"A lie can not exist—it only appears. Truth is consciousness consistent with itself in every relation; error is consciousness inconsistent with itself in some relation."—Judge H. P. Biddle.
"And what an end lies before us! To have a consciousness of our own ideal being flashed through us from the thought of God! Surely, for this may well give way all our paltry self-consciousness, our self-admiration and self-worships! Surely, to know what He thinks about us will pale out of our souls all our thoughts about ourselves!"—George MacDonald.
Marlow, September ——.
"Dear John: I hope you are as anxiously awaiting this letter as I awaited the second lecture. It was splendid, so comprehensive, and above all, so practical. It throws light on many puzzling points, and I am delighted so far with what seems so plain and true.
"Some of the members of the class seemed quite shocked at some of the statements, but it is not strange that they should seem startling to one who has never thought on the subject, for indeed, I should think it would take a good while to get used to reasoning that is directly opposite the world's first conclusions; still we are looking for results that are quite contrary to what the world looks for, so we can afford to collide with its opinions. When Mrs. Pearl came into the class room, all turned to look at her and every ear was ready to listen.
"In yesterday's lesson we made a statement of God as the only Mind of the universe, the Great Reality beside whom there is absolutely nothing in existence; but as we look around at the scenes of suffering and poverty and ignorance, we are mightily tempted to disbelieve such a statement.
"'Talk of omnipotent Light in the midst of midnight darkness!' you exclaim. Ah, but you are to remember we are talking of the real creation; the invisible and unapparent instead of the visible and apparent; the changeless and eternal instead of the evanescent and decaying.
"If God is the only Reality, His creation is the only real creation. The word real is applied to that which actually exists, which forever is, not to that which seems or appears; therefore, in speaking of the real we mean the changeless and invisible.
"If God is the only Mind, His are the only real thoughts, and thoughts are invisible to the eye, but discernible to the mind or consciousness.
"If God is everywhere, there is no possible place or space in the universe where God is not; hence He is all there is. One of our modern prophets wisely wrote: 'Has not a deeper meditation taught certain of every clime and age that the Where and the When so mysteriously inseparable from all our thoughts, are but superficial adhesions to thought; that the Seer may discern them where they mount up out of the celestial Everywhere and Forever. Have not all nations conceived their God as omnipresent and eternal, as existing in a universal Here, an everlasting Now?