GIFT OF 
 
<v 
 
y 
 
 This has continued, at irregular intervals, up to 
 the present time, and it is from this accumulation 
 of writings that "Sifted Thru" has been sifted. 
 
 The majority of the writers I never met in 
 flesh and blood; and, altho many of them were 
 well-known writers, I was unfamiliar with their 
 writings. In many instances I saw the writer as 
 plainly as I would see any one in the physical 
 body; while, at other times, I saw the writing 
 only. 
 
 The object in submitting these communications 
 to the public is three-fold: First, 'to convey to 
 those who are ready to receive it, a plain, sensible 
 idea of after-death conditions, which must of 
 necessity vary according to individual enlighten- 
 ment, influenced by selfish or unselfish aims, de- 
 sires and purposes; 
 
 Second, to convey the truth, that the expres- 
 sion of life, immediately following death, is not 
 affected, so far as character goes, and the compre- 
 hension of life's purposes and problems, by the 
 event called death, and to let it be known that 
 this "next plane" is still the earth plane, only in 
 finer vibrations; 
 
 Third, that a Christ-like self-renunciation, in 
 loving service for the betterment of all humanity, 
 is the only way to Heaven, and that Love Divine 
 the only Light which will never fail. 
 
 "Sifted Through," by Mrs. I. L. Bentley, is a 
 book containing a remarkable message for the 
 world of today. Together with specially designed 
 and beautifully bound covers, it may be an ideal 
 gift "book for a friend or loved one. 
 Price, postpaid, $1.05 
 
 I. L. BENTLEY 
 
 2500 Beachwood Drive Los Angeles, Calif. 
 
Sifted Through 
 
 Communications from the Invisible Side 
 of Earth Life as Received 
 
 By 
 IDA LEWIS BENTLEY 
 
 Published by 
 
 J. F. ROWNY PRESS 
 
 Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 1920 
 
Gift 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK OF COMMUNI- 
 CATIONS FROM THE INVISIBLE SIDE 
 
 OF INFINITE LIFE, is MOST LOVINGLY 
 
 DEDICATED, AS A WELL-EARNED TRIB- 
 UTE, TO MY SISTER AND CO-WORKER 
 IN THE CAUSE OF TRUTH ELLA 
 
 GERTRUDE SMITH. 
 
 IDA LEWIS BENTLEY. 
 
FOKEWORD 
 
 N THE turmoil and tumult of present-day condi- 
 tions, every thoughtful person views with con- 
 cern and approval any avenue which assumes to 
 answer the questions of a perplexed world or to lead 
 humanity out of darkness into light. 
 
 Just in proportion as death has been to mankind, its 
 great unillumined problem, so has mankind grasped at 
 every suggestion of actual guidance in its solution. 
 
 The recent years, whose events have so amazingly 
 rent the veil between the visible and the invisible, have 
 revealed the enlightening processes of great sorrow. It 
 is well that this is so, for by this means will the balance 
 be hung true. <3 
 
 Notwithstanding the sincere efforts which are being 
 made in every direction to assist in world problems, one 
 lamentable lack is overwhelmingly apparent. This is 
 best defined as a lack of a sense of individual responsi- 
 bility as to conditions and their adjustment. 
 
 The "Dhammapada," or "Path of Virtue, " one of 
 the most practical ethical handbooks of Buddhism, con- 
 tains the following great sentences: 
 
 "Earnestness is the path of immortality, thoughtless- 
 ness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not 
 die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. " 
 
 The Christian Scriptures contain this ringing chal- 
 lenge. "The last enemy to be destroyed is Death." 
 Obviously, Death may be both literal and figurative. Its 
 mastery must be in its figurative state before it can 
 ever hope to be literal. 
 
 Selfishness is death! It may well be that selfishness 
 is the last great enemy to be destroyed. Selfishness pre- 
 vents the soul from attacking such problems as indi- 
 vidual responsibility. The clarion call of the ever- 
 present moment is for the soul, sufficiently strong, to 
 abandon the pettiness of self-interest, the meagerness 
 of self -protection and, by the power of the living Christ, 
 accept the grave and glorious responsibility of giving 
 the high message of the beacon light of the ages. 
 
 SUZANNE DEAN. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 LAW A POEM - 9 
 
 FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT 11 
 
 THE PROPHECY 16 
 
 THE POWER OF LOVE 19 
 
 SOWING AND REAPING 26 
 
 THE STORY OP JOHN AUGUSTINE 32 
 
 MY SEARCH FOR TRUTH 45 
 
 THE REALMS OF DARKNESS 55 
 
 MY VISION (A SYMBOLIC VISION) 59 
 
 THE DREAM THAT is NOT ALL A DREAM 63 
 
 A RAINY DAY - 73 
 
 TRUTH AND MY CREED 78 
 
 THE MOON AND THE BUDDHA TREE 86 
 
 I FIND THE ANGELS - 92 
 
 ONE CLERGYMAN'S EXPERIENCES 99 
 
 ASTRAL PLANE EXPERIENCE 108 
 
 OBSESSION 115 
 
 A CONNECTICUT YANKEE 121 
 
 AT LAST A POEM - 130 
 
LAW 
 
 Can the high-tide leave the ocean? 
 
 Or the billows fail the sand? 
 When the full moon sails the heavens, 
 
 Led by Law's unerring hand? 
 
 "Will the rose forget its blooming, 
 
 If no loving eye should fall 
 On its fragrant, witching beauty, 
 
 Hiding in the cold gray wall? 
 
 Will the lark forget its fledglings, 
 
 Or the robin cease to nest, 
 If the storm should gather darkly 
 
 Round the distant mountain's crest? 
 
 Do the trees forget to blossom, 
 
 When the white mists weave their pall? 
 Have the ripened leaves of autumn 
 
 Ever once refused to fall? 
 
 If your heart-aches and your sorrows 
 Should arise a mountain high, 
 
 Still the sun would climb the heavens 
 And its glory fill the sky. 
 
 Lo, the crashing of the thunder 
 
 Ever speaks of danger past, 
 Ne'er does it precede the coming 
 
 Of the lightning's baleful shaft. 
 
10 LAW 
 
 Never will the starlight, gleaming 
 
 On the river 's rushing tide, 
 See it bounding madly backward 
 
 To the rugged mountain side. 
 
 Moonlight, starlight, blooming, dying, 
 Summer's sun or winter's blast, 
 
 Weeping, laughing, hating, loving, 
 Lo ! the Law doth hold thee fast ! 
 
 Child of earth, arise ! awaken ! 
 
 Destiny and thee are one. 
 Thou alone can free or fetter, 
 
 Speed or halt the journey run. 
 
 Earth may reel and mountains crumble, 
 
 And the angry surges roar, 
 Love shall give thee fearless pinions, 
 
 Love shall open Heaven's door. 
 
 Let no witching song beguile thee 
 From the Truth which God has given ; 
 
 Love Divine, thy mighty Savior, 
 Love, thy only hope of Heaven. 
 
 Wouldst thou find thy long-sought Heaven ? 
 
 Wouldst thou gain some distant Aiden 1 
 Wouldst thou find some sainted maiden 
 
 Whom the angels long have claimed? 
 Wouldst thou find life's dearest treasure, 
 
 Which thy soul alone hath named? 
 Give thy love in fullest measure, 
 
 Pour it freely, o'er and o'er, 
 And thy soul from out earth's shadows 
 
 Shall be lifted evermore ! 
 
 P. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT 
 
 HERE are a few points I wish to make. I have 
 been here almost seven years; and since I got 
 over my hours of suffering, questioning and won- 
 dering why wondering why I could not have seen 
 things in their true light, while I was in the body, and, 
 seeing, have changed my whole life history? Wonder- 
 ing why you had to suffer so, and why I had no power 
 to help you? This Why business never gets anyone 
 anywhere that he wants to go ; but when at last the 
 Light did come to me, and I saw the real mission of 
 Christ in the world, then, a Watcher came to my rescue 
 and I went to work. 
 
 Do not feel badly if people do refuse to believe my 
 message, or even say spiteful things about it and you 
 they have always refused to believe the best things God 
 has ever sent thru His messengers. 
 
 The people of earth have always wanted something 
 mysterious and hard to understand, and when mental 
 difficulties and sorrows have overtaken them, they have 
 doubted still more the beautiful things, and cursed, or 
 denied, the God who had lovingly made things so easy, 
 they would not see. This crops out in us when we refuse 
 to appreciate the love and beauty that is all around us 
 every day, until we find ourselves bereft of it, and then, 
 we know how beautiful were the toil-worn hands that 
 ministered unto us, and how great the love that kept 
 the tired feet going. 
 
 11 
 
.- 
 
 12 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Try and teach people that wrong-doing brings suffer- 
 ing, and all the affirmations in the world will not save 
 them from it. A very selfish person never dbes right; 
 such a thing is impossible, and pure selfishness is more 
 often the prime factor in affirmations than otherwise. 
 
 Those who have earned suffering will surely get it, 
 and, if by some hook or crook, one dodges it while in the 
 physical body, he will suffer here, and suffering is much 
 more keenly felt here. 
 
 As a person vibrating upon the material plane and, 
 unable to rise beyond the material plane consciousness, 
 is unable to comprehend this finer plane consciousness, 
 so a person here who knows nothing of the earth plane 
 experiences would not be able to understand a great 
 many of the coarser, heavier vibrations of materiality. 
 You know how sensitive I always was to suffering and 
 cruelty in any form, especially if associated with blood- 
 shed; even now, I recall vividly some of my pet hens 
 that went the way hens are born to go but I found 
 that I could go into the hospitals and on the battlefield 
 and realize very little, perhaps none, of the suffering, 
 except mental suffering; and that, we the workers, were 
 keenly alive to. 
 
 Awful as the war has been, it has worked an immense 
 amount of good; for one thing, it has opened the door 
 between the physical realm and this finer realm wider 
 than it was ever opened before. A great need always 
 makes a great demand, which will always connect with 
 the waiting supply; this is Law. 
 
 Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right, but the 
 persons who do the adjusting must know what right is, 
 and they usually learn only through suffering. I once 
 found a woman on her knees beside a dandelion, sobbing 
 as if her heart would break. I reached out to her in 
 sympathy, and she told me that she once had a crippled 
 sister who loved the dandelions, and who would beg 
 her to bring them in to her, but she, thinking mostly 
 of herself, had refused to do so, because of the litter 
 
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT 13 
 
 they made; and now that little yellow flower proved a 
 mirror, in which her selfishness was reflected. The little 
 sister had for years been free from earth conditions, and 
 in vain had the woman sought for her; but now that 
 self -illumination had come, there was no law against 
 their reunion, which one of our messengers brought to 
 pass. 
 
 You asked me what constitutes a saint, and I asked 
 the same question of one of our Instructors, and she 
 said, "Saintship is a degree of attainment; any person 
 whose life is hid with Christ in God, or, in other words, 
 who is in all things dominated by Divine Love, is a 
 saint." Beliefs and professions and strict adherence 
 to prescribed forms and ceremonies have nothing what- 
 ever to do with the matter. 
 
 You notice that a great many people speak of all the 
 various Masters, Teachers, and Illumined ones as being 
 masculine I have not found it so. Where I have been, 
 I have found as many women as men Teachers. St. 
 Paul's mother (who died at his birth) is as great a 
 Teacher as he is and that is saying much. 
 
 There is an after-death condition which lies very close 
 to the earth and mingles with its lowest vibrations, 
 where confusion reigns bedlam let loose, as our father 
 would say but upon all these higher planes of expres- 
 sion, perfect order manifests. 
 
 Yes, we sleep, work, drink, bathe and eat, here. We 
 do not eat much food and only the kind we need. In 
 the physical body people eat great quantities of food 
 they do not need, and Nature works so hard to rid 
 herself of the surplus, that the individual is tired all 
 the time, and incapable of doing his best. Here we 
 always feel light and free in all our movements, and 
 the air around us is just as dense to our bodies as is 
 the atmosphere you are in, to you. The difference lies 
 in the fact that we are not fettered by abnormal or 
 surplus food, drink, clothing, fear or race ideas. 
 
14 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 No, this is not the heaven world, from which it is said 
 the soul descends to rebirth upon earth. 
 
 Everything here is artistic and rhythmic, and rhythm 
 is always constructive. That is why poetry and music 
 both soothe and inspire; rhythm also heals, if intelli- 
 gently employed, for it is only when you are out of 
 tune, that is, out of rhythm, that you get tired and ill. 
 
 When a man really prays, he enters into harmony 
 with the higher forces and connects with them, and 
 when the thing he prays for, under the law of rhythm 
 touches his vibrations, he gets it. That is why Faith 
 is so important it keeps the door open, so to speak, for 
 the object prayed for, to enter in, when the time comes. 
 
 True religion is rhythmic, for all real religion has 
 Love Divine for its basis, and Love Divine is rhythm 
 in perfection. 
 
 Of course you know Who stands at the head of all 
 religious movements, and where I now am, I should say 
 that everybody is religious, that is, devotional; and the 
 Master of all religions comes here and talks with us 
 freely, and we have some of the most beautiful and 
 inspiring religious services, which lift us to a plane 
 where wonderful Beings can come to us even the Lord 
 Christ Himself has vehicles of expression here. 
 
 The heads of every division of earth activity are 
 devotional : every aspiring soul is, and he must recognize 
 a Supreme Power and Entities of great wisdom, beyond 
 himself. 
 
 Aspiration, that is, devotion, lifts the soul ever higher 
 and higher, and the higher in the scale that one rises 
 the greater becomes his capacity for enjoyment. It 
 is through your finest faculties that you get your great- 
 est enjoyment on your physical plane. Of course if one 
 will stay upon the swine-plane of enjoyment, he is per- 
 mitted to do so, but the time has come when every 
 swinish individual must speed up his evolutionary 
 process or be left behind for the next evolutionary 
 cycle. 
 

 FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT 15 
 
 In regard to the soul-mate problem, I know very 
 little, but should say that it has a basis of truth. Long 
 ages ago all creatures contained within themselves both 
 sexes. Sex is only a matter of convenience in Nature's 
 erreat plan, and it seems to me we must eventually reach 
 hat goal when the male and female principles become 
 perfectly balanced in us, in which case we will be soul- 
 mated, or twin-souled without selfishly absorbing 
 another. 
 
 Everything on earth has its soul life, its inner beauty, 
 which very few can recognize with their senses, and 
 much less express, but here this soul life is brought to 
 expression and recognition, and earth, air, fire and water 
 become glorified, and the beings to which they give life 
 are seen, heard and felt. 
 
 When the earth tree is cut down, the real tree is still 
 left standing in all its beauty of form, or its deformity, 
 as may be. When you pluck a rose you may or may 
 not sever its finer counterpart. If you do not, the rose 
 will fade very quickly, regardless of favorable conditions. 
 
 Flowers remain fresh in some homes much longer 
 than they do in others, also water keeps fresh longer. 
 When the medicine men develop their finer senses, they 
 will know that in solving the disease problems they put 
 their cart before the horse in many cases. 
 
 I will tell you this that I know those people who 
 have believed in God as a gigantic man, vastly better 
 than themselves when at their best, are just as well 
 off here as those who believe in no God, but Infinite 
 Intelligence or Cosmic Consciousness, or Universal Mind. 
 Those who have a lofty ideal personified, grow much 
 more rapidly and are much happier and more depend- 
 able. 
 
 The world has always persecuted, neglected, and 
 failed to appreciate its greatest Teachers, for the world 
 cannot understand spiritual things, and it does not want 
 to give up its sensual pleasures; for it does not know 
 that the Spirit is unfailing joy and light and peace. 
 
 E. M. L. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE PROPHECY 
 
 .RUNNING ANTELOPE, Orator of my people, 
 have received a messenger from the Great Lodge 
 of the palefaces, saying: Behold my tribes- 
 woman, Daughter of the Great Spirit she who hath 
 the far vision, and sitteth in the door of the wigwam 
 of shadows and talketh with the big Chiefs beyond the 
 door of shadows, desireth thee to prophesy unto her, in 
 the council room of the Wigwam of the Great Spirit, 
 regarding her people. 
 
 This I say unto thee, pale face daughter of mighty 
 warriors the Great Spirit sorroweth over His children, 
 for He took this great country from the hands of the 
 Red men and gave it to the pale faces, saying : ' ' Behold, 
 all this I give unto thee, but see that thou dost follow 
 the Light, and at evening, when the embers from my 
 fires have ceased to glow red in the west, let each chief 
 gather the members of his tribe together. and each smoke 
 the peace pipe with his neighbor," but they would not. 
 They forgot the words of the Great Spirit, and some 
 said aloud, "There is no Great Spirit no Great Wig- 
 wam beyond my own." 
 
 In many ways hath the Great Spirit sought to warn 
 and counsel His children; He has spoken in the voice 
 of the tempest that swoopeth down like a vulture that 
 seizeth its prey and droppeth it wheresoever it will. He 
 has spoken in the voice of the great waters, and hath 
 hurled them madly back upon the wigwams of his chil- 
 dren ; and against His own mighty wigwams, with their 
 fingers pointing upward, He hath hurled His fiery 
 
 16 
 
THE PROPHECY 17 
 
 arrows, and the flames have devoured them; and yet 
 His children have closed their ears and heard not. 
 
 They have covered the great plains where the deer 
 and buffalo once fed, with their iron horses, and the 
 air is polluted with the breath of their firewater. They 
 have laid low the great trees of the mighty forests, and 
 have slain without mercy the occupants thereof; they 
 have burrowed through mountains, and their wigwams 
 swim through the waters like fishes; they spread their 
 wings and fly through the clouds beyond the strength 
 of the eagle; they have builded their wigwams with 
 bones of steel, and they rear their heads proudly far 
 toward the heavens, but the strong have forgotten the 
 Great Spirit and the words He spake to them in the 
 council room, and they have forgotten to smoke the 
 peace-pipe with their brothers. 
 
 The big Chiefs of the land wear costly blankets and 
 much wampum, and their brother's children cry for 
 bread ; and in the land of plenty there is great famine, 
 and this saith the Great Spirit to Running Antelope, 
 standing in the doorway with his face turned toward the 
 sun: ''Behold, my people have grown mighty and they 
 wear their wampum and their blankets proudly, but I 
 see through their wigwams, and I hear the cries of their 
 helpless ones, and their wampum is stained with the 
 blood of the hungry. They have forsaken my counsel 
 and turned their faces away from me; they have bred 
 wolves in their midst, and their wantonness hath pro- 
 duced reptiles and crawling things, and lo! that which 
 they themselves have created, they shall themselves be 
 devoured by." 
 
 And this is the vision that thy red brother seeth: 
 Flames and smoke and the roar of mighty tempests, 
 and of mighty waters devouring all in their pathway, 
 and the land is burned up and no rain falleth, and 
 the inhabitants cry aloud for help ; and from the depths 
 of sleeping mountains, wrapped in great silence, there 
 
18 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 shall come forth a mighty roar and the air is rent with 
 the cries of terror, while the earth staggereth as the 
 brave, overfull of firewater, staggereth when he seeketh 
 his wigwam at night; and from the Land of Darkness 
 shall come forth a mighty Warrior, against whom no 
 great Chief may hurl an arrow, and this Warrior 
 entereth the great wigwams where the embroidered 
 blankets and much wampum are found, and he gather eth 
 the young braves from their blankets, and the fairest 
 maidens of their tribes he taketh with him; and the 
 great Chiefs and their wives cry aloud and remember 
 that somewhere it is written, there is a Great Spirit, 
 and the sun of this day descendeth, and darkness broods 
 over the land. But keep thou, paleface, who sitteth 
 in the doorway of shadows, thy watch-fires burning 
 brightly before thy people, until the sun of tomorrow 
 dawns, when Running Antelope, the Orator of his tribe, 
 hopeth to greet thee in the presence of the Great Chief, 
 the Father of all, sendeth. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE POWER OF LOVE 
 
 STOOD beside the main entrance of a large tent 
 and, with many others, gazed at the scene before 
 me. 
 
 A woman was talking tremblingly, brokenly; she was 
 telling the people how she had found her Savior, and 
 had been lifted up, from sin and shame and suffering, 
 to peace and rest and joy. She spoke of the Love 
 the wondrous Love that could embrace one as vile as 
 herself; that could ease her pain, and in the midst of 
 blackest poverty, make her forget herself in light and 
 joy. 
 
 Thus the woman, in broken sentences, poured out her 
 very soul, with a power that touched the hearts of those 
 who listened, until a fit of coughing stopped her. 
 
 A woman of the street dying of tuberculosis, had 
 found Heaven in the very heart of Hell. One by one 
 they followed her, these reclaimed ones, drunkards, dope- 
 fiends, liars, thieves, wantons poor outcasts, wretches 
 that no decent person dare take into his home all tell- 
 ing the Story filthy diseases washed away and joy 
 they could not express, filling their souls to overflowing. 
 
 They told of broken vows fulfilled, of character re- 
 claimed, of cruelty changed to kindness. There was 
 much singing and shouting, and the scene impressed me 
 greatly. 
 
 A man standing near me said, "A mighty Power is 
 demonstrating here tonight what is the Power, do you 
 know?" 
 
 19 
 
20 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 "I do not know," I said frankly, "it cannot be fear, 
 for there is no evidence of that." 
 
 "You cannot scare a man by threatening him with hell, 
 when deep in his heart he knows he is already in it 
 no, fear has not wrought these miracles are you sure 
 you do not know?" 
 
 Halls and rooms full of well-dressed, well-fed, intel- 
 lectually self-satisfied sinners, came crowding in upon 
 my memory ; sinners who were not yet awakened to the 
 fact, that the sins which cause the deepest suffering do 
 not fall under the "Thou-shalt-nots" of the Ten Com- 
 mandments. There was also always a generous sprinkling 
 of Ten Commandment sinners, who had not been guilty 
 of being discovered, and were still on familiar terms 
 with the wealthy class. 
 
 But these people who came to me they did not go 
 awav repentant of wrong-doing and resolved to lead 
 useful and honorable lives, in place of their idle, frivo- 
 lous ones; and, if there were any broken-hearted, they 
 went away as they came. 
 
 Long lines of figures and zodiacal signs danced before 
 my eyes, but I pushed them away, so to speak, as so 
 much waste paper. I felt suddenly as if the bottom 
 had dropped out from under me, and the one thing most 
 needful I had missed. 
 
 I turned to the man who had spoken to me and said, 
 "I wish I knew." 
 
 "Was there nothing in all your teachings that caused 
 a man to right about face?" said the stranger kindly. 
 
 "0, yes," I replied, eagerly, "I have seen the weak- 
 willed grow strong-willed, and the undecided grow de- 
 cided and self-reliant." 
 
 "I have seen cattle do that, when they saw a green 
 field before them," said a man's voice back of me. 
 
 I stood silent and convicted. Yes, all of this trans- 
 forming thought power I had taught and used, had 
 been utilized on the material plane to gratify selfish 
 desires. The bodily senses, pride, ambition, vanity 
 
THE POWER OF LOVE 21 
 
 all had played as important factors, in demonstrations 
 that we had recognized with so much joy. No, it was 
 not the same Power I was seeing demonstrated here 
 before me, for this Power was working against the selfish 
 instincts, desires and appetites. 
 
 The people began to sing, "I love to tell the story of 
 unseen things above, of Jesus and His Glory, of Jesus 
 and His Love." I looked up at the stranger and said, 
 ' ' No, I do not understand this at all. I do not believe in 
 the literal interpretation of that New Testament story. 
 While I acknowledge frankly there is something here 
 that my experiences with psychology and thought force 
 do not explain, I cannot see how this myth, beautiful 
 as in some ways it is" 
 
 The stranger stopped me, * ' Can anything beautiful be 
 untrue 1 Can power ever be anything else than power ? 
 Sister, one thing only thou lackest: Love." 
 
 The stranger vanished. I felt alone, desolate, help- 
 less, blind. I clutched at what I thought was a tree, 
 but there was nothing there. I went a little way, and 
 sat down upon a rock it crumbled into nothingness 
 under me. From somewhere came the sound of music, 
 a heavenly voice chanted, ''Though I speak with the 
 tongues of men and of angels, and have not Love, I am 
 but sounding brass and clanging cymbal." 
 
 I sprang to my feet "0, God, give me this Love!" 
 I cried. 
 
 A boy blowing a little tin horn went by me. "That 
 is just what I did," I sobbed, "and I thought it was 
 angels' music." I covered my face for very shame. 
 
 One of the smartest things I ever did, from my own 
 point of view, was to demonstrate that I could drink 
 coffee and not have a raging headache follow it. ! the 
 time, strength, effort, I put into acquiring the ability to 
 pamper my appetite contrary to the Law of my being, 
 and then say to those who admired or envied me, "Behold 
 me the great victorious warrior ! ' ' Oh, how small, con- 
 temptible it all seemed. 
 
22 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 I hurried blindly on, away somewhere anywhere. 
 I paused and looked about me. Far up a wild and 
 rugged mountain I stood, where gigantic rocks had been 
 torn from the bowels of the mountains by some incon- 
 ceivable upheaval and caves, and grottos, and altars, 
 were all about me. I was conscious that I stood where 
 a white woman in flesh and blood had never stood. 1 
 saw before me images horrible objects carved rudely 
 from stone savage man's ideas of powers above and 
 beyond himself, they were ; but one among them all fired 
 and held my attention. Crude and ugly it was, but 
 its ugliness was clothed in a robe of rosy light, and 
 its brow was wreathed with blue and white forget-me- 
 nots. 
 
