It Was Told of a Certain Potter Abd Allah by Walter C Lanyon

Abd Allah, which means servant of God.

Chapter 1

Abd Allah, the Potter

AND the sun streaming in through the eastern window awakened Abd Allah, the potter. He stretched his lithe, muscular body luxuriously and, rubbing his eyes, sat up. The boy Jethro lay wrapped in slumber, his harp close at hand.

"Jethro, Jethro," called Abd Allah, 'tis morn! Get thee to the well and fetch up the water for the morning meal."

Jethro got, sleepily, into his picturesque costume with its heavy blue silken sash. He was a happy type of youth, a true son of the orient, his skin the color of copper and his raven locks matted in curls to his well-shaped head. Some years before Abd Allah found him begging in the streets of Jerusalem, and had taken him home. Of his early life little was known, save that at one time he lived on a boat which sailed the Nile. And it was upon this boat that an old sailor had taught him to play the harp. His voice, which was natural and clear, had a warmth of expression seldom found in an untrained singer.

Pushing aside the heavy curtain of woolen stuff that covered the doorway of their abode, Abd Allah stepped into the outer court and raised his eyes to the eastern heavens. It was a new day and the sky was amass of gold and crimson, shot with the palest mauve. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork," breathed Abd Allah. There was a thrill in his voice as he repeated it; he felt the impetus of the new day creeping over him and thus he reasoned:

It is a new day, fresh from the hands of God, and I AM a new man (idea) fresh from the hands of God. I have but the glowing, ever-present NOW, which is pregnant with opportunity and goodness. And as this day cannot look back into yesterday, neither can I bring from yesterday any of its storms or sorrows. And as every flower that blooms and every bird that goes singing through the long hours are new and fresh acquaintances to the day, so every man that I meet shall be new and good to me, a friend and brother.

As he stood filling his soul full of the morning and the glories of the new day, a single bird winged his way into the liquid blue, shrilling his wild song of joy. It was almost as if his thoughts had taken the 'Wings of the morning'. And as he was thus setting his house (MIND) in order for the day, Jethro came through the large open gateway with the jar of water on his head. He, too, had been drinking in the wonders of the heavens, and, setting the jar down, he stood beside Abd Allah and said:

"Look across that silver sea of olive trees, there in the valley of the Mount! See how she stands wrapped in that bluish mist! Is it not beautiful, Father Abd Allah? And see how the great leaves of those yellow-green banana trees sway in the breeze. The fragrance of a thousand wild vines and flowers fills the air. Is it not a wonderful world, and are we not rich, Father Abd, to have this picture ever before us?"

And Abd Allah answered: "Praise be unto God whose handiwork is shown."

******

Now, Abd Allah was a potter by trade, and he worked into the color of his vases the glories of the heavens and of nature, and into his designs he painted wonderful lessons of gratitude and peace. He was also a letter writer, and in short, a sort of confessor or judge, inasmuch as those in trouble came to him with their problems for solution, and he always sent them away satisfied and with new courage. And, lastly, Abd Allah, which means servant of God, was a true servant of the Most High.

Of friends, Abd Allah had many, and these he found among all classes, from the lordly nobleman, in his wonderful palace of snowy marble, to the humble herdsman, who dwelt without the city gates. In short he had a breadth of love that reached out to ALL men.

His dwelling, which contained two small rooms, was in an enclosed court and faced the east. In front of it stood a thick, bushy almond tree, and it was under the shade of this tree that Abd sat day after day working at his vases, or writing letters, with Jethro close at hand to sing to Abd and play on his harp. A glance at the open doorway, with naught but a heavy, oriental curtain, immediately bespoke the moral courage of the man Abd, and his open, God-fearing nature, for his dwelling was located in the outskirts of Jerusalem, near one of the less frequented of its seven gates, and many considered it unsafe to leave their doors and windows unbarred against thieves.

And oft-times, as he worked, Abd Allah told Jethro the story of his vase, and sometimes, perchance he was starting a new vase, he would work into it the solution of the problem of some troubled one, who had come burdened with too much care.

