The Project Gutenberg eBook, Levels of Living, by Henry Frederick Cope

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Title: Levels of Living Essays on Everyday Ideals

Author: Henry Frederick Cope

Release Date: June 29, 2006 [eBook #18712]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEVELS OF LIVING***

E-text prepared by Al Haines

LEVELS OF LIVING

Essays on Everyday Ideals

by

HENRY FREDERICK COPE

Author of "The Modern Sunday-School in Principle and Practice"

New York —— Chicago —— Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London And Edinburgh
Copyright, 1908, by
Fleming H. Revell Company
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

To My Wife

Not in the sentiment of dedication alone, offering to you what I may have done, but in simple acknowledgment of obligation to you

Elizabeth

best gift of God and inspiration of man

Under the title of "A Sermon For To-day" these short essays, on the art of every-day living in the light of eternal life, were published by The Chicago Sunday Tribune, through a series of years, and were regularly printed in the Sunday editions of a group of the great dailies. The short sentences were also published with the Sermons under the head of "Sentence Sermons." The courtesy of The Chicago Daily Tribune in permitting the publication of these "sermons," with such changes as have seemed best, is gratefully acknowledged.

CONTENTS

     I. THE HIGHER LEVELS
         The Real and the Ideal—The Bread of Life—Life's
         Unvarying Values.

    II. INVISIBLE ALLIES
         More than a Fighting Chance—The Unseen
         Hand—The One in the Midst.

   III. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SERVICE
         Self and Service—My Soul or My Service?—The
         Satisfaction of Service.

    IV. THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS
         The Power of Happiness—The Secret of
         Happiness—The Folly of Anxiety.

     V. THE CURRICULUM OF CHARACTER
         The Great School—The Purpose of the
         Course—The Price of Perfection.

    VI. THE AGE-LONG MIRACLE
         The Sufficient Sign—Behold the Man—The
         Life that Lifts.

   VII. SEEING THE UNSEEN
         The Sense of the Unseen—The Brook in the
         Way—That Which Is High.

  VIII. SOURCES OF STRENGTH AND INSPIRATION
         Strength for the Daily Task—The Sense of
         the Infinite—The Great Inspiration.

    IX. FINDING FOUNDATIONS
         The Passing and Permanent—Facing the
         Facts—The Real Foundation.

     X. THE PASSION FOR PERFECTION
         The Great Search—The Hunger of the Ages—The
         Sole Satisfaction.

    XI. THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
         The Law of Selection—The Fallacy of
         Negation—The Secret of All.

   XII. DIVINE SERVICE
         The Ideal Service—The Orthodox Service—The
         Heavenly Service.

  XIII. OUR FATHER AND OUR FELLOWS
         The Primary Reconciliation—Faith in Our
         Fellows—The Law of Forgiveness.

   XIV. MEN AND MAMMON
         Riches and Righteousness—Religion and
         Business—The Moral End of Money-Making.

    XV. THE EVERY-DAY HEAVEN
         The Beauty of Holiness—The Gladness of
         Goodness—The True Paradise

   XVI. TRUTH AND LIFE
         Religion of a Practical Mind—The Head
         and the Heart—New Truths for New Days.

  XVII. THE FRUITS OF FAITH
         Root and Fruit—The Orthodox Accent—The
         Business of Religion.

 XVIII. THE FORCE OF FAITH
         "The Victory that Overcometh"—Fear
         and Faith—Faith for the Future.

   XIX. HINDRANCES AND HELPS FROM WITHIN
         Worry—A Cure for the Blues—The Gospel of Song.

    XX. DOES HE CARE?
         The One at the Helm—The Shepherd and
         the Sheep—The Father's Care.

I

The Higher Levels

The Real and the Ideal The Bread of Life Life's Unvarying Values

The ideal is the mold in which the real is cast.

Half of success is in seeing the significance of little things.

He finds no weal who flees all woe.

You do not make life sacred by looking sad.

Sympathy is a key that fits the lock of any heart.

Soul health will not come by taking religion as a dose.

Many a cloud that we call sorrow is but the shadow of our own selfishness.

To live wholly for possessions is to paralyze the life to the possibility of permanently possessing anything.

It takes more than willingness to be nothing to make you amount to something.

This is never a wrong world to him who is right with its heart.

THE REAL AND THE IDEAL

It is probable that from the age of sixteen up to thirty Jesus of Nazareth spent His life in mechanical toil; He made wooden plows, ax handles, and yokes; He served as a carpenter. Then for three years He gave Himself to the ministry of ideal things, exclusively to the service of the spirit.

There is a wonderful satisfaction in making things, in looking over some concrete piece of work accomplished when the day ends. It is a satisfaction that belongs to the artisan. Is it not probable that many said that it was a great pity when Jesus gave up so useful a trade as His? To them He seemed to be but chasing the rainbow.

But to-day who possesses a single one of the things that young carpenter made? And did we possess them all what better off would the world be? Yet,