God, the fount of joy.


414

I love the glory of the sunshine.
Such wealth of good it causes to unfold!
It brings rich light and warmth to earth,
Till sleeping plants spring into birth.
It turns the darkest clouds to dazzling gold.

What is it men cry for in darkness?
Is it not for the light, that they may see?
Did they not know that light indeed
Could be obtained to meet their need,
Then they should live in gloom indifferently.

God’s love is like the glad sunshine;
It brings men light and warmth that they may grow.
It falls upon the saddened heart
And makes new joys within it start,
It meets the need of men in every woe.


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Can we not see through our brief darkness
The real and true the misty veil enshrouds?
The fact we call from out the night
Means we shall see God’s healing light,
As glad sunshine comes flooding through the clouds.


415

All night long had Jacob struggled,
Wrestling with a sense of man defiled,
Clinging to the true idea,
Perfect God and man His perfect child.

All night long through weary darkness,
Holding fast until he should be blest.
Then at last came dawn, revealing
Error’s nothingness, and brought him rest.

What if he his grasp had yielded
In the anguish of the midnight hour?
Dawn had not brought him this blessing:
“Thou art Israel, a prince with power.”

Does your night seem long and weary?
Strengthen then your grasp; Love has not failed.
Morning brings this benediction:
“Thou art Israel; thou has prevailed.”



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416

Who that has seen a bird in graceful flight
Has not marvelled at its fearless ease?
How readily it rises to a height,
Then rides in confidence upon the breeze.

Yet had one seen that bird when first it tried
To hold itself aloft upon the air,
He might have put all hope for it aside
And thought it should give up in sad despair.

For when the fledgling left its natal nest
Its tiny body fluttered to the ground.
And many, many times it made the test
Before its wings sufficient strength had found.

But now those days are past, the bird soars on,
Forgetting all the falls of early tries.
The strength he gained remains; all else is gone.
And now in utter fearlessness he flies.

How like the fledgling bird are mortal men!
They try to rise, then fall to their old place.
But just as surely as they try again
Their strength increases and they grow in grace.


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Soon they will soar in Spirit’s atmosphere
As man’s divinity they realize.
Each effort that they make brings that hour near
When on the joyous wings of Soul they rise.


417

How much do we love? Enough to pray
“Thy will be done,” then tread the Master’s way
Through paths of hate and scorn and animality?
Enough to place ourselves upon Truth’s side
And stand alone while other men deride,
While esteem turns to slander and friend to enemy?

How much do we love? Enough to go
Where God commands, although we may not know
Wherefore nor why, but simply on His care depend?
Enough to trust in Him so utterly
That we can say with joyous certainty,
“Father, into Thy hands my spirit I commend”?

How much do we love? Enough, in fact,
That love possesses us in thought and act
And flows from out our lives as flows a crystal stream?
O we must love till errors disappear,
Till eyes receive their sight and see God here,
Till mortal self shall cease and Love shall reign supreme.



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418

“Dear Lord,” I fondly wished, “how I should love
In constant consciousness of You to live!
What sacrifice would I not make for this!
Anything in the world I would give.”

“Anything in the world?” An angel said.
“A noble sacrifice, but not enough.
Everything in the world God demands,
A sacrifice of all earth’s dream-filled stuff,

“A willingness to cut the right hand off,
To pluck the right eye out, to set aside
That which most seems a very part of you
If it your unity with God should hide.

“Relinquishment of every evil sense,
A willingness to quench all earth’s desires.
Not ‘anything’ — but every worldly thing.
This is the sacrifice that God requires.”


419

“Beware,” men say, “lest seeking so the things of God
You limit intellect and vision grows less broad.”
They point to divers philosophies, some bad, some good.
No one could learn them all, nor live them if he could.


Page 263


I think of how the Master walked when he was here:
But one ideal did he pursue upon this sphere.
Lover of God was he, lover of God and man;
He found the essence of all good within God’s plan.

Men make philosophies and treatises and creeds,
And yet for all of them we still have unmet needs.
But there is need of God on this terrestrial ball;
O gain a consciousness of Him, and you gain all.


420

These things I love: rich music, laughter, children’s faces bright,
Perfume of flowers, great-limbed trees, the cool of starlit night,
Broad fields, green plains, gem-like lakes, and snow-capped mountains high,
Soft winds, the flash of birds, and vivid colors in the sky.

But these things love I more: a handclasp warm and firm and true,
The look in the eyes of one who seeks the right and right will do,
A quick and friendly smile, not hypocritical nor strained,
A word of thanks when such a word unspoken might have remained.

And these things most of all: an honest, faithful, loving heart,
A consciousness that knows no self from life of love apart,
An angel message straight from God, come down through silent prayer,
A grateful sense that man is whole and God is everywhere.



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421

Two hands outstretched to me I see,
And I can take but one;
Two different guides directing me
In all things to be done.
One hand appeals to mortal sense,
One to an inner sight,
The one is called Expedience;
The other one is Right.

One hand is soft and smooth and slim
And tender to the touch.
The other one looks hard and grim
And yields not overmuch.
But one hand flutters, then flits past
At every vagrant call;
The other one remains steadfast
And wavers not at all.

One hand I could so easily take,
It is not hard to grasp;
Whereas I must an effort make
The other one to clasp.
And yet the one is not sincere;
It brings no lasting good;
In trouble it would disappear;
The other never would.


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So I shall make my choice today
To guide me in all ways
Not for the hand that leads astray
But that which faithful stays.
One hand I leave to its pretense;
In one do I delight.
The first hand is Expedience;
The other hand is Right.


422

Call not your present place a place accursed,
Though fiery trial beset you all around.
When this at last is quenched you will discover
“The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

Like Moses, when the flaming bush was burning
(Though he perceived the bush was not consumed),
You too shall hear God’s voice and be the better.
Only your fear and false belief are doomed.

O pray to be not led into temptation,
But do not pray that you shall not be tried.
And pray to be delivered from all evil,
But not that you shall not be purified.

God has for you a liberating message;
A helper of mankind shall you be found.
“Put off thy shoes,” your walking after matter,
“The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”



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423

Love rules this mental home and keeps it clean.
No false belief can enter here,
No sense of discord, pain, or fear,
No subtle sin, and nothing base or mean.

