1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,000
Speaker 1: Spiritual strength. All things are wholly to the Holy mind,

2
00:00:05,639 --> 00:00:11,000
All uses are legitimate impure, all occupations blessed and sanctified,

3
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,119
And every day a sabbath, a clear and firm head

4
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,280
must proceed and accompany a clear and gentle heart. Without

5
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,760
the first, the second is impossible, for the qualities of

6
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,199
purity and gentleness can only be reached through a clear

7
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,640
perception of right and wrong, and by the exercise of

8
00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:34,520
an irresistible will. The strength of a powerful animal, or

9
00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,920
of that animal force in man, which enables him to

10
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,920
gain the victory over others by attack and resistance, is

11
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,439
weakness compared with that quiet, patient, invincible will by which

12
00:00:46,439 --> 00:00:51,000
a man overcomes himself and tames to obedience and trains

13
00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:54,840
to the service of holy purposes. The savage passions of

14
00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,920
his nature. Every dog can bark and fight, and every

15
00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:03,200
foolish man can abuse fence with hard words and give

16
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,519
way to fits of bad temper. These things are easy

17
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,280
and natural to him, and require no effort and no strength.

18
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,400
But the wise man puts away all such follies and

19
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,879
trains himself in self control, trains himself to act unerringly

20
00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,879
from fixed principles and not from the fleeting impulses of

21
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:27,280
an unstable nature. He who succeeds in so training himself

22
00:01:27,439 --> 00:01:31,319
is able to train others in a small degree by precept,

23
00:01:31,879 --> 00:01:35,799
but largely and chiefly by practice or example. For it

24
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,920
is pre eminently the prerogative of the wise to teach

25
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,760
by their actions. The mockeries of Herod, the accusations of

26
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,319
Thai people, and the fanatical persecutions of the priests have

27
00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,840
all failed to draw from Jesus the word of complaint, bitterness,

28
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,120
or self defense. Such sublime acts of silence and self

29
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:02,239
control continue to reach for ages, both individuals and nations,

30
00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,280
with far greater power and effect than all the words

31
00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,599
and books uttered and written by the world's vast army

32
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:14,719
of priests and learned commentators. To retaliate and fight belongs

33
00:02:14,759 --> 00:02:17,400
to the animal in man, as it belongs to the

34
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,000
beast of the forest. But to refuse to be swayed

35
00:02:21,039 --> 00:02:24,639
from the practice of a divine principle by any external pressure,

36
00:02:25,319 --> 00:02:28,960
to stand firm and unalterable in goodness and truth alike,

37
00:02:29,319 --> 00:02:33,120
amid blame and praise. This belongs to the divine in

38
00:02:33,199 --> 00:02:37,520
man and in the universe. To alter one's conduct in

39
00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,159
order to please others or to avoid their censure or misunderstanding,

40
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,960
can never lead to spiritual strength. That divine kindness, which

41
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,800
always accompanies spiritual understanding and strength, is something very different

42
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,599
from merely saying pleasant words, for pleasant words are not

43
00:02:55,719 --> 00:02:59,360
always true words, but consist in doing what is best

44
00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:03,080
for the eternal welfare of the other person or persons.

45
00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,479
The weak father, who is unfit to train children, only

46
00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,960
considers how he can escape trouble with his children, and

47
00:03:11,039 --> 00:03:14,639
so he slurs over their acts of disobedience and selfishness

48
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,840
and tries to please them. But the strong father, who

49
00:03:18,879 --> 00:03:22,759
considers the future character and welfare of his children, knows

50
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,159
how and when to administer a severe reproof, fully understanding

51
00:03:27,159 --> 00:03:30,319
that a few minutes pain caused by his rebuke may

52
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,639
save his child from years of suffering as a result

53
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:38,520
of loose living which is fostered by parental neglect. The strong, kind,

54
00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,080
unselfish father, whose care is for his children's good and

55
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,599
not for his own immediate comfort, knows not only how

56
00:03:46,639 --> 00:03:50,560
to be tender in affection, but tender in discipline, knows

57
00:03:50,599 --> 00:03:53,199
how to stretch out the strong and severe arm of

58
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,840
restraint to save his little ones when they would ignorantly

59
00:03:56,919 --> 00:04:00,840
wander away in wrong paths. So the man of spiritual

60
00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:04,560
strength cannot be merely a weak framer of smooth words,

61
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,439
but a doer of right actions, an utterer of words

62
00:04:08,439 --> 00:04:13,560
that are vital and true and therefore eternally kind. The

63
00:04:13,639 --> 00:04:17,079
spiritually weak man shrinks from right when it is brought,

64
00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:20,879
as by its nature it must be brought in opposition

65
00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:24,920
to his desires, and he embraces sin because it is pleasant.

66
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:30,399
The spiritually strong man shrinks from sin more, especially when

67
00:04:30,439 --> 00:04:33,240
it is presented to him in a pleasant garb, and

68
00:04:33,319 --> 00:04:37,399
embraces right, even though by so doing he will bring

69
00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,720
upon himself the odium of those who are ignorant of

70
00:04:40,759 --> 00:04:45,839
divine principles and their beneficent application. The man of spiritual

71
00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,319
understanding is as unbending as a bar of steel where

72
00:04:49,399 --> 00:04:53,639
right is concerned, knowing that right alone is good. He

73
00:04:53,759 --> 00:04:57,680
is as unresisting as water where self is concerned, knowing

74
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,560
that self alone is evil. Acting from imperishable principles and

75
00:05:02,639 --> 00:05:06,439
not from the fleeting desires of self, his actions partake

76
00:05:06,519 --> 00:05:09,920
of the imperishable nature of the principles from which they spring,

77
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,480
and continue to afford instruction and inspiration through unnumbered generations.

78
00:05:16,399 --> 00:05:18,879
It is always the portion of one who so acts

79
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,720
to be misunderstood. The majority live in their desires and impulses,

80
00:05:24,319 --> 00:05:27,839
following them blindly as they are brought into operation by

81
00:05:27,879 --> 00:05:31,800
external stimuli, and do not understand what is meant by

82
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:36,680
acting dispassionately from right and fixed principles, with entire freedom

83
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:41,879
from self interest, such will necessarily misunderstand and misjudge the

84
00:05:41,959 --> 00:05:45,319
right doer, regarding him as cold and cruel in his

85
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,800
unbearing adherence to right, or as weak cowardly in his

86
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:54,480
quiet refusal to passionately defend himself. He will therefore be

87
00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,600
accused of many things, but this will not cause him

88
00:05:57,639 --> 00:06:01,279
any suffering, nor will he be troubled or disturbed thereby,

89
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,519
for the truth which he practices is a source of

90
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,639
perpetual joy, and he will be at rest in the

91
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,160
knowledge that there are those who will understand and follow,

92
00:06:11,759 --> 00:06:14,279
that he is working for the ultimate good, even of

93
00:06:14,319 --> 00:06:17,879
his accusers, and that by manifesting the truth in his

94
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,600
daily actions, he is in the company of those divinely

95
00:06:21,639 --> 00:06:24,959
strong ones who are leading the world into ways of

96
00:06:25,079 --> 00:06:26,480
quietness and peace.