Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-21

sentatiye OF the trends OF thought in the
many letters which he receives.
San Francisco, Calf.
How can young man engaged In
public speaking develop imagination?
Answer-Find out to waat your
responds, whether poetry,
music. the drama, natural scenery,
your daily experiences, or anything
else provocative of the image-making
power.
This power retains it's vitality only
through constant contact with your
actual experiences The world within
or without you is an exhauStless
source of raw material for the use
and benefit of the Imagination.
Store your mind with the striking
metaphors of literary masters, with
historic INSTALLATIONS of great events,
with the best symbols Of noble speech.
Fertilize your mentality by treating
well known facts In an imaginative
way. Reproduce the unseen until you
can make it real before your audi
ences. Take anything you please, but
be sure that you make the dullest
man who hears you see it as you see
It,
The imaging and descriptive powers
of your mind can go any distance so
long as what you depict stands the
tests Of reason and fact.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
What is meant by God is a Spirit" :?
Is God a Spirit, or is He a Person
atty and the Spirit but the nantes
tation Of His Personality (St. John w..
24)?
Answer-When Jesus said, God is
Spirit" He meant that God thinks,
feels and wills, that He knows and
understands, that He is animated by
sympathy and acts in an endless va
riety Of ways to realize His purposes:
In popular usage the word spirit"
sometimes indicates a phantom NOV
ing in the realms of the vague and
the Elusive No such meaning is In
place here. The thought Jesus express.
es is the life energy, the elan vital of
the Divine Being which suffuses all
creation.
Consider your own personality; it Is
unit of body, mind and soul. Their
subtle relations and Intersections are
measurably explained by psychology
| but the last word has not yet been said
about them. Nevertheless, their reality
| is expressed by intelligence, emotion
volition and action. And this reality
/ is verified in experience, not by specu
lation.
| AS the human personality is thus ex
pressed and verified, so in an infinite
| ly higher sense is the Divine Person
ality expressed and verified.
We naturally think of personality In
connection with it's material limita
tions and are inclined to infer thai
| these limitations hold true of the
Deity. But this is a misleading idea
God is the perfect Being, from whom
emanate ceaseless and creative forces
of His self-revealing and self-sacri
| ficing beneYolence. He is not merely
the timeless. changeless All-Inclusive
Being of philosophy. He is the person
al Father-God of religion who is with
| in, yet above, all worlds.
'Tn Him we live and move and have
our being" and through fellowship
by prayer we have the assurance OF
His presence.
| This was the stream of reflection
running through the Transforming
teaching of Jesus when He enthrone6
the worship of the Eternal Father In
deyout and truth-seeking souls.
| Boston, Mass.
1 Were the men of the church coun
ell who decided what should consti
tute the Word of God inspired BY
Him to write those things which con
tain no moral or spiritual inf1uenc'
for good whatsoever?
Answer-It would be interesting t
know what books of the Bible tn
questioner has in mind. The men o
the council to which he refers did no
write any of the books of Sacred
| Scriptures, old or new.
The formation of the Old Testament
canon was in three stages: The law
the prophets and the sacred writings
The contents of the law were finally
determined upon in the time of Ezra
In the case of the prophets and sacred