Love entertains no little hidden lies.
Though they be small, they are as wrong
As that one lie, to which belong
The loveless litter of a lesser size.

Love guards this home from all that would defile.
To every phase and type of sin
It says, “You cannot enter in,”
And shuts the door on evil’s lying smile.

Love lights this home with radiancy divine.
Its brightness must annihilate
All sense of wrong and fear and hate,
That Love may from this mental household shine.


424

So this is heaven then — this settled peace
That fills the thought when sin has been destroyed,
This consciousness of good that cannot cease,
That knows no erring way, no Godless void.


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So this is heaven then — this speechless bliss
So far transcending all of earth’s poor joys,
This inner sense that knows no thing amiss,
Nothing that works an ill nor that destroys.

Yes, this is heaven; but the merest part,
A glimpse of that which is infinitude,
And yet enough to nerve the seeking heart
To still press on in joy each hour renewed.


425

Apologize? For what I did
At God’s command, though good be hid
And men my efforts now deride
And say I never should have tried?

Apologize? For being true
For doing what God bid me do,
For lifting up my heart and soul
And struggling onward toward my goal?

Would God I might be fool once more
(If I have been a fool before),
If thereby I increase the praise
Of Him who orders all my ways.


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Why should I bow in shameful nod?
This was not done for me, but God.
Why care that I be thought of less
When it was God I sought to bless.

Lord God, sometimes I think I see
How You might be ashamed of me.
But never shall I think it true
That I should be ashamed of You.


426

Let good unfold as smoothly as a ball of yarn unwinds,
Unsnarled, untangled by the fretfulness of human minds.
Be not disturbed because the string criss-crosses over all,
Nor seek to grasp the core until you first unwind the ball.

Let good unfold, let God reveal all things in His own way,
And be content to wait on Him, within His love to stay.
Then you shall nevermore need ask, “Who will take care of me?”
But learn to care for God, who cares for you abundantly.


427

It is no little thing, dear God, that we may each day rise
And set our feet upon Your earth, look up into Your skies,
And breathe Your pure, sweet air with thoughts of humble gratitude,
And feel the thousand glories of a life by Love renewed.


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It is no little thing to take Your Holy Word in hand,
To read from out the angel’s “little book” and understand,
To sit in quiet consciousness of omnipresent good,
And know the Principle of perfect Father-Motherhood.

It is no little thing to fill our lives with purity,
To cast out every thought that with Your own does not agree,
To be allegiant, Love, to You, forever at Your call.
It is no little thing, it is our life, our all-in-all.


428

We love the glories of Your heavens, Father-Mother Love.
Your name is written in the grandeur of the skies above.
The softly shining planets with their ceaseless, steady glow
Declare Your constant tender love which all may freely know.

The stars that through unnumbered years illumine yet the night
Show how the darkness of great space is overcome by light.
And constellations wisely placed reveal stability
Throughout Your ordered plan that must go on eternally.

We love these astral glories, Lord, yet we must raise our eyes
From earthly things if we would see the wonder of the skies.
And we must raise our inner sight from all mundanity
If we would know celestial joys no mortal eye can see.


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Yes, we must look above ourselves, uplift our downcast gaze
And dwell no more on our infirmities and evil ways
If we would see God’s glories — heaven and earth and man complete.
We cannot see Your heavens, Lord, by looking at our feet.


429

The whole earth is full of the glory of God
From the blue of bright skies to the glad goldenrod,
From the sun overhead to the grass at our feet,
From the depth of deep seas to the winds cool and sweet.

O then how can men say that in heaven God is,
And forget all about this grand earth of His?
God is here on His earth as in heaven above,
And He brings it its beauty, its freshness and love.

Let us open our eyes to God’s presence on earth;
Let us see all His works in their grandeur and worth.
Let us know from the height of the stars to the sod
The whole earth is full of the glory of God.


430

It is so little, Lord, I have to bring,
And yet I owe that little all to You.
So I cannot withhold my offering,
My word of thanks for all the good You do.


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The words may not my depth of thanks convey,
For how can syllables all good embrace?
But what the lips speak not, the heart will say
With gratitude that surges from its place.

I have no art to hold men in a spell
With magic words that fall upon the ear.
But I can rise for You and simply tell
That which the heart is longing most to hear.

It is so little, Lord, I have to give,
And yet that little cannot be denied.
And I must give my thanks, my life must live
In such a way that You be glorified.


431

What shall we do for one who, fallen in sinful ways,
Yet lifts his voice to God as though in hearty praise?
Shall we regard him as a sham and hypocrite,
Denounce him for his sin, and link him fast to it?

What would you do for one who, fallen in the mire,
Tried to escape from it and rose through his desire?
Would you berate him for his try and push him back,
And say that he must stay within his muddy track?


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He who from mud of sin has labored to be free
Needs God yet more because of his extremity.
And he shall have Him too through his desire for grace.
Give him a helping hand up to a higher place.


432

I never go into the house of God
But that an inner peace and happiness
Enfold me in their soothing, soft caress
And heal and lift my thought above the sod.

And from the house of God I never part
But I am better for my moments there.
The hour of praise, of sermon, song, and prayer
Uplifts and strengthens, makes serene the heart.

Man cannot be within a better place
Than where the thought is lifted up to God.
It blesses him, whatever path be trod,
Ennobles him and strengthens him with grace.


433

It is the simple joys that mean so much,
The friendly smile, the warm and winning touch,
The happy lives, the grateful, selfless heart,
The worthy aims that Truth and Love impart.


Page 273


It is the joy of doing well our work,
Of meeting tasks with love that will not shirk,
Of zeal for doing what we have begun,
Of faithfulness until the thing is done.

It is the simple, honest, heartfelt joy,
Of doing all as though in God’s employ.
These are the things for which our hearts may sing
A grateful tribute unto God, our King.


434

Father-Mother have I one;
Mortal parents I have none;
Never had and never can:
God is Parent unto man.

Child I am, without birth,
Never born into this earth;
Not conceived in mortal sense,
Bearing none of its offense.

