The Mystery of the American Money

In order to understand the special work which the United States has been called upon to do in the history of Humanity, we have first to remember that the American people are, historically, that section of the people of Europe whose task it was to explore the continent of America, to subdue it, and to develop it.

It is impossible to understand the historical significance and importance of any country as long as we consider that country only by itself. In order to determine its true place in the scheme of things, we have to consider its connection with the general stream of historical tendencies. It is needless to say that a purely partisan outlook—the so-called “patriotic” outlook, for instance—is a hopeless handicap to the finding of the truth. In the study of history as in the investigations of natural science, the truth is arrived at only after an impartial and dispassionate inquiry.

Now, the historical background out of which the United States arose was really the old Feudal civilization of Europe. All modern history grows out of the Roman Empire; all our reckonings go back to that as a kind of datum line. The ancient civilizations culminated in the Roman Empire, and the medieval and modern cultures and polities grew out of it. The Roman Empire gradually broke up and disappeared owing to various causes with which I am not at present concerned; it was followed by the chaotic condition that we call the Dark Ages; and then, gradually, quite without the conscious knowledge or intention of those concerned, the great Feudal civilization came into being. That Medieval Feudal civilization was a wonderful attainment, and for hundreds of years it provided the European Race with exactly the social and political instrument that it needed for its growth and self-expression. It furnished a body of traditions, customs, laws, and institutions, by no means perfect—no human arrangement ever is—but on the whole useful and adequate for the work that had to be done.

All good things, however, outgrow their usefulness and come to an end, and as man’s expanding knowledge and the expanding power that grows from expanding knowledge accumulated, the Feudal System gradually grew out of date, as the Roman Empire had done before it, and the imperative need arose for a new and a much wider and freer state of society. Such great changes seldom come easily. The outworn thing seldom abdicates the remnants of its decaying authority without a struggle, and so Feudalism died hard and long, not succumbing finally until the end of the First World War. The great spiritual and intellectual movements that we call the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and especially, as I intend to show, the Revolution of the American Colonists, were all single acts in this one great drama.

The closing of the direct route to the East led to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, and this gave a tremendous impetus to men’s imaginations. The invention of a practicable printing press liberated their minds and made the Reformation, which, in principle, meant the repudiation of authority in spiritual matters, inevitable; and this point once gained, political freedom could only be a matter of time and opportunity. The only question was where and how it would come about.

In spite of the revolutionary changes which had been accomplished in mental and spiritual things, Feudalism, on its political and social side, was still strongly entrenched as late as the middle of the eighteenth century. In spite of the Reformation, in spite of the Utopian dreams of certain book-men and philosophers, there was nothing like political freedom, as we understand it today, anywhere in Europe. Relatively a little more free in some places, relatively a little less free in others, the hard fact was that men were afraid (however they might think) to say or do whatever they liked, as long as what they liked might be unwelcome to the powers in authority.

But when once any degree of spiritual freedom has been won, by an individual, or by a nation, it is then but a question of time before that inner freedom expresses itself in the outer; and so it was inevitable that humanity should achieve political freedom too; and the only question was where the thing should begin. The only question was in which country occupied by the White Race the seed of liberty should come to fruition. When we think of the map of Europe in the mid-eighteenth century from north to south and from east to west, we seek in vain for a likely place where this might happen. Everywhere, of course, there were individuals who were quite ready for the new thing, but nowhere was there a steady current of public opinion in its favor, much less an established government likely to tolerate anything of the kind.

It is only when we turn our gaze from Europe and look across the North Atlantic Ocean to the new or still comparatively new colonies of European people on the Eastern seaboard of America that we find something like what we are seeking. Here at least we have, not by any means perhaps the ideal democracy dreamed of by the poets, but at least a relatively simple, and, compared with Europe, an exceedingly democratic community in which the realities of Feudalism had never been able to take root, because the heart of Feudalism itself was dead before these colonies began. In the New World even the strongest Tory, in name, was such a long way from home and from the natural atmosphere of Feudalism, that without knowing it he was, in many things that mattered, a good deal more radical than most of the Whigs in London.

Some of the most influential communities in America had been founded and built up by religious refugees fleeing from persecution at home; and so, even in the presence of Blue Laws and not a little Puritanical tyranny, the main subconscious stream of thought and feeling—the thing that really sways public opinion—was definitely without any of those deep instincts of unquestioning respect for established authority that was still so much a part of the mind of Europe.

We see, therefore, that it was entirely natural when the time had come for the European White Race to cast off the shackles of Feudalism and begin to establish political freedom, that the great spiritual urge, for such it was, should take the line of least resistance and come forth, not in France, not in England, not in Germany, but in what were then called the American Colonies. In other words, the American Revolution was no mere brawl between England, the Mother Land, and a rebellious colony, which might perhaps have been averted by a more clever diplomacy, or a quicker use of force, or the hazard of a battle or so. It was nothing less than a part, and a vital part, of the great march of Humanity on the road to freedom. For, let there be no mistake, the march of Humanity, despite what the short-sighted pessimists may say, is ever onward and upward toward greater, and finer, and better things. Temporary set-backs there may be from time to time in this country or that, but the general sweep of history is forward and upward toward freedom.

It was inevitable that the movement for effective democratic government should break out among that body of people which had staked all for the right to seek spiritual truth wherever it might lead them, and the right to worship God in their own way.

And so the Colonies revolted; fought a terrific battle; won it; and established—at any rate in principle—the doctrine that just governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, and not from any supposed Divine right, or any right of conquest or brute force. For our purpose there is no need to consider the details of the struggle, or to assess the worth or otherwise of the personalities concerned therein. The folly of King George the Third and the stupidity of General Burgoyne on one side, and the unique character of George Washington on the other side, are independent of the principle involved. That the Colonies would have won when they did without the extraordinary combination of qualities possessed by Washington is unlikely; but had they not won then they would have done so later on, because an independent United States was inevitable. This country had to be independent of any European government in order to fulfill her historical destiny.

The essential point that we have to note is that, in the principles which they proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and other documents, the Fathers of the Constitution definitely set the headline and the example which was afterward followed by the Heralds of Freedom everywhere. They set the standards with their brains and hearts, and by their military success they made them possible as an accomplished fact.

Thus the successful revolution of the American Colonists was no mere local victory for the Thirteen Colonies. It was nothing less than one of the great turning points in the history of Humanity, because it definitely diverted the main stream of history in a particular direction. In setting the pattern for the later development of the European race, it set the ultimate pattern for all humanity. Had not a democratic republic been set up on the American continent in 1776, the French Revolution, which followed thirteen years later, would not have taken the course that it did; and had not the French Revolution taken the course that it did, the whole history of the world, not only today but for all future ages, must have been different too.

