The Mazdaznan confession has it: "I confide in the power of God. . . I deny the bonds of ancestral relation through sickness, sin and sorrow and sever myself from the prenatal influence of inherited tendencies, and herewith annul association with evil, error and illusion, . that by right living I may always demonstrate the full Truth through the health of the body." And, "I shall conduct my life in a way that the knife shall never need be resorted to and herbal medicines never need to pass my lips, but in their stead holy spells through the formulas of invocations and prayers exemplify the perfect life in God on earth." THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES Ainyahita said: "A spirit broods amid them all." She knew of but one spirit, the good spirit. All the examples worthy to pattern after, erecting their abode among men, have but one desire to declare the good spirit. It is "the spirit of the times" that is always at work seeking to counsel and lead mankind into channels of realization-to realize the purpose of life that heaven may be our heritage. Every tongue, nation and tribe have men and women who will "let the light shine" before their fellowmen in proof of the possibility of a life of felicity in contradiction to that of the world's turmoil. In that state, that religion, where we find the spirit of the times, we find freedom of choice and a life of perfection. Where the spirit of the times is lacking we are kept in bondage, sin, ignorance, turmoil, misery. All of these need company, and such agents, representatives, believers, stop at nothing and stoop to anything to frustrate the life of those who decide to follow the spirit of the times. As far as the phenomenal in human society is concerned "there is nothing new under the sun," the stage of human endeavor practically playing the same old game, the same roles, although the garments worn by actors. may differ some. Some atrocities may have gained in power of execution to dimensions greater than in any of the periods of time, but it is to be remembered that this is the culmination of time and that as such all of the conditions entertained through the category of generations must come to a focus. For this reason every phase of human society becomes more evident. That adverse conditions are far more numerous lies within the nature of human miscalculations. The better appears rather faintly represented, since the better needs no support, by reason of principle which has it that "when the measure of iniquities is full to overflowing" it will consume itself-a case of Metchnikoff's "microbe eat microbe." An attempt to strike evil by the weapon of good contaminates the latter. For this reason wisdom has to be used and as the Savior said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." In other words, pay them in their own coin, and fight them with their own weapons and their own kind. The spirit of the times means enlightenment for comfort to the Saints of God on earth. It is to give them the assurance of final victory. We should always bear in mind the words of the Savior: "Whatever thou doest do it quickly." The sooner the adversary gets in all his work, all the sooner he shall exhaust his ammunition. To stop a hurricane is as fallacious as the attempt of curbing evils. They must take their course until exhausted. But in the meanwhile the better mind must learn to appreciate the modus operandi of Divine Principle and Nature's Law, applying both in the paving of the path humanity is to tread. Here is where we need to know that prayers may soothe the heart and psalms calm the mind; incantation and libations assure comfort in body, but to banish sin generations to come must be conceived. in holiness. In 1 Tim., chapter 2, verse 15, this only infallible means unto perfection is expressed: "She shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety," meaning she shall bring salration by childbearing if continued in holi ness. In the story of the virgin mother this saving idea is to impress us most emphatically by recognizing the process of gestation, if continued in holiness, the result of immaculate conception. All vital phenomena occur in the liquid and semi-liquid states. MAGIC ILLUSION I love thy magic veils and shrouds; Wondrously beautiful has God created worlds and universes. Everywhere man becomes enraptured with the magic illusion of the entrancing beauty wherewith nature is clothed. It matters not whether it is in the tiny grain of sand, the pebble, rock or mountain grand, or the dewdrop upon the morning rose in which life's beauty is enclosed and the hidden glory there exposed; while brooklets, rivers, oceans wide, reflect the wonders of the Great Divide; the tiny blade of grass, the flowers, shrubs and trees, all tell in silent eloquence the grandeur and majesty of the Creator's mind. God, the Creative Intelligence, has portrayed upon a most stupendous scale His unsurpassable ingenuity through His immeasurable and unaccountable mani |