 A woman lay exhausted upon the stones before it, and 
 her sad eyes were fixed imploringly upon its outstretched 
 arms it was the God of Love. 
 
 In all the Himalayas it was the only object her poor 
 bleeding heart could cling to with lovinsr confidence; 
 it personified the only One who could understand and 
 sympathize. 
 
 "0, yes," I cried, " there is something there the 
 outer or visible form and appearance does not matter 
 it is the something that the soul is conscious of. ' ' Mem- 
 ory suddenlv produced some long-forgotten words from 
 the Norse: "Beautiful Baldar, the gentle hearted. " 
 
 Yes, in every land and clime, amonof all peoples, every 
 nation, kindred and tongue the idea, more or les-s 
 clearly defined, has been entertained, of some beneficent 
 Power tender, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, loyal, for- 
 giving, patient and true. 
 
 Oh, how they stand out the great souls of earth, who 
 have forsaken all for the sake of unerrateful humanity ; 
 who have lived and suffered and died and, triumphant 
 in death, have still gone on giving their lives to the 
 world and its work. 
 
 "I can see it," I cried, "I can see that it is Love 
 
THE POWER OF LOVE 23 
 
 that wins, that lifts upward, transforms, comforts and 
 strengthens. ' ' 
 
 I went to where my dark-skinned sister was lying, on 
 the rocks before the image, and prostrated myself beside 
 her. ''0, God," I cried, brokenly, " reveal to me this 
 Love Divine, transform me, lift me up and strengthen 
 me for service ! ' ' 
 
 I felt a presence and looked up; the man who had 
 stood beside me in the tent door now stood before me, 
 but so transformed in his shining robe of white that 
 only my inner self could have recognized him. ' ' Sister, ' ' 
 he said gently, " crude as that image with its wide- 
 extended arms is, it suggests even to you, a tender, 
 sympathetic, aZZ-embracing Love, and before that Love 
 you bow, humbly praying that it fill yourself with its 
 Self, and why? Because you recognize that it is the 
 Power that alone can satisfy your highest aspirations; 
 because the soul knows it is the goal toward which it 
 tends, the Ultimate the One Reality the Life Ever- 
 lasting the One Light. Tens of thousands of human 
 beings bow before the image of Lord Gautama the 
 blessed Buddha this morning. Why is he blessed? 
 Because he is illumined. What illumined him? Love 
 Divine. It is the only power that can illumine, and it 
 is the Love he represents that draws his followers and 
 binds them to him. Tender, compassionate, understand- 
 ing all, forgiving all. 0, Light of Asia, these snow- 
 capped mountains shall, ere long, echo to the sound of 
 thy returning footfalls! Then those of thy people who 
 have worshiped the Light and Truth that radiated 
 through thee, and not the outer form of it, shall rejoice 
 greatly. From Greenlands icy mountains to India's 
 coral strands, yea, far beyond to the desert's sand, and 
 lonely isles amid the ocean's waves, the Cross is gleam- 
 ing in the light of this morning's sun; not the cross of 
 the Norseland, not the cross of ancient Egypt, but the 
 Cross of Calvary; and what does that emblem mean, 
 my Sister! Love, Love Divine. The Love that is all- 
 
24: SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 embracing, the Love that brings peace and rest and 
 joy to the soul of the vilest sinner of all sinners; the 
 Love that sees no sin, only the experiences along the 
 pathway that every soul must learn through suffering. 
 
 0, Man of Calvary, Light of the World soon the 
 people of earth shall hear the sound of Thy footsteps 
 and Thy Voice, once more, amid the angry clash of 
 warring tongues, and above the din of battle. Then 
 those of Thy people who have worshiped the Light, the 
 Love that radiated through Thee, and not the outer 
 form of Thee, shall welcome Thee with great joy. How 
 long, my people," cried the radiant One, stretching 
 out his arms to the valleys, still enwrapped in darkness, 
 "will it be before you learn to know that when the 
 Infinite manifests, He can make Himself known to your 
 consciousness only through form ; but it is not the form, 
 but the Power which clothed Itself in form, that is the 
 One Reality." 
 
 A shaft of sunlight touched the snowy top of the 
 gigantic mountain above me, and fell in a glittering 
 flood of light ov?r me. My heavenly helper had vanished. 
 
 Now I know this all-embracing Love. I see a new 
 heaven and a new earth. Within me it cries, * * / am the 
 resurrection and the life! I am the Bread of Life and 
 the Water of Life, and, if any man eat and drink of Me, 
 he shall hunger and thirst no more. ' ' 
 
 I embrace my fellow beings, one with me, God's own 
 beloved; blind perhaps, deaf perhaps, ignorant perhaps 
 like the little child that has not yet learned that fire 
 will burn, and then in its resentment at the suffering 
 the knowledge has cost him, strikes at the flame and 
 burns himself still more. 
 
 "I am the Love," says the Infinite, "that loves that 
 child, be he old or young, in the days that man counts 
 years. I am the Love that stays the hand of the slayer and 
 cries, Oh, cause not needless suffering ; pause and think. 
 I look from the eyes of that bird, and sing in his won- 
 drous song. I hold back the hand of the money-mad 
 
THE POWER OP LOVE 25 
 
 destroyer. I cry, woodman spare that tree! take not 
 unnecessarily the form my life is manifesting in. I 
 pick up the crushed and droopy flowers that man, in 
 his mad haste for what? has trampled on as weeds. " 
 "A bruised reed He shall not break and smoking flax 
 He shall not quench." 
 
 my beloved, ponder well the mystic meaning of 
 those words, and may the Love that has in infinite ways 
 been manifesting through the ages long, fill your souls 
 with Its unquenchable flame so shall joy unspeakable 
 and the peace that passes understanding be yours forever 
 more. E. K. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 SOWING AND REAPING 
 
 S YE sow, so shall ye reap" thinkest thou, 
 man, to escape a Law that changest not? The 
 Law that holdeth thee in its grasp from the 
 cradle to the grave, and from beyond to the cradle again 
 the cradle thou didst weave for thyself from brambles 
 and thorns, or from golden threads, or iron links. 
 
 Day after day thou dost come to school, until the 
 lessons of earth are learned. Seekest thou to escape 
 the irksome task the Almighty has set for thee? Thou 
 shalt prove every sum thou addest, until thou addest 
 aright. The Law of the Harvest Field compellest every 
 one to reap the harvest he himself has sown. Hast thou 
 thought only of thyself as thou hast journeyed along 
 life's pathway? Remember, that if thou hast thought 
 first of thyself always, thou hast thought only of thyself, 
 the self that must perish with all it calls its own. 
 
 darkest hour of my darkest night, 
 Was the hour I stood with myself alone ; 
 Where back of me rolled the haunted years, 
 And specters mocked in my blinding tears, 
 And taunted me with my fearsome plight, 
 When I stood with myself alone! 
 
 Talk ye of a God of Love? 
 What, I ask of thee, is love? 
 
 When thou knowest within thine own soul what Love 
 is, then thou wilt know the One True God, Whom to 
 
SOWING AND REAPING 27 
 
 know is life eternal. When within thine own soul thou 
 dost know a changeless love, always patient, tender, free 
 from self-seeking, uninfluenced by the words and con- 
 duct of others, and moving on like the sun in the 
 heavens content to give, then thou hast passed the 
 necessity of birth and death, and dost indeed know 
 eternal life. 
 
 What is this that man calls death ? 
 Freedom from his mortal breath ? 
 vain man from Truth secluded ! 
 vain man by self deluded ! 
 Will the crow the lark's song sing? 
 Or the Ice King roses bring? 
 Will the purple grapes entwine 
 From the heart of eglantine? 
 
 Nay, no apotheosis came 
 To relieve me of my shame, 
 And I gained no heavenly shore 
 From the streets of Baltimore. 
 
 It was a prescience of the reaping time and what it 
 must inevitably bring to me, that caused my room to 
 become horror-haunted, and Law, black as a raven to 
 my shrinking soul, knocked at my door and was admitted 
 by me ; and there I argued and plead in vain, for only 
 one unrelenting and changeless answer was given me; 
 and when, in my agony of soul, I stretched my arms into 
 the unseen, and called to my beautiful one, my soul's 
 ideal, I still received the same grim answer as before; 
 for what had I to do with ideals when I, myself, had 
 madly trampled them in the dust? What had I to do 
 with Love, the pure, the beautiful, when passion's fierce 
 fires had scorched and blighted it in my life? What 
 had I to do with heavenly things, when I had only sown 
 to the flesh that which with the flesh must perish? 
 
28 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 child of earth, it is a fearful thing to stand naked 
 and alone with self and your Creator, and know that 
 you have defamed every beautiful opportunity given to 
 you. 
 
 Every poet is more or less of a prophet, and as he 
 frequently changes his spelling and the construction of 
 his sentences, to preserve the rhythm of his productions, 
 so he often changes that which seems to be, into that 
 which is for the Law of Rhythm carries him far beyond 
 his present boundaries, into the larger and clearer vision 
 of the yet-to-be. 
 
 Many have said there is no room in the world today 
 for the dreamer, but I say to you the Dreamer is often 
 a connecting link between the manifest and the un- 
 manifest; and according to the nature of thy dreams, 
 Dreamer, is the nature of the manifestation that fol- 
 loweth. Can one handle a serpent and avoid its fangs? 
 Can one play with an asp and escape its sting? I say 
 unto thee, that whoever uses the talents God has given 
 him, for base and unlawful purposes, shall drain the 
 cup of suffering to its dregs. 
 
 You will never find happiness anywhere, happiness- 
 seeker, until you find within yourself an unfailing sup- 
 ply, then you will take it with you where'er you go. 
 But I tell thee, truly, peace and joy are born of love 
 the One Love and only in one way can the soul attain 
 it. Enter ye into the Holy of Holies, soul of the Soul, 
 and listen to the Voice that speaketh there the Voice 
 of the universes of a million million suns revolving in 
 the great Celestial Light, revolving in perfect harmony 
 with the melody of Perfect Being. 
 
 When, crushed and broken, soul, thou dost make an 
 unconditional surrender of thyself, when, in thy dis- 
 tress thou criest, "The foundations of the earth are 
 broken, and the heavens by the power of Godhead are 
 rent;" for the cry of a soul in its last despair moves 
 the universe of Being, and within itself contains the 
 loving Father's answer, "My son, here am I." Then 
 
SOWING AND REAPING 29 
 
 thou wilt know the Christ, the beloved Son the Won- 
 derful One the unerring Counselor the Prince of 
 Peace Everlasting. 
 
 Lo ! my hands with nails are torn ! 
 I the cruel thorns have worn, 
 I the sins of earth have borne, 
 Suffering Man of Calvary! 
 
 Love transcending, love of mother, 
 Love beyond the love of brother ; 
 My poor soul long starved and broken 
 Now receives the heavenly token 
 Snow-white Dove of Peace. 
 
 Not a raven grimly croaking, 
 While I plead from grief surcease, 
 But the snow-white Dove of Peace ! 
 
 Stripped and naked, the trembling soul reaches out 
 for Power, that it instinctively senses, but has not 
 learned to know; even as the growing vine reaches out 
 its tendrils toward the trellis it senses, but cannot see. 
 strong indeed is that new-born soul that seeks not 
 for the Rock of Refuge wherein to hide, that calls not 
 for some strong arm to lean upon. 
 
 It is but a small part of death to die, and one who 
 lives for self knows not what life is. the joy of a 
 soul redeemed from selfishness to selflessness! In the 
 light of a selfless love, the lurking shadows flee and a 
 new heaven and earth appear. In this light one sees all 
 things as they really are; outside this light one sees 
 nothing aright. Basking in the light and warmth of 
 this Presence, the brambles and briars by the wayside 
 are glorified, and become objects of beauty. Happy 
 voices that one has never noticed before will call from 
 earth, air and water. 
 
 Out from the sin-burdened soul, touched by the Heal- 
 
30 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 ing Hand of an Infinite Love, goes the fever of unrest, 
 and in the peace that follows one can hear, and see, and 
 know. Such joy had never been mine before. The 
 ghouls and goblins no longer grinned and mocked at 
 me from Nature's rocky wilds; no longer demons 
 shrieked and taunted me in the watches of the night ; no 
 more the great Karmic Law of cause and effect, grim 
 and unrelenting, croaked to my soul-pleadings, " Never- 
 more" for Love is the fulfilling of the Law, and of all 
 law it is the Law, and when to this Love the soul has 
 made an unconditional surrender, it fears no more the 
 Karmic Law. For him, the planets sing no fateful song, 
 but one grand symphony of love and trust. 
 
 Long centuries ago a Hebrew Poet, catching a glimpse 
 of Something above and beyond the clouds and light- 
 nings of Sinai, cried aloud, "The redeemed of the Lord 
 shall come with singing into Zion, and everlasting joy 
 shall be upon their heads; they shall find gladness and 
 joy and sorrow, and mourning, and sighing shall floe 
 away." 
 
 When the Perfect Love which casts out all fear is 
 made manifest, the soul sings ; it is full of joy and must 
 express it. Does it seem strange, this truth : great sorrow 
 and great joy find their most perfect expression in song ? 
 The two extremes touch each other, and there is but 
 one quivering chord between the two. 
 
 Unto the magic touch of Love, the pure, the beautiful, 
 the true, every door opens and all hidden treasures are 
 revealed. The distant Aiden is seen to be the beautiful 
 here and now, and angels come to every soul purified 
 by holy love. 
 
 Sing, ye who are redeemed from the law of sin and 
 death! Let your lives express joy, ye who have found 
 the fount of perennial youth ! The mighty Orpheus, by 
 the power of his magic touch, lifted mortals to heaven, 
 and St. Cecelia, by the same power, drew the angels 
 down, for love is perfect rhythm and moves worlds of 
 
SOWING AND REAPING 31 
 
 beings; yea, it is the one grand chorus to the hymn 
 the universes sing. 
 
 For what, mortal, is your world ? One spark from 
 off Life's anvil hurled. What is the Word that was lost, 
 
 ye Wind leaders of the blind ? Within one 's self only 
 can the Word be lost, and within one's self it must be 
 found. Within yourself lies the Key which unlocks all 
 mysteries have you found it? 
 
 Beauty, such as man never dreamed of, flashes and 
 glows before his senses and thrills his being with joy 
 unspeakable, and connects him with new life forces well- 
 ing up from the depths of Being, when he has found 
 the Key. 
 
 Hope, thou bright star of the soul! Thou star 
 sometimes obscured by doubt and the fear that is born 
 of it but unwaninsr and never setting, thou shinest on 
 forever, until thy lisrht is lost in the glorious light of 
 the great Forever of Realization. All we ever had is 
 forever our own. 
 
 1 went to the spot where my flowers grew. 
 My beautiful violets, sweet and blue ; 
 
 My flowerets set in a frame of green, 
 
 Where the gray mists fall on the water 's sheen ; 
 But the snows lay heaped on the violets' bed, 
 
 My beautiful violets cold and dead ! 
 I called, and a Voice from out the wold 
 
 Came forth from the caverns, frosty and cold ; 
 "They are not dead they shall rise again, 
 
 When the sweet south wind and the springtime rain 
 Shall lift the snows from the violets blue, 
 
 Your loved and lost shall return to you." 
 And Love is the gentle zephyr that blows, 
 
 And lifts from our earth the deep, drifted snows, 
 And Love is the Life though it seemeth dead, 
 
 That shall spring for aye, from earth's wintry bed. 
 
 P. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE STORY OP JOHN AUGUSTINE 
 
 |Y NAME is John Augustine. I was the son 
 of a wealthy father and a fashionable mother. 
 Unless the doctrine of re-birth is true I see no 
 way to explain my life history. I hope it is true, for it 
 will give me an opportunity to make good on the plane 
 where this time I made such wretched blunders. 
 
 My father was a man with a large degree of worldly 
 sense, and my mother, having brought me into the world, 
 shifted the responsibility of my upbringing upon high- 
 priced help. 
 
 After my graduation from college my father insisted 
 that I take up some honorable profession. ' ' I have sup- 
 ported you long enough, ' ' he said, ' ' and you must hence- 
 forth rely upon yourself. I give you just ten days in 
 which to decide what profession you will follow." 
 
 "I will decide right now," I said, "I will be a clergy- 
 man." If a thunderbolt had fallen in our midst, the 
 effect would have been scarcely more pronounced. I 
 was, perhaps, the most astounded of all. To this day I 
 have no explanation for my remark, for as far as I know 
 I had never thought of such a career before. The words 
 seemed to speak in and through me. 
 
 My mother broke the silence by exclaiming, ''0, how 
 perfectly lovely! To be able to say 'My son, the Rev. 
 John Augustine' will give me prestige with a certain 
 class of really nice people who have never yet welcomed 
 me." 
 
 32 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 33 
 
 I noticed my father grow very pale during my 
 mother's remarks, at the close of which he said, sol- 
 emnly, "My son, I suppose this has been in your mind 
 for some time, for you surely would not be so rash as 
 to choose this vocation without due consideration and an 
 inner sensing of your fitness for the work. You will 
 have to go to a theological school, but after you have 
 finished the necessary course, you will receive no further 
 help from me and must rely entirely upon your own 
 ability. " 
 
 Something in my father's tone and manner stirred 
 me as nothing else ever had before, and I went to my 
 room to think over my strange position. I sat down 
 and reviewed my past life "O, well," I thought, "my 
 life has not been very bad, I have been real good, in 
 comparison with some." 
 
 A voice from an unseen presence close beside me 
 said solemnly, "Onp who is good because he fears to be 
 bad, is not good at all." 
 
 I was terribly frightened, and went to bed trembling. 
 In the morning, I thought, I will go to my father and 
 tell him that I will become a lawyer, instead of a clergy- 
 man, but in the morning I felt that I must not change 
 my strange resolution of the evening before. 
 
 The years went by, and I married a sensible girl and 
 she insisted that I, from her standpoint, honor my call- 
 insr. I thousrht it would be easy to write sermons and 
 make fashionable calls and grace certain social func- 
 tions with my honored presence but I found I was 
 doomed to hard labor and constant criticism. As I had 
 no other means of livelihood, I had to do my best. 
 
 I kept up mv elocution and voice culture and spent 
 many hours before the mirror studying gestures. I was. 
 much to my dislike, obliged to study the Bible, and I 
 spent much time in searching musty old volumes to 
 find unique subjects and startling headlines for my ser- 
 mons. I studied the poets, and quoted from them effect- 
 ively. I grew very weary of it all, for it was really a 
 
34 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 slave's life; but necessity and my wife kept me going. 
 
 Many great temptations assailed me, from which I 
 often narrowly escaped. I needed self -discipline badly, 
 and I got plenty of it. I never forgot the voice that 
 spoke to me that eventful night that I chose my pro- 
 fession, and I learned that while Fear may prove a 
 strong restraining rope it is one that galls very badly. 
 Every time I went into the pulpit I felt like the hypo- 
 crite I was. I had a nervous fear lest I be found out. 
 I grew sensitive to criticism, and inclined to argue or 
 explain my conduct. I felt restless, like a prisoner 
 who paces his narrow cell, vainly longing for freedom. 
 
 One little event in my childhood days kept constantly 
 recurring to me, each time with more startling sig- 
 nificance. When my mother was well out of the wav, 
 her well-paid help followed her example and shirked the 
 responsibility of my care onto cheaper help, who were 
 glad enough to earn a little, while my supposed care- 
 takers had a good time. The one who usually cared 
 for me at these times was an old colored mammv, the 
 one person on earth I loved the best. She used to tell 
 me weird stories of srhosts ?md apnaritions and hoodoo 
 spells. She also told me Bible stories, with many fan- 
 tastic embellishments. She took me to revival meetings, 
 which seemed to me to be held alwavs in unfinished build- 
 ings, off unpaved streets. Religious fervor must have 
 run high in those meetings, for, as I looked back, I could 
 remember pravers, tears, shouts of jov and, most plainly 
 of all, the stories that were told in the experience meet- 
 ings; pathetic stories of disease, crime, poverty and 
 drunkenness, all ending in joy and peace. 
 
 I had been in the habit of pushing these memories 
 away from me with such words as "fanaticism" or 
 "emotionalism," but when they persisted in haunting 
 me, I read treatises upon hypnosis and suggestion. I 
 also studied the workings of the sub-conscious mind, as 
 represented by some authors who make of it a some- 
 thing omnipotent and omnipresent, yet subject to con- 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 35 
 
 trol and alteration by the conscious mind. The more 
 I studied, the more puzzled and bewildered I became, 
 and small wonder, for words and semi-meaningless 
 phrases do not feed a starving soul. I studied Astrology, 
 the Hermetic and Yogi and Vedanta philosophies, also 
 symbols, numbers and colors, and very secretly dabbled 
 in the phenomena of Spiritualism; but deeper grew the 
 night around my soul, until in my distress of mind I 
 prayed one genuine soul prayer, ' * 0, God, what is Truth ? 
 Which way is the Way?" 
 
 It is now my firm conviction that any person who 
 pretends to a virtue he has not, is compelled by circum- 
 stances to attain it sometime. Yes, the hypocrite is some- 
 time compelled to live up to his professions. ''The Lord 
 will not hold him guiltless, who taketh His Name in 
 vain." Those words have a deeper and more compre- 
 hensive meaning than is generally accredited to them. 
 You cannot trifle with spiritual things without getting 
 hurt. I am equally sure that as soon as one is ready for 
 a new experience, it will come to him, like the river in 
 its course, following the line of least resistance. 
 
 One day I went into the pulpit in an unusual frame 
 of mind. A feeling of utter weariness was upon me; 
 life was not worth living. What did it amount to? 
 What was the use of going on, or trying to do anything ? 
 I had chosen for my text Isaiah 29:11, "And the vision 
 of all is become unto you as the words of a book that 
 is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, say- 
 ing, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for 
 it is sealed." I languidly opened the Bible and my 
 eyes fell upon the fifth chapter of James and, moved 
 by a resistless force, I read: "Go to now, ye rich men, 
 weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon 
 you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments 
 are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is rusted and the 
 rust shall be a witness against you and shall eat your 
 flesh like fire. You have heaped together treasures for 
 
36 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 ; -* '-''-'.' ta. - **^- 
 
 the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who 
 
 have reaped your fields and which you have fraudulently 
 
 kept back crieth, and the cries of the workers have 
 
 entered the ears of the God of Heaven. For you have 
 
 lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton, you 
 
 have nourished your hearts for the day of slaughter. ' ' 
 
 I suppose not half a dozen people in that church full 
 of wealthy people knew that those words were in the 
 Bible. I must have read them before, but I did not 
 know they were there. I read the words wonderingly, 
 and gazed at the big-eyed, wide-awake congregation 
 before me. I felt dizzy, and a strange sensation, as 
 of floating in the air, came over me. I opened my mouth 
 and the words flowed through it like grain from the 
 hands of the sower. I listened yes literally listened 
 to myself talking, and was frightened at my speech, for 
 reproof and denunciation was hurled at the people with- 
 out mercy, until I sank trembling and exhausted upon 
 my chair. 
 
 I saw my mother's eyes blazing with anger, and my 
 wife was weeping. Only one person came to speak to 
 me at the close of the services my father. He took me 
 by the hand and said: "My son, you have stirred up 
 a hornet's nest, and before the week is out you will be 
 asked to resign, but I am glad of it; at last you have 
 done something worth while. I am an old man now, 
 and I am tired of the hypocrisy and cant I see daily. 
 For the first time in all your life, I am proud of you, 
 my son." 
 
 I stood and watched my father as he entered his car 
 and was borne away, and I marveled greatly; then I 
 walked slowly home, where my wife and mother awaited 
 me. A stormy scene followed my arrival. 
 
 The next day, while handling some old portfolios, two 
 portraits fell upon the floor Savonarola and John Wes- 
 ley. I was struck by a similarity of features and expres- 
 sion, and a desire to read the lives of the two men and 
 compare their characters and work took possession of 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 37 
 
 me7~I obtained the books I needed and began my task. 
 I cannot recall ever being so absorbed in reading any- 
 thing before ; I was fascinated and stirred to the depths 
 of my being. Something within me rose up mightily, 
 ' * I would give my all ! I would suffer and die, if neces- 
 sary, but how and where. 0, for the power to be poured 
 out through me as it was poured out through Savonarola 
 and Wesley!" 
 
 My soul burned within me, and I began to pray, real, 
 genuine prayers, and one day a Voice from one unseen 
 said to me, "Go to the slums and preach the Good 
 News." This time I received a two-fold shock; that 
 Voice again had spoken, and told me to go to the slums ! 
 I, John Augustine, leave my luxurious home and go to 
 such an unwashed, diseased, vile, law-breaking throng! 
 Not I ! I wanted to be a Savonarola, but I wanted to 
 thunder in the ears of the rich, educated, polished, 
 political, social and religious schemers! I knew what 
 I wanted to be and do ! 
 
 I grew restless, bewailed my fate, pitied myself, ques- 
 tioned myself, God, everybody and everything. I read 
 Ingersoll, Darwin, Spencer and a host of other writers, 
 and became more and more hopelessly lost in darkness. 
 Fierce temptations assailed me, until it seemed to me 
 I had been tempted to commit every crime in the Thou- 
 Shalt-Nots; but there was always a restraining power 
 that held me in its grip. 
 
