the Eternal One sweetly responding to a human heart. The angel said, Surely this must be an eminent servant of the Most High, whose spirit is dead to lust and lives on high. The angel hastened over land and sea to find this man, but could not find him in the earth or heavens. At last he exclaimed, O Eternal One! show me the way to this object of Thy love. He answered: Turn He answered: Turn thy steps to yon village, and in that pagoda thou shalt behold him. The angel sped to the pagoda, and therein found a solitary man kneeling before an idol. Returning, he cried, O Ruler of the World! hast Thou looked with love on a man who invokes an idol in a pagoda? He said: I consider not the error of ig: norance; this heart, sincere amid its darkness, hath the highest place. 5. A holy man would scarcely break his fast for a week, lest some hungry traveller might pass who needed his store. Daily he looked out upon the desert, and one day he beheld an aged traveller, with hair white as snow, tottering toward his door. "Guest of mine eyes," he exclaimed, “enter with welcome, and be pleased to share my bread and salt." The stranger entered, and the place of honor was given to him. When the family gathered round the board, each one of them said, "In the name of Oro-Mas!" but the aged guest uttered no word. The holy man said: Old man, when thou eatest food, is it not right to repeat the name of Oro-Mas? The stranger

replied: My custom is that of the Sun Worshippers. Then the holy man arose in wrath, and drove the aged man from his house. But even as he did so, a swift-winged Spirit stood before the patriarch and said: For a hundred years hath the Divine Bounty flowed out to this man in sunshine and rain, in bread and life. Is it fit for thee to withhold thy hand from him, because his worship is not thine?

6. Diversity of worship has divided the human race into seventy-two nations. From all their dogmas we may select one,-Divine Love.

SELECTION VII.

which are subject to birth, and reDEATH is certain to all things generation to all things which are mortal. Wherefore it doth not behoove thee to grieve about that which is inevitable. Let us not fear the world, nor our departure from it. That which we alone should fear is not having lived well enough.

2. In mosque and school, in temple and synagogue, they have a horror of hell, and a seeking of paradise; but the seed of this anxiety has never germinated in the heart that has penetrated the secret of the Most High.

3. Hell is but a spark of the useless troubles which we have given ourselves; Paradise only an instant of the repose that we have sometimes enjoyed on earth. Myself am hell, purgatory, and paradise.

4. Just to thy wish the door of Heaven is found open before thee. Be free from duplicity, and stand firm in the path of truth; be free from care and trouble, and turn thy mind to things which are spiritual.

5. Let the motive be in the deed, and not in the event. Be not one whose motive for action is the hope of reward.

6. The world, O my brother! continueth not to any one; place your affections on the Creator of the Universe, and that will suffice.

7. Make no reliance, neither rest upon the kingdom of this world; seeing how many like yourself it has nourished and killed.

8. When the pure soul is about to depart, what is the difference between expiring on a throne or on the bare ground?

9. O my child! in the day of Resurrection they will ask you what have you done in the world, and not from whom you

are descended. That is, they will inquire about your virtue, and not about your father.

SELECTION VIII.

IF thou canst not be a teacher and messenger of My Religion, then make My World beautiful, make My World grow in harmony, fruitfulness and perfection; nourish, cultivate and perfect My World till no more sin or sorrow or sickness or death shall be found in it.

2. The Creator, the Holy One, called an assembly of the best of mortals, celestial in spirit; and

spoke unto them: Bring together, in the land where pure water ever flows, green never fades and food never fails, men and women who are greatest and best and finest on earth; cattle and birds and trees and plants of every kind that are greatest and best and finest; no humpbacked, nor bulged forward, nor tooth-decayed, nor blind, nor deaf, nor crippled, nor ill-formed, nor leprous, nor lunatic, nor impotent, nor malicious, nor liar, nor spiteful, nor jealous, nor with any other brands of sin or imperfection shall ye bring; and establish them in dwelling-places. Thus attain a Paradise and prepare the way for Heaven on Earth.

3. O Maker of theWorld, Holy One! which are the places where the Earth feels most happy? The place whereon a righteous man stops, lifting up his voice in accord with true Religion; the place whereon a righteous man erects a house devoutly for wife and children and cattle to thrive in virtue, and in food, and in every blessing of life; the place whereon a righteous man sows most corn and grass and fruit, where he waters ground that is dry or drains ground that is too wet; the place where a righteous man most tenderly nourishes all creatures and where there is most increase of flocks and herds.

4. O Maker of the World, Holy One! Who is he who rejoices with the greatest joy? He who in righteousness tills the earth with the left arm and the right arm industriously and wisely; unto him thus saith the

Earth: O thou righteous, industrious and wise man! here shall I go on bearing and bringing to harvest all manner of food in rich profusion; but he who is not righteous, industrious and wise shall stand at thy door among those who beg for bread. 5. The knowledge and practice of this true Religion takes away the bonds of sin; so that there will be no more murder, nor robbery, nor falsehood, nor vice; it cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain so that all the life becomes beautiful and good.

6. The basest of all men is the liar; next to him in baseness is he who does not restore what he has borrowed and thus shows himself to be a thief and a robber. Every day, every night a man keeps borrowed property, as though it were his own, and does not restore it as quickly as possible he steals and robs.

