The Washington herald., 1914-12-02

The whole universe IS animated by Gods spirit
"Am |, for example, animated by Gods spirit p
said the man, trying not to smile.
| "Oh, yes" replied the neighbor. THAT is" he
hastily added, when you let yourself be-"
when is that?"
when you do what you believe to be right"
| "And when do what l believe to be wrong, what
them"
Then you are working against the spirit You
are making mistake, that's all"
well you make mistakes, don't you?" the man
asked
"Oh, yes l even make them deliberately / go
against the spirit of God. Nearly always feel sorry.
Somehow the things don't come out right. But when
l do thing that l don't want to do and do it be-
cause it's right, because l believe God would wish
me to do it, then somehow, it nearly always works
out right"
The neighbor proceeded to tell the man surprising
experiences to illustrate his ideas. The listened
with some ncreduIity. ITS curious amt ~" he
said
For the next few days, sometimes almost uncon-
sciously, the man tried an experiment Whenever he
was in doubt as to what he should do he would say
to himself Il wonder what that feller, God would
think" Instantly he would get a new point of view,
impersonal detached, calm. 1t was as if voice
were speaking from within.
Soon the man began to find his experiment rather
fascinating Although it sometimes made his de-
csions difficult to carry out it brought compensations
Among other things it prevented him from taking
courses of action that would make bad situation
worse. When he had been offended, and through
his anger the words would break, What would God
do here" he would find his anger giving way before
The calm vOre would ale XVOud
do nothing 1t is not important"
1t began to amuse the man to hear 1T is not i'm
portant" so often
"Well, the old fellers right" he would say to
himself. "Al my life I've been making mountains
out OF molehills and I've been worrying myself sick
and quarrelng with my neghbors things ought
to have forgotten" What surprised him most was
the ease with which he forgot
One day the met neighbor who he believed
had resorted to sharp practice in a deal He spoke
cheerfuy and the neighbor in some confusion and
with betrayal of gratitude up and shook his
hand and started to make an explanation 1T GER
tainly beats the devil how this thing works" he said
to himself. That feler, God, is wonder"
There were times, however. when the man was
determined to have his way God or no God,
I'll do it," he would say to himself sometimes aloud
and he would have such OF power that he
would feel stronger than God Deliberately he would
start forces at work TO njure those who had in
jured him or to gain unfair advantage Out into
the world they would speed and he would feel that
he should see them again But always they would
come back, stronger than before, and sustained by
other forces exactly like themselves ugly with evil
violent On him they would hurl themselves de-
stroyng his peace, inflicting torment At such times
he would bow his head in humility. you were right
God. You know your business" 1t was at such
moments that the idea of God became most real to
him. You're regular friend" he once whispered,
and in his misery he smiled
Often the man, hearing himself in loud talk would
say, Would God have said that" He could not
find an instance where there any such conci-
dence. Gradually, instead OF being noisy as he had
always been he grew quiet He used to remind him
self that he had wasted good deal of breath on
things that ought not to have been said. Some of
the friends that had enjoyed his sharp salle missed
them. But they noticed something pleasant about
his silence. 1t suggested kindly thinking and feeling
They liked to draw him out and to get his ad-
vice on their problems. A few wondered why they
hadn't discovered before how broad-mnded he was
and how wise 1t was astonishing the way he could
see right into things
As the months passed the grew to have such
confidence in God that he never felt alone. At night
he would wake up and feel himself in the presence
of the invisible force At intervals during the day
it would rest and comfort him to know it was there
He did nothing without consulting it now Often it
would speak without being consulted 1t would say.
''Why hurry? Aren't we living in eternity?" 1t
would remind him of things he had forgotten, of
consideration owed to Others of unworthy motives
Il" you are going to do it through vanity, it would be
better not to do it at all" Always it told him that
the laundering creature he called himself was of no
account and was getting in the way "He keeps me
from speaking to you, with his foolish assertions of
himself He keeps you from being part of the uni
versal"
Some of the neighbors, noticing the change in the
man, thought he must be sick 1t actually re-
ported that he going to die When some one
told him. instead of being angry or resentfu he only
laughed Gee what do l want to die for" he said
when I'm only just learning how to hvel"