Your right to be happy. Rejoice always; or, Happiness is for you

Front matter

'I llil

I

Hl'i^ liiill'l!!'"

Preface

of progress has grown, and in growing has outgrown many things and grown into many other things. The vision of what ought to be lures us to use all right means to make what ought to be to become manifest as we work together with God as His children. Science, so marvelous in its achievements in many other lines, must do its proper work in spiritual lines, to the inestimable good of mankind, and to the establishing of that order of things called the Kingdom of God on the earth. Once let mankind turn to spiritual things and their practical use, as already to material, and a progress will result surpassing all our present conception. The universe is a unity throughout.

To help in some small measure such a development of the unknown but spiritually conceived results, this book is brought to the hands and the use of those who wish to take part in the great development, beginning in their own selves the spiritual work.

F. S. Van Eps.

Contents

PAGE

I Eejoice 1

II The Consciousness of God . . .34

I. Eejoice

'^Rejoice in the Lord all the time/' JOY, happiness, or satisfaction is the birthright of every human being; and there is a sure way to realize it. Our capacity for happiness and our eagerness for it are evidences of this fact. As the ear is the organ for hearing and the eye for seeing, and their very existence points to hearing and to seeing; so, the capacity for anything, such as happiness, points to its satisfaction. A faculty points to its own action and effectiveness. Man's capacity for joy proves that his destiny is joy and happiness. If he is not having an experience which accords with the things to which his very nature and consti-

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tution point and whicli according to reason they require, it is evident that something unnatural must be interfering with him. The promise of his nature must be fulfilled.

More people are to-day on the way to happiness than ever before, in history. This is because the secret of happiness is being more widely understood and acted upon. We are, as a race, nearer universal happiness and satisfaction than ever, even though many say that man's lot is sorrow.

Looking over humanity, we see the majority apparently unhappy, dissatisfied, and complaining. These questions arise : "Is all this necessary? Is this a part of the plan of God? Is there no balm in Gilead?" Reason shows that the evident purpose of the Creator is that all shall be happy and satisfied.

But how? Where do people miss their way? Why do they not find it? If there is any way of peace and happiness, why has it not been found and followed all these ages?

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Surely it would seem that all people would rush for the way of release from burdens, if the way were pointed out. But, is it so? Point out to some one what you have found to help or satisfy you, and you will not always find that there will be a rush to try the same. People have been in the habit of objecting, arguing, or hesitating, rather than accepting with eagerness the way of deliverance. Too often they ask that foolish question, "Why is the way so, and not otherwise?'' It is not so much asking questions that leads to freedom, as obeying divine directions, believing the truth when it is pointed out. The truth does no one good, unless he accepts it and acts upon it.

There is such a thing as joy on a scientific basis, joy based on known principles and laws ; happiness that endures and can not be destroyed or taken away, but can be depended upon as permanent. It is above and beyond the affairs and circumstances of the bEJOICE ALWAYS; OR^

world, and not dependent or consequent upon them.

We are now to investigate as a scientific matter the secret of this happiness, to proceed step by step and ascertain its principles and laws, and then to apply them so as to have the science and the art of being joyous, happy, and satisfied.

Happiness is commonly considered to be that state in which all is going well with one, and he enjoys life; enjoyment of good fortune; realization of good. One looks upon his experience as a whole and sees that the general trend or course of his affairs is good, and he is thus in that state in which he has a sense of suflflciency, and so he is satisfied, has enough. This is really a state of the inner and Essential man, and therefore is a state of mind or spirit.

From the philosophical standpoint, it must have its origin not in things or in circumstances, or even in people. Whatever things, circumstances, or people may be, one

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may not be happy or satisfied because of them or in connection with them. Again, whatever they may be, one can be happy in spite of them. The person is supreme. From the standpoint of human experience, we may say the same; for experience corroborates the conclusion reached by means of our reasoning from the nature of things. Watch those whose position in the world, whose possession of things, whose circumstances, and whose relations with others would seem sufficient ground for happiness and contentment, and you find that they are not always happy. Often they seem the farthest from such a state. On the other hand, we find many happy, though they are without the things, circumstances, or people that have been considered by many as necessary to this condition. It requires no very deep penetration to perceive that man is supreme above things, above circumstances, and above relations to others; master, and not slave; and contains within himself the essentials of happiness and satisfaction. On himself, therefore, rests the responsibility for his condition.