It was the success of the American Revolution that established the doctrine of the Rights of Man in its true sense, as the doctrine of the right to individual freedom on all planes which belongs to man as the image and likeness of God; for that is what the phrase in the Declaration of Independence concerning life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness really means. This assertion of the Divine Right of every man and woman to develop in his own way is the fundamental Right of Man; and although, largely in consequence of the chaos arising out of the World War, that principle may temporarily be lost sight of in certain places, yet, the eclipse is but temporary, and in the long run the victory of freedom will be won.

The French Revolution, influenced much more than many people realize by what had happened in America, took its course, and the French Revolution has been echoing through the history of the world ever since. The work it did for human freedom was so fundamental and sweeping that—because of its very success—we sometimes tend to underrate its importance today. Because the old Feudal world that it swept away has so utterly gone that we have to go to the old Czarist Russia to find anything like it, we can easily forget how bad it became, and what an appalling thing this Feudalism in its decay and slow death could be. The French Revolution, however, has marched up and down the world in the last one hundred and forty years (it reached Spain only the other day), and all that wave of freedom sprang in essentials from the lead given by the American Colonists in their successful establishing of the United States.

The English-speaking peoples have always been pioneers in the cause of human freedom. They have always felt intuitively that personal freedom is the first and greatest good, and that no other boon could possibly compensate for the loss of that. In the Old World and in the New they have led Humanity in the establishment of personal liberty, and in the science and art of self-government, which is its only guarantee. It was the English people in the Old World who struck the first blow for individual freedom. All through their history they challenged the idea of despotic rule in either politics or religion, and whenever their conditions were not so difficult as to make it impossible, they established liberty, as far as might be, in fact. The Magna Charta, the Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, effective trial by jury, were all England’s gift to the world. She got angry and cut off one king’s head, in pursuit of this principle; and there is no saying what she might not have done to another king, if he had not run away out of the country before he could be caught. Parliamentary institutions in their effective form had their origin, of course, in the “Mother of Parliaments”; and the American Colonists in their revolt against the British Crown were but acting in perfect conformity with the old English traditions.

There is no doubt that if the majority of the English people could have been consulted in 1776, their verdict would have been in favor of the Colonists. George Washington had to fight for his life, not against the English people, but against the small close Oligarchy which held them in its power.

The people of England had no effective voice in the election of governments, and therefore in controlling their policies, until the Reform Act of 1832. Green, the historian, in his standard work says of this time:

At a time when it had become all-powerful in the State, the House of Commons had ceased in any real and effective sense to be a representative body at all…. Great towns like Manchester or Birmingham remained without a member, while members still sat for boroughs which, like Old Sarum, had actually vanished from the face of the earth…. Even in towns which had a real claim to representation, the narrowing of municipal privileges … to a small part of the inhabitants and in many cases the restriction of electoral rights to the members of the governing corporation, rendered their representation a mere name…. Out of a population of eight millions, only one hundred and sixty thousand were electors at all. How far such a House was from really representing English opinion we see from the fact that in the height of his popularity Pitt could hardly find a seat in it … a reformer could allege without a chance of denial, “This House is not a representative of the people of Great Britain. It is the representative of nominal boroughs, of ruined and exterminated towns, of noble families, of wealthy individuals, of foreign potentates.” … The Parliament indeed had become supreme, and in theory the Parliament was a representative of the whole English people. But in actual fact, the bulk of the English people found itself powerless to control the course of English government.

The British Overseas Empire, too, may be said to owe its freedom to the American victory. It was the lesson of Yorktown, thoroughly learned and digested by the English governing caste, that led to the grant of complete self-government to the British Dominions, one after another, without which they would not have remained under the British flag for a generation. As it is, those Dominions now enjoy complete freedom, and are virtually independent republics. They are loyal and satisfied members of the British Commonwealth of Nations because of their freedom, and not in despite of it. This Commonwealth is not a federal system, but a chain of free alliances. It is, among other things, a splendid guarantee against war between any of these countries.

Having now traced the development of intellectual, social, and political freedom, we come to the next step of capital importance in the history of” Humanity, and that is the coming forth of the new ideas that we call Truth, or Divine Science. This great revelation is really primitive Christianity, or the doctrine of the Allness and Availability of God. It is the doctrine that God is everywhere present, at all times, and that every man and woman has the right and the power of direct access to God, without the mediation of any person, or institution, or other human authority, and it is the real meaning of the clause in the Declaration of Independence which says: “All men are created equal.” This was the next great step forward for Humanity, and here again the question arises: Where should, where could, such a doctrine appear with any prospect of being received by the people?

Let us pause here for a moment to consider what this teaching means. The doctrine of the Allness and the immediate Availability of God is, beyond any question, the most revolutionary as well as the most important discovery that the human race has ever made. The Immanence of God in His creation has always been known to the more advanced members of the race, but only the very few have ever understood what is for us the most vital implication of that doctrine, namely, that the Immanence of God means that God is instantly available to any human being who will turn to Him in thought for healing, for inspiration, for help of any kind. The discovery of this fact is easily the most important event that ever happened for either the race or the individual. What is there that could compare with it for a single moment? When you consider the terrible struggle that the human race has had to reach even our present comparatively backward condition—for as long as sickness, poverty, and, above all, war, continue, how can we call ourselves anything but backward—when you consider the terrific struggle that most men and women of all races and in all ages have had to obtain even the amount of health, prosperity, and happiness that they do possess, you will realize what a transcendent discovery is this knowledge that the power of God, Infinite Power, and Intelligence, and Love, can be brought to bear upon every one of our problems and that we no longer have to depend upon our own feeble and flickering efforts.

This is really scientific Christianity—the original Christian message. It is found all through the Bible, but it is not until we reach the New Testament that it is explicitly stated. Unhappily, the Christian movement was allowed to become a Department of State under Constantine, whereupon the Spiritual Idea rapidly faded out of men’s minds. From time to time as the centuries went on the original message of Jesus was partially rediscovered by various spiritually minded people; in particular George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, got very near to it indeed; but it was not until about the second quarter of the nineteenth century that the Spiritual Idea again emerged in its fullness.

Several things, we now see, had to happen before the great modern Renaissance of the Truth could take place. The first thing was the intellectual preparation. The Spiritual Idea is a purely spiritual experience; but to be intelligently applied it needs also to be apprehended by the intellect. Unless you have some intellectual understanding of the theory underlying it, you will be able to apply it only occasionally and by chance. There are, of course, many people who have it only in that way today. They get results from time to time, by the exercise of the feeling nature alone, not having any clear understanding of what they are doing; but this means that one is never really master of the Word, as we are entitled to be. The majority of students of Truth, however, now fully appreciate the need for some intellectual apprehension in order to complete their spiritual understanding, and it is this fact that is our guarantee that the Truth will not be lost again as it was about the fourth century.

