once entered upon it, no life is lighter or happier or more
desirable; for God is very zealous to be at all times with man, and
teaches him that He will bring him to Himself if man will but
follow. Man never desires anything so earnestly as God desires to
bring a man to Himself, that he may know Him. God is always ready,
but we are very unready; God is near to us, but we are far from Him;
God is within, but we are without; God is at home, but we are
strangers. The prophet saith: God guideth the redeemed through a
narrow way into the broad road, so that they come into the wide and
broad place; that is to say, into true freedom of the spirit, when
one has become a spirit with God. May God help us to follow this
course, that He may bring us to Himself. Amen. (223)

GRACE

THE masters say: That is young, which is near its beginning.
Intelligence is the youngest faculty in man: the first thing to
break out from the soul is intelligence, the next is will, the other
faculties follow. Now he saith: Young man, I say unto thee, arise.
The soul in itself is a simple work; what God works in the simple
light of the soul is more beautiful and more delightful than all the
other works which He works in all creatures. But foolish people take
evil for good and good for evil. But to him who rightly understands,
the one work which God works in the soul is better and nobler and
higher than all the world. Through that light comes grace. Grace
never comes in the intelligence or in the will. If it could come in
the intelligence or in the will, the intelligence and the will would
have to transcend themselves. On this a master says: There is
something secret about it; and thereby he means the spark of the
soul, which alone can apprehend God. The true union between God and