It must be in the person himself that good is realized and satisfaction found, and the source can be nothing else than the infinite Spirit. If joy, happiness, satisfaction, is a state of the essential man, and he is a rational spirit; then this state must come about according to the laws, or the methods of action, of the rational spirit. Then, as the source of all good is the infinite Spirit, man must realize good through the observance of the laws of spiritual action.

A great mistake made by people has been that they have sought satisfaction in things lower in the scale of being than themselves, and they have necessarily been disappointed. ^^Seek, and you shall find'' does not mean seek beneath you, but above you. ^^Ask, and it shall be given you," means ask of God. Shall we seek satisfaction elsewhere? When we look above things, above even ourselves.

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and seek from a higher source, all satisfaction must be found with definiteness and certainty, and our birthright must be realized.

There is a region of our being, call it deep or call it high, that is beyond the fluctuations of affairs, beyond the changes of relations with others, beyond the shifting of all external things. It is the region of cause; and so, above effects. From this region one can look down upon all things with the air of master. Many have testified to this, and their experience is the actual demonstration of the existence of the region mentioned and of the practical value to one of retiring to it. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee'' is the prophet's declaration. The great Master said : "Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you : not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.''

Again, note these words: "These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be filled full.'' Fulness of joy, of gladness, of satisfaction, is what it was the evident intention of the Christ to bring into human experience, not as a mere pious emotion, not as a flitting and transitory thing, but as a practical, every-day experience, enduring and constant. Whatever man has experienced, whatever his life has seemed, the Christ has shown the way to that which is truly divine and is man's true condition, that which God originally intended.

How shall this be experienced? How can Ave get into that state which makes trouble, anxiety, and all the rest of such things not even memories any more? This is a scientific and a practical question.

Paul points out the way to this desired state, and it is not sanctimonious piety, but what science, philosophy, and experience confirm.

We will note this way step by step, so that

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it may be very plain to every one. The first step is this: "Rejoice in the Lord at all times ; and again I will say, Eejoice." Those who have been in the habit of complaining, of grumbling at nearly everything, will find this apparently a hard thing to do, and may ask, "How can one rejoice at all times? How can one rejoice when things seem adverse, and people seem hostile or treacherous?" Let them lay aside everything preconceived, all their past, and think. Let them not meet the suggestion of the way of help with an objection.

Is it possible to rejoice or be glad all the time? to be free from the fluctuations of joy and depression? Is it a matter of one's own choice? Can happiness be brought into the human heart that is weighed down? Can the shadows and the darkness be dispelled? To all these questions there is one answer — Yes. It may further be said that, when the way is made clear to a person, he has no excuse for not being happy. Many things once x^garded as inevitable, as beyond man's power, are now proved to be within the power of every one. How much of human experience is directly the result of using or of not using the will intelligently no one can tell. It often looks as if the whole responsibility for conditions rested upon people themselves. If this is so, it is most important that every one investigate, and then earnestly apply what he learns.

The statement is, "Rejoice in the Lord at all times,'' or "all the time." This is not sanctimony, but sound reason. One is not to rejoice in himself, in others, or in things; but in the Infinite. This is a profound idea. John and Paul especially use the phrases, "in Christ," "in the Lord," "in the Christ," and others similar. The idea is that of being in the Christ, in fellowship, communion, living contact, real oneness, with him. It is being in the same state, the same thought and life, as that in which he is. To rejoice and be glad in this relation with the Christ

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is to realize one's oneness with the Creator, and so to withdraw from the outward thing or situation which may seem unpleasant and unbearable. Thus God is a practical refuge. One flees to the secret place, and in the silence alone with God, prays to the Father in secret. This is one's sure sanctuary and citadel. One understands, because he demonstrates, that this action does bring him to a state of mind which enables him to encounter anything and not be moved.

Eejoicing in the Lord is knowing that one is in vital union with God and that nothing in the world can overcome or disturb him. A man had an object which he wished to accomplish. He said : "With God helping me, no power on earth but God can defeat me, and he will not, because he does not want to." With this confidence, he went forward and succeeded. This was practical rejoicing in the Lord. One has all the ability and power, because he has all the resources, of the Infinite at his disposal. This is not a belief and hope simply, but a practical and tangible thing. It is, in fact, not a theory or dogma, but it is a life.

