9. The Spoken Word

9. The Spoken Word

Page 91

"WITHOUT HIM [the Word] was not anything made that hath been made."

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

How?

Listen: "The earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. . . .

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. . . .

"And God said, Let there be a firmament and it was so. . . .

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. . . .

"And God said, Let the earth put forth grass . . . and it was so. . . .

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . and it was so."

God, infinite power, might have thought about all these things till doomsday. He might have wished during an indefinite time that they were formed and made visible. Nothing would ever have been created in visible form had there not been the spoken word put forth into the formless ether. It took the definite, positive "Let there be," to bring forth order out of

Page 92

chaos and to establish in visible results the thoughts and desires of even an infinite, omnipotent Creator.

To create is to bring into visibility; to form something where before there was nothing; to cause to exist or to take form that which before was without form and void. To exist (from ex, out from, and sistere, to stand) is to stand out. Being always is; existence (from Latin, existere, to stand forth, emerge, appear) is that which stands forth as a visible entity.

God creates. Because man was created or brought into the visible universe in the image and likeness of God, he, spiritually, has like powers with God: he has the power of creating, of bringing into visible form that which before did not exist. As God created by the spoken word, without which "was not anything made that hath been made," so man can create by his spoken word. In fact, there is no other way under heaven to bring into existence the visible conditions and the things that we want.

Today it is agreed by all scientists (material as well as spiritual) that there is but one universal substance out of which all things are made. This substance is divine stuff that, though invisible and intangible, is lying all about us, as is the atmosphere. This divine substance is without form and void, as is also this same physical atmosphere. It is waiting,

Page 93

forever waiting, for man to form it as he wills, by his spoken word.

What is liquid air? It is compressed invisibility, is it not? It is invisible, formless substance pressed into form by a definite and continued process until it becomes visible and tangible. This God-stuff, divine substance, is likewise subject to the pressure of man's thought and word.

There are three realms in the universe: the spiritual, the mental or psychic, and the physical or material. These three, while in a way distinct, are so blended into one that it is difficult to know where one ends and another begins. All created things have Spirit, soul, and body. All things that we desire are now in being in the spiritual or invisible. But, as someone has said, thought and the spoken word stand between the invisible and the visible. By the action of these two -- thought and the spoken word -- is the invisible made visible.

When we desire anything -- I use this word "anything" advisedly, for did not the Master in divine things say, "Whatsoever ye pray and ask for," "If ye shall ask anything" -- we must take our thought entirely off the visible world and center it on God. We begin, as God began in creation, by speaking out into this formless substance all about us with faith and power, "Let there be so and so [whatever we

Page 94

want]. Let it come forth into manifestation here and now. It does come forth by the power of my word. It is done; it is manifest." We continue this with vehemence a few moments and then let go of it. This should be repeated with firmness and regularity and definite persistence, at least in the morning and in the evening. Continue it, absolutely regardless of any evidence or want of evidence. Faith takes hold of the substance of the things hoped for and brings into evidence the things not seen.

The moment one takes cognizance of circumstances, that moment he lets go of faith. Our spoken word first hammers the thing desired into shape. Our continued spoken word brings this shaped substance forth and clothes it with a visible body. The first action brings that which is desired from the formless toward the external as far as the psychic; the continued action brings it forth still farther and clothes it with visible form or material body.

This was illustrated to the writer, a few years ago. A woman, Miss C____, had been for days vigorously "speaking the word" out into the great universe of substance, for something she much desired. She had no confidante and recognized no human help.

One day she wrote an ordinary business letter

Page 95

to a friend in the country. This friend, on receipt of the letter, immediately replied, saying: "What is this strange thing about this letter of yours? When I took it from the post office it had the appearance to me of being covered with so and so [the very thing which the writer had been shaping in the invisible by her spoken word]. I opened the letter," she continued, "and for some minutes the opened letter took the form, to my sight, of a 'horn of plenty,' pouring out in unlimited quantity this same thing. Have I gone crazy, Or what does it mean?"

Do you not see? The word spoken by Miss C____, alone in the silence of her own room, had shaped and brought forth toward the external, as far as the psychic realm, the thing desired. The vibrations of her thought had permeated, all unknown to her, everything that she had touched. The friend, having some psychic power developed, saw, plainly surrounding this letter, the shape that Miss C____ had created, though it was yet invisible to the natural eye. It is needless to say that the continued word very soon brought this shape forth another step into the visible world as a solid manifestation of exactly what Miss C____ desired.

In this process, there are two conditions that must be carefully observed. One is, do not talk with anyone about what you are doing. Talk scatters the

Page 96

precious divine substance; what we want to do is focus it. Needless talk diffuses and wastes one's power. One might as well pierce full of holes the boiler of a steam engine, letting the steam ooze at dozens of holes, and then expect to have enough power in the engine to draw the train. It is impossible both to diffuse and to focus at the same time.

The other important condition to observe is to continue with the spoken word. "Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."