| The Way of Victory |
Chapter 3 |
Page 3 |
The inner and outer life must correspond. If you see a man whose life is righteous you know that his thoughts are just. Unjust thoughts will never yield righteousness in act and conduct. Thoughts are wonderful things. They seem mere nothings, flecks of cloud flying through the air, flocks of birds flitting by, and gone. But thoughts are the most real things about our life. They give it character. All things we do are first thoughts. Our thoughts fly out like birds and take their places in the world, and dwell there. Then our heart is always their nest, whither they will return at last to dwell. Ella Wheeler Wi1cox says:
“I hold it true that thoughts are things
Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings,
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results,—or ill.
“That which we call our secret thought
Speeds to the earth’s remotest spot,
And leaves its blessings or its woes,
Like tracks behind it as it goes.
“It is God’s law. Remember it
In your still chamber as you sit
With thoughts you would not dare have known,
And yet make comrades when alone.
“These thoughts have life; and they will fly
And leave their impress by-and-by,
Like some marsh breeze, whose poisoned breath
Breathes into homes its fevered death.
“And after you have quite forgot,
Or all outgrown some vanished thought,
Back to your mind to make its home,
A dove or raven it will come.
“Then let your secret thoughts be fair;
They have a vital part and share
In shaping worlds and moulding fate
God’s system is so intricate.”
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