THE LAUGHTER OF GOD
REJOICE, YOU BARREN ONE
SOUND OF ABUNDANT RAIN
SILVER AND GOLD
NO ENCHANTMENT
THEN WENT HE IN AND SHUT THE DOOR
BREAKING THE BREAD
POWER
CHRISTMAS
THE LORD SAID UNTO MY LORD
LIVING WATERS
THE NEW DAY
THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT
ABUNDANCE
THE OTHER DISCIPLE
THE MIGHTY ATOM
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
YOU ARE THE BRIGHT MESSENGER
TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY
COURAGE
O COLORFUL ONE
PROSPERITY

 

Deep in my soul I heard the laughter of God ringing in silvery cadences through the timbers of my being, breaking the human bonds and limitation as a strong yet gentle wind in the forest sweeping aside the strands of cobweb. The hard, fast knots that I had tried, slipped loose, and the snarls of beliefs broke free. The river of my human life, frozen by a thousand and one false ideas and teachings, broke joyously into expression and went bounding to the infinite sea of Life, to be lost and found at the same time. One dark cave of fear after another was illuminated by the light of this laughter and swampy areas of sick thoughts were dried up instantly. Parched sands of hopelessness and futile efforts were drenched by the living waters sucked in—absorbed instantly like a wave breaking on the sands. God laughing at me and my puny efforts to make things happen; to make heaven appear; to attain the son-ship. Not the laugh of derision, but of infinite compassion—a laughter so deep and sweet, so pure and glorious that every thing in the nature of struggle gave way before it.

The breath of that glorious laughter blew all the dirty rags of personal teaching and self–aggrandizement away from me, and at first the fierce joy that proceeded from the unheard, heard peals of laughter and made me afraid. Afraid that everything worth while was being taken from me, and that I should be naked; but no sooner had the filthy rags of personality blown free, than I was clothed in a panoply of light, and in this glorious raiment of light I saw for the first time the glory of the Spirit made flesh.

I stood before the infinite peals of laughter, which flowed threw all creation like floods of golden mist, filled with speechless wonder at the beauty of the world I lived in which had been invisible because of my separation, because of my personal ideas about attainment. I was as a child with a small measure at the seaside, trying to carry off a little water when the whole sea was at my disposal, and I understood for the first time the exhaustless sea of substance about me , and that the idea of hoarding was but a childish fear grown into a goliath by false teaching and beliefs. I suddenly became aware that the substance was everywhere, in everything, out of everything, and the only place of lack was in the hypnotic state of belief and I alone created and moved in this vacuum.

The glorious laughter rolled on , searching the very joints and marrow of me—dislodging every belief in fear, sickness, or age. As it swept over me and through me and round about me, I was amazed at the wonder of it-the fierce, terrible thing which was at the same time so beautiful and free. The wonder of it kept singing through my soul as veil after veil of belief was rent asunder and new kingdoms stood revealed. The whole thing was as if one just saw a little deeper, as one looks through the surface reflection on a river and sees the pebbles and shells below, that was all; only the Laughter made this possible, for it cleared away all the effort and straining which in it’s attempt to see God had been halted at the reflection on the surface, instead of gazing into the limpid, glorious depth of Infinity.

The voice, as it’s honeyed tones flowed out like a burst of sunshine through storm-clouds, was so unlabored, so untrammeled, and so Divinely indifferent, it seemed to envelop me with an instant realization that all was well. No matter how many struggles had been made, no matter how many mistakes, how many shortcomings, how many failures, how long the belief, or how short the hate, it was all swept aside as nothing. The glorious Divine ease with which it was expressed made dis-ease impossible. It was the overturning and overturning that had to take place before He, the Laughing one, could come into expression. The people of God are a people of joy, and it is not until they hear this God Laughter in their souls that they have attained to their heritage.