The repetition is significant : "Again I will say, Rejoice.'' It is as if Paul had, as he was writing, swept through a consideration of all the objections that might be brought up, reviewed experience, giving all due consideration, and then, as a deliberate and fully warranted statement, repeated "Rejoice." It is not modification, but intensification ; it is not retraction, but emphatic reiteration. It is not theory, but scientific and demonstrable knowledge.

The secret is to live constantly in conscious oneness with God, in the relation of the child to the Father, and so rejoicing in and because of this relation. People have too much lived in things, putting thought and effort upon them, seeking happiness in them, and acting as if all depended on them. All this is a great mistake. Every one must, like the prodigal son, come to himself and

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say, ^^I will arise and go to my father.'' That wonderful parable illustrates human experience and how satisfaction is finally to be obtained after trying all kinds of mistaken ways and finding them disappointing. There is the proper place and the proper use of things ; but they should never be allowed to be placed in one's consideration above himself, but subject to himself. He should rule them, and never allow himself to be ruled by them.

Many people, partially seeing this point, and endeavoring to free themselves from the bondage to surroundings, have grown careless of the real nature and worth of things. From the extreme of living solely for houses, lands, and clothes, they now go about carelessly dressed, their homes are poorly kept, and their obligations are never met. This is all wrong. Whatever tends to beautify the person or his surroundings, and all that is beautiful in this world about us that we call nature, have their part and place in the eleyating of an individual, and so they make him more susceptible to those higher things which he is seeking. The poorly dressed man, living in a slovenly home, does not and can not develop as he would in artistic surroundings. But he does not need to be despondent because he has not these things, as this will only tend to drive him farther down the scale. The first step in getting up is to lift himself up out of his surroundings by rejoicing. "Seek first his kingdom and his rightness, and all these things shall be added to you." We should form the habit of rejoicing all the time, should cultivate the attitude of joy and gladness. This very state of mind is power, and it leads to effective operation and desired results. Nothing else can so conduce to cheerfulness, and every one knows what a tonic is good cheer. How often the Great Teacher used to say, "Be of good cheer." Nothing else will bring one to enjoy life and everything in life more than rejoicing as a persistent and cultivated

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attitude. It is the first step in mastering a situation. It is culture of the best kind.

How to do this is simple. It requires a decided use of the will, intelligently directed. We should look our situation over, and see that we are ourselves of more importance than any situation in which we may be. The diamond is more than its setting. Things are not so bad as they seem. Let us determine that, however things may seem, whatever may come up, however serious or complicated all may appear, before we do anything else, we will rejoice in our relation to the Infinite, rejoice in the fact that we are in vital touch and communion with the Power that rules all things and works all things together with us for good. Let us get good out of the situation. A cat, trying to eat, found the food hot on the side first approached, and walked around to the other side, because that might be cooler. That was good sense. Let us approach things from the other side, if they seem unpleasant from i:

K this side. We will turn everything around, if necessary; and in the divine power put forth in rejoicing in the Lord, bring forth good. We must rejoice in the Lord until we find something in the situation that is good, and make that our starting-pointi. It is there, whether we see it or not. We must look until we do see it. ^^Seek, and you shall find.'' One finds what he looks for.

We must be careful that in our anxiety we do not trust in things and appearances more than in God. In the pressure of things, though one may say that he is trusting in God, yet he is heavy at heart and bowed down; but, when things look brighter, his heaviness is gone. Is he not, then, trusting and rejoicing in things rather than in God? The very fact of one's despair shows that he is trusting in things rather than in the Infinite. We must compel ourselves to trust and to rejoice in the Lord and in nothing else. Then our joy no one can take from us, and it will be full. What was that

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joy which Christ spoke of as "my joy''? It must have been something above that which is in things ; it must have been in the Father and in his work. "I have food to eat which you do not know/' he said; "my food is to do the will of him that sent me." Here was his food, his life, his enjoyment.

With this deeply impressed on ourselves, we are ready. We begin the day by saying, "Rejoice, rejoice! Lift up! Good cheer! Courage!" This is drill and practice in setting the current of experience going as we wish it. If one is to be a good soldier on the field and in action, he must be a good soldier in his drill. Victory on the field depends much on one's drill when not there. One must not wait until a battle is on before he does his drilling.

