Joel Tiffany

“ He loves that neighbor with a pure heart, loves him as a manifestation of his divine Father’s Love, Will, and Wisdom, and seeks to harmonize his own being with him in all his relations. He can not see a brother, however weak, crushed, without seeing himself crushed in that brother. When he loves a brother with that pure, unselfish love—when the common heart of humanity abides in his breast, he comes into the true plane of charity; for charity is that which seeketh not her own. The motive that prompts him is not self-gain. It is the desire to do good unto others that actuates him. ”

“ Nothing by which the world knows me, or by which it knows you, enters in to form our inmost identity. We have an identity which lies deeper than everything external; and it is this identity, which admits of no change, which says that we are the same, and will forever remain the same identical beings to all eternity. No change of position, no change of character, no destruction of reputation, no conversion of happiness into suffering, presents the least difficulty in the way of identification. ”

“ You know that that principle in you does not constitute your individuality. It constitutes your personality; but that in you which is undergoing change, and develops from a lower to a higher degree of knowledge, constitutes your individuality. This unchanging, ever-present, conscious identity is the very divine life within you, from which you derive all life. This outside identity, which thinks and wills, is no part of my immortal nature, separate from this divine principle within me. ”

“ There is no middle ground between love and lust; and unless the distinction be taken where I have taken it, it can not be taken at all. Excuse the principle of seeking after gratification as a true incentive to action, and you have destroyed the distinction between purity and impurity—between truth and falsehood—between holiness and sin. If action in respect to use and the gratification of self be the highest, then, indeed, there is no God—no virtue—no right. Such is the ultimate conclusion of those who know of no higher rule of action than pertains to the sphere of use and gratification. ”

“ Then let us begin with man as a microcosm of the universe, and who is destined in his spiritual unfolding to be a microcosm of all that is in the universe; in other words, whose mind here is to begin to translate the universe into its consciousness. The universe is a great book, which it is man’s business to read and translate into his consciousness, so that the image within shall correspond to the actuality without—so that he shall be a universe of himself—so that the individual in his affection by that which is transferred also becomes a divine, a god. ”

“ I have the power to move my arm—by my will to make potential manifestations through this arm. If, however, by any means, you break any of the links out of the chain which unites the divine in me, through my spirit, with the matter of my arm—abstract the electricity, the magnetism, or nerve-force—I lose all power over my arm. Bisect the motor-nerve, which connects my arm with my brain, and my arm will hang lifeless by my side. ”

“ Why is it that the truth which it affirms can be any more positively demonstrated than any other truth? Is it because number and quantity are more fixed and certain than are qualities and attributes of being and existence? Why is it that the affirmations of mathematics are more demonstrable than the truths of any other science? I answer, that it is simply owing to the mode of proceeding in our investigations. If we will adopt the same process that we do in mathematics, we can have the same certainty upon all other questions that come within the sphere of man’s perceptions and affections. ”

“ Let him be so satisfied with his examination of his own character, that he will be content to have mankind redeemed up to the plane he occupies. Then let his life be the incarnation of the principle. Let the world, when they look upon him, be constrained to say, “He has been with Jesus,” if Jesus is to be the model of the church. Let his life correspond exactly to the high and beautiful ideal of the church he is wishing to have established; and then an influence will go out from him which will become attractive to all who, like him, are thirsting for that life. ”

“ Whenever I, as a spirit in my external consciousness, would represent myself to you, I must come into some medium of representation—some medium which will be to my spirit what the light is to my body. The medium of light will not represent me, but there is a medium which will. This, the Spirit-medium, is vastly more refined and ubiquitous than light. Standing here as a spiritual form, and giving off spiritual undulations, just as my body reflects the undulations of light, wherever the Spirit-medium extends, there my image will extend. ”

“ When we enter the Spiritual world, if we recognize ourselves at all, we must recognize ourselves by that which the absolute consciousness reveals to us. I do not recognize myself by the principle of absolute consciousness within me, but by that which it reveals to me. When I go to the Spirit-world, I must take that with me of which I must be conscious, else I shall not take my individuality with me—else I become annihilated. Just to the extent I leave my affections behind me, shall I be annihilated as a spiritual being. ”

“ Man is to become in his impulses and character like the divine of the universe, so that he has not only all the wisdom, fact, and principle, but all the affection of the universe, to wit, the divine translated into his affection, so that in his outward form and inward being he is a child of God, created in his image. Thus, so far as we proceed day by day in translating the actual and real universe into the perceptive and ideal in us, so fast are we unfolding and growing up into knowledge ”

“ Nevertheless, I understand that the idea that a cat or dog has an immortal soul is not only inconsistent with any principle of philosophy in the universe, but is contradicted by every principle of philosophy. To say that a cat or dog is immortal is to affirm that to be immortal which God himself can not make so. The condition of immortality can not pertain to the mere animal being. The representations of animals, forests, fields, and things of this kind, have no basis upon that which has a material or actual existence in the universe. They are only developed under the law of representation. ”

“ We have no Christian governments exercising power and compelling external obedience to law. The very supposition is an absurdity. The very moment a government is organized, and clothes itself with external force, its Christian character is destroyed.
Christianity, in its true spiritual and saving character, acts only from within the individual. It is not a government over men or among men. It is a government in man. It cleanses the inside of the cup and the platter, and thence makes clean the outside. Christians have no need of governments to keep them in the right way. ”

