The house of life is built differently from any other; we get the plans by erecting the structure. In the realm of character it is houses rather than architecture we need. Build but one hour's conduct squarely on the plain, cogent teachings of the man of Nazareth and you will serve the world better than if you gave a lifetime to the explanation of His words. Doctrines are but teachings intended to be done into deeds. Doing them you gain a larger peace of mind and sense of stability of life than in any other way. If you want the equilibrium of faith you will find it by simply laying life's daily details on the plain foundation of His principles. Nothing could be plainer; there are no hair-splitting metaphysics, no subtle questions of policy here; do these things and the heart finds calm, the life certitude, the soul satisfaction. X The Passion for Perfection _The Great Search_ _The Hunger of the Ages_ _The Sole Satisfaction_ _Pain is the parent of power._ _Marking time leaves no mark on time._ _The proof of love is loving the unlovely._ _Truth never is found by twisting the facts._ _Wings come not to those who refuse to walk._ _An ideal usually is what we want the other man to be._ _There is no righteousness without some self-respect._ _You cannot lead men to the divine by crawling in the dust._ _The real saints have no time to write their autobiographies._ _When a man boils over quickly you soon find out what is in him._ _True piety simply is the prosperity of the eternal things in a man._ _The world never will be won from the love of evil until we make the good lovely._ X THE GREAT SEARCH The cry, "How may I be right?" is the cry of the ages. Human history is the record of our attempt to answer it. Man is naturally a truth seeker, and this is the search of all truly great souls. The enduring monuments of literature are those that have in some measure answered this question. All things that have been worth while have helped us to know and to realize the right. Health, happiness, freedom, morality, all are but parts of the right; all are but sections of the sublime whole for which man ever seeks. The search manifests itself in different ways; it may be as science, the passion for the knowledge of the right relations of things; as justice, for right relations amongst men; as philosophy, as ethics, as religion. Back of all our life is the instinct of progress; we push towards the perfect. And perfection we now know rests not in more things but in bringing all the things that are into right relations with one another.