HAVE YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR POWER

                                                  THE SOURCE OF POWER

                    OUR BRAIN, BODY, MIND, FACULTIES, AND TALENTS ARE THE MERE INSTRUMENTS WE USE IN DEMONSTRATING GREATNESS. IN THEMSELVES THEY DO NOT MAKE US GREAT. WE MAY HAVE A LARGE BRAIN AND A GOOD MIND, STRONG FACULTIES, AND BRILLIANT TALENTS, AND YET MAY NOT BE A GREAT PERSON UNLESS WE USE ALL THESE IN A GREAT WAY. THAT QUALITY WHICH ENABLES US TO USE ALL THESE IN A GREAT WAY. THAT QUALITY WHICH ENABLES US TO USE OUR ABILITIES IN A GREAT WAY MAKE US GREAT, AND TO THAT QUALITY WE GIVE THE NAME OF WISDOM. WISDOM IS THE ESSENTIALBASIS OF GREATNESS.

                  WISDOM IS THE POWER TO PERCEIVE THE BEST ENDS TO AIM AT AND THE BEST MEANS FOR REACHING THOSE ENDS. IT IS THE POWER TO PERCIEVE THE RIGHT THING TO DO. THE PERSON WHO IS WISE ENOUGH TO KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO, WHO IS GOOD ENOUGH TO WISH TO DO ONLY THE RIGHT THING AND WHO IS ABLE AND STRONG ENOUGH TO DO THE RIGHT THING IS A TRULY GREAT PERSON, WHO WILL INSTANTLY BECOME MARKED AS A PERSONALITY OF POWER IN ANY COMMUNITY AND WOLL RESPECTED AND HONORED BY ALL.

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               WISDOM IS DEPENDENT UPON KNOWLEDGE. WHERE THERE IS COMPLETE OGNORANCE THERE CAN BE NO WISDOM, NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE RIGHT THING TO DO. OUR KNOWLEDGE IS COMPARATIVELY LIMITED AND SO OUR WISDOM MUST BE SMALL, UNLESS WE CAN CONNECT OUR MIND WITH KNOWLEDGE MUST BE SMALL, UNLESSWE CAN CONNECT OUR MIND WITH KNOWLEDGE MUST BE SMALL, UNLESS WE CAN CONNECT OUR MIND WITH KNOWLEDGE GREATER THAN OUR OWN DRAW FROM IT BY INSPIRATION, THE WISDOM THAT OUR LIMITATIONS DENY US. OUR KNOWLEDGE IS LIMITED AND UNCERTAIN, THEREFORE, WE CANNOT HAVE WISDOM IN OURSELVES ALONE.

               ONLY GOD KNOWS ALL TRUTH, THEREFORE, ONLY GOD CAN HAVE REAL WISDOM OR KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO AT ALL TIMES. HOWEVER, WE CAN RECEIVE WISDOM FROM GOD. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE, ABRAHIM LINCOLN HAD LIMITED EDUCATION, BUT HE HAD THE POWER TO PERCEIVE TRUTH. IN LINCOLN WE SEE PREEMINENTLY APPARENT THE FACT THAT REAL WISDOM CONSISTS IN KNOWING THE RIGHT THING  TO DO AT ALL TIMES UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, IN HAVING THE WILL TO DO THE RIGHT THING, AND IN HAVING TALENT AND ABILITY ENOUGH TO BE COMPETENT AND ABLE TO DO THE RIGHT THING. BACK IN THE DAYS OF THE ABOLITION AGITATION, AND DURING THE COMPROMISE PERIOD, WHEN MOST PEOPLE WERE MORE OR LESS CONFUSED AS TO WHAT WAS RIGHT OR AS TO WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE, LINCOLN WAS NEVER UNCERTAIN. HE SAW THROUGH THE SUPERFICIAL ARGUMENTS OF THE PRO-SLAVERY ADHERENTS AND HE ALSO SAW THE IMPRACTICABILITY AND FANATICISM OF THE ABOLITIONISTS. HE SAW THE RIGHT ENDS TO AIM AT AND HE SAW THE BEST MEANS TO ATTAIN THOSE ENDS. IT WAS BECAUSE THE CITIZENS RECOGNIZED THAT HE PERCEIVED TRUTH AND KNEW THE RIGHT THING TO DO THAT THEY MADE HIM PRESIDENT.