What of this race that speaks of the Kingdom and doing the Fathers work, and uses all the language of the Truth, and at the same time sows seeds of fear and hellish inventions? What is this race that is always seeking evil to destroy, like a weasel seeks out a rat? What is the hopelessness they preach that on one hand, you are the sons of God, and on the other, that you must fight against evil of every sort and nature? Ah, yes, but, if, and maybe they roll these stumbling-blocks under their tongues with a wise twinkle in their eyes, as much as to say, "Yes it is all true, but it comes only with hard labor and long study, and it is not for such as you, sinner and worm of the dust that you are, until you have purified yourself in the fount of my wisdom and paid me personal homage."

It is then that the Magdalene hears the Laughter of God and is clean and free; and in an instant too; and it is when the cripple hears the Laughter of God that he leaps to his feet and runs away praising the living God. It is when you, no matter where you are or what you are, no matter what you have done or left undone, hear the Laughter of the God within and the God without, that you will crash through the gates of hell and find heaven, no matter what these gates may be—person, place, or thing.

One moments recognition that you are the son of the Living God, and you have attuned your ear for the Laughter of God which will put to flight all the stupid ideas, of my and yours, free you into an expression that you have not dreamed of. How can you restrain the joy that fills you when you hear this laughter which, when it is heard, causes the winter of your discontent to break into full fruition, which causes you to see literally see that " before they call, I will answer," is not a bit of euphonious language, but a positive living, glowing fact.

"I was afraid," and therefore you were driven out of the Garden of Life. You have been afraid that God will punish you, that it is too good to be true, that you are not ready, that it comes by great learning; and so you are still without the portals of your own kingdom, trying every way but the only way to re-enter. Many there be who try the way of violence, and many who expect to ride in on the skirts of another. There are some so foolish as to invite this.

Why do you not stop trying to get things, trying to learn how to get power place? Why do you not come away from the man whose breath is in his nostrils? You who read this page, and go within and hear the Laughter of God, and know that " it does not matter"- that the things which gave you great concern are all swept away into the dump heap? The sooner you learn this the sooner you will see they have no value. Finally, one time, when you take away their value, they are possible of attainment to you. You profess to be a follower of the Master. If you in any way believe this, you will begin to listen for the Laughter of God through your whole being, and you will know that the Laughter of God sets you free from the snarling discontent of the tower of Babel in which you have been living.

Presently, as you listen for this Laughter, you will hear it, and gradually you will begin laughing—billows of laughter, silently-audible laughter that will shatter one limitation after another; laughter filled with the divine indifference which knows that the Universe is filled with God and only God, and to recognize this will cause this laughter to flow into expression and shatter the belief in sin, sickness, and death. When this belief is shattered in you, the pictures of this on your universe are dissipated and are no more, and even the place thereof is no more. You will know how there can be naught but laughter in the Kingdom of Heaven. What good of words or arguments? What in humans’ sense is a lecture worth on the subject of Laughter, as compared to one glorious sudden peal of joy released by a God soul and picked up be all those in hearing distance?

Gradually, as you learn the Laughter of God and join in with the glory of the Sons of the Living God, then you will laugh at yourself. You will perhaps go back and laugh all the mistakes and faults and limitations out of existence You will stand with your glorious feet on the mountain-tops of Self-Revelation, laughing at your universe and with your universe, and laughing in words: "It is wonderful, it is wonderful, it is wonderful."

"Let the filthy be filthy still." Some may read into the Laughter of God a belief in carelessness and indifference, and some consecrated souls may rail and tear their hair and say that it is encouraging license and making nothing of sin, in order that one may indulge in sin, and so on; and for them this message is not.

He that has ears shall hear what the Scripture says unto the Churches, and only he that has a single eye is through with trying to twist meanings to suit personal ends. But he that has the consciousness of the Son of the Living God shall not find it strange that "he that is of too pure eyes to behold iniquity" should laugh at the belief in it that has bound men for so long; and this Divine disregard does not in any way encourage license, but gives liberty to the Sons of God. It breaks up the dank morasses of human belief and reveals itself as heaven, a state of consciousness, which finds not happiness at the disposal of sin, health at the disposal of sickness, and harmony at the disposal of in-harmony; but finds these pairs of opposites swept away. It finds man the individual Son of the Living God, experiencing power and wisdom such as could not be put in human language.

