to spiritual and natural law.
Real self-control is not self-centred. In so far as we become
established in this true self-control, we are upheld by law and guided
by the power behind it to the perfect freedom and joy of a useful life.

XII

_The Religion of It_

THE religion of it is the whole of it. "All religion has relation to
life and the life of religion is to do good." If religion does not
teach us to do good in the very best way, in the way that is most truly
useful to ourselves and to other people, religion is absolutely useless
and had better be ignored altogether. We must beware, however, of
identifying the idea of religion with the men and the women who pervert
it. If an electrician came to us to light our house, and the lights
would not burn, we would not immediately condemn all electric lighting
as bosh and nonsense, or as sentimental theory; we should know, of
course, that this especial electrician did not understand his business,
and would at once look about to find a man who did, and get him to put
our lights in order. If no electrician really seemed to know his
business, and we wanted our lights very much, the next thing to do
would be to look into the laws of electricity ourselves, and find out
exactly where the trouble was, and so keep at work until we had made
our own lights burn, and always felt able, if at any time they failed
to burn, to discover and remedy the difficulty ourselves. There is not
a man or woman who does not feel, at some time, the need of an inner
light to make the path clear in the circumstances of life, and
especially in dealing with others. Many men and women feel that need
all the time, and happy are those who are not satisfied until the need
is supplied and they are working steadily in daily practical life,
guided by a light that they know is higher than theory. When the light
is once found, and we know the direction in which we wish to travel,
the path is not by any means always clear and smooth, it is often, full
of hard, rough Places, and there are sometimes miles to go over where
our light seems dim; but if we have proved our direction to be right,
and keep steadily and strongly moving forward, we are always sure to
come into open resting places where we can be quiet, gather strength,
and see the light more clearly for the next stage of the journey.

"It is wonderful," some one remarked, "how this theory of
non-resistance has helped me; life is quite another th