Child of God, but not of man,
Held within the Father’s plan,
Image of eternal Mind,
By His laws am I defined.



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435

It is so hard, dear God, to “kick against the pricks,”
To serve the false and true, and try to make them mix.
It is so hard to dwell in sensuality
And yet become that which the heart desires to be.

It is so hard to yield to lusting mortal sense,
Then gain the higher meaning of omnipotence.
It is so hard; it is impossible to do,
To be a slave to sin, yet servant, Lord, to You.

It is so hard, dear God, to “kick against the pricks,”
That we must give it up, on You our whole love fix;
No more to bruise ourselves against reality,
But to conform with it and live in harmony.


436

If I must bear a cross, my Lord, then let me bear it well,
As one who does not dread its weight, whose heart does not rebel.
But as the well-trained soldier bears his weapon, faithfully,
So let me bear my cross; a better weapon it will be.

Nor let me think that I can bear it better with a frown,
But hold it joyously aloft nor seek to set it down.
Do I not do this work for You, and put my love to test?
And could I ask for more, Lord, than to serve at Your behest?


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No, let me do my rightful task, and faithfully obey,
And bear my cross upright and well, and humbly, firmly say,
“This is my cross, and I cannot be made to lay it down
Save to exchange it for a grander cross or nobler crown.”


437

Today, Lord, I shall just be glad,
Mourn not for what I wish I had,
No more bewail the ache and pain
Of what I lost or failed to gain.

No more my thought shall magnify
The cares to come or woes gone by.
All past, present, and future wrong
Shall be forgotten in a song.

For it is time that I must raise
My voice from moans to songs of praise;
No more discouraged, sick, and sad,
Today, Lord, I shall just be glad.


438

“War is declared!” The harsh words filled my ears,
And sick at heart I walked in solitude.
To think that men should live in hate and fears
While God bestows a love each day renewed!


Page 276


But as along the shaded street I trod
I heard some voices lifted in a hymn
And knew that somewhere men were praising God,
And my heart lost its burden, great and grim.

For here were men who turned to God in thought,
Who through the clouds of war beheld God’s light,
Whose prayers, more powerful than cannon shot,
Would turn men from the wrong to live the right.

Why stand aghast before deluded ways,
The burst of bombs, the scream and thud of shell?
Stronger than these are hymns to God in praise
That prove throughout these lies that all is well.


439

Lord, how the eyes light up, the heart beats quick,
And breath is almost held in wondered awe,
When we behold the healing of the sick
Through no means save Your pure and perfect law.

And how the heart overflows with gratitude
When some long-cherished sin has been dispelled,
And man goes forth with thought and life renewed
To serve You well, by love divine impelled.


Page 277


O Love, each day is such a precious prize,
A thrilling, tingling joy is ours each hour;
For life expands before our opening eyes
As we behold the workings of Your power.


440

There is so much to thank You for, dear God:
For golden sunshine on the grassy plain,
For this strong earth of Yours by our feet trod,
For air and light, for wind and clouds and rain.

There is so much, dear God, so very much
That we should live a life of gratitude,
A life made sweet and gracious by Your touch,
A life with selflessness and love imbued.

There is so much to thank You for, dear Lord,
That we should be rejoicing all our days,
And let our thoughts and ways with Yours accord
And dedicate ourselves unto Your praise.


441

Would you be quick and strong and sure?
Then pray for patience to endure.
The waiting hours all must bear
Before they see their answered prayer.


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Would you have great authority?
Then first pray for humility.
Is it for fuller power you seek?
Then pray that you may be more meek.

Or do you wish to be more wise?
Then pray that you may realize
You have no wisdom of your own,
But wisdom is from God alone.

And why of earth’s things have you need
When for the heavenly things you plead?
Your greatest need is for God’s grace.
Gain it and find your higher place.


442

Affliction fell, and I became distraught.
I shook my fist at fate, as one reviles,
Until at last I raised my eyes and thought,
“Behold, somewhere the devil sits and smiles.”

Affliction came again, worse than before.
“Ah, now,” I thought, “I shall not be so used.”
And as the trouble increased, rejoiced the more;
Serene and sweet, I refused to feel abused.

Then when at last misfortune passed on by
I felt untouched by all that it had brought,
And knew no smile played in the devil’s eye.
I conquered wrong by mastering my thought.



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443

The whole earth overflows with the goodness of God
From the blue sky above to the green-tufted sod,
From the dawn’s silvery light to night’s shadows that race,
From the sun in its course to the goldenrod’s face.

For which way can we look, but we see everywhere
A sweet sign of His love, His protection and care?
The high heavens declare it; earth echoes their claim.
Yes, the whole universe sings aloud of His name.

Then shall we not agree with this beauty and bliss
That the all-loving God who created all this
Holds His child in an order of heavenly good,
Nor allows him to stray from his true Parenthood?

Shall these glories of earth be more faithful than we
In the proof of perfection, of life’s harmony?
No, not so. We are His and are perfect and whole,
And our lives must express the completeness of Soul.


444

I’ll do what You want me to do, dear God.
I’ll go where You want me to go.
I’ll think what You want me to think, dear God;
I’ll know what You want me to know.


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I’ll hear what You want me to hear, dear God;
I’ll see what You want me to see.
I’ll act as You want me to act, dear God;
I’ll be what You want me to be.

I’ll take what You want me to take, dear God;
I’ll give what You want me to give.
I’ll love what You want me to love, dear God;
I’ll live as You want me to live.


445

“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”
Yea, Lord; yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
“Feed my sheep.” But, Lord, no more than this?
No bitter word, no condemnation of me?

Know ye not, what I have done, my Lord?
How in thy hour of trial I denied thee?
How I cursed, and swore I knew thee not,
And when thou needed me stood not beside thee?

Knowing this, how is it now you bid
Me feed thy sheep and hast no censor for me?
But yet, wait — perhaps I do perceive —
The deeper meaning of thy words dawn o’er me.


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For how better prove my love for thee
Than bringing forth the fruits of consecration,
Teaching men thy truth and healing them,
Manifesting thee in demonstration?

Why should I have thought thou wouldst condemn?
Thy mercies are more wide than skies above me.
I will feed thy sheep and prove with works
What I profess. Thou knowest that I love thee.


