Upon arising, if one will but immerse himself within that holy, life-renewing stream of God's almighty love, holding himself in it for a few moments as he consciously partakes of its gifts and blessings, he will walk forth into the day, flame-shod and clothed in Light.
If each night, he again holds himself within the hallowed, renewing power of the River of Love he will be cleansed of all the earthly vibrations that have accumulated during the day. By so doing he can be renewed and invigorated as he receives the "life more abundant -- even Life Eternal!"
It is as simple a proceeding for one in the flesh to enter into the waters of that holy River as it is for one who has gone through that change called "death." The great life-giving River is always there for man's benefit. Only man has not been aware of it. In the spiritual realm there is neither time nor space. This statement is difficult for man to correlate into fact. The comprehension of this eternal truth is more a condition of expanded awareness and understanding than of departure and of travel and arrival.
Since an understanding of the River of Life is a state of comprehension, it must be made more apparent through a simple explanation. It must first be explored by the mind, as the soul lends its faculties of discernment and of belief. It is impossible to comprehend the spiritual realm by any of the mere physical senses. The mind is the instrument of faith when properly trained and used. Therefore, it is the mind that must be exerted to explore the realms beyond the dominion of the five inferior, mortal senses. When the mind is used, instead of one's physical equipment, one begins to work with the dynamic principle of faith and so prepares himself to enter the realm of power.
The mind itself is marvelous beyond ordinary thought. The mind is fluid. It has faculties and powers of which man has never dreamed. It does not need to travel in order to arrive. The mind can instantly be at any spot on the earth and linger in any period of time. It can explore the universe. It can focus itself within an atom and examine its component parts. It can reach out to contemplate the vastness of eternity. It has only to open up to an awareness of consciousness of any far-flung realm or place in order to be there.
The mind can venture into a small boy's pocket or a human heart. It can explore the feathery substance of a cloud. It can soar along the Milky Way. It can ride upon a sunbeam or be instantly on the remotest star. It can mentally contemplate the surface of the moon and again return. It can visit any period of time or stand again in any remembered place of the past. The mind can reach into the realms of love and send that same love forth, increased and beautified, to heal and bless as one worships and adores.
Man's present desolate estate has been the result of his failure to develop and use the unlimited powers of his mind -- and of his heart.
It has been said that "a democratic country is a country in which people can say what they think -- without thinking." If mankind ever begins to understand its own capacity to think it will begin to develop speedily along the dynamic roads of progress that have remained unexplored and outside of man's ken. Mind is the instrument which must be used in order to enter the realms of faith. This realm of faith is the realm of things and conditions that is now considered the impossible! It is impossible only because man has not opened his spiritual eyes to see and his spiritual ears to hear and his soul to permit understanding and Light to come forth. The only thing that has been almost impossible has been man himself.
As one learns to be and live according to his highest knowledge and to reach for things beyond the touch of his physical hands, he will soon learn how simple a thing it is for him to immerse himself in the sacred waters of God's great River of Love. He will learn of its potent, unlimited powers and will realize that in this divine River is the true baptism of purifying forgiveness. He will know that this is the true reality behind all earthly ordinances and rituals and mortal symbols.
It is a simple thing for one who has opened up his mind to fathom and to use his own limitless capacity of thought, to comprehend the reality and wonder of God's great, boundless love which eternally surrounds him. Then, as he learns to rejoice in the breathtaking power and the healing properties of that love, he will have the power to bring the full, complete, flowing current of that mighty River of Life right to himself. One does not need to travel to that River. ONE DOES NOT NEED TO DIE IN ORDER TO REACH IT! That River comes to the individual whenever he is prepared and ready for so great and holy an ordinance.
One will be immersed in that holy River of Life as he opens up his heart, mind and soul to the great, living vibrating love and lets it flow through his own being to enfold the world. This is the healing that must come. And it will come first to the one who sends that love forth. Then it will heal those whom he enfolds in it.
As man increases and multiplies the powers of love in this manner, that love will eventually bring its divine healing to the whole world. This love must first be sent through the open hearts of the children of men, for out of men's hearts must flow the "Fountains of Living Waters!" And no one can approach that River or draw it to himself and receive of its almost incomprehensible blessings, who does not love greatly. Those who hate and who have developed only hateful feelings and release criticizing thoughts, can never approach that divine River of Love, let alone cross it.