“ If you once in purity of soul, in the pure affection of your heart, go and bestow a kindness from a pure and fervent spirit, you will awaken a chord which will vibrate harmoniously in your soul to all eternity. ”

“ It is to-day that we should take thought for; hence the divine saying of the man of Nazareth—“Take no thought for the morrow. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” If we look to the present, and supply the needs of the present, the future will take care of itself. The man seeking for religion thinks he wants it for the future, in order that he may die right; but a man does not want religion to die by. There will be no trouble about his dying if he only lives right. I do not care for religion for the sake of having it to die by. ”

“ If you make up your mind to lead a true life, to speak the truth, to be pure and just—if you make up your mind that whoever comes within your influence shall breathe in of your truth and righteousness—you will find none will seek to come unto you unless they desire to breathe that atmosphere. ”

“ There is nothing in the world which summons the human being to such a degree of activity as that which we call the religious nature—there is nothing which takes hold of him so deeply. What other influence in the world could cause a mother to destroy her babe, but the stimulating influence of this religious nature, coming up as it does from the deepest fountain of the soul? ”

“ This sphere of lust, I say, then, does not arise from the body, nor from the influence of the body on the soul. It arises from our neglect of our spiritual needs. This lust, this desire proclaims a divine life within, which demands activity corresponding to our real natures; and we can never get peace and happiness until those real demands of our natures are supplied. I appeal to all pleasure-seekers whether this is not true. You have heard it argued whether there be more pleasure in anticipation than in participation. The world’s pleasures are always in the future, never in the present. ”

“ When it is desired to ascertain whether we belong to the first or the second sphere—to the sphere of Gehenna or Paradise—we need only to determine the quality of the affection that rules in us, to see whether it be looking mainly to our own gain, or whether we rise above self and go out to seek the well-being of man. We sometimes mistake, thinking that we love a man himself, when we love his influence or society, because by it we think we can be elevated in our social condition. ”

“ Without stopping to inquire into the origin of lust, I may say that it originates in man’s ignorance, necessarily. If you recollect the figure in the parable of the Garden of Eden, you remember that the sin committed by Eve was eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That is where we all eat. But I do not propose to dwell upon the nature and origin of this lust in man, but merely to speak of it as being that which characterizes him in his lowest sphere of being. ”

“ It is the light and the heat of the Divine sun shining within the individual, revealing him to himself; so that if we become familiar with this first proposition, so that we understand one another, our deductions will flow naturally, and we can understand perfectly whether we are on the side of truth or not. Understand, then, that it is not the fact that you possess a consciousness within you, which causes you to differ from me and every other being. ”

“ The idea of looking out of yourself for an organization is all false. The idea that you must look to a distance for some being out of yourselves as a representation or reflection of the perfect attributes of Deity, is erroneous. The individual who feels the need of an organization must first understand that that organization must be built up by the law of affinity; and that as each individual becomes a particle to be incorporated into the organism in his love and affection, he must grow to retain his position. The vital principle must be felt by himself. ”

“ The law of procreation demands that in view of the great end to be accomplished, those who unite in the procreative art should unite upon the highest and purest plane. Hence the conjugal affection or love has its basis in this deepest and most immutable necessity of the soul. Understand me—man, in his present condition, is the grand ultimate of all past being and action. And that which took all past ages to accomplish is committed to man in the command to be fruitful and multiply. ”

“ Happiness, in its general sense, is the fulfillment of desire. And the more complete is the fulfillment of every desire, the more complete is the happiness; and happiness can not be perfect until every desire is fulfilled. If in fulfilling the desire of one department of our being we neglect the needs and consequent demands of another, we may obtain temporary gratification, but it does not answer the full demand of our being so as to confer happiness. On the contrary, while we gratify a lust, we resist a true demand, and purchase gratification by disease and suffering. ”

“ We have a fashionable way of doing charities in this world. We do not like to be troubled with charities. We are willing to be taxed some—we are very generous to give sometimes; but then we do not want the trouble of finding the object, and bestowing it with that love, kindness, and sympathy of soul which carries more joy to the stricken heart than the poor pittance. He needs it as much as he does your other charities. ”

“ When all my falsehood, injustice, selfishness, lust, appetite, and passion are dead, and when the God of heaven shall live and work in me, then there will be laid in my soul the foundation of that true spiritual affinity which shall go forth, not seeking others to unite with me, but, of its own plentitude, uniting with me those who have the same affinity—uniting us stronger than any creed. We shall not then be obliged to ask permission to join or withdraw from such a church as we should establish, but each man would join or withdraw according to affinity or repulsion. ”

“ If he wishes to redeem the world, he must commence by redeeming himself. If he wishes help in redeeming the world from its various evils, he must first find in himself that spirit which he wishes infused into the helping association.
If a principle has not succeeded in saving me, I need not hope that it will save the world. Therefore, when we are about to organize a society upon any principle, the first thing to be ascertained is whether this principle has saved us. ”

“ Look abroad into society, look at the love of the world, and see how many there are who love their neighbor with an unselfish love—how many are so careful to be exactly just with their neighbor as they are careful to have their neighbor be exactly just to them. ”

“ If we need to investigate accurately any science, we need to inform ourselves as early as possible of the fundamental principles pertaining to that science. There is no better way to study the history of creation than by studying it as revealed in the phenomena of Nature. When I can investigate Nature in her operations, and ascertain the laws by which she performs her work, I then can arrive—at least approximately—at the philosophy of Nature, in attaining which I attain the philosophy of divine manifestation. ”