OUT OF THE SILENCE
(INTRODUCTORY VERSES)
| NOTE: Although introduced by a statement
of Saint Paul, the entire book is based upon, and quotes extensively, the
teachings of Jesus. The evident thrust of the teaching is DISCIPLESHIP.
|
FROM THE BOOK BY JAMES RHOADES
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
I Cor. iii. 16
Is this thing true, the preacher saith,
Or but a dreamer's dream?
Thrills in thy very midst the Breath
That bade the star-fires stream,
Framed all the Universe divine,
And slowly cell by cell
Built up thy body for a shrine
Wherein Himself might dwell?
Then cares and fears be phantoms vain --
Ills of illusion bred:
O hungry soul, insatiate brain,
Ope inward and be fed!
O heart, with age-long error rife,
Thou art no soil for sin,
Wherethrough the eternal source of life
Wells ever from within!
Drink, and thy need shall be sufficed,
The drought of death will fly:
Who thereof drinketh, said the Christ,
Shall never thirst or die.
No mortal being gave thee birth;
Shake off the fleshly dream,
Nor, housed albeit in walls of earth,
Against thyself blaspheme.
The heaven is here for which we wait,
The life eternal now! --
Who is this lord of time and fate?
Thou, brother, sister, thou!
The power, the kingdom, is thine own:
Arise, O royal heart!
Press inward past the doubting-zone,
And prove the God thou art!