“No man is free who commands not himself. No man is free who forgets his brother. No man is free who fears to follow his own purpose with all his force. No man is free who fails to carry his share of common load. He may have wealth and luxury; yet is he slave. He may be tempted by beauty; yet is he slave. He may be frightened by calamity; yet is he slave. He may be beaten by strangers; yet is he slave. No man is free who commands not himself in any emergency. He may lose wealth and luxury, and still be free. He may dwell with squalor, who loves beauty, and still be free. He may be defrauded by his brother, and still be free. He may be shackled by strangers, beaten and imprisoned, and still be free. “Freedom lieth not in a man’s estate, but in the man himself. “This is the seventh lesson.” VIII _April 8th._ “This is the eighth lesson. “Many men try to perceive the purpose of God in truth and beauty and justice, and fail to recognize that the Eternal Purpose is unlimited by the detached conceptions of men. Truth is one of the fundamental purposes. Beauty is a subdivision of Building. Justice is fundamental. All are part of the Eternal Purpose. But the Great Purpose is unity. “The fundamental purposes are common to all men, of whatever race, color, belief, or prejudice. They are the foundation from which the forces of Eternal Purpose start, and by their divisions only are men ultimately grouped. As a commander divides his army into infantry, artillery, cavalry, air forces, quartermaster, engineer, and medical corps, so are the eternal forces divided into the seven purposes for the eternal conflict. “The purposes of disintegration are more than seven. They divide into myriad motives as they fight the aspirations of immortal man. Free men choose freely how they will array themselves, but slaves are driven by their masters, visible or invisible, to fight for purposes not their own. Only when they have learned to discipline and develop their minds, as they now discipline and develop their bodies, may they choose freely the force with which they will be arrayed. “Rich man against poor man. Capital against labor. State against offender. Poor man against wealth. Labor against development. Criminal against law. All are false distinctions. “Seek ye the man of your own purpose, and cleave to him. If ye would build, seek a builder. If ye would heal, seek a healer. If justice absorb ye, seek a man furthering justice. But be not misled by the slave-driver, without or within. Beware of the bell-wether, and of personal or material motives. Govern yourselves first, and then choose ye whether to fight for progress or for disintegration, for unity or for destruction. Then choose ye the purpose ye will serve forcefully through eternity. “This is the eighth lesson.” IX _April 8th._ “This is the ninth lesson.