Every one knows that there is a great power in a watchword. It is a method and a means of concentrating power. A proverb often comes to mind and has a decided effect. "Never buy what you do not want, just because it is cheap/' came to mind at a certain moment, and if the man had heeded the suggestion, an unnecessary purchase would have been avoided, and consequent financial embarrassment averted. Some word or quotation comes to mind at a moment of supreme importance and sets one on the way to victory. It is a scientific matter, that the words which one keeps in mind have a great power in shaping conditions and experiences. Words so held in mind exert a determining infiuence upon one's career. Multitudes of examples might be cited. A young man, peddling, saw a beautiful spot for a house and declared that he was going to own that place and w^ould have it laid out as he described. For many years he has had that place as he determined and declared. We have all said what we were going to do and have found things so shaping without our effort that our word has come true. Our speaking the word was the effort put forth. To say to one's self "Kejoice" is to set the

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whole action of the spirit in that line; and this sets the machinery of events going in that way. To keep repeating this word is to keep that action continuously in that line and thus it is a permanent state. Every repetition adds an increment of force to it and makes it more powerful. Soon one is joyous without effort, because he has struck a rhythm or flow that carries him as momentum.

A thing may come up unexpectedly, springing suddenly upon us. At the first suggestion of difficulty, we must take our word. Before fear can get hold of us, we must say "Eejoice" to ourselves in our secret heart, being glad that we have all the resources of God at our command, that we have the ability to deal with the situation and to master it, and that we can prove this ability. "I can do all things in the One who empowers me." If doubts arise, we must kill them out by saying, ^^Rejoice" faster than the doubts come up.

Many make the mistake, at this point, of wondering why the trouble has come upon them, and thus they delay victory. Instead of thinking of a situation as trouble, or bemoaning what seems a coming battle, we are to think of what a victory is coming to us, and strike the first blow by saying to ourselves, "Rejoice," and then assume an attitude of joy and light-heartedness. We are to go at the thing in a state of rejoicing, rather than in a state of complaining or of fear. Victory is certain. We must believe it and rejoice that we are victors and that events are certain to prove it.

A sense of depression or discouragement attracts our attention. At the first notice of it, without giving way to it, we must throw ourselves into the state of joy and uplifting by saying, "Rejoice.'' No depression, discouragembnt, fear, or doubt can stand before rejoicing. It was as Paul and Silas rejoiced and sang praise in the jail at Philippi that night that they were liberated.

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Their praying and singing brought about such a shaking that no locks or stocks could hold them. Complaining wins no victory; but rejoicing does win.

Push the thought of "Rejoice'^ right through your inharmonious condition, until by its positive force it disintegrates the inharmonious condition. If there comes a place in which it seems to meet an obstruction and it seems difficult to push the thought, instead of relaxing the effort, add more force to it, and persist. Soon the negative vibrations will change to the positive character, and you have overcome the situation.

If one forms the habit of so rejoicing, trouble can not assail him to harm him, and it can not remain. He sheds trouble or what would trouble him, if it were not for his attitude of mind. This self-training is preventive. It not only gets one out, but it also keeps one out. It wards off. No one can tell what he has avoided by being divinely led and protected. To him there is nothing evil or harmful. One does not see disagreeable things, if he has this habit well formed. He does not look for them or at them. Not looking that way, he does not see them. He is in a state of composure which is beyond disturbance. He is kept. Joy is of God, and to rejoice in the Lord always means to take this divine attribute into every situation.

It is said that there are depths of the ocean so profound that they are not perceptibly affected by the most violent storms on the surface. So, in every person there is a region which can not be disturbed. We should dwell in the deep regions of our being, where all is imperturbable calm. It will then be easy to let our self-control be known to all whom we meet. Excitement and its consequences will not occur. Beyond the atmosphere are empyrean heights where no storms agitate. So there are heights of life which are beyond the ordinary

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troubled atmosphere of human experience. We must learn to dwell there.