Abd Allah had learned, years before, that as a pebble thrown into a pool of water brings one ring after another to the surface until they reach the outer edge, so one good thought dropped into the stagnant mind will bring ring after ring of thought to the surface, until the whole mind has stirred; and he likewise knew that by dropping these thoughts into the pool of a dormant or sick mind, at last, when enough have been dropped into its depths, it will rise and flow off in a tiny stream, and by flowing (becoming active) purify itself, and not only thereby receive a blessing, but water field and forest and prove a benefit to mankind. And though it had been unloved and shunned as a stagnant pool, little children may wade in its cool depths and scatter flowers on its surface.

"Love is the ONLY active element of the Universe." Abd had told Jethro. "Be sure you are filled with LOVE all the while; let naught else into your consciousness, and as you go you will reflect it in some way that 'will draw all men unto you'."

So, Jethro reflected LOVE through song and music, and Abd Allah through his pottery and his well-modulated, sonorous voicings of TRUTH. But there are many modes of letting your light so shine before men that they will call you blessed.

Chapter 2

Prayer

It was the hour of prayer in the city of Jerusalem. About the gate where Abd Allah and Jethro were stationed many of the merchants and loiterers were kneeling and calling upon the name of their God to succor and help them. The little band abut Abd Allah stood listening in silence to the mumbling of the men at prayer.

"Tell us something of true prayer, Abd Allah," said one of the men standing near him; 'something of that for which this outward expressions stands."

"We admit," Abd Allah began, "that God is good...GOD IS GREAT...that HE is ALL, HE is everywhere, and the cause and effect of ALL that really exists. We acknowledge HIM to be the SOURCE from which EVERY good and great gift comes."

"Further, in the line of common reasoning, we KNOW that PRAYER in its generally accepted sense means desire. This being the case, we begin to see that our very desires or prayers, in so far as they are good, proceed from God, and are not as we formerly supposed self-originated requests or petitions, but rather the urge of GOD (good) endeavoring to find expression in us, good endeavoring to be made manifest in the flesh."

"Perhaps, for example, you are praying for health. You are desiring it, but as God is the ONLY creator and good, in reality your desire for health is but the will of God trying to express itself through you."

'God is willing to do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or think'. God is 'willing' it. And as your desire for health is prompted by HIS willingness to be expressed in perfect strength, you reverse the proposition and find that, in reality, the health and strength of God, good, are seeking to find expression in you, not you seeking to bring them into your thought."

"If you are praying for supply, is it not in reality God's fullness seeking further expression in you? Is it not the 'still small voice' calling for a greater expression of substance, God? God is ALL substance; then the desire for supply is a greater desire for God, or God endeavoring to manifest HIMSELF more fully. And suddenly you turn from your prayers of beseeching to the attitude of 'Speak, for thy Servant heareth', and "not my will but THINE be done.' You being endeavoring to find out what HIS wishes are."

"Then our part in prayer, after we have acclaimed God as all and ever-present good, is to relax, to let go and step aside; literally and figuratively to say 'Glorify thy Son that they son may also glorify thee;' that is, make thyself manifest in me, fulfill thy desires. Fling open wide the portals of your mind and bid Him enter who waits without; make thyself wholly acceptable to HIM, to use for HIS good pleasure, and your desires and prayers will find their rightful expression."

"Having given yourself over to HIS expression, see that no selfishness enters and tries to hoard up HIS expression of Love as it passes through you. You are merely a channel, a steward placed in charge of the gift, a caretaker, but not an owner. Use freely HIS love as you do the air about you, but see that nothing clogs the channel of expression to others."

"Now if GOD is LOVE everywhere present, then we live in an atmosphere of LOVE for 'in HIM we live, and move, and have our being'. Let us establish a better sense of this Atmosphere of Love in which we constantly move. First, it is unchangeable and ALL powerful, and you are completely submerged in it and MUST of necessity be governed by it."

"As a fish is completely submerged in water, so man is submerged, surrounded by MIND, and as the fish of the sea finds his supply, health and happiness in the medium of water, so man must be fed, clothed and cared for by the ONE MIND or Atmosphere of Love that completely envelopes him. In fact, in establishing a fuller and better knowledge of this Atmosphere of LOVE we lose sight of ourselves completely, and thus, in losing sight of self we have stepped aside and a complete healing, regeneration, or expression of LOVE has taken place, a full expression of HIS LOVE has been made manifest in the flesh."