 Rest assured, troubled soul ! God will never permit 
 you to have an unnecessary experience; but He may 
 permit you to come so near committing a great sin that 
 you will know just how to understand and sympathize 
 with those who go one step farther than yourself. 
 
 0, my friends, be patient with those among you who 
 are impatient with God and all His manifestations 
 those tempestuous souls, self-seeking but ever unsatisfied, 
 for such may be very near the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 I prayed in my desperation, determined I would 
 
38 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 know whether there was a God or not. I prayed as men 
 and women have ever prayed, when the evolving soul 
 knows there is something to be attained beyond its 
 present need and knowledge. 
 
 One night after one of these soul prayers something 
 happened. Exhausted, I threw myself upon a couch 
 and fell asleep. I stood alone upon a great rock, and 
 throngs of people passed before me; some in the vilest 
 rags, and some in royal robes, gleaming with diamonds 
 of untold wealth ; there were the pinched faces of starv- 
 ing women and children, the sin-hardened, vice-bloated 
 faces of men and women who had once known home and 
 love and self-respect. Arms gaunt and wrinkled were 
 extended, clutching frantically at the empty air, and 
 arms white, well-rounded and gem-encircled, waved al- 
 luringly at the beholders. Suddenly I understood! 
 These were all my brothers and sisters, who had been 
 tempted in the Great School of Experience, even as I 
 had been, and all were in the same school and journey- 
 ing to the one Goal ! 
 
 It was not denunciation they needed, but Truth, and 
 Truth never separated from Love! "0, God," I cried, 
 ''fill me so full of Love of Thyself that I may love the 
 most wretched sinner here before me!" 
 
 I felt a Presence and beheld a man in a simple flow- 
 ing robe of snowy white, standing beside me. His arms 
 were outstretched to the jostling throng, and in a voice 
 of deep yearning love I heard Him say, "0, Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you to me 
 as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you 
 would not. I will go on to the end and, if I be lifted up, 
 I will draw all men unto me!" I fell on my knees 
 before the Speaker He was gone, but I knew at last 
 that Love is the one thing above all others needed. 
 
 It was Love that caused Lord Buddha to leave wife 
 and child and kingdom and riches, to go out to teach and 
 bless the world it was Love that made Lord Christ 
 weep over His needy, erring children and, forgetting 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 39 
 
 His own weariness and pain, go among them and heal 
 their sick ; it was Love that wept at the tomb of Lazarus, 
 Love that trod the whole bitter way, and forgave all 
 at last ! It was Love that sent Savonarola from his cell 
 to warn the people of the long, hard way of suffering 
 before them, if they did not repent; and it was Love 
 that took him to the stake at last. It was Love that 
 made Wesley strong to endure the vile and brutal treat- 
 ment given him by church and rabble ; Love that made 
 him, like Paul, sing songs of joy in the midst of perse- 
 cution, and endure to the end. 
 
 "Go to the slums and preach the Good News," yes, 
 I would go gladly, for I had Good News to give at last. 
 "Only go with me, Living Christ, and I will gladly 
 toil and suffer ! " I cried. The next morning I told my 
 
 wife I had decided to go to as a mission worker 
 
 in the slums. She at once dispatched a servant to bring 
 my mother ; she came, and a few minutes later my father 
 came. The two women pleaded, wept and coaxed me to 
 give up my purpose, but when they found I still re- 
 mained unmoved, they threatened me with the medical 
 board and insane asylum ; but here my father interfered : 
 "Let the boy alone," he said sternly; "I will not have 
 him meddled with. I have spent my whole life since 
 childhood in the mad chase for gold, and now I stand 
 face to face with what ? I can take none of my money 
 with me, nothing that it will purchase. Empty handed 
 I go, but sorrow and regret go with me ; I look back over 
 a lifetime spent among the swine, I have fed on husks, 
 far from my Father's house, and starved in the midst 
 of plenty. As I have given, I have received. Go pack 
 your bag, my son, and I will drive you to the station." 
 
 Two hours later, I left my home forever. We drove 
 slowly, in a round about way, and I poured into my 
 father's ears the story I have given you. He was deeply 
 moved, and told me many things about his life I had 
 never known before. At the station, we took a tearful 
 
40 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 but silent farewell of each other, and I never met him 
 again in physical body. 
 
 Right here I pause to remind you that the Great 
 Teacher said: "Judge not, for if you judge, you will 
 be judged by others, in exactly the same measure." If 
 you would only remember that those words are Absolute 
 Truth, expressing a changeless Law, how careful you 
 would be! 
 
 Friends, I beg of you, for your own sakes, to try and 
 remember to pass judgment upon no one. You cannot 
 possibly know the inside reasonings, motives, and im- 
 pulses of the human heart, and even a hard-headed old 
 business man may carry an aching heart and despise the 
 wealth he has sacrificed his soul to gain. 
 
 Slum work is not easy work; a thousand trials and 
 difficulties present themselves where you would not think 
 of one ; but the God, I had truly consecrated my life to, 
 was with me, and I soon developed a healing power that 
 made me a desirable person to have in the sick room. 
 By the bed of the dying, I knelt in praver; into the 
 poverty stricken, crime-stained homes of the lowliest of 
 the lowly, I went, and In His Name, offered my cup of 
 cold water; and stood behind prison bars and sang of a 
 Love that is mighty to save. 
 
 Into the loveless lives of these burdened ones I poured 
 love. My wife obtained her freedom and re-married. 
 My parents obtained their freedom from flesh and blood, 
 and in my dreams I saw them and talked with them. I 
 also saw and talked with angelic beings, who encouraged 
 and strengthened and counseled me. I grew into an 
 understanding of why dreams play such an important 
 part in the Bible narratives, and I have since learned 
 to know that my dreams were not mere dreams, but 
 real experiences, and so the years rolled on. 
 
 One night I was sleeping in the outskirts of the city, 
 where I had established a mission among a class of 
 laboring people, who toiled almost unceasingly to eke 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 41 
 
 out a painful and meager existence. I was awakened 
 by a great shouting and shrieks of "Fire! Fire!" I 
 rushed from the house and saw a ramshackly tenement 
 house in flames. On the upper floor, I knew the place 
 well, lived a widow with an invalid mother and three 
 puny children to care for, with the help of her only son, 
 a bright, well disposed lad of twelve years. 
 
 The crippled grandmother had saved not only herself, 
 but the little one in the bed with her, and the mother, 
 now screaming frantically, had the two remaining babies 
 clinging to her, but the boy was still in the blazing 
 house. 
 
 There was not a moment to lose; cat-chin? a heavy 
 coat from a man in the crowd, I plunered into the flames, 
 and with a prayer that must have moved heaven to my 
 aid, I fought my way thru smoke and flames, and at 
 last found the unconscious lad, and bore him from the 
 smoke-filled room I know not how to the open case- 
 ment. Leaning far out, I dropped him upon the blanket 
 stretched to receive him, and then I felt the floor give 
 way beneath me, and with a crash, a great flaming mass 
 swooped down upon me. I heard, or thought I heard, 
 a voice of wondrous sweetness singing, ' ' Thou, Christ, 
 art all I want, more than all in Thee I find, ' ' and a feel- 
 ing of peace, such as I had never known before, came 
 to me. 
 
 I heard a mighty roaring and rushing, as of tempest- 
 lashed waves, hurled madly against a rock-bound shore, 
 but I felt no pain and was unafraid. Lightly as a thistle 
 down I floated, and felt myself clasped in the loving 
 arms of one unseen. 
 
 For years I had felt a great heart longing for rural 
 life, for hills and streams and fields, and I beheld it, 
 when at last I awoke, for I was lying upon a green bank 
 under graceful willow trees, .bordering a stream of 
 water babbling over shining, many colored stones. 
 Fishes, beautiful as flowers, darted here and there thru 
 
42 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 the crystal water, and birds sang joyously amid the 
 green branches waving over my head. 
 
 It seemed to be early morning, and the air was sweet 
 with the odor of unfolding flowers. A dainty fawn- 
 like creature, with lustrous brown eyes, came trotting 
 up to me and laid her head caressingly against my shoul- 
 der. Presently a bird alighted on my knee and turned 
 its head in a most coquettish manner, as if expecting 
 from me some demonstration of admiration or affection. 
 Where was I? Surely not on earthly shores. 
 
 Slowly my past life unrolled before me, each event 
 standing out boldly in a light I had never seen before, 
 and, like a mighty cable stretched from shore to shore, 
 ran the changeless Law of cause and effect. 
 
 Strains of music, sweet as the chords of an aeolian 
 harp upon which the summer winds are playing, came 
 from a clump of flowering shrubs near me; I sprang 
 lisrhtly to mv feet and was greeted by a Stranger, my 
 ideal of perfect manhood that is, he seemed to be a 
 combination of nobility, stren?rth, self-control and kind- 
 ness, which I always considered desirable masculine 
 qualities: and the rmritv, tenderness and patience with 
 which I had clothed ideal womanhood. 
 
 From a distance came the sound of a bell, silvery clear, 
 and its sweet tones touched the secret depths of my in- 
 most being, filling me with holv aspirations beyond any- 
 thing ever before experienced. Instinctively I raised 
 my eyes to the glorious sky above me, and cried in rap- 
 ture, "0 Righteous Father. I thank Thee! from the 
 depths of mv being I praise Thee !" My newly acnuired 
 friend stood with bowed head for a moment, and then, 
 smiling, said, "Come with me," a summons I gladly 
 obeyed. 
 
 Of the happy davs which followed, I will speak briefly. 
 We found no streets of srold, nor crowns, nor thrones 
 unless you take the words symbolically, as they were 
 intended but we did find many happy people wearing 
 
THE STORY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE 43 
 
 white robes (not all of them, however), and many of 
 them had harps and other musical instruments, from 
 which they drew wondrous music, and we joined in sing- 
 ing paeans of joy such as mortal ears have never heard. 
 
 Often we sat wrapt in silent meditation, and to me it 
 seemed that I, freed from all limitation, beheld the pages 
 of the past unrolled before me; the past, illumined by 
 Divine Purpose, glorious and beautiful not a marred 
 and tangled pattern, as in my blindness I had once 
 thousrht it to be. In my consciousness I also touched 
 the Future's unknown shores and caught glimpses of, 
 what? " Truly eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor 
 hath it entered the heart of man: what God hath pre- 
 pared for them that love Him." 
 
 Without fear or pain or weariness, we went where we 
 willed to go. Truly this world of ours is a beautiful 
 world. I understand how Divine Beings might sing for 
 joy over it and pronounce it "very good." "We explored 
 its heights and depths, its seas, caverns and mountain 
 fastnesses, its deserts and its fertile lands. God's handi- 
 work was perfect, man alone has made it bad. 
 
 those wondrous days of inspiration, revelation and 
 achievement, broken by a mighty Call, which echoed 
 and re-echoed thru every realm of being ; a Call to self- 
 forgetfulness and loving service; and all who had ears 
 to hear that Call, responded to it, and from peace be- 
 yond human understanding, and from joy unspeakable, 
 we descended into the darkness and sorrow, into the 
 flames and smoke and deadly gases, into the horror and 
 agony and man's inhumanity to man, we came, and 
 where the Comrade in White led, we followed, and in 
 His Name, we gave of ourselves to the uttermost; and 
 amid the awful din and roar of battle, we sometimes 
 paused to catch again the angel's song telling of our 
 Father's changeless Love. 
 
44 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 wondrous Love! Almighty Power! 
 
 Unfailing Light in darkest hour, '" 
 That pierces thru earth's deepest gloom, 
 
 And lifts the shadows from the tomb! 
 
 Sin-shackled souls thou dost set free, 
 And tear-dimmed eyes thru rainbows see 
 
 And hardened souls, grown black with sin, 
 When washed by Love are pure within. 
 
 Upon earth's horror-haunted shore, 
 
 Amid the awful battle's roar, 
 Thou didst stretch forth a mighty hand, 
 
 "White-robed and unafraid didst stand ! 
 
 All-conquering Love ! Thy banners wave 
 Above the victor's unsealed grave! 
 
 And far above time 's angry roar 
 Thy Voice is heard forever more! 
 
CHAPTEK VI 
 MY SEARCH FOR TRUTH 
 
 TWO individuals have the same experiences 
 in earth life, and no two have the same here. 
 I cannot imagine any place where any two in- 
 dividuals can have exactly the same experience and main- 
 tain their individuality. 
 
 As you have to forego personal desires and pleasures, 
 in order to write this communication for me, so I must 
 also sacrifice self to give it to you. Naturally we both 
 want something worth while. What is best worth while ? 
 A mighty question, and one that no two persons would 
 answer exactly alike. 
 
 So many times, both over here and over there, I have 
 listened to inspirational speakers, and felt my very soul 
 burning with the fire of zeal an intense desire for 
 the speaker to awaken from a semi-conscious condition, 
 into one of vivid realization of the vital needs of the 
 hour; and an ability to grapple with them in a clear, 
 concise, discriminating manner. 
 
 Moonbeams, dewdrops, sunbeams, starry-eyes, are all 
 right in their places, at the proper times, but in time of 
 peril, with Lowell we cry, "God, give us men!" Fire 
 us with wisdom, endow us with strength, fill us with the 
 love that knows no defeat, and send us forth to service, 
 that service which enables us to forget self in the good 
 of the whole. So shall the powers of Darkness flee, and 
 the powers of Light rise, all victorious forever more. 
 
 It is time that the false ideas regarding after-death 
 conditions were dispelled. There would have been no 
 
 45 
 
46 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 hope for the world if all mankind had accepted the one- 
 time church teaching, that man had to drag wearily 
 thru the earthly vale of groans and tears", in order to 
 attain to a state of bliss unthinkable, in some far away 
 state of nothingness, where one might find rest the most 
 wearisome task imaginable. 
 
 Set this down as Truth rest can only be attained thru 
 a change of mind, which, except in rare cases, should 
 be accompanied by physical activity, in harmony with 
 the mental activity. 
 
 The modern cults, which have condemned their Church 
 brothers for their foolishness, have, in their teachings, 
 done little better, for they have turned the spirit world 
 and its inhabitants into a sort of vaporous dreamland, 
 where ecstacy and horrors vie with each other for 
 supremacy. For Truth's sake, sister, teach the people 
 that spirits have bodies as tangible to their plane of mat- 
 ter as your body is tangible to your plane of matter. 
 Strange, is it not, that a sensible person cannot under- 
 stand that refined senses are as conscious of refined mat- 
 ter, as crude senses can be of crude matter? 
 
 All unprejudiced thinkers teach that heaven and hell 
 are mental conditions, which affect one's environment to 
 a large degree ; but do not stop there, teach that no per- 
 son can jump from a hell-condition into a permanent 
 heaven-condition, and God's Law is growth, progress; 
 teach that Law can be, and often is, violated but never 
 broken. 
 
 Desire, impulse, hope, ambition, aims, purposes, can 
 all be changed in a moment, "in the twinkling of an 
 eye" but whoever thinks that is all there is of it, is 
 doomed to sorrow and disappointment. Salvation has 
 to be worked out by one's own self, and all the teachers 
 and Saviours that ever lived, cannot save a mentally self- 
 satisfied or lazy person. Our Saviours point the Way, 
 they show us how to work out our salvation, and having 
 done that, they can only love us and let us do it. 
 
MY SEARCH FOR TRUTH 47 
 
 Only unsatisfied desire can make the animal nature 
 active; that desire satisfied, temporarily, indolence at 
 once manifests. The intellectual nature is always active ; 
 it makes easy ways hard, and gathers heavy burdens, 
 multiplies cares, and is always urging and demanding, 
 constructing and destroying. The spiritual nature is 
 always active, but in its activity, passive; it makes the 
 hard ways easy, and the heavy burdens light, and con- 
 structs the indestructible only. 
 
 When you look into water, every object you see is 
 reversed, and when you look thru fog, the objects are 
 distorted, or lacking in detail. Water is a good illus- 
 tration of the intellectual mind. It is only in the unob- 
 structed sunlight that one can see accurately, but you 
 must yourself go into the sunlight, and if you go with a 
 settled purpose to see everything as it really is, even if 
 all your cherished theories dissolve like mist before your 
 vision, then, well for you. 
 
 I have hesitated to comply with your request for per- 
 sonal experience, and yet, if your will to learn the truth 
 is strong enough, you will gather much from my experi- 
 ence to help you along the way. 
 
 After my so-called death, I opened my eyes and found 
 myself lying upon a white cot, in a room that suggested 
 a hospital ward, only it was very beautiful, and there 
 was no odor of chemicals. White-robed women with 
 kind, sympathetic, motherly faces moved here and there, 
 tenderly watching their charges. Birds were flying 
 about the room, singing joyously. I heard the sound of 
 water murmuring drowsily, and music wondrously sweet, 
 like the notes of an aeolian harp. I became conscious 
 of feeling strong, well, buoyant. My mind was keen, 
 alert and free, and thinking required no effort; there 
 was no haziness to be overcome, no heavy weight to be 
 thrown aside. 
 
 I looked up into my mother's face, but I felt no sur- 
 prise. My mother explained to me what had occurred, 
 
48 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 and told me that as I had not furnished myself with 
 any special kind of clothing, she had obtained for me 
 an ordinary business suit, which I might wear at my 
 pleasure. She also told me, that as I had learned to do 
 very well without her assistance while I was upon the 
 physical plane, I could do equally well without her, then 
 and there, and so she would leave me for a time, and go 
 about her usual duties. 
 
 I now see the wisdom of my mother's act. Those who 
 represent Love as blind, are lost in the mazes of sex 
 consciousness. Real Love is real Wisdom. You may 
 have been told that many times, but it is a very lame 
 statement of the Truth, that will not bear repeating, and 
 a person of very poor comprehension that objects to its 
 re-statement. 
 
 My mother's parting words were: ''Remember, my 
 son, that there is a God and Father of all, a real, loving 
 Presence, ever ready to aid and help, whenever you seek 
 Him, and whatever else you do, seek to know this One 
 True God." 
 
 As I lay pondering deeply upon my mother's words, 
 I saw a loved brother bending over me. He checked my 
 eagerness to talk about personal affairs by saying: "We 
 will not waste words, my brother, for all that pertains 
 to the personality will and must adjust itself in harmony 
 with the Law controlling it; let us devote our time to 
 the eternal things which abide forever. Personal affairs 
 are only seemingly real, for they are constantly changing 
 in appearance like our emotions, scarcely permanent 
 for an hour. Remember, my dear brother, that the same 
 Law that controls upon the lowest plane controls upon 
 the highest; the Principle involved is always the same. 
 All Truth is One Truth, and no circumstance, language, 
 desire or belief, can change it. Listen to a few state- 
 ments of Truth: "Seek and you shall find" either 
 what you seek for, or something of like nature which, 
 having made your own, you must contact first. As you 
 give, you will and must receive. According to the nature 
 
MY SEARCH FOR TRUTH 49 
 
 of the outflow, will be the nature of the inflow. Ponder 
 well upon these words, for in them alone lies the issue 
 of all that is before you. All the beauty that God and 
 man have woven into manifestation, means very little 
 to the blind man, and the eyes of the soul must be opened 
 before it can perceive Truth. Thru suffering, the soul 
 is led to the Fountain of Truth, where the blind receive 
 their sight" 
 
 I will not weary you with endless details. As time 
 flew by, I grew more and more perplexed, and the more 
 perplexed I became, the more I kept myself to myself. 
 I thought to meet many friends, and saw very few. 
 After a time it was forced upon my consciousness that 
 many people who were once so eager to claim my atten- 
 tion had a personal motive underlying their eagerness. 
 After thinking deeply about the matter, I made up my 
 mind that I could not condemn them without condemn- 
 ing myself. 
 
 I Visited all the modern-cult churches, but I found 
 nothing to satisfy my soul hunger. I attended the meet- 
 ings of many so-called Free Thought and Liberal Asso- 
 ciations, but to me they seemed iconoclastic, and aggres- 
 sively destructive. However, it was in one of these 
 meetings that I perceived the truth, that it is criminal to 
 destroy, unless you can furnish something at least a little 
 better than that which you have destroyed. 
 
 Many of those who cry persistently, "Believe noth- 
 ing," are the ones that believe the most, for in every 
 denial lies an affirmation of Truth. 
 
 I noticed that while I was in the so-called orthodox 
 Churches, I had a sense of restfulness and substantiality, 
 that I did not have elsewhere. This fact surprised me, 
 until it occurred to me that the explanation lay, prob- 
 ably, in the fact that the people gathered there were 
 settled in an old and well established line of thought. 
 So I kept on making the rounds, growing ever more and 
 more weary of myself, and tired of seeking, and trying 
 to think it all out. 
 
50 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 One day I made the acquaintance of a man I will call 
 Smith, who proved a great help to me in an indirect 
 way. He belonged to that class that tells everybody 
 what not to do. One day, while we were out seeking for 
 some new occult teaching, we heard a man shouting, 
 * ' Keep away from them, they are hypnotists ! hypocrites ! 
 fakirs ! liars ! ' ' " What is the man talking about ?" I in- 
 quired of a listener. 
 
 "Of the workers at the Rescue Mission,'* he replied. 
 "They are healing the sick and wounded, teaching and 
 comforting the hopeless and broken-hearted, uniting in 
 the bonds of love, members of family and friends long 
 separated by wrong thinking, and the speaker does not 
 like the names they are using while doing the work." 
 
 "What is he doing?" I asked. 
 
 "Nothing, and that is why he has so much time and 
 energy to denounce those who are doing something, ' ' was 
 the reply. 
 
 The man's words stirred me all thru and intensified 
 my hunger for Truth, and I hurried on. Smith caught 
 me by the arm, "Look at that !" he ejaculated. I looked 
 and saw two priests helping two men wild with grief 
 and anguish, into an open church, where they tenderly 
 ministered unto them. 
 
 ' ' The hypocrites ! ' ' snarled Smith, but I turned on him 
 with, ' ' Now, look here, Smith, during all the time I have 
 known you, I have never seen you give a bit of real 
 help to any one; I have never heard you speak a help- 
 ful, encouraging, comforting word to any one; in view 
 of this fact, what right have you to condemn these 
 priests? These black-gowned men have evidently got 
 something worth while. What is it ? You do not know, 
 I am going to." 
 
 A look of horror passed over Smith's face. "You do 
 not mean to tell me you would go into a Catholic 
 Church?" 
 
 "Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Mohammedan, Buddhist, 
 
MY SEARCH FOB TRUTH 51 
 
 it matters not to me, if they have the Truth I seek. I 
 have always accepted, and stood by, everything that 
 appealed to me to be for the best good of Humanity, and 
 I am not going to turn sneak and coward now," I said 
 sternly. 
 
 "I see you are not of my class, good-bye," said Smith 
 curtly, and so we parted. 
 
 The moonlight shone upon the tall, picturesque palms, 
 and white-blossomed orange trees, and the roses and 
 lillies beckoned to me, they were perfectly tranquil. 
 Had they found the truth that is freedom? Can any- 
 thing be more enticing than Nature by moonlight ? 
 
 The words my mother and brother spoke to me, it 
 seemed so long ago, rose up and took possession of me. 
 " Prejudice, opinions, beliefs, supposed facts all, and 
 everything that hinders, I gather up right here and 
 now and throw to the winds," I said, "naked I enter 
 this garden, and here I stay, until the Truth I seek comes 
 tome." 
 
 Peace such as I had never known before took posses- 
 sion of me. I went to a secluded nook and lay quietly 
 down. 
 
 Then the Vision came to me. The earth was wrapped 
 in blackness, and no object was wholly discernible to 
 my sight. Phantom-like, grotesque objects flitted before 
 me, and Vanished. Suddenly a Light appeared, as a huge 
 white cross appeared upon a mountain before me. It 
 radiated a dazzling Light in which I saw every object 
 sharply revealed. The phantoms vanished, there was 
 nothing ugly nor distorted in all that beautiful Light. 
 
 I saw that many men and women sought the Light for 
 a brief moment, but as one ray of the Light was absorbed 
 by them, they turned with altered faces and went out 
 to radiate the one ray among their fellow beings, who, it 
 seemed, could not bear any greater Light than the one 
 ray afforded ; and the people that followed each one-ray 
 Light teacher, thought they had the whole Light, and 
 fought with all who differed from them. I saw there 
 
52 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 was now and then a man who stood longer in the Light 
 than the others, and these radiated such a brilliancy that 
 many people seemed unable to bear it, and they turned 
 and tried to stop the illumined ones from teaching, in 
 many cases trying to kill them. 
 
 I quickly observed that whoever absorbed this Light, 
 became changed in appearance, and wherever the Light 
 fell, beauty arose from ugliness, and harmony mani- 
 fested. 
 
 As I pondered upon the meaning of all this, I saw 
 another man, a very ordinary looking man, appear in 
 the full blaze of the Light, and as he stayed longer in 
 the Light than the others, he carried away more than 
 the others. I also made the discovery that whoever 
 absorbed this Light, became themselves illumined, and 
 wherever they went, sad faces grew bright, and the 
 weak became strong, and the ugly grew beautiful, and 
 harmony came out of discord. 
 
 I noticed that when the head alone of a person was 
 illumined, he did not radiate the amount of Light those 
 did whose hearts also were illumined. I observed and 
 pondered. 
 
