his
own life in this connection. At a period when he was having a terrific
struggle with a certain habit, he was so continually held in the
thought of fear by his mother and the young lady to whom he was
engaged,--the engagement to be consummated at the end of a certain
period, the time depending on his proving his mastery,--that he, very
sensitively organized, _continually_ felt the depressing and weakening
effects of their negative thoughts. He could always tell exactly how
they felt toward him; he was continually influenced and weakened by
their fear, by their questionings, by their suspicions, all of which
had the effect of lessening the sense of his own power, all of which
had an endeavor-paralyzing influence upon him. And so instead of their
begetting courage and strength in him, they brought him to a still
greater realization of his own weakness and the almost worthless use of
struggle.

Here were two who loved him dearly, and who would have done anything
and everything to help him gain the mastery, but who, ignorant of the
silent, subtle, ever-working and all-telling power of the thought
forces, instead of imparting to him courage, instead of adding to his
strength, disarmed him of this, and then added an additional weakness
from without. In this way the battle for him was made harder in a
three-fold degree.

Fear and worry and all kindred mental states are too expensive for any
person, man, woman, or child, to entertain or indulge in. Fear
paralyzes healthy action, worry corrodes and pulls down the organism,
and will finally tear it to pieces. Nothing is to be gained by it, but
everything to be lost. Long-continued grief at any loss will do the
same. Each brings its own peculiar type of ailment. An inordinate
love of gain, a close-fisted, hoarding disposition will have kindred
effects. Anger, jealousy, malice, continual fault-finding, lust, has
each its own peculiar corroding, weakening, tearing-down effects.

We shall find that not only are happiness and prosperity concomitants
of righteousness,--living in harmony with the higher laws, but bodily
health as well. The great Hebrew seer enunciated a wonderful chemistry
of life when he said,--"As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that
pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." On the other hand, "In
the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is
no death." The time will come when it will be seen that this means far
mor