"It is quite as impossible for man to reflect ONLY a part of the qualities of mind, or of this Atmosphere of LOVE in which he lives and moves, as it is for a fish to be partly dry and yet remain submerged in the ocean. If man reflects one of the qualities of MIND, he MUST reflect them all. If he reflects life, he MUST also reflect HEALTH, HAPPINESS and SUCCESS. He cannot move into a place where any of these qualities are wanting--there are NOT desert places in ETERNAL MIND--any more than a fish could swim into a dry spot in the ocean."

"Comes now our impersonal work, both for ourselves and others. As we establish an idea of GOD as ever-present LOVE and FIX OUR ATTENTION on this ONE QUALITY, we unconsciously help ourselves and also anyone upon whom our thoughts may rest, because if we are submerged in LOVE nothing of an opposite nature can enter or affect us, and we partake of the qualities of this atmosphere just as the fish is naturally wet, not through any effort on his part; he does not try to be wet,

HE JUST IS.

When we come to the point that we can consciously FEEL that we are living in this ATMOSPHERE of LOVE, we cannot help reflecting the qualities of it. We are ONE GOD, for we are 'image and likeness' and what shall separate us from the LOVE that HE bestows?"

Chapter 3

The Perfect Man

Early on the morning of market day, Abd Allah arose and awakened Jethro. June was yet young and hovered over the distant hills with an enchanting freshness. A million diamond dew drops caught and held the sun a prisoner, reflecting the mysteries of the rainbow. Out over the valley, which was lavishly dotted with flowers and trees, a transparent purple mist foretold the coming day. Abd Allah, was happy. He felt the THRILL that ONLY a MIND FILLED with GOD and GOD's GREATNESS can FEEL on the contemplation of the beautiful. Life was so worth-while; there was so much good and GREAT to be had for the mere reaching out; there was a constant tonic of youth and health to be drunk from the wonders of nature.

After breakfast he and Jethro started toward the east gate with their small load of vases.

"Does not the morning, with its mystery, THRILL you?" he said to Jethro, and without waiting for an answer he continued, filling his lungs with the fine morning air; "It is GREAT to be alive! It is GREAT to know that you are a PERFECT being, made in HIS image and likeness."

"A perfect MAN?" questioned Jethro. "Just look, Father Abd, who comes there," and as Abd looked he saw Jaraj, the herder. He was surely a pitiful looking piece of humanity, quite bent over and in ill health. "Is he, too, a perfect man?" asked Jethro as they passed on their way.

They walked in silence for a while and Abd Allah said:

"Jethro, you speak some Greek, a little Egyptian and Arabic, and in all these languages they have a different symbol for the same numbers. That is, you can give expression to the quantity two in as many different tongues as you know, and while the material symbol in each instance will differ, the quantity remains the same. It is eternally two. If every symbol that was used to express two were swept away, the quantity two would remain just the same. Age will not add to it nor take from it. This is essentially; true of all realities. So is it with the perfect man, made in HIS image and likeness: the same substance of HIM is perfect and good and cannot change though the material symbol that represents him may be anything from a hunch-back to an athlete."

"Further, Jethro, when you see a column of figures, some perfectly drawn and others poorly made, do you stop for a minute and say: 'That two is poorly made; I cannot give it the full value of two?' No. You give it the full value without ever a thought of taking from it or adding to it because it is larger than the rest. In your mind it has a fixed value or substance and that is what you give it, no matter what the symbol looks like. Then is it not our duty to give to the material symbol of man his FULL INHERITANCE, that of perfection and goodness, and to look beyond the material symbol, just as you do in figures, and reckon the ABSOLUTE quantity and substance of MAN made in HIS image and likeness?"

"What use would men have for criticism if they had this fact firmly established in their minds? And what a wonderful help and stimulus the world would receive again, to know that EVERY man is PERFECT, must as he was created." EVERY BEING!

"Then criticism is really 'bearing false witness' against thy brother, is it not?" said Jethro, "and what other motive could prompt bearing false witness against a man than hate?"

"Yes," said Abd Allah, "Criticism is hate, and with hate in our minds love cannot enter nor abide."