 From the depths of my being I cried out for the 
 Light to touch me. I heard my name called and, looking 
 up, beheld my long idealized mother standing beside 
 me, in all her angelic beauty. Then to my conscious- 
 ness, the heavens opened up and a host of shining ones 
 appeared and sang; and the birds and flowers and the 
 fountains of running water, took up the song, the chorus 
 of which was, "God is Love, God is Love." 
 
 Then my mother said, "My son, that cross represents 
 the One Supreme Power, Dual in its aspects of Love 
 and Wisdom, which united, is Truth the One Light. 
 Whoever radiates this Light, is manifesting Divinity. 
 The more Light he has, the more Divine is his character, 
 and the more of Divine Love and Wisdom he will mani- 
 fest in his daily life. You have seen the world 's Teach- 
 
MY SEARCH FOR TRUTH 53 
 
 era standing in this Light, and the One who stood there 
 the longest, radiated the most Light/' 
 
 The summing up of all Truth in all religions and 
 philosophies is : Let your soul become so full of Divine 
 Love and Wisdom, that all that is in opposition to it will 
 be swept away from you, then, within you Truth will be 
 generated as rapidly as you need it and use it. If you 
 use a power, it increases rapidly, but if you do not use 
 it, you lose it. To teach the Law of spirit communion, 
 the Law of cause and effect, the Law of vibration, of 
 rhythm, correspondence, etc., is necessary to the evolu- 
 tion of the race, but the fulfillment of every Law is Love, 
 and against Its manifestations there is no law of God 
 or man. 
 
 "0 Infinite Love," I cried, "fill me, even me, so full 
 of Thyself that I may go out into all the world as a 
 Light-bearer a truth-giver!" Then a Voice, like the 
 music of the spheres, like the melody of countless realms 
 of angelic beings, like the voice of the sunlight, the voice 
 of the falling dewdrops, the voice of the Soul of Things 
 ever speaking in the silence, replied: 
 
 ' ' Thy prayer, aspiring one, is answered, Go ! " and 
 the Vision faded. J. R. F. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE REALMS OF DARKNESS 
 
 HERE are many people who believe in re-incar- 
 nation, because it appeals to their vanity, feeds 
 their self-love, and is an endless source of en- 
 tertainment. 
 
 Ee-incarnation is, to the believers, what Salvation is 
 to the believing Church-member easy and comforting; 
 but, if a person has a rea knowledge of Salvation or of 
 re-incarnation, he has a deep conviction of a Truth that 
 clears his vision and lifts him ever higher and higher 
 above the darkness and miasma of selfishness. He has a 
 stronger grip upon eternal things, and a broader and 
 ever increasing understanding of life as it really is. 
 
 My work, since leaving my body, has been confined 
 entirely to the realms of darkness, and after all these 
 years, I think I ought to be able to give you something 
 worth while. 
 
 Truly it is written that Truth is simple. The so- 
 called enlightenment which the world boasts of, has made 
 life very complex, and greatly increased its burdens. 
 The lauded inventions of this time, which are to do 
 away with hard manual labor, have simply shifted the 
 heavy burdens of every-day life, from the physical to 
 the mental plane, but have not lessened them. 
 
 The awful carnage of the past few years could never 
 have been, but for modern inventions which enabled the 
 cunning ones to turn their plowshares into swords, and 
 their pruning hooks into spears. 
 
 The problem of how to feed, clothe, and house one's 
 
 54 
 
THE REALMS OP DARKNESS 55 
 
 self is ever growing more complex and perplexing. Man 
 accumulates quantities of things which he has no real 
 use for, and which, sooner or later, he finds burdensome. 
 He houses himself extravagantly to make room for his 
 " things, " and drops from the weariness of it all. He 
 eats complicated and unnatural food, and sickens and 
 ages as the result. 
 
 The machinery of Evolution is running in high gear 
 at the present time, and those whose temperature regis- 
 ters normal, are the exceptions to the rule. 
 
 As it is on the physical plane, so it is on the mental. 
 Mankind, who has ever sought for an easy way to save 
 himself, thru some highly complicated method, best 
 known to himself is still treading the same path with 
 different colored glasses on. 
 
 He wants Truth, but he wants it highly seasoned so 
 complicated that he cannot taste the original flavor. 
 He wants something "occult," weird, spectacular 
 something that will give him thrills, and delude him into 
 the belief that he is the favorite of some highly illumined 
 "inn^r circle*' of sup^r-human beings; or, he wants 
 something: so abstruse, that the fact that he can compre- 
 hend it, testifies to his mental superiority; or, still an- 
 other class demand onlv that which is to the outer 
 senses beautiful, beguiling, witching, sensuous soft as 
 the lullaby song which the mother uses to lull her 
 babe to sleep; the song of the purely selfish, who seek 
 to " demonstrate " for self and cares not for others, so 
 long as their own dream of bliss remains unbroken. 
 
 People from the classes I have mentioned are utterly 
 worthless to us as helpers as worthless as the hypo- 
 critical religionist, or those who say, "Lord, Lord," 
 while their hearts are far from Him. 
 
 A very important thing to know, is what class of 
 people we find in the Realm of Darkness. The purely 
 selfish, irrespective of nationality, class or religion. 
 
56 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 It is individual development that counts, and one's 
 individual development depends entirely upon his con- 
 sciousness of Truth, and his ability to put 'it into ex- 
 pression. 
 
 The more absorbed in lower self-interest one is, the 
 dimmer and more distorted is his vision of Truth. 
 
 Only two classes of people are of real worth as work- 
 ers in the darkness of sin: the spiritual soul that has 
 become Christ-centered, and therefore has lost self that 
 is, personality in the Divine Image, and the reclaimed 
 sinner who knoivs how he was reclaimed, and longs to 
 have every other sinner share his new-found blessedness. 
 
 In the Realms of Darkness, we find not only religious 
 hypocrites, but political, and big-business hypocrites. 
 A liar is one who intends and tries to deceive and the 
 world today, is thickly populated with them. They may 
 deceive themselves, and some of the time, others but 
 they cannot deceive God or spiritualized beings. 
 
 All the Hells I have been in, with one exception, are 
 largely populated by " respectable " people! Here we 
 find people who heaped together earthly treasures, gold 
 and silver, and many houses and much land ; those who 
 wrested from Mother Earth the treasurers, the necessary 
 things of life, which a loving Father intended for all 
 His children, but which they, in their selfish greed have 
 withheld, regardless of the suffering which inevitably 
 follows. 
 
 Here also are those who have sought for fame, regard- 
 less of the blighted lives and ruined souls that have 
 marked their career. Here are the intellectually proud, 
 who have selfishly devoted time and strength to the at- 
 tainment of knowledge ( ? ) that they never intend to 
 make any good use of. Also those who use their intel- 
 lects to mislead, or merely to amuse others, with no 
 higher purpose in view. 
 
 Selfishness is very insidious, and the more selfish a 
 person is, the blinder he is to his own imperfections. We 
 
THE REALMS OP DARKNESS 57 
 
 see a child walk up to another and snatch his apple away 
 from him, and we say, "what a selfish boy, 7 ' but if the 
 same boy had cunningly schemed or devised a plan 
 whereby he could have obtained the apple would the 
 onlookers have been shocked at the selfishness? Or, 
 would they have applauded the brilliancy of the mind 
 that devised the plan ? He that digs a pit, shall himself 
 fall into one, somewhere, sometime. 
 
 There is another Hell? Yes there we find the class 
 that the world has branded criminal Here Fear assumes 
 gigantic proportions, and stalks through the darkness 
 with menacing hands uplifted; here, shadows lurk, and 
 what is behind them? Here, your nightmares seemingly 
 become real at last. 
 
 Sin-sick, sin-weary, sin-worn, like naughty children 
 easily frightened, they bewail that which they once had 
 and through their own misconduct, have lost their 
 liberty and opportunities to be good and happy. They 
 have sold their birthright, for what? For a few hours 
 of animal gratification? Such a fearful price to pay! 
 But these people are much more readily reached than 
 the others, if you go in the right way, and with the Spirit 
 of Divine Love radiating from you. 
 
 These people will listen eargerly to the "Old, old 
 Story, of Jesus and His Love," and join brokenly in 
 singing that hymn. Here they have One Who never 
 turned a sinner away, but Whose tender hand touched 
 the fevered brow, the leprous body, and palsied limbs, 
 but to heal and bless. He was one who was human 
 enough to know, understand, and sympathize and 
 Divine enough to love the sinner mighty enough to 
 save. 
 
 It is so easy to teach them of the human Jesus, Who 
 trod the long, hard way from sin to righteousness from 
 grief to joy from weakness to strength ; and of Christ, 
 the Son of God, all-powerful to save, to wash away with 
 all-cleansing Love, every trace of sin and shame. 
 
58 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 It is so easy to teach them just where they are upon 
 the pathway, and why they are there, and what all their 
 hard, bitter experiences may do for them and others. 
 
 Like tired children, lost, and far from home, they will 
 cling to you sobbingly, desperately, provided you tell 
 the Story, and they see that you also know whereof you 
 speak. 
 
 But go not with dogmas, creeds, theories go not with 
 high-sounding phrases and doctrines; go not with soft, 
 jeweled hands uplifted in warning ; go not in costly ap- 
 parel and robe of self -righteousness, go not with the "I 
 am God and the Christ-w-you theories ; go not in any of 
 those ways, lest they turn and rend you. 
 
 If your hands are worn with toil and your face marked 
 with traces of past hardships and sufferings, all the bet- 
 ter you know; go in His Name and filled with His Love, 
 and that Love will win, and the darkness of that Hell 
 will be changed to light, and its groans of anguish, to 
 songs of joy and gratitude; yes, it will, to its remotest 
 bounds, echo with the songs of the redeemed. H. H. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 MY VISION (A SYMBOLIC VISION) 
 
 STOOD upon a plain, one among many others. 
 Back of us was a mountain whose snowy summit 
 gleamed in the dazzling rays of the sun, before 
 us rose another mountain, whose summit was unseen by 
 those who stood at the base. Up the rugged sides of the 
 mountain, ran many narrow pathways, strangely inter- 
 woven. Suddenly, among us appeared a stranger of 
 majestic bparin<?. clad in a flowinsr robe. His keen, dark 
 eyes searched the multitude around him for a moment, 
 then in a commanding voice, and with hand outstretched 
 toward the mountain before us, he said, "Upon yonder 
 mountain lies wealth untold ; whoever gains its summit, 
 before the last rav of the setting: sun shall fade from 
 the snowv pinnacle of the mountain back of you, shall 
 receive the treasure." 
 
 He vanished from our sight, and then began a wild 
 scramble for the mountain sides. Men and women in 
 the prime of life, men and women aged, bent and gray, 
 young men and maidens struggled and scrambled for 
 the mountain paths. 
 
 ImDelled by an irresistible inlpulse, I moved forward 
 with the rest. Pictures of the good I might accomplish, 
 if wealth were mine, danced before my vision, and I 
 scarce knew how I made my way along. 
 
 I had not gone far, when I saw an aged woman whose 
 clothing had become entangled in a thorn bush; I 
 stopped, and with some difficulty extricated her. She 
 was very grateful and with childlike confidence, tucked 
 her hand under my arm and said simply, "I will go 
 
 59 
 
60 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 the rest of the way with you, I am not seeking this 
 wealth for myself, but to help others in great need. ' ' 
 
 Soon I heard the sound of labored bre'athing, and 
 glancing down, saw a spaniel with a puppy in her mouth. 
 True to the master who had heedlessly deserted her, and 
 true to her offspring that she would not leave behind, 
 the poor creature was nearly spent with her efforts, and 
 her soft brown eyes looked pleadingly into mine. 
 
 I gathered up the kitchen apron I wore and taking 
 the little creature from its mother's mouth, I stowed 
 it safely away. The grateful dog licked my hands and 
 walked quietly by my side. 
 
 Following the steep pathway around a jutting cliff, 
 we found an aged man, who had fallen in some entang- 
 ling vines and was unable to rise. I found his cane and 
 helped him upon his feet, and with many expressions of 
 gratitude, he said, "I, too, will go with you the rest of 
 the way." 
 
 We had not journeyed far, when a large, strong man 
 went rushing past us, rolling a huge boulder in our path- 
 way, which, in his mad rush he had dislodged. Pointing 
 to the distant mountain, he said to me, "Look at the sun ! 
 You foolish woman, what are you bothering with those 
 old people for? Look out for yourself and let every- 
 body else do the same. " * ' God never permits us to gain 
 anything by being unkind to others, ' ' I called after him 
 as he disappeared. 
 
 We had not proceeded far, before we heard the sound 
 of weeping and groaning, as of one in great pain. In- 
 vestigation proved that the man who had so recently 
 passed us, had in some way, dislodged a fallen tree, the 
 trunk of which had fallen across him, pinning him help- 
 lessly to the ground. With patient persistence, our 
 united efforts succeeded in extricating him. His face 
 flushed very red as he saw me, for he must have recalled 
 the advice he so recently had given me, however he 
 made no effort to outdistance us. 
 
THE REALMS OF DARKNESS 61 
 
 Very slowly it seemed to us, we made our way steadily 
 up the precipitous pathway. Our many companions had 
 long ago chosen easier and more shaded pathways, but 
 somehow I knew they all led into one pathway at the 
 summit, which we now and then caught a passing 
 glimpse of. 
 
 Several times my companions called my attention to a 
 strange dark object, which seemed to block our way near 
 the mountain top, and they anxiously discussed the mat- 
 ter, but when they appealed to me, I said simply, "We 
 are never required to do an impossible thing, and if we 
 do our part well all the way, God will attend to the 
 rest." 
 
 Thus comforted, we journeyed on until our attention 
 was arrested by the wailing of an infant. I glanced at 
 the sunlight, dangerously nearing the mountain peak, 
 but without a moment's hesitation, I plunged into the 
 bushes that fringed a precipice and when I emerged, I 
 carried upon my breast a sobbing and helpless infant, 
 which some one had abandoned. 
 
 We sprang forward eagerly, for we were near our 
 journey's end, and were soon to be confronted by that 
 strange something which appeared somtimes dark and 
 menacing, sometimes bright and inviting. 
 
 I glanced at the distant mountain and saw there was 
 not a moment to lose. At this instant, there fell upon 
 our ears, that most pathetic of all sounds, the bleating of 
 a lost lamb at eventide. 
 
 For an instant I hesitated, then sprang from the path- 
 way into the thicket of stunted bushes. When I returned 
 with the lamb, I found I was ahead of my companions. 
 I glanced back at the mountain ; the sinking sun bathed 
 its snowy crags in a flood of rosy light, and rested in a 
 glittering crown upon its topmost peak. I glanced 
 ahead, and upon the mountain summit I had so nearly 
 gained, shot a ray of dazzling light. Lo ! the sunset of 
 the old day, was the sunrise of the new ! 
 
62 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Then something happened I scarcely knew what or 
 how: the aged couple I had journeyed with, were trans- 
 formed into angels of light, and the lamb and the infant 
 I clasped to my breast, suddenly floated before me, 
 radiant cherubs. 
 
 I heard the sound of once familiar footsteps, no more 
 weak and feeble, but vibrant with joyous life; and 
 voices, that the world tells me are forever hushed in 
 death, fell upon my ears. With outstretched arms I 
 waited eager, expectant I am still waiting in perfect 
 faith. I. L. B. 
 
CHAPTEK IX 
 
 THE DREAM THAT IS NOT ALL A 
 DREAM 
 
 DREAMED it was twilight, and I was climbing 
 a steep hill. It was a narrow pathway and full 
 of obstacles. I was heavily laden and kept con- 
 stantly stumbling, now and then I dropped a bundle, but 
 for some reason did not stop to regain it. By my side 
 walked a Specter. 
 
 The fourth time I fell sprawling among the stones, I 
 exclaimed angrily, "What is that thing I tumbled over?" 
 
 "The books you, yourself have written/' said the 
 Specter calmly, "what did you write them for?" 
 
 Startled into perfect honesty, I replied, "For money, 
 of course. " " Well you got it, ' ' said the Specter, ' ' what 
 are you grumbling about ? ' ' 
 
 After a pause I said, "The money does not seem to 
 be doing me any good right now." "No, and it is not 
 likely to, you should have thot of that before. ' ' 
 
 I glared at the Specter, but he never winced, it was 
 evident I was dealing with a genuine Specter one that 
 insisted upon speaking the truth, regardless of the con- 
 ventionalities of polite society. At last I paused in my 
 headlong pace, I was exhausted, I could go no farther. 
 ' ' Sit down here, ' ' said the obliging Specter, and without 
 a glance about me, I obeyed him. As soon as I got my 
 breath, I looked about me, and to my horror, saw that I 
 was seated upon a narrow board over a dark and fear- 
 fully suggestive chasm. 
 
 I looked wildly for some place to leap to, but nothing 
 
 63 
 
64 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 substantial appeared. " Better keep quiet," said the 
 Specter grimly, "you are situated badly enough now," 
 and I agreed with him. 
 
 Soon a throng of people came in sight. The first one 
 that paused, was a middle aged man; he was well-fed, 
 well-dressed, and his pockets looked suggestively bulgy. 
 " Beautiful day we have had," he said pleasantly, 
 ' * gorgeous sunset, hope you did not miss it. Lovely path- 
 way this, many fine geological specimens all about, 
 magnificent views all along the way. That chasm under- 
 neath you is a botanical treat. I never saw such luxu- 
 rious ferns before," and with a cheerful nod, he passed 
 on. 
 
 Young people were constantly rushing by, but they 
 seemed to have but one idea: to gain the top of the 
 mountain, and they never noticed me at all. 
 
 The next that paused was an elderly man wearing 
 spectacles and a gray suit. He carried a note-book under 
 his arm, and seemed searching for something, when his 
 eyes fell on me. He paused, and exclaimed, " Well, well ! 
 At last I have found a real psychological problem. My 
 good man, will you kindly tell me by what chain of cir- 
 cumstances you were ever led into the position you now 
 occupy ? ' ' 
 
 "Yes," said a second man, joining the first, "do tell 
 us the cause which produced this most unusual effect. 
 I must make a note of it and bring it before my class 
 tonight." 
 
 Here they began a discussion regarding the probable 
 width and depth of the chasm beneath me, and so passed 
 out of my sight. 
 
 The next one who stopped, was a middle aged woman, 
 strong and portly, and she kept consulting a very fami- 
 liar looking book. She gazed at me critically and then 
 said, ' * Glorious evening sir, you ought to be very thank- 
 ful you have such a beautiful spot to rest in, not that 
 you need rest, for you are perfectly well and strong, 
 and spirit never grows weary. ' ' 
 
THE DREAM THAT Is Nor ALL A DREAM 65 
 
 "Perhaps Madam," I replied rather tartly I fear, "If 
 you had sat upon this narrow board until your limbs 
 were as numb as mine are," she stopped me with a 
 queenly gesture, and a look of well studied indifference 
 came to her self-satisfied countenance, as she said, "My 
 dear sir, you are under a delusion, you are bound by 
 error, by wrong thinking. God never made a pain nor 
 afflicted anyone by any inconveniences whatever. I have 
 been in truth many years, and I know all about it." She 
 passed on. I glanced at the Specter who was sitting 
 close beside me, but he was looking the other way. 
 
 My next caller was a long visaged, long haired, long 
 whiskered man who looked as if he had never laughed 
 in his life. He looked at me disapprovingly and said, 
 "There is stormy weather coming sir, a long, cold rain 
 is due about this time when my rheumatism gets bad, 
 it is a sure sign. You better get in under cover, they 
 have terrible floods in these mountains, and they come 
 suddenly. Don't delay or you may be too late." 
 
 "If you will please tell me how I am going to get 
 under cover, or anywhere else, I will be grateful to you, ' ' 
 I said. He took from his pocket a paper covered book, 
 and held it toward me. It was entitled, "The Mysteries 
 of Revelation Explained," by the Rev. Doolittle Talk- 
 much. 
 
 The Specter grinned exasperatingly and I wanted to 
 punch him, but did not dare attempt it. At last he 
 spoke, "Did you ever write anything that could help 
 one out of trouble?" I turned him a cold shoulder, I 
 had one to turn. Just then our strained relations were 
 relieved by an elderly woman, who was leading a boy 
 by the hand. She paused and looked at me pleasantly, 
 opened the bag she was carrying, and took from it a 
 wool muffler, which she wrapped around the boy, ex- 
 plaining as she did so, that "he was just up from the 
 measles. ' ' 
 
 She then asked me if I could give her any reliable 
 instructions regarding the road and country. When I 
 
66 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 informed her that several thousand volumes had been 
 written upon the subject, she said she was told that no 
 two writers agreed, and would I tell her which one was 
 correct. 
 
 I was obliged to confess that I was a stranger and had 
 given the matter little thought, until compelled to. ' * If 
 I can ever get out of my present predicament, ' ' I began, 
 when she exclaimed, "Oh! you poor dear man! What a 
 dreadful fix you are in. "Why don't you get off that 
 perch? You will get numb with cold, and rheumatism 
 will set in, and then where will you be ? " That was the 
 question I wanted answered, but got no chance to say 
 so, for she went on, "You look kinder sick and speckled, 
 you are sure you haven't got the measles? Here take 
 this shawl and put it around you and this bag of 
 cookies too. I am so sorry for you ! How did you ever 
 get into such a scrape ? You must have been very reck- 
 less. " 
 
 At this moment a sharp visaged, angular woman ap- 
 peared on the scene. ' ' Melvina Peters ! ' ' she exclaimed 
 sharply, "if I am not ashamed of you my own sister 
 talking with a strange man, and in the night too. Come 
 away at once, he is a wicked man, any one can see that. ' ' 
 The Specter gave a little cough, but I did not glance at 
 him. 
 
 Next came several middle aged women, and with them 
 were a few white haired, rather benevolent looking men. 
 I was getting desperate. Every moment my situation 
 seemed more and more unendurable. I called to the 
 most kindly looking man of all and he came at once 
 and sympathized with me deeply. "If I were only free 
 to do as I like," he said sadly, "but I am bound hand 
 and foot and do not know how to free myself." 
 
 "Come along, Father, come along," said a dark-eyed 
 woman, catching him by the arm, ' * Don 't waste time and 
 strength that you need for more important things, the 
 man must work out his own salvation." 
 
THE DREAM THAT Is NOT ALL A DREAM 67 
 
 "The trouble with you is," said another woman, "you 
 are thinking the wrong thoughts. Stop thinking thoughts 
 of danger and it will cease to manifest in your life. Help 
 can come to you from nowhere except within yourself. 
 Oh ! If you would only come to the hall on the corner of 
 Main and X streets, and hear our new speaker explain 
 the power of thought, you would soon know how to free 
 yourself from this seeming danger. ' ' 
 
 "Yes," exclaimed an enthusiastic voice near the first 
 speaker, "it is all in knowing just how. Do come and 
 hear Mr. Cloud Flier, he is perfectly lovely. ' ' 
 
 I thought I heard an ominous crack beneath me and 
 I shivered. I did not know what fate awaited me, if I 
 went into that chasm, but I began to question whether 
 or not, it might bring relief to try it. I turned to the 
 Specter and said, ' ' It was you, sir, that got me into this 
 plight, before morning I shall be a dead man." 
 
 "You are a dead man now," he replied calmly, "can 
 a dead man die ? " I was not prepared to solve any un- 
 necessary problems, so I turned my attention to the next 
 bunch of people. 
 
 "Look at that man, will you!" exclaimed the fore- 
 most, "What dreadful Karma he must have made for 
 himself. What are you going to do, George ? ' ' The man 
 she addressed was pulling a rope out of his coat pocket 
 and said nothing. "For goodness sake, George, don't 
 meddle with the working of the Law. He has to work 
 this Karma out for himself. If you help him out, it 
 will in some way come back to him again." 
 
 "Not if I know it," I said under my breath. "Truth 
 at last, ' ' whispered the Specter, but whether he referred 
 to my words or the woman's remarks, was not clear to 
 me. 
 
 "You are worrying, that is plainly seen," said a blue- 
 eyed miss, "your face shows it, and you will never find 
 
68 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 anything any better, until you stop this worrying. Look 
 up into the calm, still sky above you, and watch the stars 
 moving on serenely in their orbits and, knowing that 
 the same Law that holds them in their places, is guiding 
 you, let the Peace of the Infinite fill your soul." 
 
 Another crack louder than any before. I was silent. 
 How can one who hears the crack of doom, think of 
 anything to say? 
 
 "You poor man," said a pathetic voice, "I trust you 
 have made your peace with God. He is a vengeful God 
 you know, but I hope it is well with your soul. You do 
 not look very resigned, but I trust you are. ' ' 
 
 "He does not look like a bad man," said a second 
 speaker, "are you a bad man, sir? If you would only 
 confess it would help you greatly." 
 
 "Better tell the truth now," whispered the Specter, 
 and I said slowly, ' ' I am not very bad, probably because 
 I never wanted to be ; and I am not very good, probably 
 for the -same reason. I rather guess, Madam, that 
 whether I am good or bad, depends largely upon the 
 standard I am to be judged by." 
 
 "You talk like a sinner," said the woman, "but the 
 Lord can save you." 
 
 1 ' He will have to, " I said, l ' for it is very evident that 
 none of His children will lend a hand." 
 
