In the external universe there is ceaseless turmoil, change, and unrest; at the heart of all things there is undisturbed repose; in this deep silence dweller the Eternal.
Man partakes of this duality, and both the surface change and disquietude, and the deep-seated eternal abode of Peace, are contained within him.
As there are silent depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot reach, so there are silent, holy deaths in the heart of man which the storms of sin and sorrow can never disturb. To reach this silence and to live consciously in it peace.
Discord is rife in the outward world, but unbroken harmony hold sway at the heart of the universe. The human soul, torn by discordant passion and grief, reaches blindly toward the harmony of the sinless state, and to reach this state and to live consciously in it is peace.
Hatred severs human lives, footers persecution, and hurls nations into ruthless war, yet men, thought they do not understand why, retain some measure of faith in the overshadowing of a perfect Love; and to reach this love and to live consciously in it is peace.
And this inward peace, this silence, this harmony, this love, is the kingdom of Heaven, which is so difficult to reach because few are willing to give up themselves and to become as little children.
“Heaven’s gate is very narrow and minute, it cannot be perceived by foolish men Blinded by vain illusions of the world; E’en the clear-sighted who discern the way, and seek to enter, find the portal barred, and hard to be unlocked. its massive bolts are pride and passion, avarice and lust.”
Men cry peace! peace! where there is no peace and strife. Apart from self- renunciation, there can be no real and abiding peace.
The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or worldly victory is transitory in its nature, and is burnt up in the heat of fiery trial, and only the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.
Holiness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the ever-increasing light of Wisdom guides the pilgrim on his way. It is partaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered upon, but it is only realised in its fullness when self disappears in the consummation of a stainless life.
“This is peace,
To conquer love of self and lust of life,
To tear deep-rooted passion from the heart to still the inward strife”.
If, O reader! you would realise the light that never fades, the Joy that never ends, and the tranquillity that cannot be disturbed; if you would leave behind for ever your sins, your sorrows, your anxieties and perplexities; if Isay, you would partake of this salvation, this supremely glorious life, then conquer your-self. Bring every Thought, enery impulse, every desire into perfect obedience to the divine power resident within you. There is no other way to peace but this, and if you refuse to walk it, your much praying and your strict adherence to ritual will be fruitless and unavailing, and neither gods nor angles can help you. Only to him that overcometh is given the whit stone of the regenerate is given the white stone of the regenerate life, on which is written the new and ineffable name.
Come away, for awhile, from external things, from the arguments of the intellect, from the senses, from the arguments of the intellect, from the noise and the excitements of the world, and withdraw yourself into the inmost chamber of your heart, and there, free from the sacrilegious intrusion of all selfish desires, you will find a deep silence, a holy calm, a blissful repose, and if you will rest awhile in that holy place, and will meditate there, the faultless eye of truth walloped within you, and you will see things as they really are, This holy place within you is your real and eternal self; it is the divine within; and only when you identify yourself with it can you said to be “clothed and in your right mind . “It is the abode of peace, the temple of wisdom, the dwelling- place of immortality. Apart from this inward resting – place this Mount of Vision, there can be no true peace, knowledge of the Divine, and if you can remain there for one minute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for you to remain there always. All your sins and sorrows, your fears and anxieties are your own, and you can cling to them or you can give them up . Of your own accord you cling to your unrest; of your own accord you can come to abiding peace. No one else can give up sin for you; you must give up yourself. You can obtain freedom and peace alone by your own efforts, by yielding up that which binds the soul, and which is destructive of peace.
The angels of divine peace and joy are always at hand, and if you do not see them, and hear them, and dwell with them, it is because you shut yourself out from them, and prefer the company of the spirits of evil within you. You are what you will to be, what you wish to be, what you prefer to be. You can commence to purify yourself, and by so doing can arrive at peace, or you can refuse to purify yourself, and so remain with suffering.
Step aside, then; come out of the fret and the fever life; away from the scorching heat of self, and enter the inward resting-place where the cooling airs of peace will clam, renew, and restore you.
come out of the storms of sin and anguish. Why be trouble and tempest-tossed when the haven of peace of God is yours!
Give up all self seeking; give up self, and lo! the peace of God your!
Subue the animal within you; conquer every selfish uprising, every discordant voice; transmute the base metals of your selfish nature into the unalloyed gold of love, and you shall realise the life of perfect peace. Thus subduing, thus conquering, thus transiting, you will, O reader! while living in the flesh, cross the dark waters of mortality, and will reach that shore upon which the storms of sorrow never beat, and where sin and suffering and dark uncertainty cannot come. Standing upon that shore, holy, compassionate, awakened, and self-possessed and glad with unending gladness, you will realise that
“Never the spirit was born, the Spirit will cease to be never;
Never was time it was not, end and begin nine are dreams;
Birthless and deathless and changeless remained the spirit for ever;
Death hath not touches it at all, dead though the house of it seems you will then know the meaning of sin, of sorrow, of suffering, and that the end there of is wisdom; will know the cause and the issue of existence.
And with this realisation you will enter into rest, for this os the bliss of immortality, this the unchangeable gladness, this the untrammelled knowledge, undefiled wisdom, and undying love; this and this only, is the realisation of perfect peace.
who wouldst teach men of Truth ! hast passed through the desert of doubt ? Art purged by the fires of sorrow hath ruth .the fiends of opinion cast out of human heart? Is they soul so fair that no false thought can ever harbour there?
o thou wept through the dark night of grief? does it move (now freed from its sorrow and care) thy human heart to pitying gentleness, looking on wrong, and hate and, and ceaseless stress? O thou who wouldst teach men of peace! hast thou crossed the wide oven of strife? hast thou found on the shores of the silence, Release from all the wild unrest of life? from thy human heart hath all striving gone, leaving but truth, and love, and peace alone ?
clouds affair 