In order that people should have such an intellectual apprehension it is necessary for them to have the concept of Natural Law. Probably the greatest fundamental difference between what we call modern times and the rest of history is that, for the first time in the evolution of the race, the general public understands the idea of Natural Law. Today even school children realize thoroughly that they live in a world that is governed by law, and not by chance. They quite understand that if the electric light fails it is because the laws of electricity have been broken at some point in the circuit—a fuse blown, a lamp burned out, or a defective switch. It never occurs to them that the putting out of the light is an arbitrary action of God in order to punish someone. Again, when an epidemic attacks a town, people understand that some mistake has been made somewhere, usually the mistake we call dirt; whereas in former times it was assumed as a matter of course that plague came to the city as a direct act of God, and without reference to sanitary or any other conditions. In the same way, good and bad harvests, the striking of a building by lightning, earthquakes, tidal waves, and all other natural phenomena are now perfectly well understood as following natural laws. In other words, no one supposes that God manifests His majesty by breaking the Laws of Being, but rather by fulfilling them.

Now this conception of Natural Law simply had to be generally accepted by the public at large before the teaching that we call Truth could become widespread among the people. The whole idea of spiritual treatment or Scientific Prayer is the reliance upon the fact of God as Principle. Our reliance, which is the secret of all spiritual demonstration, is upon the fact that God, who is Infinite Harmony, cannot either cause or endorse anything but perfect harmony in His manifestation.

In all ages people have said their prayers in the spirit of asking God to perform a special miracle on their behalf, there and then, suspending natural laws “just this once” in order to get them out of a fix. But in order that spiritual truth should prevail, and prayer become really scientific, man had to reach the stage where the appeal to God to help him was not for a breach of natural laws, but rather that the power of God should fulfill the law of harmony to get him out of his trouble. Such an attitude could not have been generally obtained much before the nineteenth century. Here in the twentieth century and henceforth forever, it is the only attitude that the people will ever consent to adopt. People brought up in the orthodox way of thought have in so many cases given up prayer altogether just because they had reached that stage of intellectual unfoldment where they could not bring themselves to ask for a private miracle without feeling ridiculous. The understanding of the Allness of God teaches us that it is sin, sickness, and death that are our own “private miracles,” and that all-round harmony and happiness is the standard condition of life as designed by God.

The intellectual understanding of law was one of the conditions needed for the re-birth of this truth; and an outward condition of political freedom with a tradition of personal independence of judgment was the other essential factor.

We will now pause to consider why, when this doctrine was to come into the world, it should need the special social and political conditions which were only to be found in the United States, and to provide which, in fact, the United States had really been brought into existence. It actually came into expression among the simple, unlearned, everyday people of New England—farmers, small traders, artisans, and so forth. A great idea never arrives in the world at one isolated point: it always “comes through” at about the same time, but in varied degrees of clearness, in a number of different places. When we understand that there is a general race-mind common to all human beings, we see why this must be so. These ideas percolate through at various points whenever, for one reason or another, there is an easy passage. We say that certain ideas are “in the air.” Now these ideas were “in the air,” i.e., in the race-mind, at this period; and so it happened that several people got them in various degrees of intensity about the same time. There has since been some little discussion in various quarters as to who should have the honor of priority, but that point is of no importance whatever. The honor of priority, if it is to go to anyone, probably belongs to Phineas Park Quimby, a practical clockmaker of Portland, Maine. Quimby was quite without what is conventionally called education. He had practically no schooling, much less scholarship; but he was naturally a very spiritual man, and he had the great quality of open-mindedness, and much natural intelligence. Like Faraday, a working bookbinder and a genius of somewhat similar type who is sometimes called the Father of Electrical Engineering, Quimby had a natural gift for scientific experimentation, and this he applied to the subject of mental and spiritual healing. But the thing was in the air generally. Emerson, of course, is the prophet of the teaching—but Emerson with his academic detachment from actualities did not discover its practical application to the healing of the body and affairs. Prentice Mulford got it too, independently, but by no means as clearly as Quimby did, and he seems never to have distinguished definitely between the spiritual and the psychic. There were a number of other pioneers too.

A natural question that presents itself at this point is this: Why was this discovery, the most important discovery in the whole history of mankind, left to a self-educated working clockmaker? Why was the discovery not made at Harvard, or Yale, or Oxford, or Cambridge, or any of the great centers of learning on the Continent? Why, for that matter, was not the Great Truth revealed to one of the Bishops or Archbishops, or to any of the recognized intellectual or spiritual leaders? Is it that the Holy Spirit has a preference for simple uneducated people, and a prejudice against learning and leadership? The answer is, of course, that the Holy Spirit, which really means the Wisdom of God in action, has no preferences whatever. Do we not know that God is no respecter of persons? But there is one indispensable condition that must be present if spiritual revelation is to be received—there must be an open mind, and freedom from spiritual pride. Jesus formulated this rule when he said, “If you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must become like a little child,” and our modern academic education, both religious and secular, has manifested one paralyzing defect—it has not developed spiritual or intellectual humility. On the contrary, it has displayed a fatal tendency to foster spiritual pride. Men and women of academic training too often come to feel—not always consciously—that things must happen in a certain way, because that is the way that they have been trained to expect them to happen—and the voice of God is forever whispering “Behold, I make all things new.”

Other things being equal, this message would have come to the leaders of the great universities, or to the heads of the great churches, because, in consequence of their official positions, such people would have been able to give the message out more quickly, and to larger numbers of people than any obscure man could have done; and as Divine Wisdom always chooses the way of efficiency it would have chosen such channels in preference; but alas, these channels were closed. The clearest open channel for the Jesus Christ teaching was the clockmaker of Portland, and because we always get at all times just what we deserve (which means just what we are ready for), the clockmaker got the revelation. Once more the finger of God had put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted the humble and unknown.

Granted that the Great Message had to come through an humble channel, why could it not have happened in any country in Europe? Why were conditions to be found only in America so necessary? The answer is that in Europe, still lying under the declining shadow of the Feudal Age, many an humble soul was indeed a clear enough channel for the reception of the Truth; but, though such a one might receive the idea of the Truth, he was not likely to have sufficient faith in his own judgment to accept the inspiration that he received; nor, if he did, would it have been possible, with the social and political conditions prevailing, for him to have put it out.

Let us suppose that a clockmaker or a peasant in England had received this great idea. He would almost certainly have consulted the rector of his parish or the minister of his chapel about the wonderful thing that had come to him. That rector or minister might have received him with kindness but would certainly have said: “These ideas of yours look attractive and sound very well, but they cannot be true because they do not agree with the teaching of our church. Therefore they are false and pernicious, and the very fact that they are naturally attractive makes them all the more dangerous to those who have the misfortune to contact them. Say no more about this to anyone, and endeavor to forget it yourself. Satan, who is ever busy, and subtle beyond computation, has laid a snare for you.” In Germany or Scandinavia the local pastor, and in France or Italy the parish priest would have received him in almost identically the same way. Only in the United States was there, at that date, a tradition of personal independence among the plain people which could make both the reception and the publication of the Great Message possible. And so it was in the United States that the thing happened.