"But another good point to me," said Abd Allah, as they walked along, "is that while the material symbol for man may appear distorted, with the right thought and LOVE he can be made straight and healed of his infirmities. Think of the symbol of PERFECT MAN who lay at the pool of Bethesda for thirty and eight years, and how ALL that time he was unable to help himself. Is it not appalling to note the lack of righteous (not right--righteous) thinking on his part. There he lay, a son of the ALL POWERFUL, an 'image and likeness' governed by the ONE omnipresent, omnipotent LAW OF GOOD, unable to move himself. And all the while the men at the court were giving hi the lie, and refusing to count him as a perfect man, until one day Jesus came by and saw him as a PERFECT MAN, with the result that the thirty and eight years of bondage disappeared and the man came into his heritage of dominion."

"What disease or evil condition can present itself as permanent when we stop for a minute to realize that we are PERFECT, created so by God and sustained eternally by HIM?"

"Was it not through Daniel's realization of the indestructible qualities of the PERFECT man that he escaped the jaws of the lions? He put their laws of matter to naught by knowing the the PERFECT man was indestructible."

"But it is necessary that we do more than declare this TRUTH of PERFECTION; having 'done all, to stand', stay put: we see that though Daniel proved the powerlessness of the lions immediately he entered the den, yet he had to remain (stand) there all night. Patience MUST have her perfect work."

Chapter 4

Abd Allah's Philosophy

"'Awake thou that sleepeth;' get some of the NOW-ness into your thinking. Don't WAIT to die to get into heaven; 'Behold the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand;' it is within you."

What is heaven? It is happiness and joy; it is righteous thinking and righteous acting. It is making obstacles stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks. It is getting plenty of blue sky and sunshine into your MIND.

All about you lie infinite possibilities. Opportunity and fortune literally plead with you to take them in.

Fate is the blind belief of the fearful; it is the great excuse for failure and stagnation. Failure is the letting go of your grip. There is no such word as failure to righteous thinking man. True, material conditions may change, but with the destruction of the shell of an egg we have an advanced state of progress, that will eventually fly off into the great free sky, thrilling with joy.

Failure to the material sense may be opportunity and fortune forcing you to make a step forward that you have heretofore been reluctant to take. Don't lose heart because you are down and out. You can always start over; there is ALWAYS a new day.

Success is NOT measured in dollars and cents; it is measured in happiness and contentment. Happiness is NOT an elusive something that keeps dodging you, but a permanent STATE to the RIGHTEOUS thinking man. have some of the qualities of a cork; refuse to stay under.

Get plenty of JOY into your thinking. Try singing instead of mourning. Try realizing what it is to be a son (daughter) of the MOST HIGH, a child of the KING. Get some of the nobility that is yours into your thought. 

BE NOBLE.

Protect yourself by keeping your thought filled with goodness and truth; if it is FULL of good (great) there is NO room left for evil or fear. Evil thinking is the plague that produces all sickness, sin and death; and righteous thinking corrects this. You CANNOT think death and life at the same time; either one or the other holds the floor. Neither can you think riches and poverty, health and sickness. Be sure then that you are thinking on the righteous side. When you are thinking righteous, no plague shall come nigh thy dwelling.

Have you lost your material home? Then you are NOW ready to enter into your divine estate, and as the synonym for home is happiness (not house) and happiness is a STATE of MIND, you find yourself already established in your new abode, which is filled with large courts wherein you may walk in peace. This kind of home is 'under the shadow of HIS mighty wing.' The losing of a material home is like the dropping off of the cotyledons of a tiny plant. The plant has lost nothing in parting with these impediments; but is free and ready to grow heavenward.

Have you lost your best friend; did he betray you? This may help you to know that to lean on your own understanding is a dangerous thing, and further that GOD is the ONLY TRUE friend of man; that HE is unchangeable and eternal; neither does HE call for special favors, loans, etc., but ONLY for fair thinking about HIM.

Have you lost your fortune? All substance is HIS, and the fact that you are HIS PERFECT child gives you ample supply. He is responsible for your sustenance; you can of yourself do nothing. You did not ask to come here; HE placed you here and HE provides. 

HE is able to do ALL things, and to prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies (in the presence of want). Plant your grain of mustard seed (faith) and watch it move mountains (doubt and fear).