446

He was a wild and reckless child
And laughed at things of God,
And I could see no word from me
Would change the path he trod.
And yet I knew, though this seemed true,
God loved his real selfhood.
And who was I to pass him by
Or hold back any good?

So I expressed as I knew best
A love and gentleness,
And prayed for grace with which to face
His way of doing less.
And soon I saw Love’s changeless law
Begin to take effect.
Where had been jest now was expressed
A reverent respect.


Page 282


Where selfish pride did once abide
Now was humility.
And worldliness grew less and less
Before sweet purity.
All this occurred without a word,
No sermon had been preached.
Yet deeper than the word of man
His heart by love was reached.

Love, let me live so as to give
My brother what he needs.
Help him to see Your harmony
Less by my words than deeds.
Then I shall know that as I sow
So shall the reaping be,
Each loving grain bring forth rich gain
To fellow man and me.


447

“But is it right,” you ask, “that you declare
As true what you have not yet proved is true,
Affirming present good in every prayer,
Although it has not yet appeared to view?”

Well, is it right to set the foot before
The body that will follow presently?
And is it right to reach the hand for more
Than yet appears within that hand to be?


Page 283


Yes, it is right to claim all good as mine,
Not base my claims on mortal sense of lack,
Declare that I reflect God’s pure design
And set my foot ahead of me, not back.


448

“They have taken away my Lord,” she said
“And I know not where they have laid him.”
And Mary looked among the dead,
Thinking that she somehow might aid him.

But he whom Mary sought did stand
Not with the dead but with the living.
The peace she prayed for from his hand
Already he was richly giving.

“Woman,” he said, “why weepest thou?”
And she, her moment’s sorrow ending,
Beheld the Christ as present now,
Prepared for his sublime ascending.

Look not into an empty tomb,
You who hold Christ in your affection,
But lift your eyes from out your gloom,
Not Christ, but you, need resurrection.

Already Christ to you is brought;
Already he stands there to guide you.
Lift up your downcast, weeping thought
And see the blessings now beside you.



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449

The grandest battle man has ever fought
Was not upon some blood-drenched battlefield,
But in the inmost secret place of thought
Where Spirit-sense made matter forces yield.

No cannon roared, no tanks rolled over the sod,
No fleet of deadly bombers sailed about.
But some man sat alone, except for God,
And there in meekness worked his problem out.

O when will mankind learn where they must fight
If from all evils they would gain release?
In human thought the wrong must yield to right
For men to gain their greatly hoped-for peace.

Have not men torn the earth on which they trod
By many battles lost and never won?
But he who sits alone and prays to God
Is sure of victory as God’s own son.


450

This day, dear Lord, shall not go past
Without my grateful word.
It shall not slip away so fast
My thanks may not be heard.


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For shall I not give You Your due,
You who give all to me?
Shall I not give what I have, too,
A grateful memory?

So, then, the sun shall not descend
Without my gratitude.
My thanks with angel songs I blend,
Great Giver of all good.


451

What can they be, these woes we see,
But insubstantial fears?
They have no source to give them force;
They fade when Truth appears.

For I have seen clouds in between
Myself and evening skies,
Till all the world seemed to be furled
In shades of darkest guise.

Yet with the dawn all else was gone
Save fluffs of fine-spun gold.
The selfsame clouds that had seemed shrouds
Were lovely to behold.


Page 286


And this I know, it will be so
With these clouds we now see
When dawns the bright and morning light
Of all reality.


452

Yes, we might weep for fellow man.
It’s not so hard but that we can.
We might accept his bitter grief
And make our own his false belief.

Yet pity is a helpless thing,
And tears of grief can only bring
More tears to fill the swollen eyes
And tax the heart with further sighs.

But if we bring that man to see
The man he evermore must be,
Complete and whole, with good imbued,
Then tears will turn to gratitude.

If we can bring the woeful one
To see himself as God’s own son,
Right then and there our work is done;
His grief is gone and joy begun.



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453

Give me the happy, grateful heart that sings its song of praise,
That bids all woes and fears depart from present joyous days,
That makes each day a day of thanks for blessings all renewed,
And knows no luckless, unkind pranks can steal its gratitude.

Give me the heart that sings the most when skies are black above,
Thus offering up a holy toast to God’s protecting love,
The heart that laughs at error’s lies and spurns the plea of sin,
That holds the fort it occupies and lets no evil in.

Give me the heart so grand and true, so noble and so fine,
It walks with God its whole life through and makes each day divine;
Give me the heart to which belong all things that virtue brings,
With song so strong it knows no wrong, but walks with God and sings.


454

Out of affliction songs have come
To light the deepest midnight hour.
Out of the pains that would benumb
Men grasp a holy, healing power.


Page 288


Out of the dark a mortal may
Perceive and find immortal light.
Out of a hard and thorny way
He better learns to walk aright.

Out of his suffering comes the need
To take his stand and carry on.
Out of his striving man is freed.
Out of the darkness comes the dawn.


455

Afflicted, I fell on my knees to pray
A prayer of disappointment and complaint
That God should make me walk this rugged way
And feel so worn, so weary, tired, and faint.

But as I knelt to vent my bitterness
I thought, Now wait before you make such prayer.
Think how the Father always comes to bless,
To love and keep you in His tender care.

Has He not brought His light when yours was dim,
Given you strength and soothed your troubled thought?
When did you ever truly ask of Him
And not receive the blessing that you sought?


Page 289


Has He not led your path these many years
And kept you ever in an upward way?
How then can you resign to bitter tears
Because you are afflicted for a day?

And as I knelt, I prayed in gratitude
For all God’s goodness I had seen revealed.
Then as I rose again with thought renewed,
Both my affliction and my woe were healed.


456

Cast now your eyes before you, man,
Across this broad and fruitful land,
And see the workings of God’s hand
That gives this bounty where you stand.

Who gave to you this fertile plain?
Who sent the sunshine and the rain
To ripen all this golden grain
That gives you bread and brings you gain?

Who raised up forage from the clod
And covered hill and vale with sod
Whereon your cattle range abroad?
Who did these things? Who but your God?


