C. Hammond

“ Love is the divinity of the universe. Hate is the hell of fools. Affection is the element of heaven. Sympathy is the law of nature. Ignorance is the mother of crime. Crime is the father of misery. Misery is hell—bliss is heaven. Show yourselves pure, and heaven is within you. Show yourselves good, and bliss will not forsake you. Show yourselves wise, and purity will develop itself; and, when purity develops itself, no evil can befall you. The righteous [226] shall fear no evil. The pure shall see good. The bliss of wisdom shall grow brighter and brighter, forever. ”

“ Poverty is worn by the mind whose work is wrong. It is empty of good. Riches meet the exigency, when divested of selfishness, and disposed of for other’s benefit. Poverty is made rich, when the wisdom of reform relieves all want.
“Poverty and riches war with social enjoyment, when uncontrolled by wisdom. This circle is rich. Other circles have need. The links of light, which unite with wisdom, and form that wonderful sentence on the left, will remind this circle of the chain of sympathy which connects the rich with the poor. The gems are minds. All are not equally brilliant. ”

“ As we were within the theater of a circle, whose countenances reflected such light, that we were dazzled with the brilliancy thereof, the Worthy said; “This pool, whose water is for the thirsty, cometh from the throne of truth. You have now a portion, which never exhausts or wastes itself within you. It is immortal to satisfy. The current will not dry by using. It is free as air. Nature is not poverty. Her wisdom reaches far above the mind in its soarings. The pool comes up from the well of hope. Out of hope cometh reality. Hope never wrings sorrow from the mind. ”

“ The mind of one with whom I had formed an acquaintance in the body, responded: “How will you change old things into new?”
W. Thou seest a change in nature. Thou seest not the change which nature produces, until it is produced. The wisdom of God in nature works great changes. The blossom is not as the fruit, nor the seed as the blossom. The voice which nature utters, is a voice thou wilt not deny. It is the voice of God to thee. Dost thou hear it, and dost thou feel it? The young ravens cry, and their cry is heard. The wail of want finds a response in the supply which sympathy affords. ”

“ God is every where, infinite, eternal—the spirit, whose life is the energy, the power of the universe; whose glory the good of the dependent; and whose smile is in the sunshine and the shower, working out the immutable love of his nature to bless the works he has made. The north and the south, the east and the west, above and below, wherever thought extends or not extends, the mercy of God flows like the limpid current of life, and yet you have come here to partake of the stream. I would do likewise; because here you may see its purity, and relish its sweetness. ”

“ Dost thou not know who controlled thee, and made thee obedient? He is thy Master. The mind that controls others, is the Master of those whom it controls, while those who are controlled by him, are servants to obey his will. The Master is as the servant, and the servant as the Master in the work required of thee. We may not be controlled as slaves are controlled, nor yet as slaves are worked; for our Master is not a tyrant, but a co-worker with us in the good of all. He rules with attraction, as the sun rules the planets. He rules with wisdom, as he has received wisdom. ”

“ Poverty tarries where wrong remains. Wrong remains, where ignorance rules. Ignorance rules where wisdom is not regarded. Wisdom is not regarded where injustice and force make minds slaves to others’ will. Equity and righteousness are shunned and despised, law and harmony are violated, and light reflects the poverty of riches, and the wrongs of poverty. The poor seek, and he who seeketh findeth. The rich seek only to be rich, and their riches are not wisdom, but empty, vain toys that glitter in the eyes of fools, and dazzle only to deceive the unwise. The gems wear not the face of despair. ”

“ It makes a tool of mind, and then lashes it for its servitude. It riots in authority, and understands not its own weakness. Kings and crowns are inharmonious with wisdom and goodness. It is as selfish to rule, as it is weak to be ruled. The one is tyranny, and the other is slavery. The one usurps what nature never conferred, and the other submits because it is weak. It will not govern without wisdom, when mind reaches this circle. Indeed, you will find that government is natural where all minds acquiesce in benevolence, and wisely act to advance the happiness of all. ”

“ The white throne of judgment will admit no error. It is the throne of God, of nature, and of your own hearts. It is within, around, above, and below you. From this throne you will dispense justice to the needy, liberty to the captive, and peace to the world. You will go where need calls you, and where you can do good. You will not waste your strength in vain. You will operate with great power, when circumstances make it expedient. You will show signs of your presence, and the wisdom of the world will be humbled. Philosophers will be confounded, and ignorance will mock, but can not resist. ”

“ The clear sunlight of nature must open the treasures of your path. You will transmit the realities of this sphere to earth’s inhabitants. The mighty must overcome the weakness of infancy. The strong must raise up the sorrowing, the despondent, and the wretched. The wise must instruct the unwise; and upon you will devolve the work of correcting the wrongs and errors of humanity. The former days will return, when, through your instrumentality, the wilderness of uncultivated mind shall arise in the strength of wisdom, and nature smile with the song of redemption. ”

“ True greatness is goodness; true wisdom is what will [194] make the mind good. I have seen power in the hands of weakness. I have seen weakness mock at the voice of wisdom, and cast her reproach at its votaries; but the reproach rebounded on her own head. I have seen mind pleading for mercy at the gate of poverty. Alas! mistaken mind sought for bread where it was not, and the heart languished in despair. The voice of nature has been derided, and the weakness of ignorance has assumed dominion. Poverty is wrong, and wrong is poverty. No good thing has poverty to bestow. ”