One must relinquish every hate-filled (hateful) thought, every antagonistic, discordant, evil vibration; every feeling of resentment and jealousy. He must let go of his greeds and his fears and his lusts.
To even begin to contemplate that River mentally, one must first cast out his doubts and his negative thoughts and standardized ideas. He must begin to enter the mental realm where faith is the dynamic condition of supreme power. One must learn to control his disbelieving habits and in doing so conquer his "unbelief." This is what was anciently known as "exercising great and mighty faith." This exercise of faith is within everyone's power. And it is every man's privilege to make use of it. It is most necessary that those who refuse to remain mentally and spiritually retarded and undeveloped, begin this simple exercise. It is as necessary to exercise faith as it is to exercise one's physical body, in order that he does not remain a flabby-minded individual, ruled by his own doubts.
To become powerful in mind and soul and actions, one must commence to be-lieve, which is done merely by the simple process of being and living according to the greater, dynamic truths, truths which his physical eyes have not yet beheld nor his physical, mortal sense analyzed. He must explore with his mental faculties as he courageously steps forth into new, unexperienced adventures.
As one begins to live according to the greater teachings, he will soon KNOW the divine truth of them. This is the promise given to all men. It cannot fail! To believe one has only to be live, or to live and think according to the holy promises given to the children of men. Believing is a thing of action and of expression and of power. It is a way of life that develops knowledge and "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!"
As one opens up his heart, soul and mind wide to that holy, stupendous, healing vibration of love and permits it to pour out through his own heart, it will begin its healing work, first within the individual, then it will go out to enfold his loved ones, his friends, his associates and then go on to encompass the world in its benediction as it blesses all.
Only in divine, purified, selfless love, can the River of Life be approached. It must be a sincere love, clothed in humility. And, only by man's releasing that love can he possibly partake of the fulness of love's renewing, anointing, purifying glory. Selfless love must fill the heart of him who would enter the holy River of God for the River is Love -- and It is Life! And those who enter into it become flame-shod, in that their feet can never again be soiled by the unholy vibrations of earth.
Love is the great life-giving force of Creation. It is the power behind the "Life more Abundant!" It contains the greatest healing force in all existence. It is the reality behind creation. It is the very foundations upon which the earth was built and the universe laid. It holds the power of man's sanctification. It contains the perfection of all existence and the complete redemption and divine exaltation of man.
This river of Life is spiritual in its essence, even as pure love is spiritual. No human eyes have ever gazed upon pure love. No mortal hands have ever touched the everlasting texture of its effulgent splendor. No mere physical senses of man have power to reveal its etherial substance of unutterable, eternal beauty. No individual has heard with his physical ears, the full harmonious tones of its sublime symphony, unless he has been completely embued within those waters. Nevertheless, love is not a myth simply because it has not been weighed and measured and photographed with mechanical devices, nor looked at through a magnifying glass. No human eyes have been developed to see so refined an element. Mortal vision beholds only the tangible things of this grubby, physical world. It is impossible for one to hold love in the palm of his hand. Love only abides where love is. Love multiplies in him who sends it out. Love is a spiritual essence, an influence, a dynamic, indestructible power, which must be held within the heart of man.
Only those who have sinned greatly, deny love and this is so because they have so hardened their hearts through hate and transgression, they have sealed themselves out from it and have sealed it out from themselves. They may have been so unfortunate as to never have known its rapturous glory, or else to have forgotten its sublime, exquisite tenderness.
Every child should become acquainted with love, in his earliest childhood. It is every child's natural heritage. Infants are most susceptible to love. Under the right environment a child should grow into it, as it becomes established within his newly acquired mortal body. It is a sad fact to state that most children have it driven or beaten out of them almost from infancy, instead of being trained within its warmth, as they develop and mature within the sacred, holy security of love.
And again, lest there be those whose understandings have become defiled and polluted by immoral lust-filled thoughts and acts, I must state that love does not mean "sex". Sex is a physical instinct, shared alike by beast and reptile and insect and worm. The sex impulse is the animal instinct. Love is the most exalted, sublime power in existence. Love is of God.