So now we see that when the time had arrived for Humanity to take its great step, the ground had been prepared by the placing of a selected body of the people of Europe upon a new continent, which was the only way in which they could be set free from the bondage of innumerable outworn traditions and habits of thought. They have been placed upon a new continent because they have a new work to do for the human race. And now we shall consider in a broad way what that work is.

The historical destiny of the United States is first of all the bringing to birth of this Truth, that for convenience we are calling Divine Science, by providing the only atmosphere in which it could be born and live; secondly, the United States is destined to produce a new nation completely different from any of the nations already existing; and, thirdly, she is destined to establish a new order of society as different from Feudalism as Feudalism was from the other civilizations that preceded it. This new order which has gradually been taking shape on this continent, I am going to call for want of a better term, the American Dream. The term has been used a good deal by one or two modern writers, and it will serve my purpose very well; and I am now going to ask you to consider what really is the American Dream.

The American Dream is no passing romantic fantasy, but actually a new attitude to life, and a new order of society. The American Dream stands for, among other things, the idea that all men and women, irrespective of who their parents were, are to have equal rights and opportunities. It is the firm faith that ability of every kind occurs indiscriminately in all classes of the community, and that the poor and friendless child is just as likely, given the opportunity, to develop nobility of character, or intellectual or spiritual talents, as the most highly connected child in the land. It embodies the idea that men and women, when they are not segregated from one another by artificial barriers of social caste, can get along well together, and that mutual service and mutual co-operation flourish best in these conditions. It discourages all artificial distinctions. It says, in effect, “the tools to him who can use them.” The American Dream includes the idea that the plain man can and will rise to any occasion when he is thrown upon his own responsibility, and will be equal to any emergency that may arise; and it contains, implicitly, the idea that there is no difficulty that humanity cannot overcome if it really wishes to, because “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

In Europe, and still more in Asia, there has always been a feeling that there are certain ills that must be borne, because they are unconquerable, and there is no way out; but to the true American Spirit nothing is unconquerable. It delights in tackling difficult problems. The American Spirit sets no store upon the sense of awe, nor has it any exaggerated respect for anything in particular, either alive or dead. Authority of any kind is lightly esteemed, and this is because of the intuitive feeling that our outer conditions really are essentially mutable, and that the individual has dominion over all things. And all this, of course, is fundamentally what we call Divine Science.

For this great work which is to be done upon the American Continent—remember that the American Dream is only beginning to be worked out—for this great work, Divine Providence has selected its instruments with great care. Every nation in the world has a special work to do for the whole race which no other nation can do, just as every individual person has his own work to do that no one else can do; and so the new nation that is now being formed upon this continent is to be quite different from any other nation yet existing. The American Nation is to be as different from the English Nation, or the French Nation, or the German Nation, or the Italian Nation, as these are one from another. But how is a new nation made? Well a new nationality does not appear in history ready-made out of nowhere, as Minerva sprang complete from the brain of Jupiter. There is, of course, no such thing as a “pure-blooded” race or nation. Such a thing would be opposed to the essential principles of biology. History shows that a new nation has always been made by selecting individuals from various older nations, and combining them into something new. As in chemistry a new compound having new and quite novel properties is formed by a fresh grouping of old elements, so a new nation is always built by a re-grouping of individuals from older ones. The great Roman Nation was a new and very wonderful grouping of a number of ancient tribes which had never been grouped in that way before. The great and unique French Nation is a special combination of the Frank and the Gaul and other older nations. The English people are themselves a special amalgam of quite a number of contributing strains. Tennyson says, “Saxon and Norman and Dane are we”—and he might have added, “a lot of Roman soldiers and many Celts, and a miscellaneous crowd of later immigrants too,” while he was about it; for all these strains have contributed to form the modern Englishman.

The elements which are to make up the new American Nation have been selected by Providence with great care from every nation in Europe. English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, Germans, Italians, Scandinavians and others, all have contributed their quota. The Teuton, the Latin, the Slav, as well as the Anglo-Saxon, have been drawn upon, and all because Nature has determined to do something new. Anglo-Saxons might think that a purely Anglo-Saxon selection would have been better; Teutons might think that a pure Germanic nation would have been a far better plan; and undoubtedly many Latins and Slavs would have their own views on the subject too; but Providence knew best. She decided to have something quite new, because she never repeats herself.

Now, how were the people destined to be the builders of the new nation to be selected? In other words, how was it to be determined who should come to America and who should not? Imagine to yourself that Providence had consulted you on this vital point, and ask yourself how you would have collected your immigrants. Well, perhaps if you knew very little of history you would have chosen the most distinguished citizens socially and educationally in the Old World—but history teaches us that such people, admirable in themselves, do not produce anything new, and that they do not last very long. When an aristocracy comes to its full flower, then, history tells us, it begins to decay. Or, perhaps you would have set a number of competitive examinations; and then you would have got—well, most of us have an idea of what you would have got. Most of us have an idea of what is the usual career of the prize boy at school. We seldom hear of him again as doing anything in particular, certainly not building up a new civilization. Perhaps you would have tried to set some kind of test, or trap, or net, for a particular kind of people. That plan has been tried too. All through history emperors and governments have tried making artificial plantations of hand-picked people in various territories, and nothing has ever come of that except, as a rule, a great deal of local friction, and final disappointment.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, what qualities we should wish to select. If we rise above the first great danger of selecting the kind of people who would be likely to do the kind of things that we happen to approve of, rather than something new, we shall probably agree that to build up a new civilization the qualities we should need are qualities of character, because these are the things that cannot be taught or imparted by artificial means. Knowledge, technical training, good manners, and correct social habits can all be acquired without much difficulty, at least in a generation or two, if the fundamentals of character are there to begin with; and the fundamentals we need are, first of all, courage—physical courage and moral courage—and spiritual courage too. We need enterprise. We need energy that will not be denied an outlet. We need perseverance and determination. Above all, we need self-reliance and resourcefulness. We need a willingness to break with old tradition and a readiness to assume the new outlook.

Now how are people possessing these qualities to be selected from among their neighbors who do not possess them? Well, there is only one way to do it, and that was the way in which Providence arranged that the United States should receive those elements that are to build up her future; namely, by spontaneous emigration. General and spontaneous emigration to a new land of opportunity automatically sifts out, on the whole, just those qualities which we have been enumerating. It is the people who possess essentially such qualities as these who, in the long run, pull up their stakes in an old country and emigrate to a new one; for please remember that emigration is no easy business.

