Sermonettes from Mother Goose for big folks

Preface

plHE writing of every one of these chapters has been a soul-lift to

" me, I am persuaded that they will also be of assistance to those who read them; for how can a book help doing good when it has come from the soul ? Freely I have received, freely I give. F. m. h.

CHAPTER I. " There was a man in our town

And he was wondrous wise. He jumped into a bramble bush

And scratched out both his eyes; And when he found his eyes were out,

With all his might and main, He jumped into another bush

And scratched them in again. "

Many rhymes, fables and melodies have been and will continue to be handed down from generation to generation. We as children were as much interested in them as were our great grand parents when they were children. They have never gone out of fashion, neither have they ever seemed to grow old; and why? Because they have concealed in them great and mighty truths; therefore they never will die, neither will they ever grow old. Age can not affect Truth.

Four has been the sum of 2 plus 2 since the beginning of time and it will continue to be through all eternity. Truth has no beginning and no ending.

"Every true word is a word of God;" therefore whenever we realize a new truth we can say the Lord said it unto me. Words are living things. Life and Truth are all-powerful and can never be destroyed nor overthrown. They are eternal therefore they will stand forever. Truth never began to be true, but it is true always.

Truth is not always recognized as Truth. It is very often spoken when the speaker is entirely unconscious of the mighty work that he is doing;

MOTHER GOOSE.

when he does not even recognize the fact that a word is a living thing and that by his speaking it he is sending it on a journey around the universe to accomplish either weal or woe according to his word.

This rhyme of u Mother Goose" veils one of the most stupendous truths, whose facts are being proven daily: viz., man's own responsibility in making conditions for himself.

Truth, being infinite, is revealed in countless ways and through innumerable methods. Where the teachings of Jesus do not appeal those of Buddha may. Where religion may be rejected ethics may succeed. Where neither law nor gospel can arouse loyalty or enthusiasm, the comedy may work the desired end.

Law is one of the aspects of God; Wisdom is another. Omnipresence is

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an inherent quality of God. Thus we say that Wisdom is always and ever working with the operation of Divine Law. In whatever way, therefore, that Truth is revealed, it is in the process of the manifestation of Divine Law.

To him who understands Divine Law there is no condemnation. Each and every one of us has, naturally, had to begin with no knowledge, and of necessity must work up to All Knowledge. In whatever error therefore we see others, in merciful tenderness we should say: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." We have in a certain stage of our development been just where they are now. We have grown out of that place; so must they, for Divine Law is Omnipotence and nothing can stay its course.

The great first uncreate Cause of all that is, is uncontrollable, irresistible, unchangeable and omnipotent. Will its purposes not then be carried out?

What is it that this great first Cause of all wills to attain? Manifestation surely. And manifestation can only come through that in which Deity is expressed.

Our rhyme from "Mother Goose" gives the history of man from his coming forth from first Cause as expression until his return thereto in full consciousness of his divinity which he has proven through his demonstration.

God is no respecter of persons. The nature, capacity, possibilities and powers of one man are only a type of what all men are in their generic nature. Law would not be law, nor Principle be principle if, primarily, mankind were differently endowed. Emerson says

"The history of Jesus is the history of every man writ large. Because one man was true to that which was in him allows that all men can be. "

The Bible must be an individual book if we would have it an open book. It portrays the soul experience of each one of us from our first sense judgment until we have realized, through demonstration, full and complete God consciousness and omniscience.

Mother Goose gives us individual teaching. She sings of each one of us through a particular type man.

If we will open our inner eye we will see Truth expressed everywhere and through everything. All advice, all exhortation and all precepts have been needed by us at some time in our soul growth. All recorded experiences have been or will be ours sometime during the process of our development of God consciousness. Realization of this melts away all condemnation. As condemnation decreases in us, consideration, sympathy and love increase in us.

"There was a man in our town, And he was wondrous wise."