The River of Life is as real and as dynamic as the power and the reality of love, for it is concentrated love in all its healing radiance. As one permits his thoughts to expand and his mental powers to contemplate the things of the spirit, he will become spiritualized and his vision will begin to encompass the marvels of eternity. His hands begin to carry the power of eternal blessing in their touch and his feet become flame-shod, as they tread in understanding upon the upward path of glory.
As one learns to hold himself within the sacred waters of that divine River of Life, the powers of glory and truth will fill his entire being and the currents of the exalted love will open up new and mighty channels right within his own being, as its forces become apparent in the individual's life and so will they become forever established unto him. As this divine force of healing and perfection flows out through one's own being, he will comprehend that this is "The love of God that must be shed forth through the hearts of the children of men," that the great healing might come to individuals, to nations and to the world. He will learn also that these waters of God's Love, as they are shed through the heart of himself are truly "The Fruits of the Tree of Life!"
As one learns to immerse himself in the River and so becomes an open channel through which the love of God flows forth, he becomes an established fountain for the living waters of life. He will also become renewed in body, mind and soul and henceforth will obtain the gift of "The life more abundant, even of Life Eternal!" His feet will become flame-shod as he steps forth into higher vibrations and service among the exalted ones -- the noble Brotherhood of Light.
As one prepares himself and learns to hold himself within the mighty, healing current of that Holy River of Life, he partakes of Life Eternal. And, thereafter, death will have no claim upon him. "He will have the power to overcome the last enemy -- even death!"
These are the waters Christ spoke of when he conversed with the Samaritan woman at the well. These are the waters He promised in which "A man need never thirst again!" These are the waters which will open a man's being so that "out of his heart will flow fountains, or rivers of living water!"
Man first explored the material world as he journeyed over its surface using his physical senses in his conquests. Then the realm of matter and its component parts, from the atom to the far flung stars and planets of the heavens, opened before his challenging mind. He has used his abilities and intelligence to measure and classify physical substance and the visible realms as he has pushed back the barriers of the unknown.
It is now time for man to begin the greatest search of all -- the search for his own soul. With all his toiling and all his conquests he has failed to gain understanding. He has ignored the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount. He has made no effort to find out what it will do for him. He has failed to love his enemies but has increased his hates. He has made no great endeavor to love God with all his heart, with all his mind and with all his soul. His thoughts have only turned to God, as a rule, in extreme emergencies and then with either a groveling petitioning or rebellious defiance. Man has completely failed to find out what great, unspeakable powers are held in the divine essence and gift of love. Nor has man awakened to the stupendous use of faith, when it is exercised. And never has man used the power of his mind to explore the spiritual realm -- that divine reality of his own soul. And for this reason man himself is still floundering in complete impotency, a victim of disease, old age, misfortunes -- and death.
He who will immerse himself in the River of Life, while in mortality, will find all barriers dissolved before him. Then it will be his privilege to immerse himself in that River of Life as often as he desires until he becomes the very love that stream of Life embraces. It is possible for one to so exalt himself in that Christ Light and in those holy Waters of Life, he actually becomes love and light as he steps forth flame-shod into the realms of glory.
As one continues to enter that sacred stream, he will soon comprehend its purest essence and its divine properties, until he becomes the Master of them. It is then that "all things become subjected unto him, both in heaven and on earth; the Light and the Life; the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son." He then becomes an open channel for the out-flowing power of God's almighty love and will henceforth be able to "step to and fro and find pastures," as he begins literally to feed the sheep and the lambs of God's kingdom with the Spiritual breath of life. He will be able to step to and fro between the two worlds and partake of the bread and the waters of eternal life -- freely. For such a one the two realms are his to rejoice in and to serve in. For such a one there is only the great, wondrous, glorified, dynamic life! Life more abundant! Even Life Everlasting!
"Come, and partake of the Waters of Life freely," is the eternal invitation to all men. This was revealed by Christ for the whole race of mankind. It is not only for the dead, but is also for the living, for "God is the God of the living!" This is God's great gift to every child of His!
If you have no desires for these truths and they hold no appeal for you, if instead, you still yearn for the fulfilment of your financial dreams, or your worldly ambitions and conquests and desires, as you long to continue in your mortal ways, the ways of the flesh, then do not be disturbed or troubled but go your way with God's speed.