When you act, act as ONE HAVING AUTHORITY. Put on the FULL ARMOR of GOD. Don't imagine that because you have a sword in your hand you are safe. Put on the Helmet of righteous thinking, the Breastplate of righteousness. Be 'shod with the preparation of the gospel'. Have your shield engraved with the words, 

'Who is so great a GOD as our GOD?'

Then your two-edged sword of wisdom will cut through the enemy's lines.

"Patience MUST have her perfect work." Remember that it takes repeated good thoughts to be effective. ONE good...ONE GREAT, strong thought, offset by the rest of the day spent in evil thinking, will not accomplish results for good...for GREAT."

Remember that the walls of Jericho did not fall down the first time they were encircles; but the Israelites did not give up, knowing that when enough good thoughts were directed against those walls, thy would crumble away, and they did.

Do you suffer because your grandfather ate sour grapes? He is the ONE that should have suffered for that, and not you. You, probably, out of your own good wisdom, would have selected sweet grapes. Don't let the stupid law of heredity bind you; put it to flight with the powerful command, "Call no man your father, save GOD." What belief of inherited sin or sickness can withstand this?

Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for ALL things are possible to the man who puts his TRUST ABSOLUTELY in GOD, and who knows that with HIM ALL things are possible HERE AND NOW.

Chapter Five

The Man Who Resisted

ONCE more the sturdy almond tree had covered itself with a sheet of snowy-white blossoms, and once more the caressing breath of spring had wooed each blossom and lured it from its resting place. One by one they had launched out from the parent branch and floated in a zig-zag course to the ground. Unconsciously, the unfoldment of life goes on from one state to another, and the almond tree, which only a short time ago stood a silvery mass of loveliness, under the sapphire dome of the heavens, caught a mellow tint of autumn, and again the ever active ceaseless progress of life lured, one by one, the yellow leaves from the tree.

Out over the land, autumn had painted with a lavish hand. Here a dash of deep purple and there a bank of gold. The distant foot-hills rose like tongues of flame against a deep blue sky. Here and there was a deep green tree which had not yet been nipped by the frost, and again in the distance could be seen the delicately etched branches of trees already bare.

There was a mellowness in the air; a dreamy wistfulness that caused one to sit and wonder, to sit and dream. And it was on this day that Abd Allah sat pondering and dreaming over the wonders of life.

At length he resumed his work. 'Come hither Jethro,' he called to the boy. 'Bring your harp, for I would have you sing to me; sing and play to me that I may mold some of this mystic beauty of the autumn into my vase, that in years to come someone gazing on it may take hope again.'

'What is hope?' said Jethro, for he was fond of hearing Abd Allah explain the abstract. "Hope," said Abd, 'is the red bird singing of spring on the bleak February bough; it is the spark of light which the traveler sees at the other end of the 'slough of despond'; it is the early spring lily peeping through the snow. But I would listen to thee a while. What will you sing to me?'

So, Jethro, taking his harp, began:

The wheel of the potter turns round and round, shaping his various wares.

Some to hold water and some to hold wine, some to hold flowers fair.

Into each vessel the potter will mold TRUE thoughts of usefulness,

And thus will the thought of the potter live; ever waiting to bless.

God is the potter and man is the clay. He works out his infinite plan.

Each idea has a mission to fill, for each is a perfect man.

At this point in his song, Jethro was interrupted by the loud shouting of someone at the gate. Laying aside his harp he ran across the court and gazed out. 'It is Haasn and his mule,' he called back to Abd Allah, 'coming over the hill. He is staggering, drunk on new wine.' 

'Poor Haasn,' said Abd Allah; 'he is the man who resisted.'

"Resisted,' said Jethro. 'What do you mean, Father Abd Allah? Is he not at this moment in the power of his worst enemy-wine? And has he not repeatedly fought against it to no avail?'

'Yes,' said Abd, 'and in constantly resisting the temptation to drink has he not made it something real, a personal devil which has absolute power over him? Do no the sacred scrolls teach 'resist not?' Man is superior to matter and its laws, for he is 'image and likeness'. He is not bidden to obey every whim of the mortal senses. He has been given dominion and sonship. God is LAW; and did not Christ Jesus come to 'fulfill the law' not the laws, and the law that he came to fulfill was the Law of Dominion; and did he not say,

'The works that I do ye shall do also, and even greater?'