Taking him to have been a type ot all the men in "our town," we were all "wondrous wise/' Created by Wisdom, being the image in which God is fully and completely expressed, wondrous wisdom is the consequence or result. It is not an endowment from choice on the part of the donor, the Creator, but a necessary derivation from which there could not possibly be any deviation. A creator from his very nature, bestows life upon his creation. In other words, the creation — the living thing— is that which expres* es the creator. It is therefore just like the creator in nature, powers and faculties. Since the Creator is Wisdom unqualified, how could the creation, the complete expression, be other than "wondrous wise?

But being and doing are two vastly different things. It is only in the doing that we prove to ourselves that we can do that which we have the inherent capacity and possibility of doing. Any principle would be unknown and as though it were not, if it were not made manifest. First Cause, or the Priiltiple, God, would be as though he were not if it were not for his effect, or expression, Man. Man — the being of effect or expression — would be as though he were not, did he not manifest himself through demonstration.

Man is, because of his nature, "wondrous wise," but he is not conscious that this is true of himself until he proves it to himself. As a man proves to himself that he is what he is, he proves it to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

His proof or his demonstration comes through doing or action. The power to do or the power to act is his because of his Source or Cause. With the life with which he is endowed came the power of action.

Soul is self-consciousness.

Of the soul it is said that it must return to God who gave it. A return implies that there was previously a going away from. Therefore, for the soul to prove its God consciousness, it must, through doing or action, 'prove what it can do every step of the way from no self-consciousness tip to the consciousness that it is like God.

Now our man who was so "wondrous wise"

"Jumped into a bramble bush

And scratched out both his eyes;"

Judging from appearances wisdom was lacking in this man that he should do such a thing as this, but a knower of Divine Law would say he was proving his power of action and that through action will he prove his other powers and demonstrate his divine capacities and possibilities. He acted and result was made manifest. If he was "wondrous wise" why did he act so foolishly, do you say? Ah! he must prove his wisdom as well* as his power of action! Was the result satisfactory to him?

No? Then let him profit by his experience, use his wisdom and act again.

"And when he found his eyes were out, With all his might and main, He jumped into another bush And scratched them in again/'

Necessity is a fine teacher. It is said to be the "mother of invention." To invent is simply to find out what you know and what you can do. When we, through action, bring ourselves into very undesirable conditions, we recognize that it will only be through further action, coupled with wisdom, that we can get out of these conditions. When the man in our melody perceived this, when he found himself to be in the darkness and misery which he had brought upon himself, and when he had suffered enough so that he was driven to turn with "all his might and main" to the contrary course of action,, and not till then, were his eyes "scratched in again."

Since Mind is the only Reality, all real action is mental. According to our thinking then will all things be to us. Spoken words are only our thinking made audible. The power to think is ours because of our cause which is Mind. From the use of this power we will work up, up, up, until we have attained all knowledge, all power and all purity. We will one day in perfect knowledge say with Isaiah, "Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass."

CHAPTER II. 'There was an old woman and what do you think?

She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink;

Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet,

Yet this grumbling old woman would never be quiet."

How could the old woman be quiet when she tried to obtain satisfaction through that which satisfieth not? Impossibilities can not be done. It is sometimes said that there are no impossibilities, but this is always meant when the true nature of that which is spoken is revealed. There are itnpossibilities for both God and man, and well is it for us that there are.

The nature of anything is that which is fixed. It is not assumed, but is its essential. The nature of God is Love. Would it be possible then for God to change to hate or wrath. No, God is Love and God can not change. What shall we fear, then, since God — Love — Divine Love — is Omnipotence? What shall we be anxious about? Is not Divine Love Omniscience, and is it not pushing us into a perception of, and faith in u the eternal law of Good?" What need have we for a physician? Is not Divine Love omnipresent, and does it not heal our bruises every time we apply it? Divine Love is changelessly and forever Divine Love.

Nothing exists for us unless we perceive it and are conscious of its presence. If we do not perceive Divine Love; if we are not conscious that Divine Love is around and about us, upholding, encircling and infolding us, then to our consciousness there is no Divine Love.

Whether a thing is true to our consciousness or not does not alter either the fact nor the nature of the thing. Divine Love is, and recognition of it will prove to us that it can not fail us, for it is eternal, changeless and omnipotent. To these words can we flee when assailed by either fear, sorrow or sickness and we will find them to be healing, courage giving, and faith strengthening.