Consider the conditions of life in an old country with a settled and not easily changed order of things. It will probably be overpopulated for its resources, and opportunities will be very restricted for the average man or woman, and for the poor they will hardly exist at all. To follow in his father’s footsteps along the same rut will, in most cases, be the highest that the peasant or workman can hope for in any part of Europe. Exceptional individuals will rise up from the bottom to the top, but they will always be very exceptional—white blackbirds. Now all young people, for a season at least, are ambitious and adventurous up to a point—“the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.” In the evenings in every country in Europe boys and girls will meet together after the day’s toil, and talk about the restrictions of their lives, the absence of opportunities, the meagerness of their earnings, the obtuseness of their parents, and such things; and very often half a dozen of them talking together will agree, “I am tired of this; there is nothing for me here; I will go to America.”

Ten years later, twenty years later, out of that half dozen, one will be in America, while all the rest are still grumbling over their restrictions, or else comforting themselves with some kind of self-deception, as people do. Now which of the six will on the average have reached America? Do you not see that it must be just the one who possesses, in the highest degree, the qualities which we have enumerated. To make the great, and for them terribly expensive, journey from the old village street to the New World has, in these simple people, called for qualities which in truth are nothing less than heroic. Thus has America received her human material.

Thus a new nation is being formed, and on a scale and with a rapidity that has never happened before in the history of mankind. Look at the story of this continent during the brief three centuries or so that the American people have been here; look at it with some sense of historical perspective; and ask yourself if any great national work has ever been carried out on such a scale and at such a speed before. A whole continent has been explored and subdued and to a large extent developed in that time, and the political and social ground-plan of a mighty nation has been definitely laid down. Almost all the old precedents and traditions have been successfully broken through, and a new method, and a new angle of approach to life have been successfully established.

What, after all, is the great outstanding difference between Europe and America? What is the one thing beyond all others that strikes the visitor from the Old World as he travels about the New? Well, I will tell you; it is youth. The one great, challenging, striking, outstanding thing in America is the sense of youth everywhere. As a Londoner, the great outstanding difference that I find in America is the spirit of youth. In America everybody is young. Never mind what the calendar may say; here the heart is young. This is the outstanding difference, and it is also the secret of the American Dream, and the American achievement.

Consider the history of the Western Pioneers, for instance, as one of the outstanding examples of this American Spirit. History will some day do justice to that great epic, for such it is, and it will receive the literary treatment that it deserves. It was an essentially individualistic movement planned and carried out by plain men and women of the people, in accordance with the spirit of the American Dream. Without any special training of any kind, and without any real facilities, men and women, lacking everything but the fearless pioneering tradition of America, broke up their homes; packed themselves, and their children, and their parents, and their household goods—their tables and chairs and brooms and pots and pans—into carts, wagons, prairie schooners, or whatever they could get hold of, and set out into an unknown wilderness infested with hostile savages. They fought and endured their way through; worked, and hoped, and prayed, and worked again, until they had firmly laid the foundations of the great new civilization of the West that is yet to be. Very different this, from the military invasions of trained soldiers, led and fed by military experts, that the world had previously been familiar with, or the blind drifting of nomad tribes from one grazing ground to another. It is a human story to rank with the story that Homer sings, and we would recognize it for such if we were not blinded by the familiarity of the framework in which it is set.

The Western Pioneers have done their work and passed off the stage, but other work just as important and just as great is awaiting us their successors. The task which each American has before him is to realize the American Dream in his own life, to the utmost that he is able, by making himself personally free; free in body, and soul, and spirit. Free in body, by demonstrating bodily health. Free in soul, by liberating himself, as far as he can, from every clogging prejudice, whether of party, or race, or creed, or caste; from all the snobbery and limitation that centuries of oppression have burned-in to the life of the Old World. Free in spirit, by rising above all the fetters of personal greed and jealousy, petty spite, mean pride, and small resentments that are the common handicap of humanity in all countries. The American Dream is not a fine theory to be written upon paper, but a life to be lived, for its own sake, and for the sake of the nation, and for the sake of Humanity. The finest Constitution, and the greatest Declaration of Independence ever made are but phrases until they are incorporated into the practical lives of living people. And so, unless you are seeking to embody the American Spirit in your own personal life and conduct, you are no true American, even though you may have authentic Mayflower ancestry.

If you allow yourself to judge the worth of a man by anything except his character, if you discriminate against him for any reason that is outside his own control, you are no true American. If you judge him by his parents, or his connections, or his external conditions, instead of by himself, you are no true American. If you allow yourself to be hampered by any question of precedents or traditions, you are no true American. If you think that any kind of honest work can be degrading, or what is called infra dig., you are no true American. If you would not. rather be independent in plain surroundings, than dependent in luxury, you are no true American. If you allow yourself to be dazzled by any exalted Office, or intimidated or hypnotized by pretentious titles or gorgeous uniforms of any kind, you are no true American. And, unless you believe that the poorest boy or girl doing chores around the farm, or playing on the sidewalk of a great city is just as likely—given the opportunity—to turn out to be the greatest soul in the nation as the child who is reared in the lap of luxury, then you are no true American.

The wonderful destiny of the United States is indicated, to those who understand, by an extraordinary system of spiritual symbols which is found running right through the national life. Nowhere else probably is there to be found such a complete and thorough system of symbolism devoted to one particular end. Remember that symbolism is the language of hidden truth. It is the earliest form of language known to man, and it remains the most fundamental. It is the language in which primitive man tried to express vague but tremendous things for which he had no words, and, indeed, no clear ideas. It is the language in which the subconscious speaks to us through the medium of dream and revery; and the transcendent things which the Superconscious has to tell us are transmitted in this language too.

One of the most interesting points about a living symbol as distinct from a mere dead cipher is that it is constantly displayed by all sorts of people who do not in the least suspect what it is that they are doing. They publish and thus help to perpetuate the spiritual symbol under the impression, as a rule, that they are merely using an ornament or decoration that appeals to their artistic sense, or to what they deem to be the fitness of things. Thus it. is that symbols of major importance to Humanity are constantly used in the common things and the common actions of everyday life; and until one’s attention is drawn to them he passes them by without a second thought. So it is with that collection of most beautiful spiritual symbols which concern the destiny of the United States.

The most important group of these symbols has been so designed as to be in the possession of all American people without any special effort on their part; and in such a way that their publication would not depend upon any particular private interest or special arrangement which might break down, or fail, or disappear.

What is the commonest object circulating throughout the entire nation, in the hands of everybody, rich and poor, in country and town; which is so essential to the conduct of everyday life that nobody fails to make use of it constantly; and which is, at the same time, the accepted token of the very framework of society? Why money, of course. Money, seemingly the most commonplace and matter-of-fact thing in life, is actually the material expression of the most fundamental thing there is, for it is our expression of substance itself, and of the balanced relationship of service between individuals. To understand the true value of money, is to be prosperous and to be free; to misunderstand it means impoverishment in some shape or form, and therefore to be in bondage. To make a god of money is to make a slave of oneself. To ignore money or to misunderstand its true value brings poverty sooner or later. Money, correctly understood, is a device enabling us to make a just return to our fellowman for his service while retaining our own freedom, a thing that any other system of exchange, such as barter, for instance, could never do. The fact that the modern money system is unsatisfactory in practice, and will undoubtedly be radically changed in many important details before very long, does not alter the fact that money in itself is an excellent thing, and the only device which has been invented to guarantee to man his economic freedom.