Page 290


Who built the cities where you dwell,
Where buildings rise and riches swell
Beyond the power of tongue to tell?
Not man but Mind, you know full well.

Who brings your ships across the sea,
With cargoes laden bountifully
From other land’s sufficiency?
Why God, the faithful Giver, He.

Are you not humbled by this sight
Of signs of God’s protecting might?
Go thank your God for just the right
To live upon His earth so bright.


457

I love Your hills, O Lord, their silent silhouette,
Dark-lined against the blue of summer evening skies,
Speak of stability, a staunchness never yet
Removed by all the storms that from earth’s changes rise.

They speak of quietness, of stationary power,
Of steadfast confidence, of patient, watchful grace,
Of great security, a fortress and a tower
That never shall be moved from out its rightful place.


Page 291


I love Your hills, my Lord, Your strong and rugged hills;
They give me needed courage to stand more faithfully.
They rest my spirit, tired of many human wills.
They bring me peace and strength and sweet serenity.


458

My fellow men, what do we here?
Why do we sit in chilling fear?
Why drop our eyes in heavy doubt?
The enemy awaits without.

Will he withdraw, if we stand not?
Will he surrender, if unfought?
Will he grow weak, if we despair?
Or stronger, if we bravely dare?

No. Who in battle grows more strong
Than he who will defy the wrong?
Who overcomes, puts down the foe,
But he who with His God will go?

And you are strong if you will fight
Upon the side of holy right.
In battling claims of sinning sense
You side with God’s omnipotence.


Page 292


Replace your fear with certainty
Of good that routs the enemy.
He runs before a joyous trust
And falls at last into the dust.

Raise now your eyes, lift up your voice,
Give thanks to God. Rejoice! Rejoice!
And up and to the battle then.
What do we here, my fellow men?


459

I, I, I,
So ready to belie,
So quick to justify,
So tardy to deny
This I, I, I.

I, I, I,
Self-willed, disposed to try
For all that will comply
With me or mine or my,
This I, I, I.

I, I, I.
Yet wherefore, now, and why?
Should not we magnify
The Ego-God as I,
The I, I, I?


Page 293


I, I, I,
So boundless yet so nigh,
So good, so grand, so high;
Man is enfolded by
The I, I, I.


460

Depressed, discouraged, to the house of God I came
And thought, “When I hear men rejoicing in God’s name
And telling of the works the Father’s love has done,
My weary thought shall see myself as God’s own son.”

But other men, I found, were just as tired as I,
Unwilling to arise and gladly testify,
And so at last I rose and spoke in gratitude;
And lo! I found my peace, with hope and strength renewed.

O heart that idly waits on other men to do
The righteous task belonging just as much to you,
Have you not learned that words of humble, holy praise
Will lead yourself and others in heaven’s holy ways?


461

O You who hang the heavens out
In azure diadem,
May men perceive and cease to doubt
Love’s tender care for them.


Page 294


And You who paint the skies at eve
With streams of golden red,
May men for wealth no longer grieve
With riches overhead.

Yes, You who trace the shades of night
With pattern exquisite
And then send forth the stars so bright
In number infinite,

Teach us to look from selfish ways
And see what You have wrought,
Then lose all fear in joyous praise,
All greed in grateful thought.


462

Uphold, enfold Your children, Lord;
Maintain, sustain them in Your care.
Direct, effect their sweet concord;
Defend, attend them in their prayer.

Release, give peace to fettered hearts;
Employ in joy the idle hands.
Uplift the gift Your love imparts,
The strifeless life that understands.


Page 295


Invest, make blest their righteous ways;
Design, align them with Your own.
Prolong, make strong their songs of praise,
Each voice rejoicing that You are known.


463

“When I am healed,” I said, “when I am free,
How kind and good, how loving I shall be.
No man will come to me and not be blest;
No man but welcome what I have expressed.”

“Why wait?” an angel asked, “Can you not start
This hour to manifest a loving heart?
Can you not clear wrong thoughts and make a place
For sweetness, charity, kindness, and grace?

“When of your present problem you are healed
You may discern another stands revealed.
But do the good you can and live to bless,
And lo, your ills will fade to nothingness.”


464

The grateful man is never at a loss
For means whereby to tell his gratitude,
For each of all his days begets a hundred ways
Whereby to prove his happy thanks renewed.


Page 296


He thanks God when he speaks a kindly word,
He thanks Him when he does a selfless deed,
He thanks Him even while he gives a friendly smile,
He thanks Him when He helps someone in need.

He thanks Him when he does a righteous work.
He thanks Him when he breathes a loving prayer.
He thanks Him every hour because He knows God’s power
Is blessing him and mankind everywhere.


465

Thank You, Lord? I thank You with a heart so full
That tears of gratitude come to my eyes,
And yearnings rise and on my heart strings pull,
Whenever my debt to You I realize.

Thank You? Yes, with such an overwhelming love
It sends me to my knees in humble prayer.
It governs me and lifts my life above
The sum of this earth’s woes, its fears and care.

Thank You, thank You, thank You, over and again.
Like as Your Love so is my gratitude.
I say my prayer of deepest thanks and then
I thank You for my blessings all renewed.



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466

And does your problem seem to you a real and vexing one?
Then hold it not above your head to hide from you the sun,
But put it underneath your feet, a mat to walk upon
Till it shall fade, as fuller light upon your sight shall dawn.

Those problems we have not yet solved are no more true nor real
Than those that we have overcome and no more see or feel.
Then let them not make our way dark, but joyfully ascend
And simply rise to greater heights where error’s dream must end.


467

Say not, “Tomorrow thus and so
Will be the way that I shall go.”
But this, “Tomorrow I shall see
What course my God unfolds for me.”

For who are we that we should say
How God directs our onward way?
It is His to wisely, surely lead;
It is ours to meekly, happily heed.

For God is good and all that is;
And wisdom is not ours but His.
He profits most who heeds God’s call;
And losing nothing, he finds all.



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468

Alone I tried to do my daily task
But it grew difficult; and I, perplexed.
I knew that I a higher power must ask
Which way to go and what to turn to next.

And then I saw a simple deed to do,
A little act of love, of brotherhood.
It had no bearing on my case, I knew,
And yet I stopped and did the best I could.

