Said the great Hindu sage, Manu: "He who in his own soul perceives the Supreme Soul in all beings, and acquires equanimity toward them all —attains the highest bliss." It was Athanasius who said, "Even we may become Gods —walking about in the flesh." The same Great Truth we are considering is the one that runs through the life and the teachings of Gautama, He who became the Buddha. "People are in bondage", said He, "because they have not yet removed the idea of I." To do away with all sense of separateness, and to recognize the oneness of the self with the Infinite, is the spirit that breathes though all His teachings. Running through the lives of all the medieval mystics was this same great truth,—union with God.

Then, coming nearer to our own time, we find the highly illumined seer, Emanual Swedenborg, pointing out the great laws in connection with what he termed, the divine influx, and how we may open ourselves more fully to its operations. The great central fact in the religion and worship of the Friend is, the inner light,—God in the soul of man speaking directly —in just the degree that the soul is opened to Him. The inspired one, the seer who —when with us lived at Concord, recognized the same great truth when he said, "We are all inlets to the great sea of life". And it was by opening himself so fully to its inflow that he became one inspired.

All through the world's history we find that the men and the women who have entered into the realm of true wisdom and power, and hence into the realm of true peace and joy, have lived in harmony with this Higher Power. David was strong and powerful and his soul burst forth in praise and adoration in just the degree that he listened to the voice of God and lived in accordance with his higher promptings. Whenever he failed to do this —we hear his soul crying out in anguish and lamentation. The same is true of every nation or people. When the Israelites acknowledged God and followed according to His leadings —they were prosperous, contented, and powerful, and nothing could prevail against them. When they depended upon their own strength alone and failed to recognize God as the source of their strength, we find them overcome, in bondage, or despair.

All the Prophets, Seers, Sages, and Saviours in the world's history became what They became, and consequently had the powers They had, through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into the conscious realization of Their oneness with the Infinite Life. God is no respecter of persons. He doesn't create Prophets, Seers, Sages, and Saviours as such. He creates men. But here and there —one recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with the Source whence it came. He lives in the realization of this oneness, and in turn becomes a Prophet, Seer, Sage, or Saviour. Neither is God a respecter of races or of nations. He has no chosen people; but here and there a race or nation becomes a respecter of God and hence lives the life of a chosen people.

A great immutable law underlies the truth, Blessed are they that hear the word of God and do it. Then follows all. We are wise in the degree that we live according to the higher light.

There has been no age or place of miracles in distinction from any other age or place. What we term miracles have abounded in all places and at all times where conditions have been made for them. They are being performed today just as much as they ever have been —when the laws governing them are respected. Mighty men, we are told they were, mighty men who walked with God; and in the words "who walked with God" lies the secret of the words "mighty men." Cause, effect.

We can be our own best friends or we can be our own worst enemies. In the degree that we become friends to the highest and best within us, we become friends to all; and in the degree that we become enemies to the highest and best within us, do we become enemies to all. In the degree that we open ourselves to the higher powers and let them manifest through us, then by the very inspirations we carry with us —do we become in a sense the saviours of our fellow-men, and in this way we all are, or may become, the saviours —one of another. In this way you may become, indeed, one of the world's redeemers.