The strength of spirit is attained through struggles that may encompass all conditions of life. Not gigantic to the extent of overweening physical strength, but for the purpose of usefulness as much strength as is needed; not gigantic to the extent of worshiping the intellect at the expense of the heart, but to succeed in all and to fail in all, until one can forward the work of the spirit, until it has conquered all states, not only sin but, the greatest of all sins, self-righteousness, and stands in sublime and exalted humility as the typical illustration of conquest over the earth. All states between that and the lowest condition which yon can picture are states of human experience that every Soul must pass through. Meanwhile there infiltrates into these experiences a religious or spiritual element, a suggestion that that which the body, or the mind, only accomplishes is no accomplishment at all.

The first religious experiences must have come like earthquakes and tornadoes, undoubtedly taking possession of the first great nation at the height of its physical and intellectual splendor; and as the lightning tears down the temple or destroys the giant oak, bo the first religious thought, flashing into a mind blind with physical and intellectual power, must have been like the rending of the veil in the temple. This spiritual power is the beginning of inspiration in every age; we mean the recognized inspiration. Whatever flows into man's life from the divine, infiltrates through the body and the mind. We do not call that inspiration which is the usual activity of spirit in the organic nature, this is simply the power which the spirit uses, but which is not spiritual power. The distinction between the two is evident; one may give expression to many things by a power which is from within, but when that which is from within is expressed it becomes an impelling force, a light divine. While each one, as an individual, may cause certain things to be done, still when the life that is Soul is manifested and recognized, it becomes the real life, and all that is done is acknowledged to be under its sway.

The spirit begins its triumph where the intellect fails: and we may say that this ascent is a gradual spiral ascent, increasing as one goes on, extending in new lines as one advances. But in the steps of expression, although there is continual ascent, there are also, seemingly, declensions; as between mountains there are depressions, but the valleys there are higher than the preceding mountain tops; so in the line of embodiments there are descents into the valleys of humility, but the seeming decline is not bo in the absolute sense, for the valleys are among the heights.

Reaction is as much a law of growth as action.

The reaction from physical success and splendor must naturally follow, although this would be just the opposite to physical success and splendor; then following gluttony would there not be starvation? and following the Hercules would there not be the pigmy and deformed one? There must be the spiritual synonym and meaning for every physical fact. However you may trace the cause of physical deformity to physical sources, you can find no other solution, in the great world of moral and spiritual force, than that deformity has its complement and balance in overweening physical strength unaccompanied by moral force; also the valley from the height of a non-intellectual and non-spiritual physical expression is the valley of deformity, that being its vale of humility; and then and there, in that valley, is the beginning of mental power, as the descent from the intellectual height is an illustration of the beginning of spiritual strength.

The moral problems are most complex, and here is the whole conflict, here the battle ground seems to be after all; for when the moral perception enters, there is a different outlook, a different purpose, a different condition. That which under the mere physical existence seems right, under the moral light seems wrong. So that while it might be right under physical law for the ancient Spartans to slay the child that was born weak, the moral awakening reveals to the human mind that physical weakness may not be mental and spiritual weakness, and that human beings have no right to determine, as valuable lessons of life may be intended to be taught even by weakness.

How mistaken the Spartans were in putting the imperfect bodies to death was illustrated by the fact, that with all their physical and intellectual perfection the Grecians could not preserve their moral integrity; how wrong they were in supposing that physical or intellectual life could be the basis of all advancement was illustrated by the elements of corruption that crept in, sweeping them from the face of the earth.

Instead of now slaying imperfect children, they are protected and provided for. The blind are made to know of life by touch and hearing; they are aided to perform their tasks, and that which is a physical imperfection becomes the aid to songs divine, and sometimes to spiritual virion. Supposing Milton had been slain because blind, where would have been the visions of paradise; the illustration of that genius that exalted the world?

When the mental force is taking possession it is often railed before recognition, the antitheses are the stepping from heights that are false; as the physical height has its downfall in order that a better height may be attained, so in the intellectual world there is the recession. Let no one suppose that, when placed in the spiritual balance, the human intellect without Soul weighs any more than the dust which expresses no intellect; let no one suppose that simply intellectual expression, unaccompanied by moral force or intention, can weigh any more in the great scale of real life, than that life whose intellect is veiled, and yet, in all appearances, wears a fair face, with features that are delicately chiseled, but under some law has come into the world with no intellectual outlook, with no face for earthly victory. These illustrations are extreme; but there is no more extreme depth, or fictitious height, than that of the pride of intellect, of which this extreme is the necessary and natural antithesis. So were you to see a beautiful form and face, as perfect as any divinity worshiped by Grecian worshipers of art, unaccompanied by qualities of the mind and Soul in keeping with that form, you might well say the next expression would be one of deformity.