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Not all of us hear it thus. The pious Christian devoutly believes, "Oh, There is an Evil Force, Satan, whose arm strikes me down. Good Lord, Thou alone art my refuge/' In praying thus he believes in the Infinite power of the absolute; and since nothing is lost in the economy of Nature, he delivers a concentrated suggestion to his soul, which alone is Infinite. He believes that his prayer will bear fruit, and it does. In believing he delivers the right blow and his belief is fulfilled. It is a very good thing to pray; to believe that Providence is always playing with your destiny, to believe that a mighty Mephistopheles is laying traps for you, to believe that the body dying, the soul does not die, to believe that God alone can save you. The good side of it lies in your repulsion of Evil. Fear and at times love of the Infinite make you cleave to good. But do not stop there. Your attitude is out and out a negative one. You cannot always stand by your none-too-well-grounded convictions. Facts go to prove this. In this world you often see a man born in poverty, squalor and sin. He has not a single chance in life. Then take a man born to the purple. There is nothing to vex him. Plenty stalks majestically in the land. He has but to wish and lo! it is fulfilled. "Everything that God commands is for the best," you say. "Perhaps his father is to blame," some one would say. |
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