d
enjoyment in this darkness, occupied with itself, the captive of self and
passion, wallowing in the mire of the material world! How degraded is such
a nature! What an ignorance this is! What a blindness! How glorious the
station of man who has partaken of the heavenly food and built the temple
of his everlasting residence in the world of heaven!

The Manifestations of God have come into the world to free man from these
bonds and chains of the world of nature. Although They walked upon the
earth, They lived in heaven. They were not concerned about material
sustenance and prosperity of this world. Their bodies were subjected to
inconceivable distress, but Their spirits ever soared in the highest
realms of ecstasy. The purpose of Their coming, Their teaching and
suffering was the freedom of man from himself. Shall we, therefore, follow
in Their footsteps, escape from this cage of the body or continue subject
to its tyranny? Shall we pursue the phantom of a mortal happiness which
does not exist or turn toward the tree of life and the joys of its eternal
fruits?

I have come to this country in the advanced years of my life, undergoing
difficulties of health and climate because of excessive love for the
friends of God. It is my wish that they may be assisted to become servants
of the heavenly Kingdom, captives in the service of the will of God. This
captivity is freedom; this sacrifice is glorification; this labor is
reward; this need is bestowal. For service in love for mankind is unity
with God. He who serves has already entered the Kingdom and is seated at
the right hand of his Lord.

11 June 1912
Talk at 309 West Seventy-eighth Street, New York

Notes by Emma C. Melick

Man must be lofty in endeavor. He must seek to become heavenly and
spiritual, to find the pathway to the threshold of God and become
acceptable in the sight of God. This is eternal glory--to be near to God.
This is eternal sovereignty--to be imbued with the virtues of the human
world. This is boundless blessing--to be entirely sanctified and holy above
every stain and dross.

Consider the human world. See how nations have come and gone. They have
been of all minds and purposes. Some were mere captives of self and
desire, engulfed in the passions of the lower nature. They attained to
wealth, to the comforts of life, to fame. And what was the final outcome?
Utter evanescence and oblivion. Reflect upon this. Look upon it with the
eye of admo