Now we can understand why it should be that the historical destiny of this country, which we have seen is a spiritual and a liberating one for Humanity, should be spiritually expressed in a system of special symbols; and this explains the wonderful Mystery of the American money. In the ancient Occult Tradition (which is, of course, far older than accepted historical records) a coherent system of symbols that veils for the time being a vital truth from those concerned with it, is known as a Mystery.

The American money is probably the most wonderful and beautiful group of symbols which has ever been put forward among any people to express its national destiny. Various metaphysical students in America have been familiar with some of the symbols for a long time past, but even to those the real Mystery is still veiled. Let us now spend a little time in investigating it. I hold in my hand here, a quarter, or twenty-five cent piece, and I dare say that no object in life is more familiar to most of you; but have you ever looked at the thing spiritually? Well, the first thing I notice is a beautifully executed female figure, girt with a shield. This figure is beautifully drawn, indicating an upstanding and confident bearing; it is a figure of poise. Corresponding to the shield one would naturally look for a sword in the right hand; but, instead of a material sword, she grasps an olive branch, the symbol of peace and good-will. The woman, of course, is always, in symbology, the soul; and here the soul is armed, not with the sword of Mars, but with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. If this is not prayer, or spiritual treatment, what is it? Over her head is written the word Liberty; and liberty, or freedom from all limitations of sin, sickness, and death, is the final demonstration of the soul that is armed with the Word of Power. Next, my attention is drawn to the slogan which is engraved upon this coin—surely the greatest of all slogans ever composed—In God We Trust. Is not this the summing up of all human wisdom? If you could have any legend written upon your own heart; if you, as parents, had the power to write one message into the hearts of your children; would you not wish to write there “In God I Trust.” Well, Divine Intelligence has written it for them upon every piece of money which they handle. Note that the greatest danger attaching to the possession of money is the feeling that it may give people of a false security, that it may cause them to rely upon their own power or riches; but Divine Wisdom has here placed the antidote for that poison upon the money itself—In God We Trust.

I turn the coin over, and upon the other side I am faced with a motto—and the very greatest of all mottoes too—nothing less than the Cosmic Law itself condensed into three words; nothing less than a whole textbook of metaphysical and spiritual truth in a single phrase; the whole Bible rewritten in a nutshell: E Pluribus Unum; One out of Many. Is not this the whole story of man’s discovery of the truth about God? At first man thinks himself to be separated from the Divine, and he believes in many gods, but as the Light of Truth gradually dawns in his soul, he passes, first from many gods to the One God, and then on to the final point of knowing his own essential unity with Him, which is salvation. Then he realizes the cosmic truth—“Many but One: One but Many,” which is the real meaning behind this motto. This is the whole story of God and man as it is given in the higher teachings; in the Bible for instance, where Jesus says, “I and my Father are One”; and here it is, on every coin that every American man, woman, boy, or girl handles. The whole Bible was written to teach this truth to mankind, and the Metaphysical Truth movement, of which Divine Science is a part, was projected to spread that truth in modern times. There is only one Presence and one Power, but that Presence diversifies Itself in the Universe, and individualizes Itself in man; and yet, without ceasing to be One—E Pluribus Unum.

Finally, I take what is perhaps the most beautiful thing of all on this beautiful coin, the wonderful flying eagle, and I ask, what does this eagle flying through the air on those strong and beautiful wings indicate? Well, the eagle is, of course, a symbol of victory; but there is very much more in it than that. An ancient legend concerning the eagle tells us that he has a remarkable peculiarity among birds: When a severe storm occurs, all other birds do one of two things, either they hide from the storm in the lee of any convenient natural shelter, or they try to fight it as long as their strength will hold out. The eagle, however, does neither of these things—he soars above it. He neither fights the storm, nor runs away from it, but soars above it. And what, I ask you, is this but Scientific Prayer as we all practice it. In the spiritual teaching we learn, neither to run away from our troubles nor to fight them with will power, but, by turning to God and realizing His ever-presence, to soar above them into the spiritual plane where there is eternal peace and harmony. We know that if only we can do this, even for a few moments, our difficulty, whatever it is, will begin to crumble away, and that by persistence in Scientific Prayer we shall presently overcome it.

But there is something else about this eagle that is exceedingly important. He is not at all as the other eagles that have served as national symbols for other nations in the past. He is not as the Roman eagle, or the Prussian eagle, or the Czarist eagle, or the double-headed eagle of Austria; he is the bald-headed eagle, and wears no material crown. The adoption of the bald-headed eagle as the symbol of the United States is no mere accident, but a spiritual happening of extraordinary occult significance, and it is important to remember that its use is expressly enjoined by an Act of Congress. It signifies nothing less than the power of direct contact with the Divine, or, as we say, the Practice of the Presence of God. Here we need to probe a little below the surface of things, as is always the case when a symbol is particularly important. The top of the head has always been used to signify the faculty of direct contact with God, as distinct from approach to Him through any intermediate channel. This is because that spiritual faculty of the real man is expressed or implied on the physical plane by means of the pineal gland, and on the psychic or etheric plane by the force-center or chakra that lies over the top of the head. Now the whole object of true spiritual development is to realize our essential oneness with God, and as this spiritual faculty develops, we do so more and more. In the Priesthoods of the ancient world the top of the candidate’s head was shaven, or made bald, to symbolize this; and here in America we have the bald-headed eagle telling us the same thing in another way—that it is the destiny of the American Nation to lead mankind into the condition where personal freedom and true self-realization will give him at once direct contact with God and true dominion over his own life. That is why this eagle wears no crown of personal or material authority, but teaches the sovereignty of Impersonal Divine Truth.

Many people who start out to seek this true contact with God allow themselves to be diverted either into developing the physical body, in the hope that that will make them spiritual, or into psychic development under the impression that to develop the etheric centers will bring them to God. Nothing could be more mistaken, however. The only true and the only safe development is spiritual development by the Practice of the Presence of God in Scientific Prayer.

I have chosen this particular coin to discuss, because it is the most complete of them all in its presentation of these symbols. The symbols appear again and again, in one form or another, upon all the American money, but in certain cases some of them are omitted. On some quarters, for instance, the head only of the woman appears, and on certain issues of some of the other coins one or other of the mottoes is left out. It is significant that this particular design, the fullest expression of America’s destiny, appeared at the moment when America first entered the international field as a World Power, namely, 1916-1917. The quarter was the appropriate piece for this purpose since the dime and the nickel, owing to their small size, offer a somewhat restricted field for display, and the half dollar has, of course, a much smaller general circulation. Is not this quarter in itself a most beautiful and inspiring thing to possess?