 "Come on, Sarah Jane, come on," said the woman 
 hurriedly, addressing a former speaker, then turning to 
 me she said piously, "I hope sir, that when I reach yon 
 beautiful sphere, I will find you there and walk with 
 you on the streets of shining gold. ' ' 
 
 "Thank you," I said, "if I ever get out of this fix, 
 I will know how to sympathize with the down and outer, 
 and I will never desert anybody until I have done my 
 level best for them. Streets of gold will be a last resort 
 proposition. ' ' 
 
 "Now you are getting somewhere," said the Specter 
 cheerfully. There was a long silence, then I turned to 
 
THE DREAM THAT Is NOT ALL A DREAM 69 
 
 the Specter and said, * ' I think it may be true that I am 
 getting just what I deserve, but how long is this thing 
 going to last?*' "As long as you let it," was the grim 
 reply. 
 
 The next that came along the pathway was a pale- 
 faced, slender woman with dreamy dark eyes. She 
 gazed at me for several moments with a far-away be- 
 seeching look, and then said earnestly, "0 sir, my dear 
 sir, my guide will not let me go any farther until I have 
 given you a message from the Spirit World. You have 
 a host of loved ones on the other side that are hovering 
 over you, and oh, they bring you so much love. They 
 have a beautiful home prepared for you over there, and 
 they tell me to tell you, that it will soon be much better 
 for you. Yes, better things are coming, and you will 
 soon be in a better place. Yes, they tell me to tell you. ' ' 
 
 Another crack and the board quivered, or else I did. 
 "You are not now under the right conditions to recog- 
 nize truth when it is spoken to you, ' ' said the Specter. I 
 was angry. ' ' May all the truth that has been spoken to 
 me, since I sat over this chasm, hang on the trees in 
 flowers, after I am" I was going to say, dead, but 
 changed it to, ''away from here." 
 
 A man and woman came leisurely along and seeing 
 me, paused in evident amazement. "When were you 
 born ? ' ' asked the woman, ' ' yes, I see. Planetary con- 
 ditions are very bad for you at present. Let me see 
 your rising sign is yes, well you must expect a good 
 many unpleasant conditions to overcome for a time, but 
 take courage, Jupiter will soon be in the ascendant, and 
 then your troubles will be over." 
 
 1 ' Come along, come away, Maria, ' ' said the man, catch- 
 ing her by the arm. "I don't believe in wasting breath 
 on such ignorant people. He surely has some relative 
 who can help him out, there is no reason why strangers 
 should be bothered besides his sign and your sign are 
 in exact opposition, and you know fire and water will 
 never agree." 
 
72 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Just then I thought of the Specter, and found him 
 close beside me, silently waiting. "See here sir," I said, 
 ' * I think that under an overruling Providence, you have 
 been my best friend after all, tell me who are you ? ' ' 
 
 The Specter faced me squarely "I am yourself," he 
 said quietly. 
 
 "Myself! Myself!" I exclaimed, "then I must have 
 been turned back side front, or inside out." 
 
 "It is very likely," said the Specter. S. C. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 A KAINY DAY 
 
 AIN, rain! Yes, we have rain, of course. Is 
 not this a duplicate earth-realm ? In some places 
 it rains nearly all the time, in other places, sel- 
 dom. If one is in a rainy frame of mind, he can find 
 the rain. 
 
 I love the music of it; the upspringing of the newly 
 born grass blades, the swelling of the flower-buds, the 
 patter of the drops upon the leaves and upon the roofs 
 of humble dwellings, and the drip, drip from thence to 
 the ground ; the splash and gurgle of each tiny rain-made 
 stream, and the notes of joy from the throats of such 
 little creatures as enjoy it. (By the way, did you ever 
 think that if a river made as much noise, according to 
 the volume of water it carries, as a little, trinkling 
 streamlet does, what the effect on humanity would be ? ) 
 
 Yes; it rained steadily and I was enjoying it hugely, 
 when I heard a woman 's voice singing, ' * Hark from the 
 tombs a doleful sound." I could hardly believe my 
 sense of hearing, for I had supposed that that hymn, if 
 no other, was buried beyond resurrection. 
 
 I had an urge to be about my Father's business, so I 
 followed the voice to a little cottage, in the midst of 
 vines and shrubbery, under big, wide-spreading trees. 
 The feeble light of a solitary candle showed a thin, sad- 
 faced woman sitting alone in the gloom, with a brown- 
 eyed spaniel lying at her feet. 
 
 She seemed much startled when I presented myself 
 before her. "I am one of the Mission workers, and I 
 
 73 
 
70 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 My head reeled, and it seemed that from the depths 
 of the cavern beneath me, mocking voices laughed fiend- 
 ishly. I glanced at the Specter, he was placidly watch- 
 ing the flight of a bat that had just brushed past us. I 
 looked up the constellations, cold and unrelenting, were 
 wending their glittering way through fathomless space, 
 and heeded not a speck of dust like me. 
 
 Just then there came around the great cliff, that half 
 barred the pathway so many had passed that night, a 
 frail looking woman. She held a large bundle within 
 one arm and a sleeping babe in the other. Two small 
 children were clinging to her skirts crying piteously for 
 home and sleep. My heart was stirred by pity, and 
 when the woman turned a tear-stained face toward me 
 and with quivering lips said, "0 sir, you have a kind 
 fatherly face, I am sure you will help me a little way 
 with my babies." 
 
 I forgot my danger, forgot the Specter, forgot the 
 chasm, and best and most important of all, forgot myself. 
 I leaped into the path beside the woman, as easily as a 
 bird might have done. I fastened her bundle to my back 
 and taking a sobbing child in each arm, we started up 
 the hill. The tired face of the woman grew bright as 
 we journeyed and she told me she knew she had found 
 a friend, the moment she saw me, because of my strong 
 resemblance to her father, who had promised to meet her 
 in the early morning. 
 
 More and more closely to my shoulders, clung the 
 curly heads of the tired babies sound asleep, and ever 
 lighter grew my heart, for I was learning the joy of 
 service; and the constellations that had seemed so cold 
 and far away, now bent over me in loving benediction. 
 
 At last we gained a resting place and paused. 
 "Look!" I exclaimed, "it is already growing light!" 
 Yes, the stars in the eastern heavens were growing pale, 
 and the snowy cap upon the great dark mountain in the 
 west, was sparkling with a wondrous light. From some- 
 where amid the light came forth a white-robed man, 
 
THE DREAM THAT Is NOT ALL A DREAM 71 
 
 whom the woman greeted joyously as " Father." He 
 took the bundle from my back, and unseen by his daugh- 
 ter, hurled it over the precipice ; he then took from my 
 arms the still sleeping babies and with blessings and 
 grateful words, they passed out of my sight into the 
 morning; for over the hill tops and forests, shot shafts 
 of dazzling light, and in their glory all lesser lights 
 were lost. 
 
 A myriad insects spread their rainbow-tinted wings, 
 and from a score of feathered throats, came a burst of 
 joyous melody, a new day had dawned. Within myself, 
 there had awakened a new life, a life I was never before 
 conscious of. I glanced down the pathway I had 
 traveled, and was astounded, for all around the spot 
 where I had passed so many hours of great peril as I 
 thought every shrub and tree was white with bell- 
 shaped flowers, exhaling a sweet fragrance upon the 
 morning air ; they had, one and all, spoken some truth. 
 
 From the peaceful valley below, came the sound of 
 church bells; some priest is now going to early mass, 
 I thought, I wonder if he is going, like a slave driven 
 under the lash of church orders, or joyously, as one who 
 gives loving service? I, myself was filled with the most 
 unalloyed joy I had ever known the joy of service and 
 in and through the performance of that service, I had 
 found my freedom. As I listened to the deep, rich tones 
 of the bell, rising and falling upon the sweet morning 
 air, there stirred within me an irresistible desire to do 
 something worth while something of real help to those 
 needing it. 
 
 I felt something touch my hand it was a sunflower 
 swayed by the morning breeze. Yes, there beside me on 
 that rockv trail, subjected to all the vicissitudes of 
 climate, that sturdy plant was growing, with every pa- 
 tient face turned toward the sun. I touched the plant 
 caressingly, "You may not be beautiful, " I said, "but 
 you are encouraging." 
 
74 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 heard you singing and have coine to see what I can do 
 to help you," I said cheerily. 
 
 ''There is nothing you nor anyone else can do," she 
 said gloomily, "as the tree falls so it must lie." 
 
 "Well, I have never yet seen a fallen tree that some 
 one could not move," I said; "tell me why you chose 
 to sing that particular hymn, * Hark from the tombs. ' J 
 
 Her face grew still more sad as she said : 
 
 "Because my parents and grandparents used to sing 
 it when I was a child; I am now sitting in my grand- 
 mother's rocker, and everything you see here once be- 
 longed either to her or to my mother," and she heaved 
 a deep sigh. 
 
 She was such a pathetic little figure that I was filled 
 with compassion, and said gently, "Sister, dear, this 
 seems a gloomy place, do you like gloom?" 
 
 "Oh, no, I do not like it, but there is no help for it. 
 You see, I had to take care of both my parents and 
 grandparents, and I often grew tired and cross and 
 spoke sharply to them. I even wished that poor old 
 grandpa would die and I watched his failing strength 
 with satisfaction." 
 
 Here she shuddered, as if seeing something, snake- 
 like and horrible, coming to her, turned her face away 
 and continued, "I did my duty by him so far as good 
 care went, but I never gave him one bit of love to cheer 
 and comfort him, not one kind word, and I was cold 
 and indifferent to them all. 
 
 "Things seem so different to me now, and, God! I 
 can never be happy again!" and she began to sob. 
 
 The spaniel arose and gazed at her mistress with soft, 
 pleading brown eyes, and with her forefeet tried to draw 
 the toil-worn hands from the weeping eyes. 
 
 I pointed to the dog and said, "Sister, if you were 
 to beat and starve that dog, would she not forgive you ? ' ' 
 
 "0, yes; Bess would forgive me anything," and she 
 stroked the brown head fondly. 
 
A RAINY DAY 76 
 
 ' ' Then, you are much worse than the dog, for you are 
 treating someone very badly and without forgiveness," 
 I said. 
 
 She looked up in amazement. "You are mistaken," 
 she said decidedly, " there is not a soul in heaven, earth 
 or hell, that I have not fully forgiven everything. " 
 
 "There is one that you have not forgiven," I said 
 solemnly, "and that one is yourself. Do you ever 
 pray?" 
 
 "0, yes; I have asked God to forgive me many a 
 time, but" she paused, and I went on, "but you do 
 not know whether He has or not, and no wonder ! For- 
 give yourself right here and now, and then you will 
 know that God has forgiven you. Prove that you have 
 forgiven yourself by refusing to think or talk about 
 your past mistakes and weaknesses any more. 'I will 
 blot them out ; I will remember your sins no more, ' saith 
 the Lord. Be God-like yourself, and freedom and happi- 
 ness are yours, for I who know, am speaking to you." 
 
 For a moment we stood in silence, then she turned a 
 joyous face to me "1 have done it! and O, I see now, 
 you are an angel of light. 0, thank God tell me where 
 shall I go? What shall I do?" 
 
 I led her out thru the falling rain to one of the Sub- 
 Missions which, as we came in sight of it, was spanned 
 by a glorious rainbow. I left her there, and the spaniel 
 was with her. Another soul redeemed from sorrow and 
 darkness ! 
 
 One would think that any person long bound by a 
 physical condition, when freed from it, would rejoice 
 and make the most of freedom, but often this is not true. 
 Human nature has many angles, and no two individuals 
 are affected by a circumstance in exactly the same way. 
 Many people who have been ill or crippled for a long 
 time have to be rescued here, and, in order to rescue 
 them, you have to teach them to stop thinking thoughts 
 of illness. As long as one mentally hugs his ailments, 
 he is ailing. A person may become ill, when he is not 
 
76 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 thinking illness, but one who constantly thinks illness 
 will not be really well. 
 
 The modern metaphysical cults have done an immense 
 amount of good a good very apparent here and, while 
 their votaries have had a tendency to become bigoted, 
 arbitrary and lacking in compassion, they have accom- 
 plished much. There are always two sides to everything, 
 and this is one side ; the other is the larger side, where 
 selfishness manipulates the forces. 
 
 One day, while I was out to meditate and enjoy the 
 wonderful manifestations of Nature the garment in 
 which Deity clothes Himself for manifestation I came 
 across a woman sitting in a wheel-chair making tatting, 
 I think. 
 
 "Why the wheel-chair, Sister?" I said cheerily. 
 
 She drew her face down a degree or two longer than 
 it was, and it was long enough before, and in a doleful 
 tone said, ' i For twenty-five long years I have had to sit 
 in a wheel-chair. Both my feet are useless, lady. You 
 cannot know such sorrow as this!" 
 
 "Sister," I said, "you are under a delusion. The 
 feet of your physical body were useless to you, but your 
 physical body was buried several years ago. Your pres- 
 ent feet are all right. Look at them with that idea, and 
 you will see that they are. Push that useless chair into 
 the bushes and come, run a race with me!" 
 
 The woman's face was a study for a moment, and then, 
 half angrily, she said, "What! give up my chair and 
 all the beautiful things the ladies bring to me ! the books 
 and pictures and cards and flowers and candy! and 
 never have any one love me or sympathize with me any 
 more? No, I won't do it!" 
 
 "Very well," I said, "just as you please," and I 
 turned away, but that Something in me, always watch- 
 ing, turned me back, and I said, ' ' Do you love music ? ' ' 
 
 Her face changed. "0, yes," she said eagerly, "but I 
 have heard none for a long time !" 
 
 "All right," I said, "you shall, here we go!" 
 
A RAINY DAY 77 
 
 It was concert hour at the great Sub-Mission station, 
 where I specially belong, when I wheeled the invalid in. 
 They were singing * ' Home, Sweet Home, ' ' and no matter 
 how beautiful that dear old hymn may have sounded to 
 you, you can have no conception of the beauty our 
 singers brought out of it. Then they sang "Suwanee 
 River," "The Eden of Love" and "In the Christian's 
 Home in Glory." 
 
 By this time my patient had forgotten her ailments 
 and joined in this last hymn lustily. When it was con- 
 cluded, one of the young men workers came along, all 
 smiles and politeness, and telling her they were going 
 into the negro quarters of Washington to do some rescue 
 work, he pulled her hand over his arm and away they 
 went. 
 
 The wheel-chair was not called for, and, therefore, 
 is no more. 
 
 The greatest cure for invalidism in all the world is to 
 get the victim thoroughly interested in something outside 
 of self and its seeming limitations. I have seen this dem- 
 onstrated over and over again. When self is once for- 
 gotten, its fetters are broken. It is better, In His Name, 
 to make pink dresses for negro babies, than to lie and 
 hug a hot water bottle, and tell your friends how awful 
 is the pain. E. L. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 TRUTH AND MY CREED 
 
 A.NY people talk learnedly, even eloquently, 
 about truth, but when they are confronted by 
 the age-old question, "What is truth ?" can 
 give no definite answer. It is probable that ninety-nine 
 out of a hundred answers reduced to some definite state- 
 ment would read : ' * It is what / believe. ' ' 
 
 To change one's mind is in harmony with Nature's 
 law of growth. No one can grow either mentally or spir- 
 itually without a change of mind. You know spirit com- 
 munion to be a fact, but your ideas regarding it, I am 
 sure, have so deepened and expanded that they now bear 
 small resemblance to your first ideas of it. This is what 
 I mean by growing thru changing your mind. No person 
 can attain to any degree of understanding, or knowl- 
 edge of truth, unless he is willing to lay aside every the- 
 ory, doctrine or belief he has ever held to be true. 
 
 The genuine truth-seeker is like a drowning man. He 
 will catch the rope thrown to him without questioning 
 the character or nationality of the thrower. Truth is 
 truth, if the Devil speaks it ; and blessed are those that 
 know this fact. The average person does not want truth 
 unless he feels sure it will harmonize with that which 
 he already holds as truth. There are a dozen people 
 mentally lazy, where there is one physically lazy. This 
 explains, to a large degree, why there is so much error 
 in the world. The ideas of a few men, who centuries 
 ago dared to think, now rule the world. These same 
 men have kept on thinking since the world pronounced 
 them dead, and those who blindly jog along in the same 
 78 
 
TRUTH AND MY CREED 79 
 
 old ruts, their mental wheels once cut, will hear from 
 them again, in a way of which they now little dream. 
 The man who now speaks truth with the greatest power 
 is the man who once earnestly taught error. 
 
 While I was in my physical body I had no idea I was 
 holding any error to speak of. I knew there were many 
 passages of Scripture, the meaning of which I felt very 
 uncertain about, and I was glad to think that some 
 other man might know how to explain them aright ; but 
 that there could be any interpretation of spiritual truth 
 outside the Christian church never once occurred to me ; 
 but when the truth that I was wrong, broke into my con- 
 sciousness, I was filled with joy. 
 
 "When Spirit sneaks, each hears in his own tongue and 
 manifests according to his own stage of development. 
 Truth is but another name for Divine Love and Wisdom 
 in manifestation. There usually is a wide difference 
 between knowledge and belief. Knowledge is soul- 
 knowing and belief is head-knowing, which more often 
 is error than truth. Real proof of any truth is born 
 within the individual. Whoever accepts outward proof 
 of truth, has accepted the shadow instead of the sub- 
 stance, and it will prove unsatisfactory some time. 
 
 0, the joy that came to me when I knew that God is 
 a loving Father to all His children and lets the sunshine 
 of His love fall upon all alike! The Father's gifts are 
 offered freely, but it depends upon the children whether 
 they are taken or not also upon the use made of them 
 when they are taken. Perfect freedom is given the chil- 
 dren. Love is a^-embracing and shuts out no form of 
 life. There is no hope, aspiration, desire, ambition or 
 effort that love will not purify, stimulate, strengthen 
 and transform. 
 
 It is the Father's will that every one of His children 
 shall reflect the Divine image perfectly, but, if some 
 of the children choose to take the Hate path instead of 
 the Love path, they must take the sorrow and suffering 
 that inevitably result. The Father has sent many great 
 
80 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Teachers to point the Way and demonstrate what Love 
 will do, but if the children love darkness better than 
 light, there is plenty of it for them to stay in until, 
 weary of it, they seek the Light. It is not the Father's 
 will that any should take the hard, roundabout way 
 home. 
 
 Material substance is the coarse outer garment in 
 which God clothes Himself for manifestation. The finer 
 astral matter, which composes my present body and the 
 world of beings and things I am now dealing with, may 
 be likened to a finer inner garment in and thru which 
 God manifests here. Mind substance is a still finer 
 garment thru which God manifests upon the mental 
 plane, and Spirit is a still finer substance by means of 
 which God manifests to the spiritual. 
 
 Spirit is a direct manifestation of Deity, but is not the 
 Manifestor. When God wills to manifest specially for 
 the benefit of His erring children, He is compelled to 
 assume form, for outside of form He cannot manifest to 
 those bound by form. 
 
 Within the last few years, many people have been 
 making great account of the physical body, devoting the 
 larger part of their waking time to thinking about and 
 caring for it. In every possible way these people have 
 tried to deify the body and live in it long years per- 
 haps forever. This is the reverse swing of the pendulum 
 from the older teaching, that the body is essentially vile 
 and not to be considered more than absolutely necessary. 
 One teaching is as pernicious as the other, for the truth 
 lies, as it always does, between the two extremes. 
 
 If you are filled with the love of God, you will take 
 good care of your body; for it is the instrument thru 
 which you must manifest, and as you are clean and pnro 
 you will keep it clean and pure. God gives you wisdom 
 to know how to care for your body, if you will only be 
 still and know ; but you may be very sure that the Divine 
 Wisdom always tends to self-control and strength of 
 character and never to fleshly weakness and self indul- 
 
TRUTH AND MY CREED 81 
 
 gence. Overfeeding or eating merely because a thing 
 tastes good is a pernicious form of self-indulgence; but 
 to let the ambitions of the personal self, or habit-mind, 
 lead you into overworking the body is an equally per- 
 nicious form of self-indulgence. 
 
 There is no such thing as an untimely death. No 
 person can leave his physical body until he has utilized 
 all the forces he is capable of utilizing, to the accomplish- 
 ment of that for which he came into expression. Have 
 faith in God and save yourself the doubt and grief and 
 the darkness of rebellion. 
 
 Dear writer, this is your strong thought: "Out of 
 your old beliefs what do you now retain as Truth ? ' ' All 
 of it. You once gave birth to a son, but the babe that 
 was laid in your arms the first time, bore no resemblance 
 to your son today, yet he is still your son. No matter 
 what he may say or do, or fail to say or do, the fact that 
 he is still your son remains. You have been conscious 
 of the sun in the heavens for many years, but your idea 
 of the sun is very different from your childish idea. T 
 was growing spiritually while I was in my physical 
 body. Those who knew me will tell you that my con- 
 sciousness was an expanding one, and I grew until I 
 could grow no more in the conditions under which I was. 
 
 So-called psychic phenomena came into my private 
 life, and I was utterly unable to comprehend its sig- 
 nificance ; so God in His infinite mercv broke my fetters 
 and set me free upon a plane of being where I could 
 understand. No one who really knows what Faith is, 
 will try to change the old translation, reading, "Faith 
 is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
 things not seen." (For once the King James translation 
 is the best.) When you really know the meaning of 
 those words, "all power" is yours. 
 
 I believe that God, for the benefit of us, His little 
 children, individualized into Being. Divinity involved 
 in this solar system is one with the Absolute, and is 
 Being beyond our comprehension. Deity involved in 
 
82 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 this world is, as Being, beyond the comprehension of the 
 intellect; but spiritual mind perceives Him, the lovin<? 
 Father, as Beinsr, one with everv Bein^ and one with 
 the Absolute. As the sun has manv rays, so the Abso- 
 lute pours Himself out in many states of Being. 
 
 God is life, light, power, intelligence, principle, spirit 
 all that and more. To us He is indeed and in truth 
 a loving Father, and to know Him is to trust Him, and, 
 to trust Him fullv, is to have peace and joy under all 
 circumstances. He withholds from us no good thing. 
 When we get to the place where a thing is good for us, 
 He gives it to us. Commit your way unto Him and 
 wait patiently for Him and He will bring it to pass. 
 When you get impatient and try to force results you ffet 
 yourself entangled in -the web of the Law, and disaster 
 in some form overtakes you but never blame anyone 
 but yourself. 
 
 Yes, I believe in God or rather, I "know in God 
 but my conception of Him is very different than it was 
 once, and whatever your conception of God may be, 
 have faith in Him and you will be a victorious soul. 
 To help us on our way God has, at various times, 
 spoken more fully thru and in, some of His children 
 than the other children were capable of understanding 
 at that time. 
 
 At last He sent His Son, a special manifestation of 
 Himself, Christ, in and thru Whom salvation comes. 
 
 Salvation from what? Everything from which man 
 could want to be saved. I believe in Christ the Son of 
 God, in you the hope of glory, illumination, salvation. 
 I believe in Jesus of Nazareth who freely gave His life 
 to the world and will continue to do so, until the earth 
 and all in it becomes as perfect as God's idea of per- 
 fection. 
 
 I believe in Heaven, not a far off place, but an inner 
 consciousness which all must some time attain. I also 
 believe in a literal Heaven; for this earth must express 
 in the outer what all her children realize within. There 
 
TRUTH AND MY CREED 83 
 
 may be in some far away solar system, a realm of bliss 
 awaiting us when we are thru with this world; but we 
 may be very sure we shall not be thru with this world 
 until we become as perfect as our Heavenly Father is 
 perfect, and the earth and all there is in it has become 
 as perfect as perfect beings shall require. 
 
 I believe in angels, guardian and ministering spirits, 
 God's messengers expressing the Divine love within 
 themselves. Some angels wear flesh and blood and some 
 do not, but all have come along the one hard, thorny 
 pathway into that Love which forgets self and its limita- 
 tions. 
 
 I believe in prayer, not the sort of prayer the minister 
 " makes " when he prays for the congregation to hear 
 him, for that is mere words which furnish nothing to 
 believe in, but in prayer which is the souPs intense 
 desire, which pours itself out in supplication or the 
 spoken word. Prayer is the urge of the real self voicing 
 itself in language, the Spirit, knowing your needs, claim- 
 ing for you your own. 
 
 Praj-er has a scientific basis as well as a religious one. 
 Prayer is the connecting link between your need and the 
 Source of Supply. Not until Christ Divine Love rules 
 supreme within you, can you know how to pray and what 
 to pray for. Let the Spirit make intercession for you 
 with earnest desires which cannot be expressed in words. 
 Yes, pray ! There is an omnipresent, omnipotent Power 
 to pray to, and He hears you even before your desire 
 finds expression in words ; and, altho you may not com- 
 prehend His state of Being, He is your loving Father, 
 pray ! He heals the sick, gives food to the hungry, opens 
 the prison doors, gives sight to the blind, supplies all 
 your needs, and fails no one that trusts in Him. 
 
 I believe in the "Word of God, which not only flashes 
 from the pages of every bible scroll, but is thundering 
 mightily in the world today and will continue to do so 
 until the end of time. Yes; I believe in the Word of 
 God which was spoken by the prophets and teachers of 
 
84 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 old, and which is being spoken more clearly and mightily 
 thru the mouths of consecrated men and women in the 
 world today. Never since the world began. has there 
 been such inspiration and revelation as is manifesting 
 today. Make yourself a fit and willing instrument and 
 in His own way God will gladly use you, of that have 
 no doubt. 
 
