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I have
a letter from an "orthodox Christian," who
says the only hope for humanity lies in the
"old- fashioned religion." Then he
proceeds to tell me how carefully he has studied
human nature, "in business, in social life, and
in himself," and that he finds it all vile --
selfish -- sinful. Of course he does, because
he studies it from a false and harmful standpoint,
and looks for "the worm of earth" and
"the poor, miserable sinner," instead of
the divine human.
We
find what we look for in this world. I have
always been looking for the noble qualities in human
beings, and I have found them. There are great
souls all along the highway of life, and there are
great qualities even in the people who seem common
and weak to us ordinarily.
One
of the grandest souls I know is a man who served his
term in prison for sins committed while in
drink. He was not "born bad," he
simply drifted into bad company and formed bad
habits. He paid the awful penalty of five
years behind prison bars, but the divine man within
him asserted itself, and today I have no friend I
feel prouder to call that name.
Mr.
John L. Tait, secretary of the Central Howard
Association, of Chicago, writes me regarding his
knowledge of ex-convicts: "According to
my experience with a number of men of this class
during the last two years, more than 90 per cent of
them are worthy of the most cordial support and
assistance."
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If
this can be said of men who have been criminals,
surely humanity is not so vile as my
"orthodox" correspondent would have me
believe. A "Christian" of that order
ought to be put under restraint, and not allowed to
associate with mankind. He carries a moral
malaria with him, which poisons the air. He
suggests evil to minds which have not thought
it. He is a dangerous hypnotist, while
pretending to be a disciple of Christ.
The
person who believes that all people are vicious,
selfish and immoral is projecting pernicious mind
stuff into space, which is as dangerous to the peace
of the community as dynamite bombs. The world
has been kept back too long by this false, unholy
and blasphemous "religion." It is
not the religion of Christ -- it is the religion of
ignorant translators, ignorant readers.
Thank
God, its supremacy is past. A wholesome and
holy religion has taken its place with the
intelligent progressive minds of the day, a religion
which says: "I am all goodness, love,
truth, mercy, health. I am a necessary part of
God's universe. I am a divine soul, and only
good can come through me or to me. God made
me, and He could make nothing but goodness and
purity and worth. I am a reflection of all His
qualities."
This
is the "new" religion; yet it is older
than the universe. It is God's own thought put
into practical form.
from
The Heart of the New Thought, 1902
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