The United States has, indeed, produced at various times a large number of beautiful and inspiring coins, usually for the purpose of commemorating some historical event. These form in themselves quite an illustrative history of the nation, and they all embody and proclaim to a greater or less extent the principles we have been considering. Some of them are very remarkable. The St. Gaudens twenty-dollar gold piece, for instance (1908 type onward), is not merely one of the loveliest coins ever struck, but is one of the loveliest objects ever made anywhere. Here the soul is figured as Liberty holding aloft the torch of knowledge, and we know now that true liberty can only come from the understanding of Spiritual Truth, which means the knowledge of the Allness of God. Her foot is placed upon the rock of Truth, and behind her the “sun of righteousness” is arising “with healing in his wings.” (Righteousness is right knowledge, or spiritual understanding.) The Capitol at Washington is seen in the distance, signifying, of course, the United States. The whole figure gives an impression of extraordinary poise, and confidence, and carefree exultation. On the other side, the bald-headed eagle naturally appears, also seen against the sunrise. E Pluribus Unum and the 13 stars are embossed on the edge of this coin in order to leave more freedom for the designs.

Quite apart from her money, the United States has a wonderful system of national symbolism expressed in other directions. The way in which the number 13, for instance, occurs in her history and in her national emblems is most interesting. We now know that the whole of the material world is really a vast and complicated system of vibrations; that, and nothing more. The earth you live upon, the house in which you dwell, the body you carry about with you, the food that you eat, and the clothes upon your back, all are but systems and trains of vibration. This means that what we call numbers are really but the indexes of vibrations and have a significance unsuspected by most people. The number 13 is sometimes thought to be what is called “unlucky”; but this is arrant nonsense, for there is no such thing as luck or ill-luck in a universe governed by law. We manufacture our own experience by the kind of thinking that we permit ourselves to indulge in, and that is all about it. Think good, and good will follow; think evil, and evil will follow. That is the rule.

The number 13 is spiritually but an expansion of the number 4, and we find this number emerging in every phase of American History. Thirteen states to start with, and 13 signatures to the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on the flag, 13 stars on the money (count them), 13 feathers in the eagle’s wing, 13 arrows in his claw, 13 leaves and 13 fruit on the olive branch, 13 rods in the Mace of the House of Representatives, 13 steps in the American pyramid, and 13 letters in the motto E Pluribus Unum, are instances that readily occur to mind. The number 4 itself appears as the 4th of July, the day upon which the Declaration of Independence was signed, and upon which the official order was given for a National Great Seal to be prepared. It appears again in the 4th of March, the day upon which a new president was originally inaugurated and we remark that the term of office of a President of the United States is 4 years, a term of office not used in any other country. Now 4, in symbology, stands as the expression of definite, constructive, concrete work; and, as we have seen, it is the historical destiny of the United States to bring the Spiritual Idea into concrete expression on both the mental and the physical planes. This explains why the mottoes on the Great Seal of the United States are: Novus Ordo Seclorum, meaning “a new series of ages,” or, a new order of things has commenced; and Annuit Coeptis, meaning “he (God) has favored our undertakings.” Both are from Virgil. Nothing could better describe exactly what America is doing for the world, and the fact that she has a Divine mission.

The Great Seal of the United States contains some of the most extraordinary and interesting symbols in the world. The obverse or front shows the eagle displayed in the ordinary heraldic style, and I have just dealt with the vital significance of the eagle, though it should be noted that he carries an olive branch in his right claw and 13 arrows in his left, denoting that peace and good-will are to be the primary consideration, and defense only the last resort. Metaphysically, the olive branch here stands for the affirmation, and the arrows for the denial, and in Scientific Prayer we must always begin by affirming the Presence of God. The denial, scientifically used, is of great value, but is always secondary in importance to the affirmation.

The unsupported shield that we find here is an heraldic novelty, as most national escutcheons have “supporters” on either side. The American escutcheon rests unsupported on the breast of the eagle, signifying that Scientific Prayer is allsufficient in itself and needs no external or material reinforcement.

The group of 13 stars in the aureole and clouds forms a very unconventional crest or device above the eagle, but this again is a repetition of the announcement that the Spiritual Idea is to come out into concrete definite expression in the United States. The clouds of materiality and misunderstanding are here rolling away from Humanity, and the Sun of Truth is shining out.

The Great Seal of The United States

But the reverse or back of the Seal is, if possible, still more striking and remarkable. (This reverse side seems to be very difficult of access to most people in America. It is not usually shown in the encyclopedias or other works of reference, and for this reason I am having it reproduced herewith.1 Here we find an unfinished pyramid (notice the 13 steps) the capstone not having yet been lowered into place. Above it and within a triangle appears the ancient symbol of the all-seeing eye. This is, of course, the “Single Eye” of which Jesus spoke. He said: “When the eye is single the whole body is full of light,” meaning that when an individual or a nation puts God first, and everything else second, then the whole body, the whole life of that person or that nation, will be healthy and prosperous. The triangle is the symbol of the human soul in which Divine understanding has to appear. The capstone of the pyramid is still unplaced to indicate that man cannot accomplish any real work of himself; but only as the instrument of God—by having the Single Eye. Man has the power of bringing the action of God into play through prayer; but without the Divine action he cannot actually achieve anything. It is because man has so often left God out of his arrangements that all human schemes so far have been transitory. The Single Eye is the “stone that the builders rejected,” but it has to become “the head of the corner” in the new building that the American people are erecting.

In the deepest sense, the Single Eye stands for the final spiritual truth of the Allness of God (E Pluribus Unum), which it is the destiny of the United States to make known to the whole world. “And the gospel must first be published among all nations.” (Mark 13:10) It is to keep this fact before the American people that the designers of her Great Seal were inspired to place it thereon. It is significant that when it was first designed, this side of the Seal was not received with favor. It was considered inartistic, and even now it is hardly ever shown; and I understand it has not even yet been cut. This is due to the fact that it was not until after the rediscovery of the Spiritual Idea, which, as we have seen, did not happen until the second quarter of the nineteenth century, that its true significance could have been understood by anyone. Now that the knowledge of the Allness of God is at last becoming widespread, the design will gradually come into its own and rank in popularity with the obverse. (The writing of this essay is part of that action.)

This pyramid was designed to be of the same proportions as the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and we are assumed to be looking at the north side, for that is where the entrance to the Great Pyramid is. In a perspective drawing it was necessary to show a second side, and for this purpose the eastern side was especially chosen. This is because the East has always stood for illumination or the realization of God. To us mortals the day seems to break in the East, and it is for that reason that many Christian churches as well as the temples of most of the ancient religions were oriented—the altar was placed in the east end of the building so that the worshipers faced the rising sun. The general custom of burying the dead with their feet toward the East that they may face the sunrise is due to the same cause. It is also significant here that the pyramid is the geometrical form that symbolizes Spirit, as it is taken to be the permanent expression of a living flame—the fire principle. Incidentally, the pyramid is a type of stability, for of all solid figures it is the most difficult to overturn. Now we can easily understand that a nation or an individual whose life is sealed with these principles has really made a new beginning, and a very wonderful one, and has nothing to fear.