 I believe in hell; for I know it exists. It is a man- 
 made hell; for it could not be otherwise. People in 
 flesh and blood often live in hell a life-time, and people 
 not in flesh and blood may do the same. The vilest 
 hell is made by those who live only to gratify their lower 
 nature, and the deepest, blackest hell is the loveless one. 
 
 Yes ; I know there is a hell, both on your side and my 
 side of life; but if there is any profanity any greater 
 than to accuse God of making a hell and keeping His 
 children in it for all eternity, I do not know what it can 
 be. The fires of hell are burning fiercely today, because 
 of the hatred loosed in the world. "Vengeance is mine, 
 I will repay, " says the changeless Law, and all that 
 take the sword to mete out vindictive punishment, shall 
 by the same sword be slain. 
 
 I believe in the resurrection of the dead. The physical 
 body is laid off "goes down" and the astral body 
 arises. The astral body goes down and the mental body 
 arises. The mental body goes down and the spiritual 
 body arises the body not made with hands, eternal in 
 the heavens as our brother Paul has stated the body 
 which man has not made for himself, but to which he 
 attains by growing into the Christ-likeness. 
 
 I believe this present time is the Day of Judgment 
 or Adjustment in which every man's works will be 
 tried by fire; and whatever can be burned, will be 
 burned. The earth will soon disclose her dead her 
 shams, falsehoods, injustices, vileness and corruption in 
 high places. Ill-gotten gains, the fruit of oppression, 
 will no longer cover the traitor and the laurel wreath 
 no longer crown the brow which should bow in shame. 
 
TRUTH AND MY CREED 85 
 
 The tares shall be separated from the wheat and be 
 burned ere the sunlight of the New Day dawns. Yes, 
 I believe in a Day of Judgment, here and now. 
 
 I believe that the Great Teachers of earth are soon 
 to return, and their disciples of old will return or are 
 already here. God calls for men and women strong in 
 courage, faith and love. 
 
 Who will answer to the call? C. C. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 THE MOON AND THE BUDDHA TREE 
 
 PKELUDE 
 
 NOT expect me to be humorous. I am not 
 wretched enough. A man wants to be out of fix 
 with himself and everyone else, in order to be 
 really humorous. To train mental disquietude into the 
 humor channel is one of life *s victories. 
 
 The man who laughs, if he laughs at the right thing 
 at the right time, is a world benefactor. The man who 
 makes other men laugh is a greater one, sometimes. 
 
 All truth is paradoxical ; it is and it is not. Each day, 
 each individual has to choose whether he will have the 
 is, or is not, side of it. The great secret of secrets is to 
 get at that angle where you see both sides of it, then you 
 know what you once questioned. 
 
 There are two classes of miserable men in the world ; 
 one class is humorous and the other isn't. One class 
 wants every one that he meets, especially the women of 
 his household (no others) to share his wretchedness with 
 him (he is usually very proficient in bringing this to 
 pass), and the other class tries to hide his mental unrest 
 behind a veil of humor; in other words, he gets other 
 people to do his laughing for him. In this way, he wins 
 a reputation for being a jolly fellow, a reputation he 
 has not earned, a semi-capitalistic method of getting 
 what he has not earned, a method soon to meet its final 
 Waterloo. 
 
 No ; I am not sufficiently miserable to be funny, so you 
 will please remove that string from my personality. I 
 
 86 
 
THE MOON AND THE BUDDHA TREE 87 
 
 am now posing as a habit breaker, and you will please 
 respect my pose. I am now ready to say something. 
 
 THE MOON 
 
 There is life on the moon lots of it thin, crawling, 
 stupid life (this is one side of it), changing in form and 
 habits of growth, and adapting itself to radical outer 
 changes, according to conditions. 
 
 This life does not manifest upon the mountain tops 
 where prying telescopic eyes can search for it; neither 
 is it outlined against the chalky whiteness of the moun- 
 tainsides. There is all sorts of life manifesting in a dead 
 thing, why should a dead world be an exception? 
 
 There are cracks in the moon, plenty of them, shallow 
 cracks, deep cracks ; and the deeper the cracks, the more 
 crawly the forms of life existing therein. Some men are 
 beginning to learn what life is, and what death is. Eter- 
 nity is said to be long, so there is hope for all. 
 
 Man should have learned long ago, that the ability to 
 sense is something separate from the organs of sense. 
 There are beings all around you, and objects about you, 
 which even your clairvoyant sight cannot see. You have 
 not yet learned to see one-half the things your physical 
 eyes are capable of seeing. There are worlds within 
 worlds, and worlds outside of worlds, and man has not 
 learned to know one of them yet. Man does not know 
 how to see, hear, taste, smell or feel, as he might, and 
 must some day. If he had spent as much time in culti- 
 vating his senses as he has in devising ways to pervert 
 and abuse them, he would not be where he is today. 
 
 In a very old book, you are told to * ' gird up the loins 
 of your mind," why do you not preach a short sermon 
 from that text? If you preach ten minutes, they will 
 listen to you, if longer than that, they will begin to 
 wonder whether they left the cat inside or outside the 
 kitchen door when they left home. 
 
 The moon shines with reflected light, hence the cracks. 
 If it, like the sun, shone with inner, "in itself," light, 
 there would be no cracks. Human beings are, as a whole, 
 
88 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 like the moon ; they all reflect light when they are turned 
 toward the light, but when they are turned away from 
 it, they are too dark to be seen. 
 
 Those that shine with inner light cannot be hidden; 
 they are dependable, but never dependent; for they 
 carry the light within themselves, and all can have the 
 benefit of it; but no one can rob them of nor dimmish 
 the light ; neither does turning about increase nor dimin- 
 ish it. Such a person has no cracks in his mentality, in 
 which hideous, ugly creeping things can manifest. 
 
 Man, at a certain stage of growth, like the moon, to 
 the telescopic eye, presents the craters of extinct volca- 
 noes, extinct because the force which produced them 
 has spent itself and no longer exists. After the fires 
 of appetite and passion have exhausted themselves, down 
 deep in the deepest crack which they have left, self still 
 manifests in hideous, insidious, crawling forms. As 
 there is a certain persistence manifesting in the moon- 
 crack creatures, so in the deepest furrow of every men- 
 tality, self-life is rooted tenaciously. Truth alone can 
 uproot self. When self dies, fear dies with it. With 
 fear, also dies grief, jealousy, anxiety, greed, pride, 
 prejudice and a host of lesser evils. 
 
 Man is unlike the moon in this respect : the moon has 
 no power to shine with an inner light, and man has, 
 when he kicks off his swathing bands and awakes to 
 consciousness; but both man and moon appear broken 
 and imperfect in form, except when in the full light of 
 the One Light. 
 
 You have heard much about Astral, that is, starry 
 beings ; now you have heard of moony beings. 
 THE BUDDHA TREE 
 
 One day while walking down the street, No-Where-In- 
 Particular, I overtook a stranger and, feeling lonely, I 
 asked permission to keep him company. "Certainly," 
 he said gravely. ' ' I have been expecting you. My name 
 is Hadan." 
 
 I was so surprised, I forgot to introduce myself. 
 
THE MOON AND THE BUDDHA TREE 89 
 
 "How long have you been in this country !" I asked. 
 
 11 About fifteen years, I think. " 
 
 Hadan's manner was gentle and well-bred; but, as 
 he seemed to expect me to lead in the conversation, I 
 persisted. 1 1 What sort of a country is it as a whole ? ' ' 
 
 "Any sort of a country you have the mind to make 
 it, I should say/' 
 
 "Oh! I see!" I said slowly, "you must be a Christian 
 Scientist, I think." 
 
 "There are no Christian Scientists here." 
 
 "What!" I ejaculated, "this cannot be Heaven!" 
 
 * ' That depends largely upon yourself, ' ' he said gently, 
 1 ' how would you like to sit for awhile under the Buddha 
 Tree?" 
 
 Something in the stranger's words, struck me oddly. 
 I had a dim recollection of something remote, something 
 too foreign to be desirable. I did not wish to give 
 offence, but I hesitated. 
 
 A peculiar look passed over Hadan's face. "You have 
 altogether too good an opinion of yourself, I see, but 
 you will get over it," he added encouragingly. 
 
 Just as I was wondering if our relations were becom- 
 ing strained, we entered a bank of gray fog, from the 
 center of which came the voice of a man crying hoarsely, 
 "Who am I, for God's sake who am I?" 
 
 A tall, thin man, with a weak chin and mouth, and 
 half vacant eyes, stared at us. 
 
 "Sakes alive, man!" I said, "don't you know who 
 you are?" He shook his head weakly. 
 
 A bright idea struck me (I have occasionally had one), 
 and I said," If you do not know who you are, perhaps 
 you can tell me what you are." 
 
 "0, yes," he said proudly, "I am the greatest psychic 
 in all this country, the most famous medium in the 
 world. I have eight guides, all of them famous in the 
 world's history. I can heal every disease known, find 
 hidden treasures, locate mines and wells of water, fore- 
 tell future events, read the records of the past " 
 
90 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 "Hold on, sir!" I said, "just call up one of these 
 famous guides and I will ask him to tell me who you 
 are." 
 
 The man stared at me a moment, and then said haught- 
 ily (he must have been very cold, for he shivered vio- 
 lently), "I perceive, sir, that you are an unbeliever; 
 therefore, you do not furnish right conditions. I am 
 extremely sensitive to people's vibrations, so I will bid 
 you good-day." 
 
 Hadan touched me on the shoulder. "Come away," 
 he said, "the man will learn something worth while 
 some day." 
 
 1 ' Is the man crazy ? " I asked. 
 
 "That depends upon your interpretation of the word 
 crazy. He is certainly not in his right mind; for a 
 right mind cultivates itself, develops itself to the utter- 
 most, relies upon its own powers, shuns notoriety and 
 prefers to do a little, well, rather than a great deal, 
 half way. There is little credit to one who permits his 
 faculties to be used by another, to the exclusion or 
 dwarfing of his own." 
 
 "Do you mind telling me what your religion is?" J 
 asked timidly. 
 
 "To treat everyone as if he were myself," was the 
 terse reply. 
 
 At this moment we came to a steep and very rocky 
 hill, with a foot-path winding in and out through tangled 
 briars and Canada thistles, until it was lost to view. 
 Upon a rock at the foot of the hill sat an elderly woman. 
 The sun was pouring its heat full upon her, but she 
 did not heed; her square-cut jaw was set and her thin 
 straight lips were tightly closed. She was the personifi- 
 cation of grim resolve. Occasionally she spoke. The 
 words were literally hurled forth, and, listening, I heard, 
 ' ' There is no pain ! there is no heat ! there are no briars, 
 no thistles, no rocks ! ' ' 
 
 "Pardon me, madam," I interrupted, "but if these 
 things have no existence, why are you thinking about 
 
THE MOON AND THE BUDDHA TREE 91 
 
 them? Why waste time and strength in denying the 
 existence of that which does not exist!" 
 
 The woman opened her eyes and gazed frigidly at me, 
 "Sir, you have broken in upon my concentration," she 
 said ; ' ' please depart, ' ' We departed. 
 
 For some time neither of us spoke; then I said, "It 
 seems to me, that woman is trying to drive up that hill 
 with her horse behind her cart." 
 
 "How so?" asked Hadan. 
 
 "Well, it seems to me, that instead of denying the 
 heat, I would get out of it, or else assert my ability 
 to overcome the unpleasantness of too much of it. If I 
 whack my shins against a rock, instead of denying the 
 existence of the pain and the rock, is it not far better 
 to pass the incident as a mere trifle, too unimportant 
 to detain me in accomplishing my journey? If, for 
 some reason, it should detain me, then I would know 
 that it was for a wise purpose and accept it thankfully." 
 
 Hadan looked at me sharply, "You would not have 
 thought of this, if you had not met the woman," he 
 said. "Is there any one you would specially care to 
 meet?" 
 
 "Is there any such thing as an angel?" 
 
 "Certainly there is." 
 
 "Then I want to see one." 
 
 "Very well, you shall, by and by." 
 
 Just then I glanced at the ground and saw the leaves 
 and branches of a tree outlined in light, instead of 
 shadow. I looked up in amazement. "Where am I?" 
 I asked. 
 
 Hadan smiled. "Under the Buddha Tree," he said. 
 
 8. C. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 I FIND THE ANGELS 
 
 TIN peddler came to my home one day when I 
 was a small boy," said Uncle Jake, "and the 
 arrival of a tin peddler was an event. It broke 
 the monotony of things, and gave the women folks some- 
 thing new to talk about. This particular day it gave 
 me something new to cry about. I wanted a jack knife, 
 my mother wanted a milk strainer, and there were not 
 rags enough to go around, so to speak, and the jack knife 
 proposition fell through. 
 
 The peddler was a lank, solemn-looking fellow, with 
 a twinkle in one corner of one eye, and he said to me 
 confidentially, while he was watering the horse, 'Now, 
 look here, Bub; it don't do a mite of good to cry about 
 anything ; just save your time and strength for thinking 
 some way out of your trouble. Troubles are like pigs; 
 the more you feed them by thinking about them, the 
 faster they grow; and they soon will make hogs of 
 themselves and fill the whole trough and swaggle every- 
 thing you put in it ; so don 't feed them. Stop thinking 
 that kind of thoughts and they'll not bother you any 
 more. ' 
 
 " 'How are you going to see any way out of a thing 
 when there ain't any?' said I. 
 
 " 'There never was any way ever invented yet that 
 hasn't had two ends to it,' says he, 'and lots of stopping 
 places along it. Now, let me tell you something worth 
 knowing, Bub ; if you want a thing real bad, go to work 
 and make it, if possible, but if you can't make it, buy 
 it; if you can't buy it, then know that you either don't 
 
 92 
 
I FIND THE ANGELS 93 
 
 need it and are better off without it, or else it will come 
 to you in some way or other, seven chances to ten. But, 
 if you keep your head level and your eyes peeled, you 
 will find a jack knife within a month/ and, sure enough 
 I did, lying in the road just as plain as could be, and a 
 three-blader, too." 
 
 Now, this story which Uncle Jake told me has been a 
 sort of foundation plank in my philosophy all through 
 my earth-life; and, when you leave the coarser for the 
 finer, you take the foundation planks along with you, 
 and they come mighty handy right here. 
 
 Perhaps you cannot see what all this has to do with 
 angels; but I do. I never took so much stock in the 
 sweet bye and bye business as some folks do; so, after 
 I had waited a reasonable length of time (as it seemed 
 to me), for Hadan to appear and escort me to Angel 
 Town, and he did not manifest, I began to think of 
 some way to bring my desire to pass, my own self. Some 
 one with more knowledge of religion than of politics 
 said : " There is no Savior in all the world but Truth." 
 
 If I had known one certain truth, I would have been 
 saved a lot of trouble. The tin peddler's philosophy, like 
 all other philosophies, had a weak spot in it. A philoso- 
 phy is like a tin pan with a hole in it, worthless until 
 mended. The tin peddler should have said, if you cannot 
 make the thing you want, learn how to make it, if pos- 
 sible. 
 
 We are told that all things are possible with God; 
 also, that God is everywhere. Allowing all this to be 
 true, it follows naturally that each individual can make 
 an " angel," one, only one, but one is enough! 
 
 There are always two points of view, the real and the 
 unreal. If the tin peddler's philosophy had not been 
 leaky, I would have missed all the experience that came 
 between me and the knowledge I wanted. I did not 
 know how an angel looked nor where to look for one ; but 
 I started with determination written all over me. I had 
 seen pictures of angels all my life, and the men who 
 
94 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 made those angels were as ignorant as myself, as after 
 events proved. 
 
 I had never "wanted to be an angel and with the 
 angels stand/* If there was any one thing more than 
 another that I was afraid of, it was being an angel 
 and no wonder who wants to be a monstrosity anyway ? 
 
 The only way to do a thing is to do it, so I began 
 the first step. I did not take even one squint at the 
 stars, or look to see whether the wind or the moon was 
 in the right quarter, I just started. I had not traveled 
 far until I came across a man sitting under a bush. He 
 was the man who had the eight famous guides. 
 
 " Hello, " said I, "have you been introduced to your- 
 self yet ?" 
 
 "Go away," he said imploringly, "for Heaven's sake 
 don't look at me! I am a fool, too big a fool to live! a 
 fool, I tell yon!" 
 
 There was such a ring of anguish in the man's voice 
 that I was stirred with pity. "0, cheer up," I said, 
 "don't take it so much to heart; you are only one fool 
 among countless millions of them. It is not what you 
 have been, but what you are at each particular minute 
 that will count through the ages to come ; it isn 't what 
 you believe but what you do that counts anyway; get 
 busy and help somebody to be happy, and he will not 
 ask you any embarrassing questions, if you quit when 
 the right time comes. Be a man now, no matter what 
 you have been." 
 
 "All right, I will!" 
 
 What is it we read about being l i changed in a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye?" I am thinking there is a 
 whole lot in those words after all, for something in that 
 man, and something in me, changed very suddenly. 
 
 The same Law which draws the waters from the dis- 
 tant mountain tops through valleys, ravines, plains and 
 rocky beds into the wave-tossed sea, draws man into the 
 sea of experience; the sort of experience he needs at 
 
I FIND THE ANGELS 95 
 
 that particular time, draws him individually, draws him 
 collectively. 
 
 "Wandering on unheedingly, wrapped in deep thought, 
 I suddenly heard the shouts of revelers, the maudlin 
 laughter that, once heard, is ever after associated with 
 drunkenness. I entered a magnificent home, and made 
 my way to the great banqueting room, where a score 
 or more of male and female people were engaged in 
 debauchery. Costly pictures and statuary, rich draper- 
 ies and rugs had impressed my consciousness as I en- 
 tered the house, and here the lights shone upon costly 
 glass that gleamed and glowed and sparkled ; upon bur- 
 nished silver and gold and diamonds and pearls, repre- 
 senting many a fortune. Soft white hands which never 
 had known honest labor flashed with jewels ; silken robes, 
 representing the broken hearts and ruined lives of 
 countless numbers, partly concealed the well rounded 
 arms and bodies of the females gathered there. 
 
 I saw with eyes that saw, and I groaned in the agony 
 of my understanding. Here were people who knew not 
 the meaning of the words, work and responsibility, 
 squandering tens of thousands of dollars, of which they 
 had never earned a penny, while without, a great army 
 of tortured mothers strove in vain to hush the waitings 
 of their starving babes. 
 
 I rushed from the house. I went out to try and thinV 
 I had seen rich people. There was nothing new to me 
 in wealth, as the world sees it, nor in the things wealth 
 will buy, that is not the point; the point is, that I saw 
 that there is no real wealth in wealth, absolutely none. 
 These people, in their costly robes and jewels, costly 
 indeed, were poorer than any church mice ever un- 
 churched. 
 
 Some one has said, " Money is power, " and millions 
 of fools have believed it. Money is power only when it 
 comes to obtaining material things, the things that per- 
 ish, the things we sell our souls for, the things for which 
 we barter all our joy and peace. 
 
96 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 The people who have wealth think they have every- 
 thing, until they try to buy health, love and friendship, 
 the real and not sham, and then, we all Jmow what 
 happens, or, we should know. 
 
 Then there are the poor, who fondly imagine that, if 
 they had this unearned wealth, they could have every- 
 thing, and so make a bigger hell for themselves, trying 
 to get more fuel to feed the flames that are smoldering. 
 
 Yes ; I went out to try and comprehend my new revela- 
 tion of old conditions, for those who earnestly desire 
 knowledge sometimes pull down onto themselves more 
 than they can handle at one time, and a new point of 
 view is often tremendously upsetting. 
 
 Almost immediately, I found myself in a dimly- 
 lighted, filthy street, with tall, dingy tenement houses 
 on every hand. Blear-eyed male creatures, with coarse 
 features and bloated faces, gave expression to passions 
 more loathsome than any beast ever demonstrated; fe- 
 male creatures with disheveled hair and filthy, tattered 
 garments, partially concealing their nakedness, fought 
 together in bare and filthy rooms, where frightened chil- 
 dren huddled in the shadows or wailed piteously from 
 heaps of straw. I stood for how long? and gazed 
 around me ; and again I turned and fled. 
 
 After a time, I became conscious that I was alone 
 under the starry heavens. The sound of water rippli^ r 
 gurgling, babbling along its way made heavenly melody 
 in my tortured ears, and tall trees threw shadows de( ; 
 and black across my pathway. I hurled myself upon a 
 mossy rock and the sweet odor of ferns and wild roses 
 came restfully to me. 
 
 Like many another mortal, I had gone out searching 
 for angels and found devils; and like many another 
 man I had to learn several truths. I was aroused by a 
 light footstep, and opened my eyes to see the whole land- 
 scape flooded with moonlight; and so miserable was I 
 that I almost envied the moon-crack creatures their thin 
 crawly life. 
 
I FIND THE ANGELS 97 
 
 I heard the sound of music, wonderful music, sweet, 
 winning, persuasive music, which almost pulled me 
 away from myself upward into the most perfect dream 
 I ever dreamed, become material; such a state of con- 
 sciousness as we name Heaven. 
 
 I felt a touch upon my shoulder and a sweet, clear 
 voice said, " Please come; I need you.'* 
 
 I sprang to my feet and looked into the purest fapp 
 I had ever seen, a face where nobility of purpose, 
 strength and tenderness shone forth in all their beauty. 
 A simple white gown fell in soft folds about her and 
 her every movement suggested unconscious grace. An 
 elderly woman, the very personification of motherliness, 
 was with her, and a golden halo encircled her shapely 
 head. Without a word. I followed them. We entered 
 a maernificent church edifice; and. it is safe to say, that 
 it was never used for a better purpose. 
 
 I could not keep from smiling when I thousrht how its 
 rich-robed, self-satisfied dames, bankers, and wealth- 
 seeking, self-seeking Sunday occupants would shriek, if 
 thev could see the present gathering. 
 
 Mv new friends appnded the pulpit, and the white- 
 robed, halo-crowned Workers came in bringing their lost 
 sheep and prodigals with them. It seemed to me, that 
 every class of vice-grinppd prodigal was represented 
 there, and, as for the Workers, I suddenlv realized that 
 each had come UP through great trials, through suffer- 
 ing, self-effacement and renunciation, to the place which 
 they now occupied. I knpw that Love Supreme was the 
 power that gave them their strength and tenderness and 
 wisdom. 
 
 Suddpnlv the murmurinsrs of discontent, the moan- 
 ing, and the weeping, opased and dead silence reigned as 
 a man appeared standing amidst the vast crowd. The 
 organ began to plav an old familiar air. Tremblinglv, 
 softlv and sweetlv fell the tones for a moment, and then 
 the man began to sing, " There were ninety and nine, 
 that safely lay in the shelter of the fold," and 0,! how 
 
98 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 that man did sing! No language can ever describe it. 
 The hardened hearts present melted like wax in the 
 sunshine; they forgot their hatred and bitterness, and 
 wept like little children. 
 
 A few tender encouraging words from my new friends 
 followed this, and then the great singer asked them all 
 to join with him in singing ' * Jesus, Lover of My Soul. ' ' 
 Never shall I forget that scene I shall bring the mem- 
 ory of it with me when I come back. 
 
 As the last notes died away, I felt someone near me, 
 and looking up saw Hadan. 
 
 "Well?" he said inquiringly. I caught his hand, and 
 cried, "I have found them." 
 
 "Found who?" 
 
 "The Angels, of course." 
 
 "Yes," he said slowly, "and when you get an oppor- 
 tunity, tell the scoffing, doubting children of earth, there 
 is still power in the Master's Name to heal and save." 
 
 I have told it. 8. C. 
 

 CHAPTER XIV 
 ONE CLEKGYMAN'S EXPEKIENCE 
 
 ES ; I think I was very much disappointed when 
 I first found myself outside my physical body; 
 not that I had any right to be, but, like the ma- 
 jority of mankind, I had hoped to jump from grace to 
 glory, hoped that Death would give me wings, so to 
 speak. I think there are very few church people that 
 are not disappointed in the after-death conditions. By 
 church people I mean church members as a whole; for 
 very few of them are Christians in the true sense of the 
 word. Many intensely religious people build for them- 
 selves an after-death condition, which satisfies them for 
 a brief time ; but, when they have awakened from their 
 illusion, suffering is inevitable. 
 
 Like most of the clergy, my idea of Heaven was very 
 narrow; and, put into plain language and freed from 
 emotionalism, it might be summed up in this way: a 
 place somewhere; God (no clear idea in regard to God) ; 
 Jesus, perhaps an individual; Angels, real beings of a 
 superior order ; a beautiful city with streets of gold and 
 gates of pearl ; harps and plenty of music and singing ; 
 crowns and white robes to wear ; thrones to sit upon and 
 palm leaves to carry. This, taken literally, sounds very 
 foolish, does it not? Taken figuratively, it is most 
 beautiful. 
 
 If a person is foolish enough to permit himself to be- 
 lieve in an after-death condition so absurd as the one I 
 have depicted, and which is universally accepted by so- 
 called Christians, he ought to be greatly disappointed, 
 as he is. 
 
 99 
 
100 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 You can readily see that the greater one's love for 
 God and Humanity, and the less his love of self, the 
 sooner he will become adjusted to conditions apd usefully 
 occupied here. 
 
 Not until a person has learned to know himself as 
 a being separate from his instruments, body and mind, 
 with their habits and tendencies, will he be able to dis- 
 tinguish between that Holy One, Jesus and Christ, the 
 Son of God. Fortunately one does not have to make 
 this distinction, in order to lead a blameless life. 
 
