The Washington herald., 1915-09-30
ACCORDING THY FAITH
By oRIsoN SWEET MARppy

~ OAsASS1S - w AAESOOc
/ When Napoleon was warned By his
| generals not to expose himself to the
enemy. he used to reply that the bull
| let had not been cast which could kill
Napoleon. Much Of Napoleon's power
| and early success came from his stu
pendous faith In his mission. the con-
| viction that he was q man of dss-
tiny. that he was born under . lucky
star. born to conquer This invioIab able~
| belief In his destiny added wonder.
fully to his natural powers, Just a.
Joan of Arcs conviction that she was
chosen of God to free France from
its enemies gave her an added stu
pendous power. without which this
| simple. ignorant peasant girl would
not have been equal even to an ordi-
| nary French soldier In the ranks But
this mighty faith in her divine mis-
sion gave her dignity and q miracul-
| Gus force Of character. positive
genius, that made all the commanders
| Of the French army obey her as pri-
| vate soldiers obey their superior Of
| fcers. Faith In herself and in her
mission transformed the peasant
maiden into the greatest military lead
! er of her time.
Men who have achieved great things
they could not tell why they had an
| un1inching belief that they could do
what they undertook. But the mer,
| fact Of such belief was evidence that
they had gotten a glimpse Of re-
sourcefulness, reserve power and pos
| sibilities within them which would
| warrant that faith: and they have
gone ahead with implicit confidence
that they would come out all riRhs,
| because this faith told them So It
told them so because 1t had peen IN
communication with something In
them that was divine, that which had
passed the bounds of the limited and
had veered into the limitless.
Men and women who have left their
mark on the world have often been
implicit followers of their faith when
they could see no light: but their un-
seen guide has led them through the
wilderness Of doubt and hardship into
the promised land.
When we are doing right. when we
are on the right track. our faith in
the divine order of things never wa.
vers. 1t sustains in situations which
drive the self-centered egoist to de-
spair The man who does not see the
Designer behind the design every
where. who does not see the mighty
Intelligence back of every created
thing. cannot have that sublime faith
which buoys up great achievers and
Observation-Disclosures.
Our supreme aim should be to get
the best from life, the best in the
highest sense that life has to give,
and this we cannot do without the
faith that proceeds from God. What
we accomplish will be large or small
according to the measure of this
faith. 1t is the man who believes in
the Source of All, who believes most
in himself: 1t is the man who sees
good in everything, who sees the d.
vine in his fellowman. who has faith
in everybody. who Is the strong man,
who does things. The sceptic. the pes
simist. has no bulwark Of faith, none
of the divine enthusiasm that faith
gives, none of the zeal that carries
the man Of faith unscathed through
the most terrible conflicts. =
being comes to this earth with q
thrown off to be buffeted by luck or
chance or cruel fate. We are part
Of the great universal plan. We were
made to fit in to this plan. to do
some special work. We came here
with a message for humanity which
no one else but ourselves can deliver
and faith In our mission, the belief
that we are important factors In the
great creative plan. that we are. In
fact. co-creators with God will add
wonderfully to the dignity and ef-
fectiveness Of our lives. will enable
us oftimes to perform the "impossi-
BILE"
IL