'Remember the story of Jacob; how he struggled (resisted) all night (in ignorance) and that when the morning light came (truth and light) he loosed the lie (stopped resisting it) and let it go. Is it not worth while to note that Jacob 'let it go?' That which he had resisted and struggled with all night, and which had caused him to suffer he merely had to 'let go.' So it is with all material law. We hold to it; it cannot cling to us for there is nothing to support it. And when I see a man struggling with a belief of sin or sickness I AM reminded of a child holding a wild animal with one hand and fighting it with the other and then crying because it hurts him, instead of letting go of it.

'In the case of Jacob we know not what the problem was, but let us suppose it was the temptation to drink that was causing him to resist and fight all night, and suddenly it dawned upon his consciousness 

'Ye do not need to fight...set yourself see the salvation of the Lord;'

'The battle is not yours, but the Lord's'

And then the whispered pass word, which will lead you safely through all evil,

'Speak as one having authority' and 'Dominion over all things.'

Would you suppose, keep on fighting his temptation? Rather would he not suddenly find himself Superior to the whole situation?

'If you resist a thing, you fear it. If you fear it, you necessarily endow it with power to hurt you. For who would resist anything that he was not afraid of? We are not afraid of so-called powerless things.'

'Meet every problem that comes to you as its master, knowing that God is working with you and that to be of ONE MIND with HIM is to in the majority, for GOD is ALL POWERFUL. The Hebrew children knew what it meant to be at ONE with GOD, and obeyed HIS LAW instead of the laws of matter, with a result that the flames, which consumed others, left them untouched.

It took only a pebble (righteous thought) to slay Goliath, who had become real and terrible through material thinking and reasoning, and through resistance.

Human will-power is the blind force which resists things, sometimes with seeming success, but only for a season.

"The great key-note to all, righteous work, is the attitude that 'I can of mine own self do nothing, but with God all things are possible.' At one bound we shirt the responsibility of the situation on God, and HE is abundantly able and equipped to put the enemy to flight.

"We do not struggle with the darkness in a room to get it out; we merely bring in the light, and the darkness disappears of its own self. Likewise with sin or sickness, or any material law, we do not need to fight it; we merely have to bring in the absolute truth that because man is made in the 'image and likeness of God' he is eternally protected and cared for."

Chapter 6

The Woman Who Was Poor

MAZA was a widow who lived in a dirty little hut in the crowded quarter of Jerusalem. Each day she went into the temple and cleaned the great courts. But Maza was very poor and as she passed the coffers and saw her neighbors place certain sums therein she felt poorer than before, for she had not even the widow's mite to give, neither could she spare a crust of bread to anyone. And, further, she was unhappy because she had no friends. She had heard much of the Potter, Abd Allah, and how he had helped others to be freed from their burdens, and one night she determined to pay him a visit. So, after she had finished her work at the temple and eaten her meager meal, she turned her steps towards the dwelling of Abd Allah.

It was a wonderful night with a sky like a heavy blue vapor that seemed wholly to envelope the world. The moon had not yet risen and the stars were brilliant. But Maza saw none of the beauty; her eyes cast down, she trudged along wondering why her lot was so hard. So poor was she in spirit that she could not even lift her eyes to the heavens and feast her hungry soul on the beauty so lavishly displayed.

At last, after her long walk, she came to the lodging of Abd Allah and found him seated in the court, the boy Jethro playing on his harp.

'Abd Allah', she called with a note of distress in her voice, 'I AM burdened with poverty; wilt tell me of riches?'

Abd Allah arose and motioned Jethro to bring a small rug for her, on which he bade her to be seated. They sat in silence for a while, and the Allah began.

'There is no man in all Judea, be he ever so rich, and though he possess a palace of white marble, and slaves, and gold and silver in abundance, who has among his treasures a picture as magnificent as you have stretched before you at this moment, Maza.' As he said this he pointed to the eastern skies where a blood-red moon was breaking through a rift in the long silver clouds. There was a telling silence as they all gazed in the direction he pointed.

