ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



peace and prosperity. Everything in the woods is a 

 part of the woods, and bears their stamp; every- 

 thing in the sea is a part of the sea. The tumor, the 

 ulcer, and the disease, are a part of our bodies, and 

 are fed by its vitality. In our practical lives we are 

 compelled to separate a part from the whole, to ac- 

 cept this and reject that, but when we essay to com- 

 prehend the whole we must see that all are but 

 parts, and that our phi'osophy is lame if it does 

 not see that the so-called good and the so-called 

 bad are fruit of the same tree. 



We are prone to separate ourselves from the rest 

 of Nature and to claim for ourselves much that we 

 deny to all other animals, such as the existence of 

 the soul, and its immortality. But we are all of one 

 stuff. Out of the earth has come a creature that has 

 changed the surface of the earth over vast areas; 

 that has changed the course of rivers, and the face 

 of continents; that has harnessed the forces of the 

 earth and turned them against themselves. How 

 the earth elements came to organize themselves into 

 this creature — here we can take no step! 



V. A PERSONAL GOD 



I once heard an Irish laborer refer solemnly, with 

 an upward lift of the head, to the man up above. He 

 did not refer to the man down below, but no doubt 

 might have done so had occasion required. If we 

 have one, we must have the other to keep the bal- 



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