Then as with grateful heart I turned again
To do the work that still before me lay,
I saw my course so clear it must have been
God’s finger pointing out the proper way.

What is the meaning of this holy word:
“He that loveth . . . abideth in the light”?
Except that it should be not only heard
But proved in ways that lead our lives aright.


469

Lord, in the magic sweetness of the early morn
We turn to You in gratitude for day reborn,
Expectant of unfolding good throughout the day,
Ready to meet our task, to labor, love, and pray.


Page 299


Lord, in the sacred moments of the noontide hour
We would renew again our sense of Your all-power
That we may better meet humanity’s demand
And know the harmony of all things in Your hand.

Lord, in the blessed silence of the eventide
We give You grateful thanks that You did so abide
With us throughout the day as wisely to direct
Our every way and meet each need with right effect.


470

Dear Lord, we cannot look up to the stars at night
And see them in their jeweled clusters clear and bright,
Knowing that You extend to them and fair above,
And doubt that You exist as omnipresent Love.

We cannot hear the sigh of trees and breezes met
But that we know Your guiding voice is nearer yet;
Nor hear a mother crooning softly to her own
And fear that You could ever leave Your child alone.

O Lord, we feel within an overwhelming awe
To view the beauty, grandeur, goodness of Your law,
That law that holds the universe and man in Soul,
The law of Love that keeps all things intact and whole.



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471

“Lord, how shall I my freedom find
From sin, disease, and pain?
How shall I leave the false behind
And greater goodness gain?”
Then lightly as a gentle vesper
That healing message bore,
I heard an angel softly whisper,
“Love more, love more, love more.”

“Lord, how shall I lift other men
From erring ways to true,
And make them pure and good again
As You would have me do?”
Then this command that knows no turning
Came to me as before,
But now a fiery message burning,
“Love more, love more, love more.”

“Lord, how shall I show reverence
For all You are and do?
How prove my joyous, grateful sense,
O gracious God, to You?”
And as a mighty chorus ringing
Its song at heaven’s door,
I hear a thousand angels singing,
“Love more, love more, love more.”



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472

This is enough, O Father-Mother:
If I have helped a needy brother,
If we have mutually blest each other,
Here is much good to see.
If someone’s heart has been made lighter,
His skies become a few rays brighter,
His grasp on good a little tighter,
This is enough for me.

This is enough: if I am standing
Steadfast and firm at Your commanding,
And every evil reprimanding,
Undaunted, fearlessly;
If I my stand for Truth have taken,
All matter’s fables have forsaken,
And know that I cannot be shaken,
This is enough for me.

This is enough: if each day’s ending
Hears praise to You from me ascending
And my song is with Your song blending,
Rejoicing, glad, and free.
If each day finds me upward going,
More faithful, meek, and holy growing,
O Love, my heart is overflowing.
This is enough for me.



Page 302


473

Lord, all too well these things I know:
That I am heavy-thoughted, slow
To understand and to perceive Your way;
That I dream much when well I might
Be drinking in Your glories bright,
And often sleep when I might better pray.

Yet sometimes on Your holy hill
When all earth’s murmurings are still
I hear Your angels whispering to me.
And these glad truths their voices tell:
That good is God, and all is well,
And man can know Your constant harmony.

Almost it seems they sing aloud.
They settle on me as a cloud
Till I can hardly breathe for raptured bliss.
They speak of faith and hope and love,
Then softly, sweetly glide above
Into a higher, grander realm than this.

Yes, I am slow of wit indeed,
Yet angels I can hear and heed.
This is enough to make all joy abound.
I can but humbly meekly pray
To dwell more in this heavenly way
And hear Your angels singing all around.



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474

“O Lord, what struggle rages in my breast!
How evil comes to rack and ravage me!
What tumult stirs until I know no rest!
When shall I gain my peace and liberty?”

“Fret not yourself,” the angel message came,
“For all is well. This conflict must take place
Till Truth disperses every evil claim
And you shall find yourself redeemed by grace.

“Be not disturbed by this ferocious strife.
Be more concerned that it shall not subside
Until you live a pure and holy life
And animality is put aside.

“So long as you still fight the holy fight,
Go forward in a joyous certainty;
For rest assured that God sustains the right,
And you shall win a mighty victory.”


475

Lord, I would be a man of many riches,
Would lay up for myself a goodly treasure.
Yes, I would have forever for the taking
Such wealth as never human hand did measure.


Page 304


Riches indeed, but not of such poor substance
As silver, gold, and notes in much profusion,
As well to gather dust along the roadside
And hug it to myself in fond delusion.

These are the treasures I would see unfolding:
Treasures of truth, of goodness, and of meekness;
Of life and love, of selflessness and kindness,
Of mercy for another in his weakness.

Treasures of strength to stand in times of sorrow,
In wisdom, justice, righteousness abiding,
Of love for God and man, of holy purpose
To walk forever at the Spirit’s guiding.

Such wealth do I desire, O gracious Father,
And having gained thereof would freely spend it.
For well I know with use it much increases.
To all humanity would I extend it.



Page 305


476

“Go forth, and stand upon the mount,” and these things you will see:
A great strong wind, the passing breath of mortal vanity;
And after this an earthquake of the havoc mortals wreak;
And after this the fire through which their temporal passions speak.
Yet God is not in all these things that shriek and shock and burn,
But in a still small voice that comes to those whose thoughts discern,
Above the din of mortal things, that which makes men rejoice.
“Go forth, and stand upon the mount,” and heed the still small voice.


477

If giving were getting, how hastily
We should give everything we could!
Our hearts and hands would always be
Busy to bring another good.
Our efforts would be forever spent
To magnify the good with men,
And we should only be content
To give, and then to give again.


Page 306


If giving were getting, how we should prize
The slightest opportunity
To help another realize
The good that flows so constantly.
Our lives would overflow with joy,
And love in every heart would reign,
And we should all our thoughts employ
In seeking more this precious gain.

If giving were getting — and is it not?
Do we receive more than we give?
What brings a more abundant thought
Than does the selfless love we live?
Since giving is getting our lives should be
Eager in liberality,
Until God’s hand we come to see
Giving to all abundantly.