7. Henceforth in their doings let all walk in the way of holiness, according to the teachings of holiness, after the ordinances of holiness; let them study by night and by day to increase the mind in intelligence and enable the soul to wax strong in holiness. He who brings not holiness to the bridge of Paradise it shall be barred to him. The first question the angels there will ask him is, whether he has lived in the world a life of holiness; if the answer be, No, they will pass him by

and he will stay at the head of the bridge, full of grief and sorrow. 8. He who fasts from his daily food, taken righteously and with moderation, commits a sin which he must expiate. The only true fasting is to abstain from sin, to repress every deed, word and thought that is unholy.

SELECTION IX.

O MAKER of the World, Holy One! He who knowingly commits sin, shall his punishment continue in the next life? There the pain for evil deeds shall be as sure and as hard as any in this world. O Maker of the World, Holy One! Does the water, the fire, the sword or any disease kill? Water kills no man, fire kills no man, the sword kills no man, disease kills no man; the water strangles his body, the fire consumes his form, the sword severs his limbs, disease destroys his earthly instrument, but he goes away and it is by the will of Heaven that he goes.

2. O Maker of the World, Holy One! What is the best and what is the fairest of all things? Life for man is the best and purity for man is the fairest of all things. Purity is the greatest good. This is true Religion; to cleanse one's self with pure thoughts, words and deeds. As much as the sea is above all other floods, as much as the royal cypress is above all the small plants it overshadows, as much as Heaven is above the Earth that it compasses around,

3. O Maker of the World, Holy One! What are the sins that a man should confess and repent of? Whatever he has thought that he ought not to have thought and whatever he has not thought that he ought to have thought; whatever he has said that he ought not to have said and whatever he has not said that he ought to have said; whatever he has done that he ought not to have done and whatever he has not done that he ought to have done; all these sins every man should humbly confess, and of all deeply and forever repent.

Holiness is the best of all good. May righteousness and goodness prevail.

The Holy One forbids men to waste anything, not even a thread, not even the wisp of wool a maid lets fall in spinning. There is one thing that every man in this world should love; he should love Virtue. He is not strong who is not strong in Righteousness.

4. O Maker of the World, Holy One! When a righteous man is afflicted with sickness to what healers shall he submit himself? If several healers offer themselves, namely, one who heals with the knife, one

heals with the Holy Word, let one submit himself to the healing by the | Holy Word; for this one is the best of all healers who heals by the Holy Word; he will best drive away sickness from the body of the righteous

man.

5. When a righteous man dies the fiends wage no war for the possession of his soul; there is no need of offering up prayers three days and three nights for him; he enters Paradise at once; the sun, moon, and stars rejoice in him; and the Holy One rejoices in him, saying: Hail O righteous soul who hast now passed from the decaying world into the undecaying one!

6. That which one believeth clearly to be right let him practice it, and declare it; and teach it. Think perfect thoughts, speak perfect words, do perfect deeds. Joy is given to the soul of the righteous man who has departed. Every righteous soul is borne up to Paradise.

7. All good thoughts, good deeds, good words of the past or of the present, of those who belong to whatever religion or nation, we serve upon and we transmit them, as should do all who would be numbered among the righteous.

BRAHMANIC SCRIPTURES

GENERAL SELECTIONS

SELECTION I.

I AM the One Supreme Mind who transcends all other intelligences; distant, yet near, I pervade the system of worlds and yet am infinitely beyond it. I am the All in all, because all is in Me. The river flows,-it is I. The ocean roars, it is I. The cloud thunders, the lightning flashes, -it is I. From all eternity the Universe existed in Me.

2. Meditate on the adorable light of the Divine Parent; He should direct our minds. Every day He is manifest with the rays of the morning, imparting life to the torpid and giving form to the shapeless masses of beings; heaven and earth take refuge with Him as a child with its mother.

3. Celebrate the thought of the Beneficent Father and the Sovereign Mother, from whom have proceeded all creatures, their offspring, sharing their immortality.

4. THE ONE is afar off and near, without as well as within; He is all pervading; outside of all as well as inside of all. He who sees all beings in the Supreme Self and the Supreme Self in all beings is fearless and free from all anxiety.

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5. The ignorant look for their gods in water or think they reside in wood, bricks, and stones; men of more extended knowledge seek them in the celestial orbs; but wise men worship the Universal Soul. One Supřeme Ruler is the universe pervaded, even every world in the whole circle of Nature. That Spirit, whole circle of Nature. who is distinct from matter, and from all beings contained in matter, is not various; He is One, and He is beyond description; His glory is so great there can be no image of Him; He is the Incomprehensible Spirit who illuminates all and delights all; from whom all proceed, by whom they live after they are born, and to whom all must return.

6. He is the Ruler of the Intellect, self-existent, pure, perfect, omniscient, and omnipresent; from all eternity He has assigned to all creatures their respective purposes; no vision can approach Him, no language describe Him, no intellectual power can comprehend Him.

7. A husband should be loved, not because we love the husband but, because we love in him the Divine Spirit; A wife should be loved, not because we love the wife but, because