to
attract what he will_. To repudiate this statement is to knock the props
out from under the whole philosophy. Better stay an old-thoughter and
let Jesus suffer for your sins and those of your relatives and friends.
At least Jesus _took_ the sins of the world to bear, all of his own free
will. There is some comfort in letting Jesus do what he chose to do.

But you have turned away from Jesus as a scapegoat. You refuse to lay
your burdens on him who offered to bear them; and you refuse to bear
them yourself. Instead you distribute them around among your relations
and friends and then fret your soul because they won't accept your
distributions. Of course you excuse yourself by acknowledging "your
share of responsibility" for the unpleasantness of conditions, but if
you will examine carefully you will find that your portion of the
responsibility includes most of the _good_ things in your conditions,
whilst you have portioned off almost _all_ the responsibility for the
_bad_ things among your protesting--or indifferent--relatives. You
always say, "_I_ try so hard," but you never balance that with, "_He_
tries so hard,"--"_They_ try so hard." You get all the I-try-items in
your own pile and the don't-try-items in other folk's piles. "_If_ it
were not for Tom and Dick and Harry and Fan you would do wonders--_if_
they'd only treat you with _half_ the consideration other people give
you, or half _they_ give other people!--_if!--if!_"

I wonder why they don't indeed! It is just because you are you, _and you
attract your own particular kind of treatment_. To all intents and
purposes Tom, Dick, Harry and Fan are a punch and Judy show and _you
pull the strings_. When other people pull the strings there's a
different sort of show. YOU are the motive power in _all their treatment
of you_. Not a tone or look or act of theirs in your direction but _you_
are responsible for; it was _you_ and no other who drew them to you;
and it is you and no other who hold them there.

Now don't say, "I don't see _how_!" Of course not--_you haven't wanted
to see how_--you've been too intent justifying yourself. And anyway, it
takes an open mind, and some time, and much _faith_ to enable us to see
the _principles_ of things. We have to _act_ as if they were so, a long
time before we see that they are. If you had _acted_ upon the principle
that you are a magnet and that _all_ that comes to you comes by your
attraction, you'd have long ago had your ey