“ I was not satisfied with war when in war, with contention when contention came, with strife when mind was striving with mind; and when I came into this sphere, I found a wisdom which gave what contention never brings—a peace that passeth all understanding—a love which filled me with sympathy, and gave energy to my soul for the good of those whose weakness was deserving of a commiseration and care, which the ignorant may scorn, and the foolish envy, but who can not share the joy it gives to my mind. ”

“ It is white as snow, and the wrong of injustice makes no advance toward it. It is a throne unseen by ignorance, disdained by weakness, and cherished and respected only by the pure in heart. It is a throne of good, and an emblem of the righteous decisions of wise minds.
“Your own minds are white thrones. As you are now pure, you can judge. But no mind will judge you. All judgment is with you. Each mind will judge itself, and not another. The judgment will be pure, because purity resides in you. The judgment will be right, because it is the judgment of self. ”

“ You see that ignorance hath its votaries, and, so long as ignorance reigns, kings will rule, and subjects will tremble. Mind must learn wisdom to disarm tyrants. It must see light to escape darkness. It must experience freedom to hate bondage. It must love right to forsake wrong. It must progress in wisdom to loathe ignorance. The change has come, the light has appeared, the day has dawned, the bondage has vanished, and the wrong is forsaken. Experience hath done her work. Mind works for mind, good for good, virtue for virtue, knowledge for knowledge ”

“ He judges evil good, and good evil. He is judge; and he judges after his own heart. Alas! the throne is impure. The pool of wisdom has not been polluted with his infirmities. Nature will wash away the wrongs of ignorance. Experience will remove the cruelty of darkness. Progress will unveil the miseries of deception. Favoritism will not rob pauperism. Folly will not eclipse wisdom. Fear will not paralyze industry, and wrong will not rule over right. Then, purity will not center in profession without goodness, nor perfection be a dead language in the throne of judgment. ”

“ The golden chain of love breaks not in twain social joy. The gem of obscurity wants no chafing to be seen and admired. It wants only the covering of wrong to be removed to reveal its worth. The wrong is ignorance. It is the absence of light. In the absence of light, it has wandered in darkness. Neglect has permitted the darkness to linger. When riches are withheld from those who need, poverty reigns. When poverty reigns, the law of sympathy is denied. When sympathy is denied, the war of conflict rages. When the conflict rages, peace is expelled, and with it, the enjoyment of peace. ”

“ The wide world is my home, though chains and prisons, frowns and fears, mark the circle of those who defy a creed that abolishes neither. The time will come when the chains will be melted, the prisons demolished, the frowns made smiles, and the fears overcome with hope. When the sun, in yonder smiling heavens, is taken as the work of God, and nature is acknowledged to be the standard of righteousness, the hope of the soul will rise above the misty darkness of sensuality and wrong. ”

“ Facts are the wisdom of nature as revealed to mind in parts. The truth is the infinite whole, and is incapable of being divided into parts. Minds sometimes call facts truths; but we teach that truth, which is infinite, so far, and no father, as it has been made known to us. Thou hast been taught the truth in part, and what remainest for thee to learn, is what thou hast no knowledge of. It is ignorance in thee, as it is in us. This truth is the infinite harmony and wisdom of God in the universe. All revelation of that wisdom, is true to thy happiness ”

“ Rest is work, and work is rest. The water is your strength, and nature is your fountain. Nature supplies itself, and what nature does, is well done. I need no wisdom she has not, for her wisdom is the wisdom of the Infinite. Deep is the fountain, wide is the stream, and high is the mountain, whence cometh the pure philosophy of wisdom. The wide creation shines with gems of infinite skill. Vast is the immensity of infinity. Stretch thy mind away from star to star, from system to system, from worlds to worlds, and neither shore nor center rises before you. ”

“ You can not violate the law of nature with impunity. You can not neglect others’ good without injury to yourself. You will aid all who need with the riches you possess. You will recognize the chain that links all gems together. You will understand, that the union is immutable. You will feel the shock which another receives. The chain will convey the force to you. The whole brotherhood, from the highest to the lowest, will feel it. The light of this circle reveals but one family. The likeness of God is immortal in each member. The weak have claims upon the strong. ”

“ Science and philosophy are corrupted with the errors and wrongs of ignorance. The wisdom of this circle must displace those wrongs. It must eradicate the woes, and harmonize the antagonisms of mind. The old forms of government must give place to new. The new must give order and beauty, purity and justice to universal mind. It must correct the unhealthy current of wrong. It must vitalize the soul of humanity with good. It must remove the poison of the serpent from the hearts of men. It must satisfy the wants of nature with nature’s blessings. ”

“ Those whom they elect to decide the right and wrong for them, are often wholly ignorant of the conditions upon which nature suspends the harmony of cause and effect. They are incompetent to render a righteous judgment, because they do not understand what is right. Erring, in regard to what is right, they enter a judgment in error. The error falls upon those whom they judge. The whole is wrong. No mind can surrender the judgment of itself into the hands of another, without jeopardizing its own happiness. It is this mistaken policy which has robbed humanity of its birth-right. ”