This record was not written for the sealed, orthodoxed minds that unprogressively worship the road their ancestors trod. Those who can only gaze in awe and reverence upon the past and its achievements are never able to fulfill their own great destiny in the eternal, ever-present NOW. These sealed ones do not realize it but they are denying God the power to operate or manifest His wondrous works in their lives. It is for this reason that the present remains unglorified and unenlightened except for those distant, dimmed, burned-out candles of the past. And man himself remains impotent and fear-filled as he stretches out his hungry, empty hands toward the ancient glories.
Each new generation was meant to build upon the generations preceding it, not lean upon them. Each was intended to accomplish all that the preceding generation accomplished and then go on to even greater works. Instead each generation has become a little more impotent as the great power manifest in the by-gone times have slipped a little farther from his grasp, until the connecting link has become lost in obscurity.
When any individual discredits these higher truths, rejects them, denies them and fights against them because he personally has known no one who has fulfilled them, then he enters the ranks of the "restrainers." Such a one has sealed his own progress as he continues to be satisfied with the half-truths that were good enough for his predecessors. And as he endeavors to restrain the Light, his greatest restraint will be upon himself, for he seals the way to his own progress and his own powerful enlightenment. In the great, final analysis he will find that he has restrained the work of God not at all, "For none who make it their business to restrain the sacred draught will be able to restrain it," as the saintly writer of the Odes of Solomon proclaimed.
This draught is the waters of the sacred River of Life, the dynamic love of God and the knowledge of it and the power to send it forth until it fills the whole earth. As the Waters of that Sacred River, which was brought into the temple (of man's own being) are accepted and made use of, death and all its powers will be overcome. This mighty victory is an individual accomplishment, though it rightfully belongs to every human being on the earth. The victory is for each and every soul who will fulfill the divine measure of himself and step forth to complete his destiny.
Love must fill the hearts, the eyes, the minds and the emotions of them who become the blessed dispensers of this life-giving draught. This love must grow and expand as it gives out the healing benediction of God's almighty power of renewal -- even His divine gift of Life Eternal.
I would rend the veil from your eyes that you could see but if I were to do so I would only injure you. You yourselves must grow into this higher vibration and into the knowledge of that effulgent, unspeakable glory of Christ's holy Light as your hearts open to God's divine, out-pouring love.
If you have any desire for these greater things, if mortality has left you disappointed and wanting, then begin to exercise faith by learning to be-live according to His promises and His laws and you will soon know of their truth. And "Knowledge is power!"
To join the ranks of the flame-shod, or the great Brotherhood of Light, one has only to bring forth that Christ Light from within, as he learns to hold himself in the outflowing glory of God's enfolding love, until he is so filled with love he becomes that love. Light will begin to fill the entire being of one who is earnest and continues in his search. As one then opens his heart and mind to love, they will be sealed against the darkness and the evils of life. Such a one becomes flame-shod as he is finally permitted to step forth purified and redeemed to fulfill his honored destiny.
The transition into the higher realm is a simple task. It requires only that one loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. As one loves with the fullest extent of his own capacity, he draws the full flowing current of God's Almighty love to him. So it is that one does not need to travel, nor die, in order to have the privilege of entering into the sanctifying glory of that sacred River of Life. It flows to the individual who will perfect the gift of love in his own heart and send it out with its holy life-giving essence of renewal and quickening power.
The first and second Great Commandments, when fulfilled, contain the access to the very Tree of Life. And it is every man's right to partake of that fruit of the Tree of Life, for "that fruit is the love of God that is shed forth through the hearts of the children of men."
Love fulfills all the laws, even as Saint John so definitely proclaimed. When the laws are fulfilled, the perfection is established. Then it is that the promises must be fulfilled also. The promises and the laws are interwoven. Combined, they make up the fabric of ultimate completion. When man fulfills the laws, the fulfilled promises of glory are the only possible result.
Let your love become established, pure and unfeigned and you will have the power to step forth into the realms of the sanctified ones, gloriously beautiful, a flame-shod child of Light.
"Pray with all the energy of heart that you might be possessed of this great love." This love will grow as one desires it and practices it constantly. In practicing this love, one's bickerings, contentions, criticizing attitudes, hates and discords, are automatically dropped. They are old, ugly garments outgrown and discarded. They are old shoes cast aside for flame-shod ones, eternally beautiful, bearing the wearer into the exalted realms of higher vibration or dimension or realm, whichever you choose to call it.