478

“Depart from me, O Lord; I am a sinful man.”
But Christ did not depart, and from that hour began
The turning of a sinner to a saint.
And Peter, who had cried that Christ from him depart,
Grew humble, faithful, strong, and good and pure of heart,
And lost his carnal sense of earthly taint.


Page 307


Who has not sometime cried, “O Lord, depart from me?”
Appalled by sinful sense from which he is not free,
Amazed that Christ comes to such thought as his.
He feels himself unworthy of the Father’s love
And dares not lift his downcast eyes to look above
And see how merciful the Father is.


479

“Men are good, O God,” I cried. “Why must we suffer thus?
What have been our trespasses to bring this war on us?
In what woeful wrongs have these our erring lives been spent
That we now engulf ourselves in self-extinguishment?”

“Man, what are you seeing?” an angel voice inquired of me.
“Struggling, sinful mortals never were reality.
Mortals are as weeds; they grow apace, mature, and die.
Man is never touched by all this anguished earthly lie.

“Man is one with God, the perfect Father’s perfect Son,
Unconscious of this matter dream, the race that mortals run.
Lift up your eyes to see the man in whom God has delight,
And you will help your fellow men to see themselves aright.”



Page 308


480

A little more of gentleness, a little more of grace,
A little more of helpfulness, would all these wrongs erase.
A little more consideration for a fellow man,
A little greater consecration to the Father’s plan,
A little more perception of a suffering brother’s need,
A little more reflection of our God in thought and deed,
A little more of selflessness, a little more of love,
Would lift our lives from restlessness to peace of heaven above.


481

What shall we say of You, O God? What shall we say?
For speech is overcome, and words weak tribute pay.
We see effulgent glories, but cannot describe
The half of that which thought can only half imbibe.

What shall we say of Love that rules the universe?
Or Truth-sustained perfection nothing can reverse?
Of Life alight with gleams of living holiness?
Of good that reaches out to heal, sustain, and bless?

What shall we say of You, O God? In what way praise?
How think to thank You for the wonder of Your ways?
Our lips are mute, and hushed is every mortal sense.
We bow before You in adoring reverence.



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482

Hand in hand with God. The wonder of it all!
Hand in hand with Him who never lets us fall,
Never takes away His tender watchful care,
Never leads us on but He Himself is there.

Hand in hand with Him who orders all our ways
Guides our steps aright and lifts our hearts to praise.
Who could better fare? What better path be trod?
Everywhere we go — hand in hand with God.


483

Does evil seem to triumph over you?
O then take up your courage and press on.
Remember Jesus had his trial too
And seemed to lose, but nonetheless he won.

Remember? One frail mortal in a mob
Of maddened men, who shouted, “Crucify!”
And crucify they did, but could not rob
Him of his Life, for this could never die.

And three days later he was back again,
About his Father’s business as before,
Triumphant over the vanity of men
Who thought that Truth could help him nevermore.


Page 310


O then be not disturbed, my suffering heart,
If error’s lies seem to roll over you.
The truth to which you cling cannot depart.
Hold fast to it, and you will triumph too.


484

O Love, I cannot count the blessings from Your hand received.
I can but breathe a grateful prayer
As I my present lot compare
With what I knew before I understandingly believed.

Why, Lord, I was not half a man until Your love was known.
I knew no law of righteousness,
Knew nothing of You and cared yet less.
Greedy of gain and covetous, I lived for myself alone.

The brute and I were brothers. Indeed, I may have been the worse,
Lusting in sense, learning to cheat;
Yet wise, I thought in my conceit.
And Christ meant little more than just a word with which to curse.

Then came the love of God, and from my stupor I arose
As one wakes from a darkened dream
To see the morning sunshine beam.
So I awoke to see the light with which God’s goodness glows.


Page 311


The scales of blindness fell, and I could see with opened eyes.
A universal, perfect law
Of holy harmony I saw,
And love for God and fellow man as heaven’s greatest prize.

Then all things became new; the things unseen, reality;
And Christ, a vitalizing force
Which changes empires in its course
And lifts man from the brute and gives him soul and destiny.

Dear God, I cannot tell in words how great my thanks, should be.
I can but breathe a grateful prayer
As I my present lot compare
With what I knew before Your light illumined life for me.


485

When lightnings flash and thunders roar
And skies grow black and raindrops pour,
Till all the world appears wrapped in a shroud,
It’s then we know that soon will show
Upon the farther skies a bow
Whose colors will illuminate the cloud.

Does this world seem as black as night?
Ah well, take heart; for soon, the light
Will brighten all with its effulgent glow.
The clouds that hover over all
Will break, and through their darkened pall
A bow of beauty on the cloud will show.



Page 312


486

Our lives are like a troubled stream until we come to God.
Frothing and turbulent, we dash along,
Bruising ourselves against the world’s wrong,
And plunging to the depths of fear and pain that lie abroad.

And then we reach the ocean of His love, and in its breast
Our agitated lives grow calm and still.
The peace of God begins our hearts to fill
And we forget our maddened past here in this heaven rest.


487

This much of wisdom have I learned
From lessons good, though often hard-earned,
From out much threshing of the grain
This much of wheat has been my gain.

As far as day exceeds the night,
So far is wrong surpassed by right.
And evil sends a piercing sword,
While goodness brings its own reward.

A thousand lies cannot undo
Or make a single truth untrue.
And man can live above the host
Of woes that mortals dread the most.


Page 313


The least of good is not in vain;
Throughout all time it will remain;
While erring ways seem real today
But with tomorrow pass away.

And greatest truth of all I find
That God is perfect, holy Mind.
No greater wisdom can be known
Than that which comes from Him alone.


488

I walk across the mountain top
With angels at my side,
And earth’s wild clamorings all stop
As heavenly thoughts abide.
The silent silhouette of hills
Outlined across the sky
Blend with the evening flush and thrill
The beauty-seeking eye.

I hear the song the angels sang
To shepherds from their height,
Celestial choruses that rang
On man’s first Christmas night.
Angel voices in my ear,
Singing to my heart.
Dear Lord, I think that heaven is here,
And this my happy part.