From the earliest records, almost, it has been proven that material things have always failed those who put their trust in them. We can not live solely upon "victuals and drink." Man is a spiritual being and can not be wholly satisfied unless he has spiritual as well as material food. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God is Principle, therefore deductions from Principle, clearly and accurately stated, are words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

"Victuals and drink" of themselves contain nothing satisfying, and lack of satisfaction is what causes people to grumble. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh." When there is unrest in the heart the words are of murmuring, discontent and grumbling. When the heart knows peace the words are of peace and satisfaction. To obtain peace and satisfaction the soul must feed upon that which will bring such results. It is the soul which feels either peace or unrest. "Victuals and drink" do not feed the soul, therefore one who makes them the chief oi his diet will not know peace.

That man is a spiritual being has to be proven every step of the way. He comes forth from God that he may return to God with conscious knowledge of what he is. In the process of his coming from God one of his error beliefs has been that he is a material being, and that he is sustained by material food alone. Like all other error be-, liefs this has to be outgrown. It has been noticed time and again that as we attain spirituality in thought our appetites change. We do not desire the coarse foods we formerly craved, but little by little we drop them and choose the lighter foods, fruits, vegetables and nuts. The more spiritual we become the less anxious thought we take for the body and what we shall eat.

We have always been warned by both physicists and sacred writers not to make "victuals and drink" the chief of our diet. The materialist tells us that to be overfed by "victuals and drink" will bring upon us disease and suffering. Spiritual teachers tell us that "victuals and drink" have no real satisfying power. It is oflly when we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of Man that we truly eat nourishing food.

The flesh and blood are made and their quality determined by the thinking and speaking. When we think the thoughts of Jesus we are drinking his blood and when we speak his words we are eating his flesh. Whatever words we speak are made flesh.

As words are living things they always objectify. When the undesirable comes into our existence it shows us that we have been doing some wrong thinking. But if we will turn from placing our faith in 'Victuals and drink" (materiality) and will eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of Man — (spiritualize ourselves) we will attain power over all hard conditions. *

The question has been asked why is it if we are spiritual beings that we need to eat any material food at all? We have always believed that there is life, substance, intelligence and causation in material things. Believing this we have looked to material things for sustenance and depended upon them for our life, health and happiness.

Because man is essentially spiritual, having all knowledge and power, he wanted to prove to himself that he is what he is. In this proving process he had to have something to work with, by the use of which he could make his demonstrations. When we undertake to prove the principles of mathematics we use blackboard and chalk, slate and pencil, or paper and pen. We call these our tools and by the use of them we prove our conscious intelligence.

There are many tools and instruments for the use of man in the course of his proving himself to his own consciousness to be a spiritual being. These tools and instruments are what is called matter in its various phases. They are of just the same importance and of the same value as the blackboard and chalk by which we have proven so much. The blackboard and the chalk of themselves can do nothing;

they are lifeless and inert, they have no power nor intelligence of themselves to do anything, but when acted upon and used by intelligent man, mighty things can be wrought through their use. The spiritual man that God created was not satisfied to simply know all that God knows but he wanted to prove to himself that he knows it all, and it is through the use of material objects that he does his proving.

When man decided to do this proving through matter, the allegory w^hich explains it all to us reads: u In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. " Man clothed himself with flesh, or, as Genesis puts it, The Lord God made coats of skin and clothed Adam and his wife that they might the better use the tools which they would make for themselves with their thinking, to prove themselves to be what they are.

Dust means nothing or nonentity. So £ll materiality of itself is in reality nothing. It is simply shape to our sense vision. It has substance to us or not just according to the way we think about it. All things are to us according to our sense about them. When we understand what matter really is — shape through which intelligence can be expressed and manifested — we will lose our frantic hold upon it and turn to depending upon and loving the Lord our God.

