FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VII. 687 



grain of it, and keep it. Now, is this a hopeful consistency? Then there 

 shall be no growth. Do not be afraid of growth, whatever it costs you. 

 "But, I must be consistent; and this grain of corn must be also," you say. 

 ' 'There it is. We will put it in a box, a gold box," and there you do put it, 

 where it cannot accomplish any of its prophecy. Consistency is saved? No. 

 Try again, on higher lines. Look at that other seed. It is put into the earth; 

 and, bye and bye, the rain and sun get into conspiracy with the seed; and 

 and bye and bye that little seed has an experience of pain. 



All growth comes by pain. All travail-pains are hints of unfolding plans. 

 And out of them comes children— ideas, and harvests. Don't be afraid 

 of mental pain. Don't be afraid of unpleasant changes in your mind. 

 Do-n't be afraid when some parchment-faced deacon stands at your side and 

 tells you about what the Fathers thought. Respect both past and future. 

 Don't be afraid to realize that they were Fathers, and realize the fact that 

 before them there were Fathers also, and that these were content with that 

 which contented their Fathers before them. Let the seed fall into the 

 ground, and it will take root. 



We do not believe that the Bible, by any manner of means, invented a 

 dream, when it presents the Master saying, ' 'except a seed of corn is thrown 

 into the ground and it dies it abideth alone. But if it die — " then comes 

 the miracle of life from death. No, the Bible is not a book of newly invented 

 phrases, which God gave to the prophets only. These truths were made 

 manifest in the world with Jesus Christ. But Jesus did not create them; 

 He did not even invent immortality. He brought life and immortality to 

 light. Here is the inherent law: Unless this seed dies, and rots in the 

 ground, it abideth alone. But once let it die, then it bringeth forth. Oh, 

 let us trust this gospel of life. 



Once more: Here is the man who put his seed into the gold box, to keep 

 it consistent. And he says: "This seed does not behave ^.well. A seed 

 should not act that way. It is in a gold box, and it has not [changed. It is 

 all a loss — a loss to the grain, to the sun, the rain, and all the universe. " 

 Do not treat your inner life that way. Welcome all true transformations of 

 growth. You know that this or that man will think on certain lines ten 

 years from now just because he thought on those same lines ten years ago . 

 His ancestors before him thought so, and he is afraid jto'f grow. He thinks 

 he is faithful to truth. But he is as essentially faithless as a farmer would 

 be who refuses to plant his corn seed. This often] occurs in- our political 

 parties, and in some universities. What is the difference between this grain 

 of corn, apparently guarded, in the gold box, and this one Jflung into the 

 earth? This one dropped into the earth is soon outwardly -breaking up, and 

 sending up a little green shoot, and extending its roots down into the ground ; 

 which all appears to be mechanically inconsistent with'the outer look of the 

 grain of corn itself, which is dead. And the little shoot-is finding-its way out 

 into the light, and back into the dark, and out into the light, and back into 

 the dark, and into fuller light, as it lives from earth into the heaven where 

 things ripen. That is the story of the soul. That is the story of progress. 



Jesus wished this, and said as much to His disciples: j "I leave ;you in the 

 world," Yet he wished them to be not of the world. And He said, ' ' I 

 pray for you. I leave you in the world. I know you [are better than the 

 world, and better than the soil into which I put you. But you will not 