 Jesus was born for the express purpose which He so 
 nobly carried out. Thru ages of time, He had been 
 fitting Himself to be that which He was, and is; and 
 Mary, His mother, had also fitted herself to ~be His 
 mother. Thru great experience and suffering, she had 
 been purified. 
 
 No one can possibly understand the Bible, nor the 
 great truths taught therein, unless he accepts re-embodi- 
 ment as a truth. At any time previous to my liberation 
 from my physical body, I would have looked upon the 
 subject of re-embodiment as being too heathenish for a 
 moment's consideration; and now I hold it as a priceless 
 truth. 
 
 However, I can truthfully say that I was honest and 
 sincere in my ministerial work. I did not work for 
 material gain nor earthly honors ; but for what I really 
 believed was the one thing most desirable of all things, 
 and the best good for all humanity. God blessed my 
 efforts, as He does yours, and the efforts of all who are 
 sincere, to the best good of thousands, that is, their 
 greatest good at the time it came to them. Good, like 
 everything else, is progressive. We are exhorted to grow 
 in grace and the knowledge of God, daily ; and the awak- 
 ened soul will always do so. 
 
 There is only one path to Heaven, and that is the path 
 of self-sacrifice, until that perfect Love comes, which 
 knows not personal self nor sacrifice. Most people are 
 so selfish, they want an easy road to Heaven ; and a sue- 
 
ONE CLERGYMAN'S EXPERIENCE 101 
 
 cession of lives in a physical body does not appeal to 
 them. They want the things the way they want them, 
 and, having attained them, as they surely will, they find 
 trouble and sorrow come with them. 
 
 If you observe, as you may have, you will notice that 
 those who cling to the idea of a far-away Heaven of 
 perfect bliss, are those who have done very little worth 
 while here. Those, who have conquered earthly things 
 and in Spirit are victorious, are willing, if not eager, to 
 return to earth life and play their part in perfecting a 
 race, to perfect the world God has given them for this 
 same purpose. 
 
 After I was freed from my physical body, I met many 
 of those I had loved and lost and believed (without 
 much thinking), to be in Heaven. We walked in green 
 fields and beautiful gardens. We strolled beside rivers 
 and lakes and thru forests,' and sat upon rocks and mossy 
 knolls, and talked of past, present and future. At my 
 request, many of my friends gave me their experiences 
 after the world called them dead; and no two had the 
 same experience. When I asked, "Where am I?" they 
 gave me no definite answer. 
 
 Summed up it was like this: I ask you where you 
 are, and you reply, * ' Here. ' ' 
 
 Some of my loved ones had passed to a higher plane 
 of expression; and I saw them only in vision, a fact 
 which puzzled me greatly. I saw many of my flock of 
 converts, and a few of my brethren in the ministry. 
 The latter seemed as much at a loss to account for their 
 present conditions as I was; and many of the former 
 were inclined to blame me as the cause of their dissatis- 
 faction. A few derided me and said scornfully, "You 
 could tell us all about God and His plan of salvation 
 from start to finish, when you were preaching ; and now 
 you know no more than we do ; you cannot find the road 
 to Heaven to save you.*' 
 
 This and much more of like nature I listened to ; f or 
 it is amazing how many uncomfortable things an un- 
 
102 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 comfortable person can think of! I grew very weary 
 of it all; and, as it was my custom, I took it all to the 
 Lord in prayer, and He heard me and delivered me. 
 I had never once doubted that there was a Lord to 
 hear, I had had too many wonderful experiences while 
 in my physical body for that. Eight here and now I 
 make this statement: whoever in the sincerity of his 
 heart and in faith believing, calls unto the Lord is always 
 heard and answered; and it does not matter either, if 
 his idea of the Lord is far from correct. Deliverance 
 does not always come to us in the way we think it ought 
 to come, but it comes in God's way, which is always the 
 best way. 
 
 After having taken my troubles to the Lord in prayer, 
 I went to a rock-strewn sea shore and sat down and 
 waited expectantly for light to come to me. After a 
 short time, I felt a touch upon my shoulder, and, look- 
 ing up, saw a man clothed in a purple robe, standing be- 
 side me. The man was very fair and his face showed 
 purity and strength; and the moment I looked into his 
 kindly blue eyes I felt that I had found a friend. 
 
 "I have been sent to find you and take you with me 
 to a meeting that is to be held tonight/' he said pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 "All right!" I said, and without a question, sprang to 
 my feet, eager to go. 
 
 We passed with great rapidity, fields, rivers, lakes, 
 forests, cities and villages. At last we came to a moun- 
 tain, forest-clad, and quite rocky at the summit. Here, 
 around an immense Altar, was gathered a concourse of 
 people numbering several hundred, all of whom were 
 standing silent and expectant. My guide and I took 
 our places with the rest. Soon the space back of the 
 Altar filled with white-robed men and women ; and, oh ! 
 such perfect specimens of spiritualized manhood and 
 womanhood as they were ! Many of them carried musical 
 instruments, and a large number wore upon the forehead 
 a glittering star, which I now know is everywhere the 
 
ONE CLERGYMAN'S EXPERIENCE 103 
 
 badge of the wholly consecrated soul devoted to rescue 
 or missionary work. 
 
 A tall, handsome man, with strong features and won- 
 derful dark eyes, appeared beside the Altar as suddenly 
 as if he had dropped from Heaven. 
 
 "We will now begin the services/' he said; and he 
 lighted a fire upon the center of the Altar. 
 
 The flames leaped upward and took the form of a great 
 cross: a spectacle so wonderful, I was filled with awe. 
 They then began to sing, the Teacher leading, and, as 
 accustomed as I was to real devotional singing, I was 
 lost in amazement and delight. The first song was ' ' Rock 
 of Ages." The last stanza was considerably changed; 
 but the next hymn they sang, "Ho, Reapers of Life's 
 Harvest, ' ' was the same as in the Gospel Hymns. 
 
 After the hymns were sung, the Teacher lighted a huge 
 censer of incense; and, as the smoke ascended, there 
 appeared floating thru and around it, fairy-like forms, 
 beautiful with an etherealized beauty beyond descrip- 
 tion. Clouds of dazzlinsr light formed ovpr the Altar 
 and wisps and waves of the most wonderful shades of 
 blue and violet floated over our heads and rose in a 
 quivering column from our midst. 
 
 Standing reverentially at the right of the Altar, the 
 Teacher told us that our beloved Master and one of His 
 disciples of the olden time would soon be with us. He 
 said that twelve of the Master's faithful followers, who 
 had never met there before, were present, and the 
 Master, having heard their prayers, and knowing their 
 sincerity and devotion, had requested that they come 
 forward to the Altar. A great joy, a mighty impulse 
 that knew neither doubt nor fear, took possession of 
 me, and I sprang eagerly forward, as did also the eleven 
 others, six women and five men. 
 
 Assuming the attitude of prayer, the Teacher in 
 a rich, mellow voice, which thrilled my very being, sang : 
 
104 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 "How long, loving Master, wilt thou remain away? 
 Our longing hearts are waiting; come Thou to us we 
 
 pray! 
 
 blessed is this moment, when brighter far than morn, 
 The sunlight of Thy Presence shall on Thy people 
 
 dawn. ' ' 
 
 As the last notes of the song-prayer died away, there 
 appeared upon the stone platform back of the Altar, 
 and in front of the musicians, in the full light of the 
 flaming cross, two men and a woman. 
 
 Right here I want to say, that to the present I have 
 110 knowledge regarding the identity of the woman, but 
 her sacred presence seemed to enfold us all in loving, 
 motherly arms. I still think of her as the perfection of 
 womanly grace and Motherhood. 
 
 Above and beyond all I had ever dreamed or imaged, 
 was the Man among men, upon Whom every eye was 
 turned. Not a word or accent or movement did He make 
 that could not be classed as loving and simple. 0, so 
 tender and gentle ! ' ' The vilest sinner can indeed go to 
 Him," I thought, for His understanding is so great, He 
 has already comprehended the why of everything we 
 have ever done, and, in that comprehension, He sees 
 nothing to forgive ; to Him there is neither good nor evil, 
 wonderful thought! forgiveness belongs to a lower 
 plane of understanding, the plane where good and evil 
 still struggle for supremacy and ignorance still reigns." 
 
 The idea of Jesus as a terrible Judge, coming to take 
 vengeance on His enemies, passed forever from my mind. 
 0, how those ancient writings regarding our blessed 
 Teacher have been mis-translated and mis-interpreted! 
 
 While standing there in the Master's Presence, it was 
 revealed to me that Jesus and Christ are two Beings 
 instead of One ; and, in the records we have, it was some- 
 times Jesus that spake and sometimes Christ. No one 
 can ever reason anything out right unless he starts 
 right. Looking upon Him as He stood there before us, I 
 understood the meaning of His words, "I have over- 
 
ONE CLERGYMAN'S EXPERIENCE 105 
 
 come the world"; and also many other things He said. 
 
 The words He spake to us this memorable night were 
 few and simple ; but in their tenderness lay their power, 
 or so it seemed to me. No one can overcome the world 
 except thru understanding, soul comprehension, which 
 enables one to speak with authority, which always carries 
 conviction to the minds of the hearers; add to this the 
 gentleness born of Love made perfect, and you have a 
 Power which sweeps every obstacle before it. I was con- 
 scious, however, that His helpfulness came not so much 
 from His words, as from His Presence, and, Sister, is 
 this not true of all that live The Life ? Do we not rely 
 altogether too much upon words f 
 
 When the Master had finished speaking, He came for- 
 ward and, taking each one of the waiting twelve by the 
 hand, He gave to each a few words of loving recognition 
 and encouragement. Never will I forget the touch of 
 that hand ! I do not wonder that in the days of old, the 
 fever left those He touched. Lifting His hands, and 
 looking upward, He blessed us, and then the whole 
 gathering. Turning to His Disciple, He said, indicating 
 the whole number: Feed my sheep. " Then turning 
 to our Teacher, He said, indicating the twelve, "Feed 
 my lambs" and vanished from our sight. 
 
 At the request of our Teacher and Leader we all 
 joined in singing the hymn beginning, "We are living, 
 we are dwelling in a grand, eventful time." 
 
 Then the Disciple came forward and spoke to us 
 earnestly, every sentence of practical value. He told 
 us of this Great Judgment Day, when the accumulated 
 wrongs of ages shall come to judgment; and, Infinite 
 Love, seated on its great white throne, will see that 
 all is settled right. He said, that before this great day 
 of wrath (man's wrath, not God's), is passed, every 
 soul will have been tried by fire. He told us that the 
 forces commonly recognized as good and evil, were now 
 rapidly separating, and soon every person and every 
 thing will be revealed in a True Light, a Light that 
 
106 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 must eventually overcome the darkness and establish 
 upon this earth, the reign of God and of His Christ; 
 and this reign will endure as long as the world endures, 
 or until all of God involved has been evolved. 
 
 Altho the speaker used, to a large extent, the old 
 phraseology, he brought out of it wonderful new mean- 
 ings. It is truly amazing how beautiful a thing will 
 appear when the Light of Truth shines upon it! And, 
 0, the joy that comes in seeing things alright ! 
 
 It is safe to say, that when the speaker had finished, 
 we needed no exhorting to stimulate us to work as we 
 have never worked before. As soon as he had finished 
 speaking, the Disciple and the Supreme Mother (if I 
 am permitted to call her so), disappeared from our 
 vision. 
 
 Our Teacher then explained to us that in order to 
 have success in anv undertaking, it i? nec^ c arv that 
 each worker follow the Law of Love. He said that any 
 person who undertakes to do work that he does not love 
 to do is doing himself, and all those he is associated 
 with, an injustice. 
 
 "You must remember, " he said, "that our Great 
 Leader wants a loving service only ; duty service, viewed 
 from a spiritual standpoint, is not service. Love is the 
 conquering power, and the watchword always. If you 
 feel any lack of love toward your work, stop at once; 
 for you are out of tune. Take to the people of earth 
 this message wherever possible: "Work in the Master's 
 vinevard because vou are so full of Love, you cannot help 
 working, and not from any personal motive whatsoever. ' ' 
 
 Each of us then chose our special phase of the work, 
 and I chose to go among those who were still wandering 
 in shame and doubt and sorrow unspeakable, because I 
 could preach to them the old religion, with modifications, 
 as they were able to bear it. 
 
 Jesus and His Disciples never taught salvation thru 
 literal blood; but salvation thru Love Divine, which 
 
ONE CLERGYMAN'S EXPERIENCE 107 
 
 slays those animal qualities which are symbolized by 
 blood. 
 
 Love is the only saving power, and it ever lifts the 
 soul upward into joy and peace and power. 
 
 After the arrangements regarding our work had been 
 made, we all joined hands, circle within circle, with our 
 Teacher in the center, and sang together "Coronation," 
 just as you find it in the Gospel Hymns. M. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 ASTRAL PLANE EXPERIENCES 
 
 ESUS told His disciples, that He would make 
 them fishers of men ; and I think, my dear Sis- 
 ter, that is what you have become; for your 
 line is dangling in the waters of the finer realm of being, 
 most of the time. Fortunately, you are not very par- 
 ticular whom you catch, so long as you get something 
 helpful. 
 
 Every resident of the Astral world has his own ex- 
 periences, which in some respects differ from every other 
 person's experiences. That experience known as Birth 
 is the same to each one born, and that experience known 
 as Death is the same to each one passing through it ; but, 
 as to what happens to the one born and the one dead, 
 immediately after those activities, that is another sub- 
 ject. 
 
 In regard to receiving deceptive communications, I 
 see little danger. There is nothing in your desires to 
 draw a class of liars to you ; and your spiritual develop- 
 ment will protect you. If it were not for your spiritual 
 unfoldment, you would be constantly deceived by those 
 in flesh and blood. 
 
 The people of your country are a nation of prevari- 
 cators and exaggerators. The average American cannot 
 spend time to hear or see anything accurately, it takes 
 self -discipline to do that, but he will not deliberately 
 lie unless a lie will, in a business way, answer his pur- 
 pose better than the truth. 
 
 People of an idealistic and artistic temperament, un- 
 less spiritually developed, are very likely to embellish 
 
 108 
 
ASTRAL PLANE EXPERIENCES 109 
 
 their statements with frills and furbelows; for they 
 rarely ever see anything in the same light in which a 
 prosaic, matter-of-fact person sees it. Sometimes the 
 idealist sees things from a truer standpoint than the 
 other; and he almost always sees it as it ought to have 
 been. 
 
 The untruthful person has a hard time here; for he 
 finds nothing permanent nor substantial. His friends 
 vanish; his home dissolves; and, even the ground upon 
 which he treads, breaks under his feet, and the verdure 
 withers and fades. 
 
 We each find our own place and the conditions exist- 
 ing there are those we have made for ourselves, those 
 in harmony with ourselves. Conditions here frequently 
 change rapidly, according to the strength of the emo- 
 tions. Where you go, what you find, whom you see, 
 depends upon your rate of vibration. 
 
 If your heart is filled with the Christ Love, you are 
 vibrating with angels ; and you will be one with them. If 
 your heart is full of hatred, you are vibrating with 
 devils and must be one with them until hatred has been 
 eliminated. If you are just average mortal, in whom 
 good and evil struggle for supremacy, then you are 
 elected to have many vivid experiences; for this Astral 
 realm is the threshing floor where we learn to discrimi- 
 nate between the wheat and the chaff. 
 
 Among my acquaintances in earth life was Lord X 
 who was not a bad man, except for a terrible hatred 
 which he entertained toward Lord B, who owned an 
 adjoining estate. The two men left their physical bodies 
 about the same time. I met Lord X one day when I 
 was traveling and stopped to chat with him. 
 
 While we were talking, Lord B came along, and X 
 flew into a most terrible rage. The effect was frightful. 
 X was immediately enveloped in a sheet of flame, from 
 and through which zigzag flashes, if inky blackness 
 can be designated that way, shot and quivered. B gave 
 one startled look at his enemv and fled. 
 
110 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 X went down, down in a lurid glare and his anger 
 turned to terror and, when he began to call on God to 
 save him from he knew not what, the atmosphere 
 around him began to change to an ashen gray. I let the 
 God in me come to the rescue of X and, after a time, 
 normal conditions were restored, but not without great 
 suffering to him. X never dared to give way to his 
 passion again, but a person who is good through fear is 
 not very good. 
 
 Time went on and I met both men frequently, and they 
 would have met each other, if they had not studiously 
 avoided it. Next to a strong love, there is nothing which 
 draws so persistently as hatred. Whatever the object 
 hated, that object will follow one like his shadow. 
 
 B, while in the physical body, had been a great sinner 
 where young women were concerned, and here he beheld 
 his past conduct in its true light and sensed the depth 
 of the suffering he had brought to pass. The man had 
 much good in him, and it awakened and he was filled 
 with remorse and intense suffering. He had really loved 
 two persons in his earth life, his mother and a little 
 sister, who had passed out in childhood. Before his 
 awakening, he had sought diligently to find these loved 
 ones; but after he was awakened, he lived in constant 
 fear lest they should come to him and read his shameful 
 history. 
 
 In his agony of soul he prayed, prayed earnestly such 
 a prayer as a man can never pray but once in any 
 stage of expression. As always, the answer came, for 
 the Watchers always hear and never fail. 
 
 Beside B stood a white-robed being, wearing the badge 
 of the missionary spirit ; tenderly he lifted the fallen man 
 and explained to him the wondrous Love Divine, which 
 alone can save. He explained to him why his loved ones 
 had not been to him and comforted and counseled him. 
 The result was, that B established a mission for that 
 class of women, whom the world looks upon as outcasts. 
 
 Mental conditions hold for a time, often a long 
 
ASTRAL PLANE EXPERIENCES 111 
 
 time, after one is liberated from the physical body ; and, 
 when a woman has stepped aside from the prescribed 
 path of virtue, she has it so firmly fixed in her mind 
 that she is an outcast, that here where she feels sure 
 every one knows, she persistently hides away in shame 
 and terror, oftentimes mingled with bitterness, envy and 
 resentment. 
 
 Love, tenderness and patience are required to do this 
 rescue work successfully, and these qualities our friend 
 B cultivated to such an extent, that he became radiant 
 with life and power; and his lifetime enemy X became 
 so in love with him, that he joined with him in the good 
 work, a loyal friend and helper. 
 
 It seems so strange to me that the people of earth 
 cannot see that Love is the only power that can trans- 
 form, lift up, purify, strengthen, illumine and save. 
 
 There are thousands of people who would be glad to 
 help the people of earth, by giving their experiences 
 here, but the tales they would tell are of a nature that 
 their names could not be given, or else they are of a 
 nature that would not harmonize with the world's idea 
 concerning them. 
 
 The members of a man's family are often his worst 
 enemies, for by their strong thought force, they bind 
 him to pain and weakness, when he is trying to be well 
 and strong. They will calmly tell you that he has a 
 terrible temper and expect him to demonstrate their 
 statement, when, with all his might, he is struggling to 
 overcome it. 
 
 After he has been free from the flesh long enough to 
 learn a good way, if he tries to send back word of his life 
 and activities, his friends with one accord will arise and 
 declare they know he never said any such thing, for he 
 was never a religious man, etc. In fact they want him 
 to return just as boisterous and profane as when he 
 went away. 
 
 When the people of earth get where they can see the 
 good, pure, noble qualities in each other, and as con- 
 
112 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 fidently look for tJieir manifestation as they now watch 
 for the bad, both astral and material realms will grow 
 better rapidly. 
 
 Among my recent acquaintances is a well-known physi- 
 cian. You would at once recognize the name, if I were 
 to give it. I will tell the doctor's story brief ly and as 
 nearly as possible in his own words. 
 
 He said, c ' There is no class of men on earth who have 
 it in their power to do as much good as the physicians ; 
 but, as it is with every other vocation, so it is with that ; 
 some honor their profession and some use it as a means 
 to a wholly selfish end, and such doctors are dangerous 
 men and I was one of them. 
 
 "I worked for wealth and fame, especially fame, and 
 I let very little stand in my way. I would not dare tell 
 the crimes (I now see them as such) that I know about, 
 and my own sins rise mountain high. Secretly I prac- 
 ticed vivisection and I grew cold and hard and cruel in 
 my nature, just as every one else does, who does cruel 
 things. 
 
 "The idea you hold to excuse yourself, that you are 
 committing your crime in the interests of science, does 
 not prevent the Law from rewarding you according to 
 your deeds. Besides, there is a terrible danger looms 
 up before the vivisectionist and his supporters, I mean 
 human vivisection. 
 
 "Let no one for a moment dream that the crime will 
 stop with the torturing of helpless animals ; for it never 
 will. 
 
 "I did not believe in a future life. I went to church 
 at rare intervals to please my wife, and I pitied the poor, 
 foolish preacher for being so deluded. I died suddenly. 
 I never dreamed that I was going, until I found myself 
 looking at myself. After a time, it dawned upon my 
 consciousness that / was not my body, but something 
 separate. I attended my own funeral, but I did not 
 think much of it. The minister was conscientious and he 
 had a hard time of it and I grew resentful. I was con- 
 
ASTRAL PLANE EXPERIENCES 113 
 
 seious that my family were trying hard to be properly 
 sorrowful, and I heard some of my medical associates 
 call me hard, unfeeling and mercenary. 
 
 "I was angry and uncomfortable generally and in 
 desperation I tried to get away from home and associates. 
 I do not know what did happen; the dim light I had 
 been in was gone and darkness dense and heavy, en- 
 veloped me. I felt very weary and sank down on the 
 sand to rest. I seemed to be upon the shore of some 
 river and a deadly terror came over me. I tried to 
 arise and flee away, somewhere, but my limbs seemed to 
 be tightly bound and I struggled in vain for freedom. 
 
 "I do not understand it, but it was, I suppose it had 
 to be. Once I had taken a beautiful spaniel and, while 
 living, had cut her limb by limb. After a little, she 
 suffered mutely, watching my movements with her soft 
 brown eyes, human in their helpless pleading ; and now, 
 in my helplessness, those great brown eyes looked at me 
 out of the darkness, whichever way I turned, they gazed 
 at me. A horror took possession of me and I shrieked 
 wildly, but only taunting echoes answered me. The 
 forms and faces of pauper patients whom I had experi- 
 mented upon and, because they could not remunerate 
 me, had needlessly operated upon or caused much un- 
 necessary suffering, passed by me, gazing at me with 
 sad, reproachful faces. 
 
 "After what seemed to me an age of agony, I grew 
 quiet; and then my past earth life unrolled before me 
 and I saw myself, and all the old hymns that my Presby- 
 terian grandfather used to sing, about vile sinners, worms 
 and helplessness, did not begin to describe me as I saw 
 myself. What did I do ? I did what millions of people 
 have done. I lay prone in the sand and prayed and, as 
 I prayed, I became conscious of the fact, that every soul 
 in the last extremity prays, which proves that the real 
 of every person knows there is an unfailing power to 
 pray to. 
 
114 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 "In a very old book, which some of you have not 
 buried in the rubbish heap, it says, that 'whoever calls 
 upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved ' ; I have yet 
 to be convinced that that is not true. A white-robed 
 being, more radiant to my eyes than the noonday, came 
 to me and showed me the way of salvation, through 
 loving service. " So ends this physician's story. 
 
 CHARLIE. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 OBSESSION 
 
 [THING the last few years thousands of teachers 
 have arisen, and a multitude of old theories, em- 
 bellished and more or less elaborated, have been 
 given to the world as new; and a great many new cults 
 have been formed, all of which have been more or less 
 helpful and also more or less misleading. 
 
 In all this multitude of theories, teachings and elabo- 
 rate philosophies, there has not been one new truth 
 given. Every truth is to be found between the covers 
 of your New Testament. This may seem a bold state- 
 ment, but, if you will make a list of all the truths you 
 possess and bring it up to the Great Central Light, you 
 will find it is a statement which cannot be refuted. 
 
 You are told by the modern teachers, that there is 
 no such thing as evil. From one standpoint, that is really 
 true but, from the opposite standpoint, it is equally 
 false. Good and evil are relative terms, and what is good 
 under certain conditions will be considered evil under 
 opposite conditions. Good and evil, like light and dark- 
 ness, or heat and cold, are opposite conditions, and your 
 idea of one is governed by your idea of the other. 
 
 Spirit is a transmuting power that can change evil 
 into good, but it has to be changed. 
 
 Again, we are told that evil is the unripe fruit, yes, 
 but we do not deny the existence of unripe fruit, do we ? 
 It is absolutely necessary to have unripe fruit in order 
 to have the ripe ; but the finished product does not make 
 the unfinished any less sour or bitter. 
 
 Define a hypocrite : a man who claims to have realized 
 
 115 
 
116 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 a certain state or condition that he has not yet attained 
 to, but to which he will eventually attain. Both condi- 
 tions exist as conditions, do they not ? A sinner may be 
 a man who is content to follow the inclinations of his 
 animal nature, having never felt the spiritual urge which 
 causes him to recognize something better beyond ; or he 
 may be a man who has felt the urge and is ignorantly 
 struggling against it ; a man whose intellect is ever trying 
 to meet the spiritual urge with art and cunning, trying 
 to establish itself as god and commanding the animal 
 nature to reverence and obey it. 
 