As long as our belief is strong in matter having substance and causative power we have laid great stress upon the importance of what we should eat. We have made 'Victuals and drink" not only the chief of our diet but the chief of our desires and anxieties. When the truth of our being begins to dawn upon us, we soon see that in this matter of "victuals and drink" we can prove ourselves to be in the world but not of it. Fear of any kind of food will soon vanish when we perceive that there is no causation in matter. This same perception will also relieve us of anxiety regarding what we shall eat and how it shall be prepared. A clear perception of the truth that there is no causation in matter will do as much to clear wrinkles off the faces of the people as any other thing that I know of.

As long as we manifest here in the flesh we will eat, but how different will the eating be compared with what it used to be! Instead of being a slave to appetite we will eat when and what is convenient. Instead of laying great stress upon what we eat we will recognize that nothing we can take into our mouths will defile us. It is the words that come out of our mouths that hurt us. As long as we are here with this visible, physical shape, it will be our mission to demonstrate over all beliefs about matter, and that it has no life nor causation, and not until we have outgrown these beliefs can we say "I have overcome the world."

Dependence and reliance upon "victuals and drink" bring upon us trouble, sickness and inharmony. To change our thinking is the only way we can change these conditions.

If man had always kept uppermost the remembrance that he is a spiritual being possessing all that God is, he would never have heard pronounced, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."

Little Johnnie, in his composition said: "Pins have been known to save a great many lives by not swallowing them." Just so will error words save much trouble and sickness by not thinking nor speaking them. An ounce of prevention is always worth more than a pound of cure.

We clearly see that the grumbling which our old woman did after making victuals and drink the chief of her diet was the natural outcome of this diet. She is a type of mankind. We are all seeking satisfaction. While unsatisfied we all grumble either silently or audibly, and we continue to grumble until we attain satisfaction. We want to find and eat that which will cause us to cease our grumbling just as quickly as we possibly can. As no man liveth to himself alone, so we can not be in a grumbling mood without making those around us miserable too, Thoughts are contagious, and one of a grumbling disposition is a poisonous and much to be dreaded member of the home or society, for moods are infectious.

If dependence upon 'Victuals and drink" makes one unhappy and sick it would be well to change the diet to that which is life sustaining and health giving.

We should hold no condemnation over ourselves for what we have done in the past because what we did we did in our dream of ignorance. We are now awakening from this dream and attaining the power to clearly perceive and depend upon that which satisfieth.

We have constantly thought that which was not true until it has become a settled habit with us. Habits are very often hard to break. It very often takes great constancy of purpose and determination to break off an established habit. He who changes from habitual error thinking to constant true thinking is the one to whom the voice will speak: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Whenever there is a thing that we ought to do, we can always be shown a way to accomplish it. If error thinking is only a habit, why can not that habit be broken and a correct habit be formed? "Where there is a will there is a way."

We all remember how in our illnesses in the past we have kept uppermost in our thoughts the importance and necessity of taking our medicine in the prescribed quantities and at the appointed times, and how everything we did was made secondary to this one great thing of obeying the commands of our physician faithfully and conscientiously just as he prescribed. Our watch was open beside us, or the clock was turned so that we could see it and our thoughts centered upon obedience.

We have now put ourselves under the care of the Great Physician, and must form the habit of obeying his directions and taking his prescriptions. When we were taking the medicine we were trying to avoid sickness and avert death. These were the thoughts and beliefs uppermost with us. We have found that the only way to put out a thought is to put another one in. its place. Instead of keeping ourselves obedient through fear, let us change our thinking and courageously cling in thought to life and health. Since we have found that our physical conditions are made by our thinking we have proven that the body will be changed from sickness to health by correct and true thinking.

Every thought is either a healing potion or a disease generator according to its quality, not only for the one who thinks it but also upon whomsoever the thought may fall, u for no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." Others are affected by our thinking as well as ourselves.

If we have not been accustomed to guarding our thinking we have to put

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our effort to work at first and systematically compel ourselves to administer healing potions of true thinking to ourselves.

As "victuals and drink" have not satisfied us and as our grumbling has made us and others sick and poor and miserable let us now take the flesh and blood of Jesus (his thoughts and words) and bring rest and health unto our souls; "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light," he said.

