Year: 1859

something too precious to surrender-you
possess that wealth which is of nestimable
value with relation to your own peculiar
self, and which you cannot afford to ex-
change for anything else under the sun
Now this wealth is the measure Of Gods
special expression Of love for you, and it is
given to you to make you contented with
your lot Receive it as such, and be hap
py in IT, Identify yourself with it. Re
ioice in it, for it is something set apart by
God for you, and Is sacred to your use. He
marries you to every one Of these special
blessings as truly as he marlies you to the
woman Of your choice.


As the mind advances toward q richer
life and noher issues, another benevolent in
tent reveals itself as an end Of this law
We dwell now among the opinions, dogmas,
creeds, institutions, conventiOnalisms, and
as these lie nearest our life, we identify our
selves with them. We fight for them ewhen
they are assailed, and are wounded in their
destruction. To us they are, in certain as
poets, the representatives of the will and
way, the law and life of God and it is
only in moments of inspiration or exalta-
tion that we are able to pass through, or
by, these representatives, and grasp the
great realities between which and our weak
minds they mediate. When the soul can
lay its hand on truth itself, and appropr-
ate it when it can say my Lord and my
God )" when it can enter sympathetically,
with rapt appreciation of the greatness
and glory of its brthright, into the broth
erhood Of all pure intelligencies; when, an
swering to thrill Of the blood of the God
head in its veins, it can say my Father )"
when, with an Imagination that ranges the
gOries of the universe, it apprehends an in
finite kingdom, and sees itself prince of
the reigning house and feels itself at home,
ah then it learns, or begins to learn, some
thing Of law which beginning like rill
in its humber experiences, spreads into
river, that sweeps it into the ocean Of iden-
tity with God Himself


This is what the world, and especially the
Christian world, wants to day. 1t identi-
fies itself with the shell of religion, while
it needs Identification with the TRUTH with
God and his life with all the things of God
1t needs to recognize all truth as its prop
ertv, God and His life as its property, and
ali the things of God as its property and
so to identify itself with this property that
it shall feel its honor, its name, its all, bound
to Enthusiastically connected with it. 1t
was out of this thorough Identification of
the soul with God that came those preg-
nant words "do not hate them that
hate thee ?" 1t is refreshing in such
time as this, to look back upon the histo-
ries OF the ancient saints, and see how close
ly they stood by the side of God, and
bound their own personal honor to his
throne. God was their GOD His truth
His honor was their honor and any at.
tack made upon Him. His character His
truth, or His honor, was received as an at
tack upon themselves. We fight for our
opinions, for our sect, for church, for our
institutions they fought for Him and for
His truth-for that which only gives sig
nifcance and value to any institution of
man. Oh how far, how very far, are we
from any just appreciation Of the infinite
wealth upon which we may legitimately Law
our hand, as our own property. We stand
and hear the name of God blaSphemed with
lighter shock and smaller draft on per-
sonal feeling than we experience when we
hear pet dogma denounced, and this
simply and alone because we identify our
selves with the dogma as our possession
more than we do with the Deity


l can conceive of no reason, and / be-
lieve there is no reason, why God snd Heav-
en-, and the brotherhood of angels seem so
remote from those who believe themselves
to be the sons and daughters of God save
in the fact that they have no recognized
property or interest in them. The moment
that these beings and things come into re-
lation with soul in any important sense
as possessions, that soul will identify itself
with them. When soul approaches God
as its Father, Heaven as lis home, and all
pure spirits as a portion Of family in
which it rightfully holds place, its inter
est and sympathy and honor are linked to
them by tie which can be dissolved
They enter into vital relations with its life,
They enter into and become part Of its
life. Its destiny is hung upon them In
short, it is identified with them in such a
way that it will be wounded the most keen
ly and hOnored the most gratefully through
them, identified in such way that duty
will become pleasure aud the very law of
its liberty.


Again, the henevolence of this law, by
which we identify ourselves with the things
which we love as possessions, is manifested
by the influence they are thus brought to
bear upon our character. A man whose
most highly valued possession is a horse,
will so identify himself with his possession
that be will rise no higher in the scale of
dignity than his horse His horse and
those who are identified with similar pos
session will be the best society he has. He
will enjoy no other. All his talk will be
horse talk That which holds the most in
innate relation to his life will determine
that lfe's development and character. Any
student of human nature understands this.
The class of what are strictly horse men is
just as distinctly marked class as can be
found and its characteristics are deter
mined by their Identification with the aui-
NAL to which they are devoted The be-
nevolence of the operation of this law may
not be so apparent in this, but the opera
tion itself is illustrated with peculiar fOrce.
AS we pass on, however, to the considera-
tion of the influence of higher possessions,
we find the benevolence for which we seek.