                     PEOPLE WHO DEVELOP THE POWER TO PERCEIVE THE TRUTH, AND WHO CAN SHOW THAT THEY ALWAYS KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND THAT THEY CAN BE TRUSTED TO DO THE RIGHT THING, WILL BE HONORED AND ADVANCED, THE WHOLE WORLD IS LOOKING EAGERLY FOR SUCH LEADERS. WHEN LINCOLN BECAMEPRESIDENT, HE WAS SURROUNDED BY A MULTITUDE OF SO-CALLED ABLE ADVISERS, HARDLY ANY TWO OF WHOM WERE AGREED. AT TIMES THEY WERE ALL OPPOSED TO HIS POLICIES. AT TIMES, ALMOST THE WHOLE NORTH WAS OPPOSED TO WHAT HE PROPOSED TO DO. BUT HE SAW THE TRUTH WHEN OTHERS WERE MISLED BY APPEARANCES, HIS JUDGEMENT WAS SELDOM OR NEVER WRONG. HE WAS AT ONCE THE ABLEST STATESMAN AND THE BEST SOLDIER OF THE PERIOD. WHERE DID HE, A COMPARATIVELY UNLEARNED MAN, GET THIS WISDOM? WHERE DID HE, A COMPARATIVELY UNLEANED MAN, GET THIS WISDOM? IT WAS NOT DUT TO SOME FITNESS OF TEXTURE OF HIS BRAIN. IT WAS NOT DUE TO SOME PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC. 

IT WAS NOT EVEN A QUALITY OF MIND DUT TO SUPERIOR REASONING POWER. KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH IS NOT OFTEN REACHED BY THE PROCESSESS OF REASON. IT WAS DUT TO A SPIRITUAL INSIGHT.  HE PERCEIVED TRUTH, BUT WHERE DID HE PERCEIVE IT AND WHENCE DID THE PERCEPTION COME?

WE SEE SOMETHING SIMILAR IN GEORGE WASHIGTON, WHOSE FAITH AND COURAGE, DUT TO HIS PERCEPTION OF TRUTH, HELD THE COLONIES TOGETHER DURING THE LONG AND OFTEN APPARENTLY HOPELESS STRUGGLE OF THE REVOLUTION. WE SEE THE SAME THING IN ALL GREAT MEN AND WOMEN. THEY PERCEIVE TRUTH, BUT TRUTH CANNOT BE PERCEIVED UNTIL IT EXISTS, AND THERE CAN BE NO TRUTH UNTIL THERE IS A MIND TO PERCEIVE IT. TRUTH DOES NOT, EXIST APART FROM MIND. WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN WERE IN TOUCH AND COMMUNICATION WITH A MIND THAT KNEW ALL KNOWLEDGE AND CONTAINED ALL TRUTH - SO HAVE ALL WHO MANIFEST WISDOM. WISDOM IS OBTAINED BY READING THE MIND OF GOD.

HE LIVED ALMOST UNIVERSALLY ADMIRED AND DIED ALMOST UNIVERSALLY LAMENTED. IF HE ENJOYED LIFE MORE THAN ANY OTHER PERSON AT HIS TIME, IT CAN BE SAID WITH TRUTH THAT HE CONTRIBUTED AS MUCH AS ANY PERSON OF HIS TIME TO THE ENJOYMENT OF OTHERS.

HE WAS TOLERANT OF EVERYTHING BUT INTOLERANCE, AND MADE SOME CHARITABLE ALLOWANCE EVEN FOR THAT. WE SEE HIM AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF HIS LIFE ASSOCIATING ON FRIENDLY TERMS WITH QUAKERS, MORAVIANS, METHODISTS, PREBYTERIANS, CATHOLICS, DEISTS, JEWS AND ATHEISTS MEETING THEM ON THE COMMON GROUND OF HUMAN FELLOWSHIP, MAKING LIGHT OF THEIR THEORETICAL OPINIONS, VALUING THEM ONLY FOR THEIR HUMAN WORTH. 

THIS WAS BECAUSE HE DID NOT OVERESTIMATE HUMAN INTELLECT NOR UNDERVALUE THE HUMAN HEART. HE WAS ALSO AWARE THAT THE STRONGHOLDS OF SUPERSTITION ARE NEVER TO BE CARRIED BY DIRECT ASSAULT BUT GRADUALLY UNDERMINED BY THE RISING TIDE OF KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD FEELING. HIS WHOLE LIFE WAS A CALM, GOOD-NATURED PROTEST AGAINST NARROWNESS, INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY. HE LIVED BY THE PREMISE THAT THE ACCEPTABLE WAY OF SERVING GOD IS DO GOOD TO HIS OTHER CREATURES.

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