If we could take hours, days and weeks to render obedience to the physicians whose care we had put ourselves under for physical ills, can we not much better afford the time and effort that we should give to cooperation with the Great Physician who ministers to the soul and who, if obeyed, will lead us into health sure and secure?

Perhaps in our old sick days we said as many as twenty times a day, u O dear, how my head does ache !" or, "I feel so awfully nervous to-day, " or some other self absorbed mistake, thus making not only ourselves feel badly but every one who had to listen to our complaining.

Let us now take a prescription for the soul. Let us pay attention to what we are doing and systematically, by the clock, repeat some statement of Truth, three times a day, or, every four, three, two or one hour according to our necessity. Suppose we say I am not a material being, sick and sinful, but I am a spiritual being, perfect, pure and whole; or, I will no longer speak the words that show forth in poverty, weakness and sickness, but I will speak true words of myself and manifest that I am what I am, the perfect ideal of the Divine Mind; or, I am not a sinner, ill tempered and selfish and proud, but I am in my real and true being the exact image of God, pure, loving and good. I will speak true words of myself till I consciously see myself to be not only God's image but God's perfect likeness also, pure in heart, and whole, perfect and complete.

If we eat and drink such words as these half as many years as we have depended upon "nothing but victuals and drink" we will find that we will become not only free from all desire to grumble but will be filled with a peace unspeakable. We will have joyous, happy, bounding health and realization that all things are ours now for we know that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.

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Chapter III

"Mollie, my sister, and I fell out, And what do } r ou think it was about? She loved coffee, and I loved tea, And that was the reason we couldn't agree. "

Unless we allow each other individuality there is very likely to be a fallingout. What right has Mollie to try to make me drink coffee if I do not care for it, or why should I try to inflict the drinking of tea upon her when she does not want to drink it?

How often do we see one domineering member spoil the pleasure of an entire family? Perhaps a father or a mother will, without any consideration for each other or for their children, decide that each and all must do thus and so, even if the tastes and desires of every one of them run in another direction. The injustice that is done to children by not allowing them any individuality is often cruel and sometimes heartrending.

I believe many of the people of to-day who have anarchial tendency have developed it through the injustice inflicted upon them when they were children. Christ love often has to become very largely developed in the adult before he can forgive, to the extent of forgetfulness,the indignities put upon him in childhood. Selfishness is such a deep seated error in the race that mothers very seldom know to what extent they are governed by it and how they allow it to cause them to ruin their children. When I was a little girl I visited a family, once, where three orphan children lived with their grandfather. His intention was to be kind to them and he thought he was kind but his tyranny in some things was almost past believing. For instance, at table he helped the plates very bountifully. He had an excellent appetite and thought because he could eat heartily every one else could. These children were not allowed to say one word, make one request, about what or how much should be put upon their plates but were commanded u to be silent at table." He often gave them more than it was possible for a delicately reared child to comfortably eat but eat it he demanded they should; and he would sit at the table until they had disposed of everything that was upon their plates. They had their choice to "eat what was before them, or, be punished." My little heart used to swell with pity for them and though he tried to be kind to me there were many times I could not think of him as other than u a hateful old man." He did not consider that children had any rights whatsoever, but that they must instantly obey their elders under every circumstance.

The little boy was a great favorite with one of his aunts. She used to surreptitiously remove things from his plate to hers, for she was an adult and could leave what she chose uneaten. She did not realize that she was teaching him deception. When he grew up he ran away from home and was not heard of for years.

This may seem to a great many of my readers an exaggerated case, but I have known of many homes where tyranny of one kind or another was practiced on the children where the parents in their deep-rooted selfishness were entirely oblivious of the fact.

How many children have been forced to go to church on hot summer Sundays when they have wanted so much to go to the fields or to the parks or to stay quietly at home? But no, the conscientious and God-fearing mother has refused all requests and tears and insisted on the church going. She carried her point but their hearts were far from the worship of God. They fostered a rebellion which, when they attained manhood and womanhood, kept them as far away from the church as they could possibly be.