James Allen - James Allen - Complete Collection

Let it be understood thus early that with the almost innumerable creeds which have been built upon the Hebrew Scriptures, I have absolutely nothing to do. I have to do entirely

with the life and teaching of Jesus, and with the vital realities in the human heart to which that teaching is directed. I have to do with Goodness, not with speculation; with Love, not with theological theories; with self-perfection, not with fleeting opinions.

Jesus was a supremely good man; this all men know, and to know this is allembracing and all sufficient. He has left precepts which, if a man will guide his conduct by them, will lead him unerringly to the Supreme Goodness; to know this is gladdening and glorious.

A good man is the flower of humanity, and to daily grow purer, nobler, more Godlike, by overcoming some selfish tendency, is to be continually drawing nearer to the Divine Heart. "He that would be my disciple let him deny himself daily," is a statement which none can misunderstand or misapply, howsoever he may ignore it. Nowhere in the universe is there any substitute for Goodness, and until a man has this, he has nothing worthy or enduring. To the possession of Goodness there is only one way, and that is, to give up all and everything that is opposed to Goodness . Every selfish desire must be eradicated; every impure thought must be yielded up; every clinging to opinion must be sacrificed; and it is in the doing of this that constitutes the following of Christ. That which is above all creeds, beliefs and opinions is a loving and self-sacrificing heart. The life of Jesus is a demonstration of this truth, and all His teaching is designed to bring about this holy and supreme consummation.

To dwell in love always and towards all is to live the true life, is to have Life itself. Jesus so lived, and all men may so live if they will humbly and faithfully carry out his precepts. So long as they refuse to do this, clinging to their desires, passions and opinions, they cannot be ranked as his disciples; they are the disciples of self. "Verily, verily, I say unto you: whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin," is the searching declaration of Jesus. Let men cease to delude themselves with the belief that they can retain their bad tempers, their lusts, their harsh words and judgments, their personal hatreds, their petty contentions and darling opinions, and yet have Christ. All that divides man from man, and man from Goodness is not of Christ, for Christ is Love.

To continue to commit sin is to be a doer of sin, a follower of self, and not a doer of righteousness and a follower of Christ. Sin and Christ cannot dwell together, and he who accepts the Christ life of pure Goodness, ceases from sin. To follow Christ means to give up all, in our mind and conduct, that antagonizes the spirit of Love, and this, we shall find as we proceed, necessitates complete self-surrender, refusing to harbor any thought that is not pure, compassionate and gentle. The Christ-spirit of Love puts an end, not only to all sin, but to all division and contention. If I contend for an opinion, say, about the divinity of Jesus Christ, against the opinion of another as to his non-divinity, I at once create division and strife, and depart from the Christ, the spirit of Love. When Christ is disputed about, Christ is lost.

It is no less selfish and sinful to cling to opinion than to cling to impure desire. Knowing this, the good man gives up himself unreservedly to the spirit of Love, and dwells in Love towards all, contending with none, condemning none, hating none, but loving all, seeing behind their opinions, their creeds and their sins, into their striving, suffering and sorrowing hearts. "He that loveth his life shall lose it." Eternal Life belongs to him who

will obediently relinquish his petty, narrowing, sin-loving, strifeproducing personal self, for only by so doing can he enter into the large, beautiful, free and glorious life of abounding Love. Herein is the Path of Life; for the strait Gate is the Gate of Goodness, and the narrow Way is the Way of Renunciation, or selfsacrifice. So strait is the Gate that no sin can pass through, and so narrow is the Way that he who essays to walk it can take with him no selfish thought as his companion.

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus If thou wilt enter info life; keep the Commandments Jesus

The commandments and precepts of Jesus were given to men to be kept. This is so simple and self-evident a truth that there ought to be no necessity to state it; yet, after the precepts of Jesus have been before the world for nearly nineteen hundred years, this necessity not only exists, but is very great, so widespread is the belief that the tasks embodied in the precepts are not only utterly impracticable, but altogether impossible of human accomplishment. This disbelief in the possibility of carrying out the divine commands is the primary delusion, due to ignorance, in which men are caught, and it is impossible for any man to comprehend spiritual things until he destroys it.

The words of Jesus are the direct outcome of an intimate knowledge of divine Law, and his every utterance is in harmonious relationship with the Eternal Substance. This a man finds as he molds the spiritual life contained in those words into his own life — that is, as he succeeds in living the precepts.

Let us now examine these precepts, and see how they are to be carried out, and what they imply and involve. Most of them are embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, and all of them are directly related to individual conduct, so that there are only two possible ways of dealing with them, namely, to practice them or to ignore them.

It is not necessary for me to refer to them all separately, as, not only have my readers the Bible at their command, but each precept is based upon the same divine principle, and to learn the spirit of one is to know the spirit of them all. Indeed, seeing that not only all the precepts, but that the whole duty of life in its human and divine relationship has been embodied in the seventeen words, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," it is only necessary to refer to the other precepts in order to elucidate the carrying out of this one, for in learning this one precept, the whole range of spiritual life and knowledge is involved: "This is the Law and the Prophets."

The precept is extremely simple; this is why men have failed to understand it and to put it into effect. Its application, however, to the soul of the individual leaves no room for selfishness and self-compromise, and so comprehensive is it that to carry it out in its entirety means the attainment of Christ-like perfection of character. But before a man can put it into practice, he must strive to understand it , and even this initial step necessitates a self-surrender which few are willing to make. A man can learn nothing unless he regards himself as a learner. Before a man can learn anything of the divine spirit within, he must come to the feet of Christ divested of all of his desires, his opinions and views, yea, even of his cherished ideal, regarding himself as a little child, knowing nothing, blind and ignorant, seeking knowledge. Before this attitude of humility is adopted, the attainment of divine life and knowledge is impossible; but he who will adopt it will rapidly enter into the highest revelations, and the carrying out of the precept will soon become easy and natural to him.

Having clothed himself with humility the first questions a man asks himself are: "How am I acting towards others?" "What am I doing to others?" "How am I thinking of others?" "Are my thoughts of and acts to-ward others prompted by unselfish love, as I would theirs should be to me, or are they the outcome of personal dislike, of petty revenge, or of narrow bigotry and condemnation?" As a man, in the sacred silence of his soul, asks himself these searching questions, applying all his thoughts and acts to the spirit of the primary precept of Jesus, his understanding will become illuminated so that he will unerringly see where he has hitherto failed; and he will also see what he has got to do in rectifying his heart and conduct, and the way in which it is to be done. Such a man has become a disciple of Christ at whose feet he sits, and whose commands he is prepared to carry out no matter at what sacrifice to himself.