on himself. Yet at the same time, he must look up and acknowledge that all the power to act, and all the wisdom to judge, come from the Lord alone, and he must pray to be continually gifted with that power, and guided by that wisdom. Thus doing, he effects two things: first, he keeps his mind open to the Lord by acknowledgment, and secondly, he receives power from the Lord by action; and thus he is gradually formed into an angelic man. He becomes a man, by exercising as of himself the faculties with which he is endowed,—by bringing into operation the light and strength which continually flow from the Lord into those faculties; and he becomes an angelic man, that is, an image and likeness of the Lord, by continually looking up to the one Source of all good, and thus receiving the love and wisdom which continually flow down from that source, and which mould his spirit into a heavenly form.
As you cannot steer a ship unless it is in motion, so the Lord cannot guide man unless he is in action. Were man merely to pray,—were he to remain ever on his knees looking up and asking, his prayer could not be answered. For even though a dove should fly down from heaven with a morsel in its beak, and lay it on his tongue, yet that would not be sufficient: he wants clothes as well as food, and a house to shelter him from the weather; and he wants many things besides these. Nor, even if all these were supplied him by a continual miracle, would he be content or happy. For happiness comes from within, not from without; it is chiefly a state of the mind; and a happy state of