As a matter of fact, the whole of the American Constitution is, in itself, really a beautiful symbol, almost a diagram, one might say, of the Supreme Truth—E Pluribus Unum, Many but One. One but Many, is the supreme and final Cosmic Truth, and this spiritual fact finds a concrete expression in the political arrangement of the United States. They are one, and this unity is the guarantee of the safety and freedom of each; but without ceasing to be one they are many, and this local freedom is the guarantee for the fullest growth and prosperity of each part or State. Without a Federal Constitution, we now see that the United States could not endure. The conditions of life and the consequent needs of the people in such diverse localities as Maine and Arizona, Oregon and Louisiana, are so different; their respective traditions and outlooks are so various; that it is only by complete autonomy in local affairs that they can prosper. The Fathers of the Constitution certainly did not consciously envision the Great Nation and International Power that has grown out of their work; but they were inspired men, whether consciously so or not, and like all inspired men they built better than they knew. This ideal Federal arrangement of corporate unity and individual freedom is, you will see, a perfect expression of the corresponding relationship of God and man. It is instructive to note that the few important mistakes that the American nation has made have in most cases arisen from temporarily forsaking this principle; either by the Federal Government undertaking to do something for the individual States which the Constitution intended them to do for themselves, or by neglecting to do for them something which it should have done. It is curious and interesting to observe that the District of Columbia, centering in the President and, like a sun, surrounded by the forty-eight balanced planetary States, forms a beautiful hieroglyph of the Solar System in which we all live, as well as of the cosmic principle, E Pluribus Unum.

Now, does all this mean that I think that the future history of the United States is going to be a simple and easy path of uninterrupted development? No, I do not suppose anything of the kind. The fact is, that a quiet and uneventful life is rather the mark of age and decrepitude than of youth and vigor. It is the destiny of youth to have great problems and great difficulties to tackle and to solve, and it is the glory of youth to have the vision and the energy to do both without fear. When the life of a man or of a nation becomes gentle and uneventful, it means that its work is done; but the work of this nation is only beginning, and I expect, therefore, that in the years ahead of us there will be great problems and difficulties and even dangers to be met and overcome. But I know that as long as the American people are true to themselves, and to the American Dream; as long, that is to say, as they remain united in essentials, so long will they continue to remain undefeated; and so long will they fulfill their destiny of service to the world. Difficulties and problems are good things in themselves because every difficulty overcome is proof of a further advance in consciousness.

Actually there is only one real danger that ever can menace the safety of the United States. Her immense size—she is really a subcontinent—and her ideal geographical location, render her absolutely immune from invasion, other than by raids which might be very costly but could have no permanent effect. There is not, and humanly speaking there cannot be, any enemy on the outside whom she need seriously fear. The only danger that can ever threaten her is that of grave division among her own people. The only real peril that ever can threaten the United States is that one section of the American people should quarrel so bitterly with another section as to make them forget the cause of national unity, and so precipitate an internal conflict. Then indeed, should that happen, the house divided against itself might be made to fall; but in no other way. Should such a thing happen it is not at all impossible that some foreign power would take advantage of her paralyzed condition—for a nation at strife within itself is, of course, militarily paralyzed—to attack her. This all but happened once or twice during the War of North and South; and in days to come owing to the changed conditions of military and naval strategy, such a peril would be a thousand times greater. Again and again in history internal feuds have destroyed nations great and small, but there is every reason to believe that the America people will not be betrayed into this obvious suicidal blunder.

Such a danger cannot arise as long as the American people are careful never to allow party spirit to become so embittered that the destruction of their political enemies seems to be more important than the safety of the country.

However strongly devoted you may be to any particular cause; however strongly opposed you may be to some other cause; the vital thing to remember is that any cause, however good it may be in itself, is secondary in importance to the supreme cause of national unity. Any other doctrine than this is surely plain treason.

An orderly democratic state can only endure as long as the people are prepared loyally to accept the verdict of the majority of their fellow citizens when expressed in a constitutional way, however much it may clash with their feelings; and to support loyally those who are elected to office, whether they like them personally or not.

It is an excellent custom in this country that, after each election, no matter how hotly and bitterly it may have been contested, the defeated candidate sends a telegram of congratulation to his victorious opponent. This custom is a good example of the way in which this truth that we call “Divine Science” has been permeating right through the nation since its birth. This custom is, fundamentally, an affirmation by the defeated party that it is loyal to the Constitution and accepts its spirit even at the most difficult moment.

It is your right, while the election is in progress, to do all that you can to further the success of the party in which you believe. When once the election is over, however, whether it be a minor local event or the National Presidential Election, it is your duty to do all that you can to support and help the man who has been elected, whoever he is. Before the election a candidate is the leader of a party; now he is in office he is the leader of all the people; and this, of course, is the way in which the elected man himself must regard his victory. Any other attitude is really to put a faction before the nation; and if this is not disloyalty, what is it?

These principles will often call for a very great effort of self-control, and will require, in many cases, a great struggle with one’s feelings, and with party, family, and other traditions—but how seldom is the higher choice easy for human nature.

From this it naturally follows that any public man, or any newspaper, or any body of people, whatever it may call itself, who may seek unduly to fan the flames of political or sectional bitterness, is to be distrusted. As far as possible, such mischief makers should be ignored, because without material support, their efforts wither away.

Finally, in conclusion, let me say that the more American America can be, the better it will be for America. Let us not copy other countries. Let us not copy Europe, because it is our destiny to be America. Do not copy England; God has done England once, and done it very well, but He does not want to do it again here, because God never repeats Himself. Let us not copy France; God has done France once, and done it very well, and He does not want to repeat that either. Let us not copy Germany, or Italy, or any other country in the world; but be ourselves. If we must make mistakes, in Heaven’s name, let us make our own mistakes and not somebody else’s. When we do make our own mistakes, we learn a tremendous lot, and, if we suffer too, it is worthwhile, because we learn. But when we make somebody else’s mistakes, we suffer just the same, and we learn nothing at all. The more American America can be, the faster she will advance; the better off her people will be; and the more she will help the whole world.

Remember that America is not to be just a new copy of something old, but something quite new, and, therefore, something better than anything that has gone before.

Note: Readers will note that the prophecy made in that lecture that the reverse of the Great Seal (containing the pyramid) would become widely known among the American people has since been fulfilled by the Government issuing a new dollar bill carrying both sides of the Seal.

1. See Note at the end of this chapter.

EMMET FOX