'First, the, Maza, always feast the soul. This you can do as often as you will in the day or night, for the heavens cover all; and they are the great canvas of God; each day is a rare masterpiece designed and painted for you. Then you are not poor because of the lack of beauty, for the whole world is overflowing with it.'

'Go out into the sunshine, Maza, and lift your hands to high heaven and let your soul be filled with the blessed sunshine and blue sky. Let the oil of joy, the sheer joy of living, flow about you, and forget the material counterfeit of gold in your appreciation of the real gold of the sun. Let the sunlight of strength and trust in God dry up the stagnant morasses of worry and care. Pour some of the dew of life eternal on your blasted hopes and see them blossom forth into greater and nobler promises than before. Let the star dust light your way, instead of the dust of material ways cut off your vision of the stars.'

Maza stirred a little; already she felt an uplifted thought, a stirring within, and Abd went on.

'There was once a certain woman who was very poor in thought and, in a state of desperation, she cried out for help, and the one who heard her cry was a man who understood the power of righteous thinking. He understood where the TRUE SOURCE of supply was; he also understood how much greater are ye than many sparrows? So he asked the woman, 'What have you in your house (MIND)?'

And the woman pondered a moment and said: 'Only a cruse of oil.'

Now the man, who understood, knew the value of a cruse of oil (joy) and how a drop of it had saved many an axle from wearing away. So he said to her, 'Borrow vessels not a few.'

So, she borrowed vessels (make her thought receptive). Then the man started filling the vessels out of the cruse of oil. and presently they were all filled, and still the cruse (SOURCE) was not empty, for joy increaseth every time it is left to run loose, and a smile an inch long may stretch miles, yea! It may even encircle the globe. But this was not all that was to be done; now the activity was begun, it was necessary to continue to keep the joy moving, so he said to her: 'Go sell the oil.'

Action is the law of progress. It is necessary to give out joy and happiness and not stand with our vessels full meekly waiting for someone to come to us. Enter some darkened pathway where there is need of joy and scatter some light of good clean thinking as you go, and people will find that you are not only useful but an absolute necessity. There is the biggest market in the world for joy, and the fewest dealers in it of any known commodity. So this woman went her way and as she went she found a ready market for her oil.

"In the smiling mind there is no room for worry clouds, there is no accumulated, stale thinking or care, for the smiling attitude keeps them at arm's length; yea, it even puts them to flight. This smile is not a silly, simpering, facial contortion, but a strong, clean, healthy mental attitude that refuses to be downed by obstacles."

"And it also happened that certain fisherman had labored all night (worked in ignorance) without success, and they were heavy hearted and discouraged, when the voice of TRUTH spoke to them and admonished them to cast their nets on the righteous side. Now, literally, to cast their nets on the righteous side would be casting them in the same waters they had fished all night, but they knew that to cast their nets on the righteous side was merely a command to change their thought from one of limitation to abundance, to know that God is good, and that 'He knoweth that ye have need of these things', for is it not HE that 'prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,' in the presence of famine, want and woe? What wonder then, when they cast their thought into the inexhaustible SOURCE of supply, that their nets were full?

"Maza, supply is a Law of God. HE it is WHO created YOU, and HE is responsible for you. Has HE not oft referred to YOU, in the sacred scrolls as 'His child"? Are not HIS promises kept? Did HE not say, 'Seek and ye shall find... ask and ye shall receive?' Is HE that created you not able to sustain you, and that abundantly, too? Did HE not say of man that HE was created in 'the image and likeness?' You are HIS idea, perfect and eternal, and will HE not keep you? Can the reflection manifest any condition that the original does not? And are you not a reflection of HIS love? It is good to know that you are living and moving and having your being in GOD; and if you are LIVING in this great inexhaustible SOURCE of ALL good...ALL GREAT...can you want for anything? Rather I say unto you, reach out and take possession of your divine heritage. Open the doors of your thought so that the streams of LOVE can flow in and out of it."

And rising, Abd Allah continued: 'Maza, what have you in your house?' and she answered him: 'Gratitude and Love,' and he said: 'Go back to thy dwelling in peace and remember that LOVE freed is like bread cast upon the waters, it will return and nourish you when most needed.'

And Maza went her way, a song of thanks in her heart and her soul full of the beauty of the night.