Page 314


489

Do not despise the little seeds of Truth,
Though longing for the fullness of Truth’s bread.
These grains you gain in your perception’s youth
Will make the meal whereby you may be fed.

The manna that did Israel’s hunger slake
Which was “as small as the hoar frost on the ground”
Had to be gathered, boiled, and baked in cakes,
For not a single loaf of bread was found.

So thank your God for every truth you know,
For every angel whisper you may hear.
And you will find your store will daily grow
Until God’s word is always in your ear.


490

And is it hard, you ask, to stand for righteousness?
To stake your all on Christ and wait for him to bless?
No, lad; it is not hard to stand for what is right
So long as your own heart is with you in the fight.

Hard for an hour, perhaps, when indecision-tossed,
You look back down the road, then start to count the cost.
But once the choice is made, no way is half so free.
You feel all life unfold in conscious liberty.


Page 315


And hardships? Well, perhaps, as men define the word.
But you care not for that; the voice of God is heard.
And all your thought is set to hear and to obey,
And nothing matters but that you walk in His way.

You count all else as loss, save what to Christ is gain,
And pleasures once desired are useless waste and pain.
All other things become as nothingness, you see.
No, lad; it is not hard: it is necessity.


491

“Have faith in God,” did not the Master say?
Have faith this mountain shall be put away,
That what obstructs your path shall be removed
And God’s omnipotence at last be proved.

What matter if your woes seem never done?
You know the remedy for every one.
Draw near to God, and He draws near to you,
Then peace is found and discord fades from view.

Be grateful that your hard necessity
Provides the means whereby you may be free.
Your yearning need is but an open door
Through which Christ comes with blessings to outpour.



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492

Thank You, thank You, thank You, faithful Lord,
More than hearts can say in glad accord.
Thank You from our inmost secret thought
To that which men can see Your love has wrought.

Thank You, from a yearning, longing pain
To joy that leaps to You in heavenly strain,
Thank You, from a silent, bliss-filled sense
To ringing songs of Your omnipotence.

Thank You that our thanks do overflow,
And thank You too that we, Your children, know
From whence comes all the good that You afford.
Thank You, thank You, thank You, gracious Lord.


493

Give me, O God, a heart so deep
That fellow men will cease to weep
When they to it their woes have brought
And taken thence a healing thought.
So understanding let it be
That none shall lack for charity,
But each shall find a welcome true,
A greeting kind and loving too.


Page 317


Give me a heart so vast and broad
That it shall speak to men of God,
And turn their thoughts from sinful sense
To Truth and Love’s omnipotence,
And set them singing songs of joy,
And loving hearts and hands employ
In bringing good to fellow men,
That Love may do its work again.

Give me a heart with this design:
That all it knows shall be divine,
That all it does shall then express
The love wherewith Your love shall bless,
A heart that reaches out with Life
That rights men’s wrongs and stills their strife,
And makes men’s innate goodness start.
Give me, O God, a loving heart.


494

How sweetly sing the silver songs of Soul!
How gladly glow the golden gleams of God!
And everlasting Mind, before, about, behind,
Makes every step a step to glory trod.

Then let your joy uninterrupted flow.
Break forth and sing God’s holy, happy songs.
And let your lives express the good your lips confess,
Which unto every child of God belongs.


Page 318


For we are held in His eternal love,
Protected, blessed, enfolded in His care.
Then let both heart and voice in gratitude rejoice
That God is with His children everywhere.


495

What shall we let our lives the most express,
A cry of pain, or song of gratitude?
Shall we have no concern for things that bless,
But over a multitude of evils brood?

O let us give a fuller range to thought,
Acknowledge good that flows from God’s rich grace.
If we have not yet reached the heights we sought,
Let us be grateful for our present place.

For every mortal man has had his woe.
But some men mourn, while others learn to smile.
It matters less how fast or slow we go
Than with what grace we take each onward mile.


496

These things, O Lord, fill our hearts with delight,
And with them is a praise for good reborn:
The softly shining silver stars at night,
The pale sweet glories of the early morn.


Page 319


For You, O God, are like a shining star
To lead men from their hopeless mental waste,
And Your light brightens all things near and far
With joys that man must come to You to taste.

So may we follow in the way You lead
Until effulgent dawn breaks on our sight.
Then shall we see reality indeed
In far-flung grandeur of Your holy light.


497

O Lord, let me deposit to Your trust
My funds of satisfaction, joy, and peace.
For there they will not idly lie and rust,
But, bearing interest, will much increase.

Too often have I attempted to invest
Them in some hazardous and man-made scheme,
Only to find the cost soon dispossessed
Me of my wealth, with profits just a dream.

Now let me put them to a righteous cause,
Wherein success is sure as it is right,
Based on infallible and God-made laws
That yield rich proceeds of a true delight.



Page 320


498

Again, again, again I hear
That voice that daily grows more dear:
“Love more, love more, love more,” it cries;
“Herein the way to heaven lies.”

And I would love more, but I find
Some men who seem to goodness blind.
If some I love, and others damn,
Then love becomes a loveless sham.

And then again the voice I hear,
Serene and soothing in my ear,
“Just see all men as God’s dear sons;
Then You shall love His little ones.”

And now I separate the lie
From man and all its claims deny.
But man I see as undefiled
And love him as God’s holy child.


499

I thought in other days (thank God, well past)
That I must search materiality
For something that would satisfy at last
This corporeality that I called me.


Page 321


And so I turned to every new desire,
Seeking something to hold, to love, to trust,
Yet watching every pleasure burned in fire
And every dream fall shattered in the dust.

And then I learned of God, and everything
With heaven’s own effulgent gladness shone.
I found that naught can satisfaction bring
Save grand and good and noble things alone.


500

Give thanks to God a thousand times a day.
With prayer unceasing we are told to pray.
Let gratitude flow as a silver stream
To make your life a happy, holy theme.

Thank God for bringing you through trials past,
Thank Him for present good, with outlook vast.
Thank Him tomorrow means all joy renewed.
Thank Him for present, past, and future good.

Thank God from morn till night, from night till dawn.
Thank Him that love can never be withdrawn.
Thank Him that from Him you can never stray.
Thank Him that you can thank Him every day.

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Love is the liberator.