is why he must have individual growth and expression, but he is not complete except in unity with others in Christ. Coming into unity with others in the Spirit does not interfere with freedom, but rather gives a larger field for expression. Members of the body of Christ are drawn together and joined, not by the personal will of any man or woman, but by the Spirit. "Knit together in love." This is the difference between all human organizations where the ties are personal, and the "church of Christ, which is his body." The more study we give to the body of Christ and the more we recognize ourselves as members of that body and Christ as the Head, the greater will be our appreciation of the benefits that come to us through association with the other members. We can never come into the consciousness of the Universal Life and Love until we get connection with the Head and feel the unity of the body. Then there comes into us a new life-flow. new life-flow. The limitations of self tend to increase with individual development, but these are removed as we give them up for the privilege of the larger life which the Christ body makes possible. The prize before us is perfection, eternal life. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians about the Christ body, says that God hath set to each member a particular work for the "edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." He understood that completeness and perfection were possible only through the relation of man to man in Christ. And in this relation we get that consciousness of Universal Life which demonstrates in us the gift of eternal life. It may seem that some mountain fastness, secure from the spirit of the world, would be an ideal place for overcoming; but, while a certain kind and degree of growth might be attained there, the perfect, rounded-out character will come from contact with others. If we are recognizing the Christ body and Christ as the Head, we will feel and discern its reality and not be grieved or worried over the worldliness and personality that seem so real, and so dominant. Others of like mind will be drawn to us, and we may enjoy fellowship with them right in the midst of the strongholds of the world. It is a fellowship that the world cannot give and cannot take away. It cannot even know the fellowship. The people of the world realize in a measure the blessing of unity and they simulate it in all ways, religious, commercial, social and political; but the one real unity is in Christ, and it is an invisible union. No organization, however near it may come to the real, is the real. It has its elements of weakness, arising from the pride and selfishness of the personal man, and those who long for the real must content themselves with seeking and finding spiritual fellowship and not expect unity in the personality. The discipline that comes from meeting personality and not contending with it is a schooling not to be despised. The surest way to keep from contending is to recognize the body of Christ and Christ as the Head. The stronger we can get hold of this realization, the more patient we will be when he doesn't seem to be the Head. But the point to be emphasized is not the burden of the seeming, but the joy and power of the reality. The members of the Christ body are not all in one place. They are everywhere. When one of them finds another it is a greater joy than the mortal man feels when he is reunited with a long lost relative. The recognition of spiritual kinship may come in a flash. Sometimes a written word reveals it to those who are apparently separated by distance and have never seen each other. Blessed be the Father for all his other children and the privilege of spiritual unity with them. Each of us makes his own thought climate, and if it is not satisfactory and healthful, we must look for the cause within ourselves. It is not a matter of locality. External conditions are always the expression of inner cause. We will not find the "beyond" the balm we seek, for all the joys of heaven cannot help a discontented mind.-Newcomb. EXTRACTS From Letters Written to Students and Patients by the Society of Silent Unity The friends that are not with us in spiritual understanding are helpful to us by calling our attention to the necessity of poise in the power and dominion of the Christ Mind, and of exercising the freeing, loving, forgiving spirit, which sees only good, and affirms the guiding light of Truth for all who do not yet see it. In this way what might be a hindrance becomes a blessing by calling out those faculties that strengthen us. Conditions which affected you in the past need not remain. They do remain because the mental picture of it remains in your mind. Change the mental image in mind and the change in the body will follow. * By the term "regeneration of the body" is meant that the process Jesus spoke of "Ye must be born again," born of the Spirit—is taking place, and the body is becoming spiritual, deathless, abiding. When the body has been regenerated, recreated, all sin, sorrow, sickness and death. will have been overcome and a perfect state of righteousness attained. Those who believe in regeneration and are obedient to the laws of regenerate life are now going through this process. They are dropping the old way of living to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, sexual and otherwise, and are no longer giving their substance in generation, but conserving their life forces that the Christ body may be built up. By denying all claims of error or mortality, and affirming and recognizing only the good, the true, the spiritual, they are passing out of old states of consciousness and coming into the new heavenly state of order, harmony, purity, peace, love and life everlasting. This is the state of perfection that Jesus commanded when he said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." John also referred to this in the words, "Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear [be manifest], we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." -John 8:51. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"-John 11:26. * * * Do not let the absence of an offering keep you from writing, for that fixes in your mind the thought of lack, which tends to poverty. Just send forth your word of blessing, and God will take care of it and make it true in ways you know not of. Study the law of manifestation in our leaflets until thinking true to the law becomes a habit. Under the spiritual law it does not matter whether the business is large or small, for there is no competition, but every thought finds expression in word and act, which always brings its result according to the measure and quality and understanding of the faith which sends it forth. We speak for and with you the Word of Truth. It must be received into your mind, where, if you hold to it in faith, it germinates, grows and brings forth fruit. "Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase." * * The reason you do not become free from error conditions, is because you divide your faith. You believe in the power of evil spirits to harm and disturb you, and the power of your faith in them is the power by which they disturb you. Know that evil or evil spirits do not have any power in Truth, because they do not exist in Truth at all. Therefore, if you will gather up all your forces and center them in the One Power, and not divide your faith by wondering which power is going to be the stronger, and living sometimes in hope and sometimes in fear, you will free yourself from torment, and the fear of torment. Say with Paul, "Laying aside every weight [everything that hinders me], and the sin which doth so easily beset me, I run with patience the race that is set before me. If you hold anything or anyone in condemnation, you hold yourself in condemnation. If you fear anything, there is fear within you, and perfect love casteth out all fear. Then love and believe in the good only. Keep yourself in the realization that only the good is true. Forgive yourself, forgive everyone, and everything. Say "There is now therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus." You must rise up, not in your own will power, but in the consciousness of your Christ Power, and lay hold of the abundant life and freedom which is yours in Christ. ** The law of evolution is brought about by degrees. It is the law of growth. First, men must desire not to kill, and in this higher consciousness of Love, they will see the possibility, then the necessity of refraining from taking life or causing pain. "In all my holy mountain [the spiritual consciousness], there is nothing to destroy or to make afraid." Even now processes are discovered for making milk and butter from a vegetable. As the desire for this change from conditions under the mortal law to the spiritual law of life grows, the means for its gratification will become apparent. Gradually the change will be brought about. Animal production will give place to other products, and present needs be supplied by new discoveries and inventions. Wonders of progress are being made manifest constantly, in response to the call of the higher consciousness. The will of God is being done in earth as it is in heaven. * * ** Prosperity and success come through thinking thoughts of prosperity and success. Every one has to make an individual demonstration of the perfect law. Just as soon as you really bring your words and expectations up to the measure of God's love for you, just that soon you will demonstrate supply. Think prosperity and success. Talk prosperity and success. |