In the face of great loss and seeming disaster, as one was about to give way to complaining, suddenly there came, as if spoken by another, these words: ^^When you get where you can bear adversity without complaining, there will be no adversity to you.'' Here was the same idea of rejecting from experience what usually has been regarded as hard to bear. He began by rejoicing in spite of the appearance of things, and when the thought of loss would come to mind, he would oven\^helm it with rejoicing in the Lord. Adversity was impossible, and a prosperous turn soon came, proving that the word which had come to him was true and therefore divine. It seemed, from a business standpoint, that everything was about to be SAvept away from him, even his home. Experienced men said that there was no chance for him. But, having had that word, that divine message, as he regarded it, he accepted it as such and acted upon it. When doubts would arise, when a feeling of regret at his threatened loss would come, when an idea of self-pity or of complaint would come up, he would silence this by repeating, '^Kejoice," and then the words of the message, "When you get where you can bear adversity without complaining, there will be no adversity to you." A sudden and unlooked-for turn came and that adversity which seemed inevitable did not come to him, and the very idea of adversity seems fast passing from his mind and experience.

The effects of fretfulness and fault-finding are evident. Grumble one hour and watch the results. Your mind is all stirred up, and you are irritable and snappy. Your face is pinched and puckered and wrinkled. You look a year older than you did an hour before. This certainly is not the effect of time, but of grumbling. Your complexion is not so clear. Your stomach feels disturbed. Your head is uneasy. Perhaps this does not

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fully describe the effects of an hour of grumbling. If you are not satisfied with this experiment and your scientific study of its results, continue grumbling another hour and study results. Note the effects not only upon physical lines, but also upon social and commercial lines. People shun you. No one enjoys your society. Even your own people keep away from you as much as possible. Do you think that you can do business while you are all kinked up with fret and irritation? Is any one who frets in a mood to reach out into great enterprises and command success?

In a great city, famed for its far-reaching commercial activity, a member of a prominent firm has allowed the habit of fretting to become fastened upon him. "Allowed" is used advisedly ; for, if he had not allowed it, it could not have been. Every employe dreads to go into his private office with the matters which in the course of his own business each day come up for his consultation and decision. His office is his den, unmistakably. Can employes be in their most efficient state under such an employer? Will customers come there, if any other establishment can furnish even approximately as good service?

Now try the more excellent way. Go away by yourself, and if you can, shut your door so as to be free from all interruption. Speak ^ith yourself inside, such words as these : ^^Now I am alone with God. I drop out of mind all care, all responsibility, all intensity. The divine Spirit now quiets me and imparts to me life, wisdom, love, and power. I am still and peaceful — still and peaceful." Speak soothingly. Now let the spirit of these words fill you. Soon you will feel a deep quietness and you will feel strangely rested and invigorated. Now say, "I am full of joy and rejoicing. I rejoice in God who is my refuge and my strength.'' The effects of your rejoicing you will notice in a mental uplifting and the

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stirring of your thoughts, new ideas coming with clearness and inspiration. A new confidence fills you, and you feel that you are master of any situation. Physically, you feel rested, nourished, renewed, and invigorated. It is a pleasure to be alive. A sense of bounding health pervades your entire being. New turns in business now come, and every*thing in life takes on a brighter look. You come forth victorious over yourself, and you go forth conquering and to conquer.

Is it not hypocritical to rejoice when all things seem suggestive of the opposite? Is not such rejoicing sham and pretence? By no mea,ns so, when done in this higher understanding with a definite purpose. It is not pretence, but sincerity, earnestness, the true way. It is bringing to bear upon the situation the power to readjust it. Is it hypocritical to row against the current? It is determination to use one's God-given power and not drift with the stream or give in to anything. It is using a higher degree of power to overcome a lower. In this rejoicing in the Lord one is dealing not with effects, but with causes; not with outward appearance, but with inward reality and power. It is a creating attitude and activity in which one projects himself beyond the visible into the invisible. It is not merely rejoicing in hope; it is rejoicing in faith, and "faith is assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen.'' It is this conviction of things not yet seen that is the basis of rejoicing in the Lord. Does one hope for anything which as yet has not become manifest to the senses? Then let him reach over into that region of the unseen hoped-for and believe that it really is, and let him rejoice in possessing it now. This is walking by faith, not by sight. One turns on the electricity, Avhen he wants light in order to produce light. So one turns on joy and uplifting. He calls it forth, brings it into manifestation or expression. When