The spiritual life

18 The Spirit>jai Life.

perfectlybuilt,everydrainperfectlylaid,every-

thingdone as w^ell asthe skill andstrength of

mancandoit. Why,aworldlike thatseems

afairytale,animpossibleUtopia,butthatwould

betheresultifeveryindividualmandidhisduty

asperfectlyashispowerspermitted. Andthat

isthefirststep towards thespiritual life. Itis

notoutsideyourreach; itisclosetoeveryone
ofyou.

Butthatisnotall; thereisahigherstageof

thespirituallifethanthat. Itismuchtofeelyour-

self aco-workerwith the Divine mtheworld,

muchtomakeyourwork great byknittingitto

theuniversalworkthroughoutthismightysystem

ofworldsanduniverses; much,too,asEmerson

said, tohitch yourwagon on toa star,instead

of some miserable post bythe wayside. But

even that is not the only thing within your

power, even thatis not the most splendid to

whichyou can attain. For thereisone thing

greater even than duty, and that is when all

actionisdoneassacrifice. Now,whatdoesthat

mean? Therewouldbenoworld,noyou,no

I,if there had not beena primarysacrificeby

whichafragmentoftheDivinethoughtsheathed

itself in matter,limited itself inorder that you

and I might become self-consciously Divine.

ThereisaprofoundtruthinthatgreatChristian