 The sins of the animal nature are not to be compared 
 in enormity to the sins of the unspiritualized intellectual 
 nature. In either case, the man is unripe fruit, but he, 
 as unripe fruit, has just as real an existence as the ripe, 
 for you cannot have the ripe without the unripe first and 
 you cannot deny the existence of one without denying the 
 other. 
 
 Nature furnishes nothing which cannot be converted 
 into or utilized for good, but it has to be converted or 
 changed, or it is not good. 
 
 God is manifesting in that unripe fruit ; for God is the 
 one life; therefore, its life; and God is the only urge 
 to growth and the only power of expansion ; so the sinner 
 is a manifestation of Deity, but a very unfinished 
 product. 
 
 Let us now turn our faces to the Light of the World, 
 the Light never yet overcome with darkness. I am well 
 aware that the world, both religious and secular, thinks 
 it knows that the four Gospels were written at least two 
 hundred years after the events transpired. I am also 
 aware of the fact that the world does not know all there 
 is to be known; also I know, that there is truth enough 
 revealed in those four Gospels to transform this earth 
 into a perfect heaven; but men will not seek the Light 
 as long as they love darkness better. 
 
 You will observe that Jesus recognized evil, clothed 
 in flesh and blood, and also evil unclothed by flesh and 
 
OBSESSION 117 
 
 blood. He also recognized that an unclothed evil entity 
 can control a clothed evil entity, and instead of saying 
 to the controlled man, "Sir, you are following error in- 
 stead of truth, God never made an evil spirit, therefore, 
 there is none ; change your mental attitude and you will 
 be free," He, in every case, said: "Come out of him" 
 and, in every instance, the command was obeyed. 
 
 Who or what are these evil or obsessing influences? 
 Some of them are evolving beings, never yet involved in 
 flesh and blood; some are those freed from the mortal 
 body for a time, who passed out with a very intense 
 desire to perform an evil act; some are those who per- 
 sistently refused to listen to the voice of conscience, or 
 the urge of the spirit within, and are caught in the great 
 rhythmic law of ebb and flow, borne far backward, and 
 frantically cling to any flesh and blood entity of like 
 tendencies to their own. Surely you have learned that 
 death does not change a man's character; neither does 
 it keep his character from changing. 
 
 We now come to the very important question, "Why 
 and how does a man become obsessed?" First, why? 
 Because he is living an abnormal life ; an obsessed person 
 is always a one-sided person. If you eat diseased and 
 unnatural food, you will become physically diseased, and 
 if you feed upon unnatural, perverted mental food, you 
 will become mentally diseased. A person who leads a 
 frivolous, aimless life, thinking first of self, and viewing 
 others and their activities from the standpoint of his 
 own fancies, prejudices and opinions, is in the road to 
 obsession. 
 
 You must remember there are many forms of obses- 
 sion and not all are of a violent type. An inactive, in- 
 door life furnishes an opportunity for an obsessing in- 
 fluence, unless the mind is guided and held in healthful 
 channels. No person with a healthy, normal body and 
 mind can be obsessed. Unrestrained appetite or passion, 
 manifesting entirely, or largely, in the mental activities, 
 produces the most terrible forms of obsession. 
 
118 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 How does a man become obsessed ? By weakly yield- 
 ing to impulses having a downward tendency ; by toying 
 with temptation; by selfishly insisting upon having his 
 own way, regardless of other people 's feelings ; by grati- 
 fying the animal nature in every possible way he dare ; 
 and by giving uncontrolled liberty to his thoughts, re- 
 gardless of their nature. 
 
 You have been warned that at the close of this Age, 
 there will be a strong delusion abroad in the land, and 
 there will attend it much power and many signs and 
 wonders of falsehood. You are also told that at the close 
 of the Age, many will depart from the truth, and give 
 their attention to misleading spirits and the teachings of 
 evil beings, who will use teachers that are trying to 
 gratify their selfish desires and please the people that 
 come to them, regardless of the truth ; and foolish, idle 
 women, seeking to be amused and to gratify their own 
 silly whims are the largest class led away. 
 
 You are also instructed to try or test the spirits. The 
 instructor did not say, "do not listen to discarnate be- 
 ings; have nothing whatever to do with them for they 
 are all evil, pernicious and misleading." 0, no! "Test 
 them and see whether they are of God or not." This 
 testing does not apply to the members of your family 
 and intimate friends whom you have known and loved, 
 and who would, because of their love for you, try to com- 
 municate with you; but rather to those who endeavor 
 to guide, teach and lead you into a knowledge you do 
 not possess. 
 
 There is always danger in dealing with an unseen and 
 unknown force; but wisdom removes danger. Beings, 
 clothed in finer bodies than those of flesh and blood, are 
 a mighty power in the material world today, but they 
 must have bodies of flesh to express themselves through ; 
 and the person chosen for that purpose must be either 
 one perfectly passive for the time mindless, or one of 
 like nature so sympathetic that giver and receiver are 
 of one accord. The latter will, by the higher beings, 
 always be the instrument chosen, if possible. 
 
OBSESSION 119 
 
 Remember, that no power in all the regions of dark- 
 ness and sin can obsess you unless you open the door 
 yourself. Remember that when you hold a well defined 
 thought, you connect with other minds holding thoughts 
 of like nature. This is the law and the longer you hold 
 your thought the more intense it becomes and the 
 stronger becomes the desire born of it. Paul said he 
 "captured every thought and brought it into submission 
 to the Christ." He also tells you to find true, honest, 
 just, pure, lovely, virtuous and praiseworthy things and 
 think about them. In that one item of instruction lies 
 the prevention of obsession. 
 
 "Believe not every spirit, but prove them/' With 
 the warning comes the necessary instruction: "Hereby 
 know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses 
 that Christ came clothed in flesh is of God, but the spirits 
 that will not acknowledge or admit this are anti-Christ. ' ' 
 No one can confess (using the word with the meaning of 
 St. John) without knowing Christ. 
 
 If he knows Christ, he knows the Father also; and, 
 having attained to this knowledge, he cannot be de- 
 ceived. This places all sane, safe and desirable spirit 
 communion upon a high spiritual basis. God is Love, 
 and all who are living in the spirit of Love are living in 
 union with God and God with them. 
 
 If you wish to gratify your selfish desires, at the ex- 
 pense of your soul, you can, God lets you; but you 
 must take the full measure of results attending your 
 choice. If you indulge in thoughts of hatred, revenge, 
 retaliation, jealousy or vindictiveness in any form, you 
 will draw to yourself a class of murderous entities. Be- 
 ware ! If you give rein to the appetites and desires of 
 your lower nature, throngs of undesirable beings will 
 be in sympathy with you. Beware ! If you constant!} 7 
 fear or abnormally desire death, you are creating an 
 unhealthy atmosphere, which will react upon you in 
 some wav. 
 
120 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Often you become the plaything of evilly disposed en- 
 tities, who will constantly delude you into the belief 
 that your time of departure is at hand, often* giving 
 the exact time for the event to occur. This is quite a 
 common form of obsession among the aged and insuffi- 
 ciently occupied. 
 
 Again I refer you to the Light of the World. He 
 taught you to live one day at a time, and work, giving 
 no anxious thought to the future. He taught you, that 
 the issues of life and death lie in God's hands, and not 
 even the angels of Heaven know the day and hour of 
 your release. He taught you to have faith in God and, 
 if you do, you will be so active in some useful occupa- 
 tion, that you will have no time to die before your time 
 comes. 
 
 Face the matter squarely: if you are obsessed, you 
 alone are to blame. If you follow the Light, the dark- 
 ness will not follow you, for darkness is forever over- 
 come with Light. Beware of abnormal tendencies. If 
 you have Christ in you, you will have faith in God, and 
 if you have faith in God, you will not resort to any 
 form of magic to guide you or disclose to you future 
 events. 
 
 If you feel that you need instruction, comfort or 
 counsel, through the instrumentality of flesh and blood, 
 seek from a source that bears the stamp of divinity, for 
 you are not in darkness concerning the matter, unless 
 you wilfully turn away from the light. 
 
 "Where you find love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindli- 
 ness, generosity, truthfulness, gentleness and self-control, 
 manifesting at all times, there you will find the spirit of 
 Truth there God is manifesting, whether the teacher be 
 in flesh and blood or not, for the two as one, are con- 
 stantly testifying that Christ has come in the flesh. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 A CONNECTICUT YANKEE HITS THE 
 TEAIL AND TURNS MISSION- 
 ARY AT LARGE 
 
 NEVER banked much on religion. It was not 
 my long coat. Perhaps, if I had learned to dis- 
 criminate; well, we all learn the things we must 
 learn, sometime, but it seems to be in the "sweet by 
 and by" that most of us learn that Truth is Truth, re- 
 gardless of the character of its advocates. 
 
 Water is water, whether the spout that it flows 
 through be made of wood or iron, lead or silver. "When 
 Truth speaks, it matter not to IT, whether it be devil 
 or angel that repeats its words. 
 
 I was uncomfortable, mighty uncomfortable. Doubt 
 is a tormentor, and the place that you are in, or the 
 garment that you are clothed in, does not lessen or in- 
 crease the torment. Doubt is one of the demons of dark- 
 ness which clutch at your throat and kill the peace and 
 joy all out of you, if you will let it. On the other hand 
 is Faith, which makes the soul strong to do and dare and 
 triumph, where the doubting soul would sink into leth- 
 argy and defeat. 
 
 During my earth life I shelved a good many problems, 
 but they unshelved themselves in a hurry when I came 
 here and, like a pack of wolves, they sprang at me to 
 rend and tear. I fed them everything that I had to 
 feed to stave them off, all to no purpose. I tried to run 
 away from them, but the ground that I thought solid, 
 broke under me and I fell shamefully. 
 
 You can set down as Truth, the familiar words, 
 "Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right." 
 
 Error is often a most fascinating creature and that 
 is why it has so many votaries. The average man de- 
 clines to believe anything that makes him feel uncom- 
 fortable ; and error very often soothes, while it destroys. 
 
 121 
 
122 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 Truth is the opposite and probes deeply and spares not, 
 until health flows freely through every cell and vein. 
 
 There was something wrong with me. I could not 
 deny that fact. I had tightened all the loose screws 
 that I could find, but it only made matters worse. 
 Sometimes a too tight screw makes as much trouble as 
 a loose one ; it proved so in my case. 
 
 During my earth life, I sampled almost every religion, 
 some of them very gingerly but I did not give very 
 serious thought to any of them. I did not have time. 
 There are always many important things to think about ; 
 the best brand of cigars, the result of the latest ball 
 game, the villainous character of the political candidates 
 not in your party, the weather, and other tremendous 
 problems. 
 
 I am convinced that, if God should double the length 
 of the present day, there would not be time enough 
 for the average man and woman to think about spiritual 
 things. Most people hold a vague idea that the word 
 spiritual pertains to after-death conditions, in which 
 death is the most important factor ; but it is safe to 
 say, that the average man will have to die several times, 
 provided death is the only spiritualizing factor. 
 
 Some interpret spiritual as pertaining to spirits ; their 
 idea of spirits being too absurd for contemplation. A 
 spirit is an individual. Are not you yourself the in- 
 dividual, just as much when clothed in thin muslin, as 
 you are when clothed in khaki? We have bodies here, 
 do not be foolish enough to think that there is nothing 
 material, except what your physical senses recognize as 
 being material. It does not increase your spirituality, 
 to any great extent, to take off your ulster and go into 
 the next room. 
 
 I was very much dissatisfied. Perhaps, you think that 
 any man finding himself alive, after having passed the 
 portal, Death, ought to be satisfied, but if you hold that 
 thought, get rid of it, for many would be better satisfied 
 if they found themselves dead. Many expect to find 
 
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE 123 
 
 things in general greatly changed here, and look eagerly 
 forward to their freedom from earth life, but if you 
 know where Earth leaves off and Here begins, you are 
 wondrous wise. 
 
 The Divinest Character that ever trod the paths of 
 earth life said, ''You shall know the Truth " and, when, 
 this same Divine Being stood before a gorgeous, but 
 petty, Roman ruler, he, the small but gorgeous one, 
 puzzled and mentally tortured, asked a question which 
 every puzzled and tortured awakening soul has often 
 asked ever since: "What is Truth f" 
 
 I knew enough to know that doubting and groaning 
 would do no good, so I started to hit the trail to the 
 region of Truth, but carefully avoided the churches. I 
 had not traveled far until I saw a man standing upon a 
 high hill and I jumped at once to the conclusion, that 
 he had climbed above the lower earth vibrations to medi- 
 tate in a holier atmosphere; so, hoping, always hoping, 
 I ascended the mountain and stood beside him. 
 
 The man turned to me in evident consternation, "0. 
 sir, ' ' he said, ' ' why are you here ? What do you want ? ' ' 
 
 I was so taken aback at the man's alarm, that I stam- 
 mered, " Excuse me, sir, but why are you here?" 
 
 "11 I came here to get into the light, away from 
 the awful darkness, away from them." 
 
 "Them? What and where is them?" I asked. 
 
 ' ' Down there ! Do you not see ? There, the devil and 
 his imps. The darkness is full of them ! ' ' and he turned 
 shudderingly away. 
 
 I saw nothing, but I said : ' * Why do you come here for 
 refuge? A mountain top is no safer than any other 
 place. Do you not remember that Satan himself once 
 stood upon the top of a very high mountain in compariv 
 with our Lord, and tried to work one of his subtlest 
 schemes there ? * ' 
 
 For a moment the man stared at me as if paralyzed 
 and then fixing his cork-screwish eyes full upon me, he 
 fairly hissed, "Who are you?" 
 
124 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 "Me, oh, I am Satan/ ' I answered carelessly, but 
 the effect of my words was electrical. 
 
 "I knew it the minute I saw you," he shrieked. "0, 
 Lord save me now ! ' ' and, without waiting a second for 
 the Lord to do it, he plunged wildly down the mountain 
 side. 
 
 I did not think that the man would take my joke 
 seriously; and I was filled with contrition. Rushing to 
 the brow of the hill I shouted, ' ' Hold on friend, hold on. 
 I am not Satan. I am S C ." The man paused for 
 an instant in his headlong flight and defiantly hurled a 
 stone in my direction. 
 
 "You cannot fool me," he screamed, "S C or the 
 devil, it is all the same," and he disappeared over a 
 cliff out of my sight. 
 
 "Now sir," I said to myself, "You sit down on that 
 rock and do some thinking." Every statement is either 
 true or untrue ; now you get busy and find all the truth 
 there is in this thrilling episode. In the first place, why 
 did you tell that man that you were Satan 1 You knew 
 that it was not true and you expected him to know it 
 also ; and, if he had not been obsessed by the devil-idea, 
 he would have known it, and yet Satan means adversary 
 and you certainly proved yourself adverse to him. 
 
 If you lied to him, he lied to you; for he said he 
 knew that you were the devil, the minute he looked at 
 you and, it is evident, that he could not know an untruth ; 
 besides, he never thought of such a possibility until you, 
 yourself, suggested it. Why did you speak those words ? 
 Why did you suggest the possibility of a devil here in 
 this beautiful place? The man was in great need of 
 help and you only increased his trouble." I groaned. 
 On the other hand, I mused, "if the man had not been 
 full of the thought of devils, and watching and searching 
 for them, he would never have found them. ' ' 
 
 It was evident that the trouble lay in the mind of 
 the man, but I felt guilty, for certainly I had contributed 
 to his delinquency; besides, I had a fine opportunity to 
 
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE 125 
 
 do good and had failed miserably. Again I groaned, then 
 I also fled from the mountain top. 
 
 A ray of light like a dagger fell across my pathway 
 and the familiar words, "Evil to him that evil thinks," 
 rang in my ears, and the careless thought habit, so long 
 indulged in, was broken. I wandered on and coming to 
 a beautiful grove of maples and willows that fringed a 
 stream of crystal water, I sat down upon a rustic seat 
 and was lost in thought. I was roused from my reverie 
 by hearing some good strong voices, backed by plenty 
 of flesh and blood, singing "I will sing you a song of 
 that beautiful land, the far away home of the soul." 
 
 Presently a middle aged woman, sobbing violently, 
 came and threw herself upon the seat beside me. Her 
 distress seemed so great, I was moved to sympathy. 
 
 * ' Excuse me, lady, ' ' I said kindly, ' ' is there anything 
 that I can do to help you in any way ? ' ' 
 
 "Oh no, no," she sobbed, "it is only the singing of 
 that beautiful hymn, it always affects me in this way." 
 
 "Indeed, how very tragic," I said, wonderingly, like 
 a child. 
 
 "It was the last hymn my dear brother and I ever 
 sang together," she continued, "and oh, he loved it 
 so much and oh. how lonely I have been since he died 
 three years ago." 
 
 "But, my dear lady," I replied, "if your brother is 
 dead, he must be here some where ; why do you not try 
 to find him, instead of weeping for him? You must 
 remember that you, yourself, are dead." 
 
 "I dead! I, no indeed! I am just as much alive as 
 I ever was. Besides he is an angel." 
 
 "Pardon me, lady," I said quietly, "did you regard 
 your brother as an angel while he was still with you?" 
 
 "That is my business," she said snappily, "you can- 
 not fool me ; this is not the far away home of the soul : 
 this is not a glittering strand; here are no harps, nor 
 crowns, nor angels." 
 
 I was silent, for I wanted to say the right things 
 
126 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 this time and avoid the groans. After due reflection I 
 replied, ' ' It is true that I have seen no harps nor crowns 
 I have not looked for any, but I have "seen many 
 angels, and so could you, if you would be sensible in 
 your idea of angels. As for glittering strands, look at 
 the river yonder; sparkling in the sunlight, darkening 
 in the shade; it is surely beautiful enough for any 
 beauty-lover. If you cannot appreciate the beauty all 
 around you, how can you expect a possible greater beautv 
 somewhere else ? As for the far-away home of the soul, 
 it strikes me that this Here and Now home of the soul 
 is of much greater importance to us at the present time. 
 I do not know what special brand of religion you have, 
 but it seems to me that it is either woefully lacking in 
 sense, or else you have failed to extract sense from it." 
 The woman drew herself up haughtily and said 
 icily, "Sir, I would have vou know that I am a member 
 of thp First Presbyterian Church of ." 
 
 "Then I would advise you to go back to said church, 
 and stav a spell," I said, and pursued my journey 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 There is no religion under heaven, or in it, I mn^. 
 that can make a man good ; but thev all can help a little, 
 if he has it in him to want to be good; and all the 
 religions in the world, put together, cannot give a person 
 good sense inside him; for that has to come through 
 experience and hard knocks. It takes something more 
 than srood intentions to kepp a body out of trouble. 
 
 "Good intentions pave the road to Hell," said a man's 
 voice beside me, "and every idle word a man speaks, he 
 shall have to account for in his day of judgment. Idle 
 words are the result of idle thinking; a person has no 
 risrht to permit himself to think useless, foolish thoughts, 
 any more than he has to permit himself to think cruel or 
 vile thoughts. One should train his brain to become a 
 perfect instrument to help him in building the great^t 
 good, the ideal. If he is too lazy to do this, or if he is 
 such an animal, that he cannot control his thinking, and 
 
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE 127 
 
 is blown about by the wind of conditions, then he will 
 have to learn through suffering. Spiritually minded 
 people, wise people, do not talk much, they think. In 
 a multitude of words there is sin.'* 
 
 I concluded that it was a good time for me to avoid 
 sin. We walked on in silence, at last I paused and looked 
 about me. "Where are we?" I asked. 
 
 I 1 Come and see, ' ' said my new teacher. 
 
 We entered one of the most beautiful gardens I ever 
 saw. Flowering shrubs, sweet herbs and good old- 
 fashioned flowers grew luxuriously in the corners and 
 bordered the walks everywhere. 
 
 Cuddled under the trees were homey looking cottages, 
 with flowering vines clambering around the windows and 
 doors. Each looked like the sort of home that one dreams 
 of when, far away from his home, he wearily toils 
 through drifts and struggles in the blinding, whirling 
 snow; or, lost in the blackness of night, and drenched 
 with driving rain and pierced by icy winds, he prays 
 for home ; the sort of home that the child and the young 
 girl turn to, when strange forms reach out long arms 
 from the darkness of the unknown. 
 
 An aged man and woman came to meet us. Their 
 forms were bent ; their hair was snowy white, but their 
 faces were radiant with a happiness such as one rarely 
 sees; and in their eyes shone the light of perennial 
 youth. 
 
 ''You have a beautiful place here," I said to them, 
 "and you seem very happy." 
 
 "0, yes;" said the man, "Mary Elizabeth and I 
 walked together in earth life fifty years; but we have 
 just learned what it means to be happy, and we think 
 we are beginning to know what life means. In earth 
 life we tried to find happiness and we studied creeds 
 and theologies and isms and we read about heaven and 
 hell and spirits, angels and devils, especially the ob- 
 sessing ones, and I don't know what we didn't study; 
 but the more things we studied, the more burdened we 
 
128 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 became, until we felt there was nothing worth while ; 
 and all the time the Master was calling to us, ' * Take My 
 yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden 
 light, " and His yoke is the yoke of Love; when Love 
 takes up a load, that load is always light and, oh, the 
 happiness that comes in the carrying of it. 
 
 The Master also said, "Suffer little children to come 
 unto me, do not try to keep them away, for of such is 
 the Kingdom of Heaven." He also said, "Inasmuch as 
 you have done it unto the least of these, you have done 
 it unto me." Come and see how we are interpreting 
 those words. 
 
 We followed our new found friends across the wide 
 green lawn and through the alluring garden. The air 
 was sweet and pure, like the air of early morning, in the 
 early springtime, and I was sure that I caught the odor 
 of blue violets and dandelions. The birds were flitting 
 here and there in sunshine and shade, singing joyously, 
 and oh, sweetest music of all, my ears caught the sound 
 of running water. Yes, there it was, the little brooklet 
 so dear to the heart of childhood. Gurgling around the 
 great gray rocks, roaring and splashing, it hurried on its 
 way like youth everywhere eager for the adventures 
 awaiting it in the unexplored regions beyond; those re- 
 gions where we conquer, or are conquered. 
 
 Speaking in low, hushed tones, we entered one by one, 
 the many little white cottages and gazed upon the rows 
 of little beds, each bed containing a little child, sleeping 
 peacefully. Babes, golden-haired, brown-haired, and 
 flaxen-haired; babes with plump dimpled faces, and 
 babes with wan, pinched faces, aged faces, such faces the 
 sight of which causes one to draw his breath sharply, 
 as if struck a hard blow, a blow that makes you pause 
 and question its meaning. 
 
 The doors and windows were all wide open and the 
 cool sweet air of the early morning was wafted over 
 the little sleepers. The rooms were simply but beauti- 
 fully furnished ; every suggestion, both within and with- 
 
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE 129 
 
 out, was ideal, the blending of the beautiful and prac- 
 tical, artistic and useful, that one so rarely finds. As 
 we were leaving the last cottage, Mary Elizabeth 
 beckoned to me ; bending over the little bed, we saw the 
 golden-haired sleeper, holding safely clutched in one 
 chubby fist, a bunch of blue violets. 
 
 Out in the garden once more, Mary Elizabeth with 
 her pure motherly face aglow with tenderness, drew 
 me aside and said, "We have gathered them in from the 
 darkness of shame and suffering and neglect and direst 
 poverty. Poor starved, ill-treated babes they were ; many 
 of them with misshapen bodies; compelled to toil and 
 hunger, they never knew the meaning of love and kind- 
 ness; but now they are so happy and full of wonder. 
 When the Master comes, by and by, how pleased He 
 will be, will He not?" 
 
 From somewhere floated the repeated refrain, "Where 
 the years of eternity roll." A light fell full upon the 
 face of Mary Elizabeth and was reflected upon mine, 
 and this thought came to me, what constitutes Eternity 
 but living in the consciousness of eternal things? Of 
 that which is self-existent, which death has no power 
 over ? All that live in this consciousness have found the 
 fountain of perennial youth, and they can in triumph 
 sing, "0 grave, where is thy victory, death, where is 
 thy sting?" 
 
 I turned to Mary Elizabeth, "Yes," I said, "when 
 the Master comes, He will indeed be glad. ' ' 
 
 S.C. 
 
130 SIFTED THROUGH 
 
 AT LAST 
 
 When the last weary soul has been folded 
 
 All safe in the Kingdom of God ; 
 When the roses your fingers have planted, 
 
 Shall bloom by the paths you have trod ; 
 
 When all sorrow and pain shall be vanquished, 
 
 And mortals rejoice at Death's call, 
 When from the freed spirit's awakening 
 
 Is banished the dirge and the pall ; 
 
 When earth from its shadows awakened, 
 
 In beauty and peace shall be glad, 
 When the last prison door has been opened, 
 
 And Life can no longer make sad ; 
 
 When the white mist that floats o'er the meadows, 
 Wafts no more the fever's hot breath , 
 
 When the moon-spangled roll of the billows, 
 Shall tell not of sorrow nor death; 
 
 When the desert in beauty shall blossom, 
 
 And wild beasts together shall rest; 
 When the valley in glory exalted 
 
 The mountain shall fold to her breast ; 
 
 The Workers, with rejoicing and honor, 
 
 Victorious, shall find their release, 
 And one with the Father forever, 
 
 Shall rest through the aeons of Peace. 
 
 I. L. B. 
 
Photomount 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 PH. JAN 21, 1901 
 
 YC 
 
 15782 
 
 5345)06 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY