The Secret Door to Success, by Florence Scoville Shin. Read by Sarah Partridge, originally published in 1940. Chapter 1. The Secret Door to Success. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets, and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Joshua, Chapter 6, Verse 20. A successful man is always asked, What is the secret of your success? People never ask a man who is a failure, What is the secret of your failure? It is quite easy to see that they are not interested. People all want to know how to open the secret door to success. For each man, there is success, but it seems to be behind a

door or wall. In the Bible reading, we 
have heard the wonderful story of the falling of the walls of Jericho. 
Of course, all biblical stories have a metaphysical interpretation. We will talk 
now about your wall of Jericho, the wall separating you from success. Nearly everyone 
has built a wall around his own Jericho. 
This city you are not able to enter contains 
great treasures, your divinely designed success, your heart's desire. What kind of 
wall have you built around your Jericho? Often, it is a wall of resentment. 
Resenting someone or resenting a situation shuts off your good. If you are a failure and resent 
the success of someone else, you are keeping away your own success. I have given the following 
statement to neutralize envy and resentment. 
What God has done for others, He now does for 
me and more. was filled with envy because a

friend had received a gift. She made this statement and an exact duplicate of the gift was given her, plus another present. It was when the children of Israel shouted that the walls of Jericho fell down. When you make an affirmation of truth, your wall of Jericho totters. I gave the following statement to a woman, the walls of lack and delay now crumble away and I enter my promise land under grace. She had a vivid picture of stepping over a fallen wall and received the demonstration of her good almost immediately. It is the word of realization which brings about a change in your affairs, for words and thoughts are a form of radioactivity. Taking an interest in your work, enjoying what you are doing, opens the secret door to success. A number of years ago, I went to California to speak at the different centers by way of the Panama Canal. and on the boat, I met a man named Jim

Tully. For years, he had been a tramp. He 
called himself the King of the Hobos. He was ambitious and picked up an education. 
He had a vivid imagination and commenced writing stories about his experiences. 
He dramatized tramp life. He enjoyed what he was doing and became a very successful author. I 
remember one book called Outside Looking In. It was made into a motion picture. He is now famous 
and prosperous and lives in Hollywood. 
What opened the secret door to success for Jim 
Tully? Dramatizing his life, being interested in what he was doing, he made the most of being 
a tramp. On the boat, we all sat at the captain's table, which gave us a chance to talk. 
Mrs. Greystone was also a passenger on the boat. She had written the Bitter Tea of General 
Yen and was going to Hollywood to have it made.

into a moving picture. She had lived in China, 
and was inspired to write the book. 
  That is the secret of success, to make what 
you are doing interesting to other people. Be interested in yourself, and others will 
find you interesting. A good disposition, a smile, often opens the secret door. 
The Chinese say a man without a smiling face must not open a shop. The success of 
a smile was brought out in a French moving picture in which Chevalier took the lead. 
The picture was called With a Smile. 
  One of the characters had become poor, dreary, 
and almost a derelict. He said to Chevalier, what good has my honesty done me? Chevalier 
replied, even honesty won't help you without a smile. So the man changes on the spot, 
cheers up, and becomes very successful. 
  Living in the past, complaining of your misfortunes, builds a thick wall around your

Jericho. Talking too much about your affairs, 
scattering your forces brings you away. Up   against a high wall. I knew a man of brains 
and ability who was a complete failure. 
  He lived with his mother and aunt, and I found 
that every night when he went home to dinner,   he told them all that had taken place during 
the day at the office. He discussed his hopes,   his fears, and his failures. 
I said to him, you scatter your forces by   talking about your affairs. Don't discuss your 
business with your family. Silence is golden.   He took my lead. During dinner, he 
refused to talk about business. 
  His mother and aunt were in despair. 
They loved to hear all about everything,   but his silence proved golden. Not long after, he 
was given a position at $100 a week, and in a few   years, he had a salary of $300 a week. 
Success is not a secret. It is a system. Many

people are up against the wall of discouragement. 
Courage and endurance are part of the system. We read this in lives of all successful men 
and women. I had an amusing experience, which brought this to my notice. 
I went to a moving picture theater to meet a friend. While waiting, I stood near 
a young boy selling programs. He called to people passing, buy a complete program of 
the picture containing photographs of the actors and a sketch of their lives. 
Most people pass by without buying. To my great surprise, he suddenly turned to me 
and said, say, this ain't no racket for a guy with ambition. Then he gave a discourse 
on success. He said, most people give up just before something big is coming to them. 
A successful man never gives up. Of course, I was interested and said, I'll bring you 
a book the next time I come. It is called

The Game of Life and How to Play It. You will agree with a lot of the ideas. A week or two later, I went back with the book. The girl at the ticket office said to him, Let me read it, Eddie, while you were selling programs. The man who took tickets leaned over to see what it was about. The game of life always gets people's interest. I returned to the theater in about three weeks. Eddie had gone. He had expanded into a new job that he liked. His wall of Jericho had crumbled. He had refused to be discouraged. Only twice is the word success mentioned in the Bible, both times in the book of Joshua. Only be strong and very courageous to observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right nor to the left, that thou mayest have good success with or so ever thou goest. This book of the

law shall not depart from my mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein, for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success. Turn not to the right nor to the left. The road to success is a straight and narrow path. It is a road of loving absorption, of undivided attention. You attract the things you give a great deal of thought to. So if you give a great deal of thought to lack, you attract to lack. If you give a great deal of thought to injustice, you attract more injustice. Joshua said, and it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat.

and the people shall ascend up, 
every man straight before him. The inner meaning of this story is the power of the 
word, your word which dissolves obstacles and removes barriers. When the people 
shouted, the walls fell down. We find in folklore and fairy stories, which come down from 
legends founded on truth, the same idea. A word opens a door or cleaves a rock. We have 
it again in the Arabian Nights story, Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. I saw it made into a moving 
picture. Alibaba has a secret hiding place hidden somewhere behind rocks and mountains. 
The entrance may only be gained by speaking a secret word. It is open sesame. Alibaba faces 
the mountain and cries, open sesame, and the rocks slide apart. It is very inspiring, for it 
gives you the realization of how your own rocks and barriers will part at the right word. 
So let us now take the statement, the walls of

lack and delay now crumble away, and I enter my promised land under grace. Chapter 2, Bricks Without Straw. There shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall make bricks without straw. Exodus chapter 5 verse 18. In the fifth chapter of Exodus, we have a picture of everyday life when giving a metaphysical interpretation. The children of Israel were in bondage to Pharaoh, the cruel taskmaster, ruler of Egypt. They were kept in slavery making bricks and were hated and despised. Moses had orders from the Lord to deliver his people from bondage. Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. He not only refused to let them go, but told them he would make their tasks even more difficult. They must make bricks without straw being

provided for them. And the taskmasters of the 
people went out and their officers, and they   spake to the people saying, Thus saith the Lord 
God of Israel, I will not give you straw. 
  Go ye, get you straw where ye can find 
it, yet not ought of your work shall be   diminished. It was impossible to make 
bricks without straw. The children of   Israel were completely crushed by Pharaoh. They 
were beaten for not producing the bricks. 
  Then came the message from Jehovah. Go therefore 
now and work, for there shall no straw be given   you, yet shall ye deliver the tale, number, 
of bricks. Working with spiritual law,   they could make bricks without straw, which means 
to accomplish the seemingly impossible. 
  How often in life people are confronted with 
this situation? Agnes M. Lawson, in her hints   to Bible students, says, The life in Egypt under 
foreign oppression is the symbol of man under

the hard taskmasters of destructive thinking, 
pride, fear, resentment, ill-will, etc. 
The deliverance under Moses is the freedom man 
gains from the taskmasters as he learns the law of life. For we can never come under grace, 
except we first know the law. The law must be made known in order to be fulfilled. 
In the 111th Psalm, we read in the final verse, The fear of the Lord, law, is the beginning 
of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. His praise endureth 
forever. Now, if we read the word, Lord, law, it will give us the key to the statement. 
The fear of the law, karmic law, is the beginning 
of wisdom, not the fear of the Lord. When we know 
that whatever we send out comes back, we begin to be afraid of our own boomerangs. I read in a 
medical journal the following facts telling of

the boomerang this great pharaoh received. 
It would appear that flesh is indeed heir to a long and ancient line of ills, when, as was revealed by Lord Monahan at a lecture at Leeds, that the pharaoh of the oppression suffered from hardening of the heart in a literal sense. 
Lord Monahan showed some remarkable photographic slides of results of surgical operations a thousand years before Christ, and among these was a slide of the actual anatomical remains of the pharaoh of the oppression. 
The large vessel springing from the heart was in such a well-preserved state as to enable sections of it to be made and compared with those made recently from the lantern slide. It was impossible to distinguish between the ancient and modern vessel. 
Both hearts had been attacked by a throma, a condition in which calcium salts are deposited in the walls of the vessel, making it rigid and inelastic.

Inadequate expanse to the stream of blood from 
the heart caused the vessel to give way. 
With this condition went the mental changes that 
occur with a rigid arterial system, a narrowness of outlook, restriction and dread of enterprise, 
a literal hardening of the heart. So Pharaoh's hardness of heart hardened his own heart. 
This is as true today as it was several thousand years ago. We are all coming out of the land of 
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Your doubts and fears keep you in slavery. You face 
a situation which seems hopeless. 
What can you do? It is a case of making bricks 
without straw. But remember the words of Jehovah, go therefore now and work, for there 
shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale, number, of bricks. 
You shall make bricks without straw. God makes 
a way where there is no way. I was told the story 
of a woman who needed money for her rent. It was

necessary to have it at once. She knew of no 
channel; she had exhausted every avenue. 
  However, she was a truth student and kept making 
her affirmations. Her dog whined and wanted to go out. She put on his leash and walked down the 
street in the accustomed direction. However, the dog pulled at his leash and wanted 
to go in another direction. 
  She followed and in the middle of 
the block opposite an open park, she looked down and picked up a roll of bills, 
which exactly covered her rent. She looked for ads but never found the owner. There were 
no houses near where she found it. 
  The reasoning mind, the intellect, takes 
the throne of Pharaoh in your consciousness. It says continually, it can't be done. 
What's the use? We must drown out these dreary suggestions with a vital affirmation. 
For example, take this statement. The unexpected

happens. My seemingly impossible good now 
comes to pass. This stops all argument from the army of the aliens, the reasoning 
mind. The unexpected happens. That is an idea it cannot cope with. Thou hast 
made me wiser than mine enemies. Your enemy thoughts, your doubts, fears, and apprehensions. 
Think of the joy of really being free forever from the pharaoh of the oppression. 
To have the idea of security, health, happiness, and abundance established in the 
subconscious, it would mean a life free from all limitation. It would be the kingdom 
which Jesus Christ spoke of, where all things are automatically added unto us. 
I say automatically added unto us because all life is vibration, and when we vibrate 
to success, happiness, and abundance, the things which symbolize these states of 
consciousness will attach themselves to us. 
Feel rich and successful, and suddenly you receive a large check or abuse. I tell the

story showing the working of this law. I went to a party where people played games, and whoever won received a gift. The prize was a beautiful fan. Among those present was a very rich woman who had everything. Her name was Clara. The poorer and resentful ones got together and whispered, We hope Clara doesn't get the fan. Of course Clara won the fan. She was carefree and vibrating to abundance. Envy and resentment short circuit your good and keep away your fans. If you should happen to be resentful and envious, take the statement, What God has done for others, He now does for me and more. Then all the fans and things will come your way. No man gives to himself but himself, and no man takes away from himself but himself. The game of life is a game of solitaire. As you change, all conditions will change. Now to go back to Pharaoh, the oppressor.

no one loves an oppressor. I remember a friend I had many years ago, her name was Letty. Her father had plenty of money and supplied her mother and herself with food and clothes, but no luxuries. We went to art school together and all the students would buy reproductions of the winged victory, Whistler's mother, or something to bring art into their homes. My friend's father called all these things plunder. He would say, don't bring home any plunder. So she lived a colorless life without a winged victory on her bureau or Whistler's mother on the wall. He would say often to my friend and her mother, when I die, you'll both be well off. One day someone said to Letty, when are you going abroad? All art students went abroad. She replied cheerfully, not till Papa dies. So people always look forward to being free from lack and oppression.

Let us now free ourselves from the tyrants of negative thinking. We have been slaves to doubts, fears, and apprehension, and let us be delivered as Moses delivered the children of Israel and come out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Find the thought, which is your great oppressor. Find the kingpin. In the logging camps in the spring, the logs are sent down the rivers in great numbers. Sometimes the logs become crossed and cause a jam. The men look for the log causing the jam. They call it the kingpin. Straighten it and the logs rush down the river again. Maybe your kingpin is resentment. Resentment holds back your good. The more you resent, the more you will have to resent. You grow a resentment track in your brain and your expression will be one of habitual resentment. You will be avoided and miss the

golden opportunities which await you each day. I remember a few years ago, the streets were filled with men selling apples. They got up early to get the good corners. I passed one several times on Park Avenue. He had the most disagreeable expression I have ever seen. As people passed, he said, apples, apples, but no one stopped to buy. I invested in an apple and said, you'll never sell apples unless you change your expression. He replied, well, that guy over there took my corner. I said, never mind about the corner. You can sell apples right here if you look pleasant. He said, okay, lady. And I went on. The next day I saw him, his whole expression had changed. He was doing a big business selling apples with a smile. So find your kingpin. You may have more than one and your logs of success, happiness and

abundance will go rushing down your river. 
Go there for now and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall make bricks 
without straw. Chapter 3. And five of them were wise, and five of them were wise, and five 
were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. 
Matthew chapter 25 verses 2 and 3. My subject is the parable of the wise and the 
foolish virgins. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish 
took their lamps and took no oil with them. 
But the wise took oil in their vessels with 
their lamps. The parable teaches that true prayer means preparation. Jesus Christ said, And 
all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. 
Matthew chapter 21 verse 22. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them.

and ye shall have them. Mark chapter 11, verse 24. 
In this parable, he shows that only those who have prepared for their good, thereby showing an act of faith, will bring the manifestation to pass. 
We might paraphrase the scriptures and say, When ye pray, believe ye have it. When ye pray, act as if you have already received. Armchair faith or rocking chair faith will never move mountains. In the armchair, in the silence or meditation, you are filled with the wonder of this truth and feel that your faith will never waver. 
You know that the Lord is your shepherd; you shall never want. You feel that your God of plenty will wipe out all burdens of debt or limitations. Then you leave your armchair and step out into the arena of life. 
It is only what you do in the arena that counts. I will give you an illustration

showing how the law works, for faith without 
action is dead. A man, one of my students, had a great desire to go abroad. 
He took the statement, I give thanks for my divinely designed trip, divinely financed under 
grace, in a perfect way. He had very little money, but knowing the law of preparation, he bought 
a trunk. It was a very gay and happy trunk, with a big red band around its waist. 
Whenever he looked at it, it gave him a realization of a trip. One day, he seemed to feel 
his room moving. He felt the motion of a ship. He went to the window to breathe the fresh air, 
and it smelt like the aroma of the docks. 
With his inner ear, he heard the shriek of a seagull and the creaking of the gangplank. The trunk had commenced to work. It had put him 
in the vibration of his trip. Soon after that,

a large sum of money came to him, and he took the trip. He said afterwards that it was perfect in every detail. In the arena of life, we must keep ourselves tuned up to concert pitch. Are we acting from motives of fear or faith? Watch your motives with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life. If your problem is a financial one, and it usually is, you must know how to wind yourself up financially and keep wound up by always acting in your faith. The material attitude towards money is to trust in your salary, your income, and investments, which can shrink overnight. The spiritual attitude toward money is to trust in God for your supply. To keep your possessions, always realize that they are God in manifestation. What Allah has given cannot be diminished. Then if one door shuts, another door immediately opens. Never voice lack or limitation, for by your words you are condemned. You combine with

what you notice, and if you are always noticing failure and hard times, you will combine with failure and hard times. You must form the habit of living in the fourth dimension, the world of the wondrous. It is the world where you do not judge by appearances. You have trained your inner eye to see through failure into success, to see through sickness into health, to see through limitation into plenty. I will give you the land which your inner eye sees. I will give to you the land which thou seeth. The man who achieves success has the fixed idea of success. If it is founded on a rock of truth and rightness, it will stand. If not, it is built upon sand and washed into the sea, returning to its native nothingness. Only divine ideas can endure. Evil destroys its soul itself, for it is a crosscurrent against universal order, and the way of the transgressor is hard.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and 
took no oil with them, but the wise took oil   in their vessels with their lamps. The lamp 
symbolizes man's consciousness. The oil is   what brings light or understanding. 
While the bridegroom tarried, they all   slumbered and slept, and at midnight there 
was a cry made, behold the bridegroom cometh,   go ye out to meet him. Then all those 
virgins arose and trimmed their lamps,   and the foolish said unto the wise, give us 
your oil, for our lamps are gone out. 
  The foolish virgins were without 
wisdom or understanding, which is   oil for the consciousness, and when they 
were confronted with a serious situation,   they had no way of handling it. And when they 
said to the wise, give us your oil. 
  the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there 
be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather

to them that sell and buy for yourselves. That 
means that the foolish virgins could not receive more than was in their consciousness 
or what they were vibrating to. 
The man received the trip because it was in his 
consciousness as a reality. He believed that he had already received. As he prepared for the 
trip, he was taking oil from his lamps. With realization comes manifestation. 
The law of preparation works both ways. If you prepare for what you fear or don't want, 
you begin to attract it. David said, The thing I feared has come upon me. We hear people say, I 
must put away money in case of illness. 
They are deliberately preparing to be ill, 
or I'm saving for a rainy day. The rainy day is sure to come at a most inconvenient time. 
The divine idea for every man is plenty. Your barns should be full and your cup should flow 
over, but we must learn to ask a right.

For example, take this statement: I call on the law of accumulation. My supply comes from God, and now pours in and piles up under grace. This statement does not give any picture of stint or saving or sickness. It gives a fourth-dimensional feeling of abundance, leaving the channels to infinite intelligence. Every day you must make a choice. Will you be wise or foolish? Will you prepare for your good? Will you take the giant swing into faith or serve doubt and fear and bring no oil for your lamps?

The Secret Door To Success (1940) by Florence Scovel Shinn

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