The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-25
POWER OF GOODNESS
Lillian WHITING WRITES CON-
CORNING ITS EFFICACY
The Bad Man Is Spiritually Blind and
Deaf and Sneers at What He Does
Not Underestimate Good Man Can
Control His Destiny

Not Understandable Good Man Can
Control His Destiny
Lillian Whiting, who is the author of
several volumes of essays which are,
many of them, poetic and beautiful,
breaches a gospel of hope and courage.
Barring her belief in the return OF
spirits and communication with friends
after death, which is not acceptable te
the average reader, her work may be
classed as books of devotion ac-
ceptable to every one no matter what
his religious belief. The basis of her
ESSAYS in a recent book and her OPP
tinistic belief is that we can make
cur lives whatever we please, but only
through the power which comes by
virtue and righteousness. Leaving out
of the question, morals and religious
motives. she commends good deeds to
be the best policy. In other words, IL
YOU. desire friends, love, affection, re-
spect and good treatment, give love,
affection respect and friendship 10
others We know that if we SOW the
wind in evil we reap the WhirlWind IN
evil By our own acts we are deter
mining not only our lives here, but
our future hereafter. If We live with
suspicion in our minds, with distrust
of friend and foe. and create an atmos-
phere of doubt about us, it reacts on
ourselves and we will find as time goes
ON. that friends do not trust U.s. SO
while self-interest may not be the
highest motive for. righteous living, II
Az. rf wi
live that way.
Miss Whiting says that the same
laws which govern the physical or ma
terial world, hold good in the spiritual.
An evil. sinful life makes one spirit
uaIIv deaf and blind. The man VINO IS
given UP to sim who lives like the
beast of the field. is shutting hllnseh
away from a world of thought. ana ac-
ton which alone makes LIE worth Nv
ing. He sneers at the possibility OF
virtue. of exalted deeds and at the
spiritual insight given to those who
live by the mind. He is entirely I'M
developed on one side. Tell that mar
of the experiences which come to those
who live Virtuous lives, of the power
d good man has to .'see his chores done
by the gods themselves and he VIII
only sneer. To the man whose soul
has never. been awakened, whose horl-
ION is bounded by enough to eat ana
plainly of amusement, there is a great
world of thought and spiritual power,
to which the door is absolutely closed.
He pooh poohs it because his eyes are
not able to discern it. But talk to him
of the intricacies and depths of sin
and evil, of the possibilities of crime
and you are at once speaking his
tongue and he understands. He looks
= l. ~ I,e1&
he has no visions, save of evil, nor can
he grasp the fact that there is some
thing which he does not know. Be
cause he has "seen the world''-a most
misleading expression by the wayne
fancies that those who have not his
wide and varied experience Of evil.
are narrow and ignorant. The real,
predetermined. man, the one who has
really seen the world" is he who can
see both sides and will believe even
what he does not understand. Every
time a man sneers at or doubts virtue
he is simply exposing his own imita-
tons
Miss Whiting says: MAY it not be
that the degree to which one is enabled
to dominate his own life in the sense
of controlling and selecting and group
ing its outer events is precisely in pro-
portion to the spiritual power he has
achieved? The only real
spiritual power is that of the union of
the soul with the divine. To
feel that this everfloWing current of
events is something entirely outside
ones own choice or volition is to stand
felpless-if not hopeless before the
spectacle of life. It is out of this aim
less and chaotic state that resort is had
to the seeking of all kinds of divina-
lions. omens, prophecies and foreshad-
oWings, with the result of more and
more completely separating the indi-
vidual from his legitimate activities
and endeavor, and leading him to sub
stitute for spiritual realities a. mere
false and mirag elike out1ook-and in
stead Of that rational activity and high
endeavor that. create events and in
creasingly control their conditions,
there is merely an impatient and rest
less expectation of something or other
that may suddenly occur to transform
the entire outlook
In other words each man holds the
key to his life and his success within
himself. Instead of seeking effectively
to control his destiny, he has merely to
use the power within himself, to eorre-
spond to the best in his own soul, and
to use the power that comes with vir-
tue. Let a man do right and the world
is his Perhaps not always success in
business or the sort of success that
often comes to the man who has seen
the world but the success of a peace
full conscience and a character above
reproach