dispute are not worth the effort that we should strip our burdens of prejudice from us to the end that we may all be the freer to go forward each in his own way, or if it can be comprehended, changing to a better way, toward the end of the journey which is God, the Father of us all. I must finally frankly admit that matter and evil seem to me to exist, and possibly will so long as I remain bound in this false, unreal consciousness (carnal law) imposed on me by myself and universal beliefs. I frankly admit further that I cannot see how something non-existent can have produced all the wrong things which seem so real to me. That is I cannot see it in such a way as to do away with all of the seeming reality at once. None the less I can see that the absence of good in our perceptions—the absence (a negative thing) of God may produce all that I call a sense of separation, a sense of matter, and a sense of evil. I can see that getting God back in my consciousness would destroy, as light destroys darkness, the sense of evil which I now seem to have. In any religious doctrine, men are compelled to say of something, "I do not understand" and so I cannot comprehend how a good God can even seem to be absent. I cannot comprehend how a good God can permit men to have these false perceptions or the reason for it, or how God can even seem to be absent if He be All and All Good. Nor can I understand why God should have allowed man to misuse the "dominion" given him over "all the earth," or how a mind capable of appearing to misuse could have sprung from a good God, from God and man to whom He gave dominion. None the less I am going to live on the principle that He is All and All Good even though I cannot now see it in fact, save through a glass darkly, because: (1) That is the only idea of Him which satisfies my life to-day. (2) In that way only can I attain results attainable in no other way. Therefore I deny anything which seems to deny His completeness and His goodness and while I cannot fully demonstrate it as yet (dreaming), I think I have given you some reasons leading toward the belief that evil and matter have no reality, and for the rest am content to trust to the faith which is the substance of things hoped for to place me some day, be it far or near, where I can demonstrate that which to-day I know to be truth. When that day comes all the truth I know to-day will still be mine, and all the falsity I seem to know will have disappeared. I shall then know the answer to that which I cannot because of limitation explain_to-day to the satisfaction of myself or any other. I suppose someone will say in reading this book, that I have first said that any man can set up an idea of God, and then if that idea be not attacked, can make his conclusions seem probable-and that then I have done that same thing myself. Granted freely-but can you think of any philosophy, or any idea about anything, which is not necessarily founded on some idea of God? And have I not specially stated that I do not ask anyone to adopt my idea until his experience has brought it to him? And have you constructed for yourself your own idea of God, founding it on reason and on Scripture before criticizing mine? If not I suggest that you give the subject careful and prayerful consideration—it is deserving of the best, for on it will your whole life be fashionedand I venture the prediction that if you do this with the desire to learn, freeing yourself from all desire but that of learning Truth, you will find that your conclusions are not very far away from mine, as to the nature of God. If, then, you reach that conclusion-I only ask that you be honest with yourself and others, and shirk none of the results which come from your own premises. EPILOGUE IN looking back over this book, I see that I started to pick out a few quotations from the Bible which seemed to me to confirm the idea of life portrayed herein. I see that I have used very many more quotations than I had expected, and I have come to this conclusion, which I believe everyone who will read the Bible with this idea in mind will eventually also reach, that in order to quote all of those parts of the Bible which convey the idea I have in mind, I would have to reprint the Bible in whole, for I find it difficult now to find any part of it which does not express the thought that I have been trying to give you. I do not believe that I could do better as an ending to this book than to quote the words of the Master: "Come unto me [the mind which is of Christ in each and every man] all ye that labour and are heavy laden [under a sense of matter and of sin]. Take my yoke [the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus] upon you [cease thinking negative thoughts of the carnal mind] and learn of me [seek the truth through me and the truth shall set you free], for my yoke is easy [my law is that in which you have |