"Oh, to be satisfied!" they cry, "Oh, to be at rest!" Yes, it is true all can have satisfaction, and not only may we be passively, quietly satisfied, but it is our right and our privilege to be happy actively, joyously happy here and now, with not a sorrow to mar our joy, not one thing that can interfere with our happiness. In other words, we can enter into eternal, unchanging bliss now, in this time, and it is right for us to believe so to believe that all good is for us to-day, and to ask, to seek, to knock until we are consciously one with our own true state of being, pure happiness.
All along the ages have arisen great souls, grand masters of life, who have believed in man's right to happiness, and, believing so, have given all they had, their whole lives, all their energy, love, and whatever they prized into the service of finding how this happiness may be attained, and, with one accord, we find of them saying that to know the Truth and to live the Truth is the one and the only Way to eternal happiness, and he who once knows the whole Truth, need never know sickness, sorrow, evil, death, poverty, or any other wretchedness ever again.
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." -John 8:32. Free from what? Free from every evil condition; free from every material limitation to which mortals seem so in bondage. And if we are not free, if something still prevents us from having what we desire or doing that which we wish to do, then we may know that we must rise up out of some ignorance, and we must seek and receive the whole Truth, for it must be the whole Truth that shall set us wholly free.
It has been argued that when we have found the whole Truth we shall know it, in that it fulfills three conditions of perfect happiness. It should give us ( 1 ) Health of body, (2) Peace of mind, (3) The key to all knowledge. Since these three conditions have been fulfilled in students by these teachings we see that we can truly call this gospel, Truth.
In order that we may walk the Way with understanding and profit we must, in this first lesson, see that we start from the same point that is, that we all stand together upon one Foundation Principle, and standing together there, we shall see that we cannot but walk together from principle to principle, and every deduction and conclusion must be taken from alpha to omega. We shall know that if we have not believed in all these principles, and not only believed them but lived them, that it will not be hard for us to understand why we have not had that happiness we desire, or manifested that perfection we would show forth.
The first principle of Truth is: God is good and God is omnipresent. Upon the acceptance of this principle depends your receptivity to all that follows.
"Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord." Is. 1 :18. There are three statements in the wording of this principle which may be called the first axioms of Truth, viz:
1 God is.
2 God is the Good.
3 God is omnipresent.
An axiom is defined as a self-evident truth. Taking this definition in its highest sense we can see why the truth "God is" can be called axiomatic. No external evidence or human argument can prove to you that God is. Such can be corroborative witness to what you have already received from within, but let us rest forever in this understanding that only God can prove to you that God is, and that proof comes from the divine within yourself.
Every thinker believes in a cause back of all that he observes about him. Some call this great cause Force, some, Nature, some, Law, some, The Great First Cause, some, The Unknowable, but by far the greater part of those who have most earnestly pondered upon the idea have given it the name of some deity. In these teachings we have chosen to use the name God, because it includes all that is in the other names and more. The name Force would seem to exclude the attribute of love, Nature seems often strangely blind and merciless, while with the name God it is not difficult with most people to associate those higher qualities omitted from the others. Another advantage accruing to the name God is that it is one in its Anglo-Saxon root with the word Good.
Let us now consider our second axiom, "God is the Good."
It is agreed by all the wise that have most blessed the world that the First Cause is good. Those who call it Force, or Law, agree that it is good, as evidenced in the theory of "the survival of the fittest," or best, in all species. The devotee of Nature believes that all her efforts are towards bringing forth health, beauty, and good in manifold ways. It is not difficult for us to agree that God is good. Let us enlarge upon this basic statement, God is the Good. What do we mean by the Good?
The highest goodness must be that which is so good that it is never anything else. It is that which is everlastingly, unchangeably, universally good in other words, the Absolute Good.
God is that Good which is good for all people at all times and in all places. It is not that which is good for one race and not for another, or for one sex and not for another, or for one age and not for another ; that is only relative goodness, passing shadows finally swallowed up by that sun of righteousness the Great Good of All.
If we begin to consider that which everyone believes is good for himself we shall enter upon infinity, for the good things of God cannot be numbered. We will state a few in order to lay our foundation stones :
1 HEALTH is GOOD. Everyone believes that health is good for himself and good for his loved one. Always, everywhere, health is good. Listen to this simple logic, this syllogism:
Since God is Good,
And Health is Good,
Therefore God is Health
And Health is God.
"For I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." Ps. 42:11.
2 LIFE is GOOD. By Life is not meant that condition of earthly affairs between birth and death not many see that good but that Principle, that Power that lies back of the sparkle in the eye and the glow on the cheek, that great Essence and Presence whose beginnings materialists have, all in vain, so ardently sought. No mortal has ever touched Life or confined It to form or definition, but all agree that It is as unknowable and undefinable as God, and, like Deity, only appreciable through Its effects or manifestations.
Listen to our reasoning:
Since God is Good
And Life is Good,
Therefore God is Life
And Life is God.
3 SUBSTANCE is GOOD. What is Substance ? Metaphysicians define it as that which is the reality of being, that which is the genuine, indestructible presence that is back of the appearance called "matter." Its essence is unchangeability. It is eternal, incorruptible, infinite, and unlimited. It is Being, of which materiality is the shadow. What is Substance with the metaphysician is Spirit with the theologian, and in these teachings Substance and Spirit are synonymous terms used interchangeably.
Again we reason:
Since God is Good,
And Substance is Good,
Therefore God is Substance
And Substance is God.
"God is Spirit," says Jesus (Wilson's Emphatic Diaglot). God is one Spirit, in, and through, and the reality of all manifestation the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the universe.
By this time the observing student will be cognizant of our methods of meditation and deduction, and can himself start with correct premises and arrive at true conclusions, proving to