t we, as
individuals, still continue to be portions of that Spirit; and that
therefore the law of our nature is to be perpetually drawing life from
the inexhaustible stores of the Infinite--not bottles of water-of-life
mixed with other ingredients and labelled for this or that particular
purpose, but the full flow of the pure stream itself, which we are free
to use for any purpose we desire. "Whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely." It is thus that the worship of "the Father"
becomes the central principle of the individual life, not as curtailing
our liberty, but as affording the only possible basis for it. As a
planetary system would be impossible without a central controlling sun,
so harmonious life is impossible without the recognition of Infinite
Spirit as that Power, whose generic tendency serves to control each
individual being into its proper orbit. This is the teaching of the
Bible, and it is also the teaching of the New Thought, which says that
life with all its limitless possibilities is a continual outflow from
the Infinite which we may turn in any direction that we desire.

But, it may be asked, what happens if we go counter to this generic law
of Spirit? This is an important question, and I must leave the answer
for further consideration.

IV

_Conclusion_

I concluded my last chapter with the momentous question, What happens if
we go counter to the generic law of Spirit? What happens if we go
counter to any natural law? Obviously, the law goes counter to us. We
can use the laws of Nature, but we cannot alter them. By opposing any
natural law we place ourselves in an inverted position with regard to
it, and therefore, viewed from this false standpoint, it appears as
though the law itself were working against us with definite purpose. But
the inversion proceeds entirely from ourselves, and not from any change
in the action of the law. The law of Spirit, like all other natural
laws, is in itself impersonal; but we carry into it, so to speak, the
reflection of our own personality, though we cannot alter its generic
character; and therefore, if we oppose its generic tendency towards the
universal good, we shall find in it the reflection of our own opposition
and waywardness.

The law of Spirit proceeds unalterably on its course, and what is spoken
of in popular phraseology as the Divine wrath is nothing else than the
reflex action which naturally follows when we put ourselves in
oppositi