I have tried thus far to deal fairly with you in presenting these vital
truths, and have spoken of everything on the basis of our own reason
and insight. It has been my aim to base nothing on the teachings of
others, though they may be the teachings of those inspired. Let us now
look for a moment at these same great truths in the light of the
thoughts and the teachings as put forth by some of the world's great
thinkers and inspired teachers.
The sum and substance of the thought presented in these pages is, you
will remember, that the great central fact in human life is the coming
into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite
Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow. I and
the Father are one, said the Master. In this we see how he recognized
his oneness with the Father's life. Again he said, The words that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
me, He doeth the works. In this we see how clearly he recognized the
fact that he of himself could do nothing, only as he worked in
conjunction with the Father. Again, My Father works and I work. In
other words, my Father sends the power, I open myself to it, and work
in conjunction with it.
Again he said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you. And he left us not in
the dark as to exactly what he meant by this, for again he said. Say
not Lo here nor lo there, know ye not that the kingdom of heaven is
within you? According to his teaching, the kingdom of God and the
kingdom of heaven were one and the same. If, then, his teaching is
that the kingdom of heaven is within us, do we not clearly see that,
putting it in other words, his injunction is nothing more nor less
than, Come ye into a conscious realization of your oneness with the
Father's life. As you realize this oneness you find the kingdom, and
when you find this, all things else shall follow.
The story of the prodigal son is another beautiful illustration of this
same great teaching of the Master. After the prodigal had spent
everything, after he had wandered in all the realms of the physical
senses in the pursuit of happiness and pleasure, and found that this
did not satisfy but only brought him to the level of the animal
creation, he then came to his senses and said, I will arise and go to
my Father. In other words, after all these wanderings, his own soul at
length spoke to him and said, You are not a mere animal. You are your
Father's child. Arise and go to your Father, who holds all things in
His hands. Again, the Master said, Call no man your Father upon the
earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Here he recognized
the fact that the real life is direct from the life of God. Our
fathers and our mothers are the agents that give us the bodies, the
houses in which we live, but the real life comes from the Infinite
Source of Life, God, who is our Father.
One day word was brought to the Master that his mother and his brethren
were without, wishing to speak with him. Who is my mother and who are
my brethren? said he. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
Many people are greatly enslaved by what we term ties of relationship.
It is well, however, for us to remember that our true relatives are not
necessarily those who are connected with us by ties of blood. Our
truest relatives are those who are nearest akin to us in mind, in soul,
in spirit. Our nearest relatives may be those living on the opposite
side of the globe,--people whom we may never have seen as yet, but to
whom we will yet be drawn, either in this form of life or in another,
through that ever working and never failing law of attraction.
When the Master gave the injunction, Call no man your father upon the
earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, he here gave us the
basis for that grand conception of the fatherhood of God. And if God
is equally the Father of all, then we have here the basis for the
brotherhood of man. But there is, in a sense, a conception still
higher than this, namely, the oneness of man and God, and hence the
oneness of the whole human race. When we realize this fact, then we
clearly see how in the degree that we come into the realization of our
oneness with the Infinite Life, and so, every step that we make
Godward, we aid in lifting all mankind up to this realization, and
enable them, in turn, to make a step God-ward.
The Master again pointed out our true relations with the Infinite Life
when he said, Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. When he said, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, he
gave utterance to a truth of far greater import than we have as yet
commenced fully to grasp. Here he taught that even the physical life
can not be maintained by material food alone, but that one's connection
with this Infinite Source determines to a very great extent the
condition of even the bodily structure and activities. Blessed are the
pure in heart for they shall see God. In other words, blessed are they
who in all the universe recognize only God, for by such God shall be
seen.
Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, He who in his own soul perceives the
Supreme Soul in all beings, and acquires equanimity toward them all,
attains the highest bliss. It was Athanasius who said, Even we may
become Gods walking about in the flesh. The same great truth we are
considering is the one that runs through the life and the teachings of
Gautama, he who became the Buddha. People are in bondage, said he,
because they have not yet removed the idea of _I_. To do away with all
sense of separateness, and to recognize the oneness of the self with
the Infinite, is the spirit that breathes through all his teachings.
Running through the lives of all the mediaeval mystics was this same
great truth,--union with God.
Then, coming nearer to our own time, we find the highly illumined seer,
Emanuel Swedenborg, pointing out the great laws in connection with what
he termed, the divine influx, and how we may open ourselves more fully
to its operations. The great central fact in the religion and worship
of the Friends is, the inner light,--God in the soul of man speaking
directly in just the degree that the soul is opened to Him. The
inspired one, the seer who when with us lived at Concord, recognized
the same great truth when he said, We are all inlets to the great sea
of life. And it was by opening himself so fully to its inflow that he
became one inspired.
All through the world's history we find that the men and the women who
have entered into the realm of true wisdom and power, and hence into
the realm of true peace and joy, have lived in harmony with this Higher
Power. David was strong and powerful and his soul burst forth in
praise and adoration in just the degree that he listened to the voice
of God and lived in accordance with his higher promptings. Whenever he
failed to do this we hear his soul crying out in anguish and
lamentation. The same is true of every nation or people. When the
Israelites acknowledged God and followed according to His leadings they
were prosperous, contented, and powerful, and nothing could prevail
against them. When they depended upon their own strength alone and
failed to recognize God as the source of their strength, we find them
overcome, in bondage, or despair.
A great immutable law underlies the truth, Blessed are they that hear
the word of God and do it. Then follows all. We are wise in the
degree that we live according to the higher light.
All the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history
became what they became, and consequently had the powers they had,
through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into
the conscious realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life. God
is no respecter of persons. He doesn't create prophets, seers, sages,
and saviours as such. He creates men. But here and there one
recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with
the Source whence it came. He lives in the realization of this
oneness, and in turn becomes a prophet, seer, sage, or saviour.
Neither is God a respecter of races or of nations. He has no chosen
people; but here and there a race or nation becomes a respecter of God
and hence lives the life of a chosen people.
There has been no age or place of miracles in distinction from any
other age or place. What we term miracles have abounded in all places
and at all times where conditions have been made for them. They are
being performed today just as much as they ever have been when the laws
governing them are respected. Mighty men, we are told they were,
mighty men who walked with God; and in the words "who walked with God"
lies the secret of the words "mighty men." Cause, effect.
The Lord never prospers any man, but the man prospers because he
acknowledges the Lord, and lives in accordance with the higher laws.
Solomon was given the opportunity of choosing whatever he desired; his
better judgment prevailed and he chose wisdom. But when he chose
wisdom he found that it included all else beside. We are told that God
hardened Pharaoh's heart. I don't believe it. God never hardens any
one's heart. Pharaoh hardened his own heart and God was blamed for it.
But when Pharaoh hardened his heart and disobeyed the voice of God, the
plagues came. Again, cause, effect. Had he, on the contrary,
listened,--in other words, had he opened himself to and obeyed the
voice of God, the plagues would not have come.
We can be our own best friends or we can be our own worst enemies. In
the degree that we become friends to the highest and best within us, we
become friends to all; and in the degree that we become enemies to the
highest and best within us, do we become enemies to all. In the degree
that we open ourselves to the higher powers and let them manifest
through us, then by the very inspirations we carry with us do we become
in a sense the saviours of our fellow-men, and in this way we all are,
or may become, the saviours one of another. In this way you may
become, indeed, one of the world's redeemers.