and if through weakness and frailty one is overtaken by it, it is far better to put it away forcibly than to parley with it; for give anger ever so little way, and it will become your master, like the serpent, who easily works in its body wherever it can once introduce its head. You will ask how to put away anger. My child, when you feel its first movements, collect yourself gently and seriously, not hastily or with impetuosity. Sometimes in a law court the officials who enforce quiet make more noise than those they affect to hush ; and so, if you are impetuous in restraining your temper, you will throw your heart into worse confusion than before, and, amid the excitement, it will lose all self-control. Having thus gently exerted yourself, follow the advice which the aged St. Augustine gave to a young bishop, Auxilius. "Do," said he, "what a man should do." If you are like the psalmist, ready to cry out, "Mine eye is consumed for very anger, go on to say, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord"; so that God may stretch forth his right hand and control your wrath. I mean, that when we feel stirred with anger, we ought to call upon God for help, like the apostles, when they were tossed about with wind and storm, and he is sure to say, "Peace, be still.” But even here I would again warn you that your very prayers against the angry feelings which urge you should be gentle, calm, and without vehemence. Remember this rule in whatever remedies against anger you may seek. Further, directly you are conscious of an angry act, atone for the fault by some speedy act of meekness toward the person who excited your anger. It is a sovereign cure for untruthfulness to unsay what you have falsely said at once on detecting yourself in falsehood; and so, too, it is a good remedy for anger to make immediate amends by some opposite act of meekness. There is an old saying, that fresh wounds are soonest closed. Moreover, when there is nothing to stir your wrath, lay up a store of meekness and kindliness, speaking and acting in things great and small as gently as possible. Remember that the Bride of the Canticles is described as not merely dropping honey, and milk also, from her lips, but as having it "under her tongue" (Song of Solomon 4:11); that is to say, in her heart. So we must not only speak gently to our neighbor, but we must be filled, heart and soul, with gentleness; and we must not merely seek the sweetness of aromatic honey in courtesy and suavity with strangers, but also the sweetness of milk among those of our own household and our neighbors; a sweetness terribly lacking to some who are as angels abroad and devils at home! 150 SELECTIONS FROM The Way to Christ, and the or, The Life Which Is Above Sense BY JAKOB BOEHME JAKOB BOEHME German mystic; born at Alt-Seidenberg, near Görlitz, November, 1575; died at Görlitz, November 17, 1624. He learned the trade of shoemaker in the little town of Seidenberg and at the same time paid much attention to meditating on divine things. He settled as master of his trade at Görlitz in 1599. When he published his first book, "Aurora," (a theosophic-philosophical account of the universe), it was condemned by the authorities at Görlitz. He was examined before a council and dismissed on the promise that he would write no more books, tho his friends urged him to continue his productions, which circulated in manuscripts. He wrote voluminously in German on such subjects as "The Three Principles of Divine Being"; "The Threefold Life of Man"; "Forty Questions Concerning the Soul"; "True Penitence"; and "The Way to Christ." A complete translation of his works into English is in progress. The Way From Darkness to True There was a poor soul that had wandered out of paradise into that kingdom where the devil hath dominion; who drawing near, took it captive, and led it at his will. Placing joy and pleasure before it, he said, "Behold, now thou art great and powerful; endeavor to be greater and yet more powerful; display thy knowledge and wit, that thou mayest be admired, and get a great name in the world." The soul did as the devil counselled it, and yet knew not that he was its counsellor, but thought that it was guided by its own understanding, and that it did very well and right all the while. Going on in this course of life, it was met by our dear and loving Lord Jesus Christ, "who was manifested in our nature that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). Speaking to it by a strong power, he discovered the way of salvation, and in his mercy called it to repentance; promising that he would then deliver it from that deformed image which it had gotten, and bring it into paradise again. Now, when this spark of light divine was manifested in the soul, it saw itself, with its |