The impress of the Divine upon the human causes the human to express in what to the unenlightened thought may seem to be a supernatural way. The how and why and when are all bested in the limited human concept of life.

You who read this page, when are you going to start laughing the laughter of God? When are you going to join in the glorious chorus which is already encircling the globe, and which has for its password "It is wonderful"? You cannot stop this laughter once it is started; you will shatter the belief in disease in thousands as you go along your way—not by a poor, half-hearted way of beseeching God, but with the ringing Laughter of god in your Soul which knows no sickness, sin, or disease, and hence cannot look upon it. And in this very knowledge it will impress the consciousness with the Eternal well-being of the Son of the Living God. The man, if he hear the Laughter—that is, if he be willing to hear it, instead of accepting the pinched human concepts of his human reasonings—shall break the bounds of his limitations; crash through the gates of brass; shake off the shackles of beliefs; burst through the prison bars of his own making, and find himself free, free, free, and find his soul ringing with laughter and with the song, "It is wonderful."

Whoever you are who reads this page—you who sit in prison houses of disease, sin, and unhappiness—listen, listen, listen. I AM the door of attainment—I AM the door to this glorious Laughter of God—I AM the way to the eternal bliss and harmony of the sons of the Living God. No matter where this finds you; nothing is hopeless or helpless; this joyous Laughter of the recognition of God, her and know, of the Finished Kingdom—of the sudden discovery that Jesus was not a liar, but a truth-sayer, a concrete truth-sayer, when he said, :The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand—it is within you" —will cause this Kingdom to descent out of the clouds of your belief and be real.

How can you help laughing silently and audibly the Laughter of God, and see its ringing notes shatter the silly arguments about life? "The wisdom of man is foolish in the eyes of God." Why try to measure the inspiration of the Almighty against any man-made teaching! "I will make you fishers of men." I, the I AM, when once discovered will make the one who discovers it a Fisher of Men. Who can resist the Laughter of God—the fearless Laughter of God ringing through the universe, sweeping all the debris of human belief out of human belief out of the way? No matter if it be thousands of years old, and hoary with the respect of mankind. Not one stone shall remain in place. The very foundations of the human belief shall be shaken in order that the True Cornerstone, which has been rejected up to now, shall be laid. Yes, the Stone—the very Stone that the Master gave to us—the philosopher’s Stone if you will, which we have rejected, because to accept it would have been to have overthrown great temples of human reasoning—will finally be made the Head Stone of the Temple of Truth. You are the Temple of the Living God, and from out the inner recesses of your being proceeds the Laughter of God. "The Sons of God shout for joy." You will shout for joy, not because of victory over evil, but because you have at last realized that the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place of overcoming evil, but of revelation which is above the belief of a divided universe. Awake, you that sleeps, and Christ shall give thee Light.

And I heard the Laughter of God in the Soul of my very being—ringing in glorious cadence throughout my universe, causing me suddenly to burst into a glorious laughter which was full of praise, full of wonder—full of wonder and amazement at that which I had missed through looking through a glass darkly. "Arise, shine, for thy light has come", do you hear? "It is wonderful! It is wonderful! It is wonderful." Heaven and earth are full of Thee—sin, sickness, and death have vanished away. I hear the Laughter of God ringing in the deep recesses of your soul, you who read this page. I see the moving finger writing across all the worries and fears of a lifetime -_"It does not matter," and I see this laughter writing the things of beauty over the walls of your temple and casting a glorious glistening white robe—a seamless robe of attainment—over you. And at last I hear you laughing from the mountain peak as you go on your way, without thought of scrip or purse or robe or ring or upper chamber, and long before you have reached your destination, the Laughter of God in your soul has gone ahead and made ready the upper chamber, and the Host has come out to receive you. Do you hear? You who read this page? YOU?

"For it is written, Rejoice, you barren that bears not; break forth and cry, you that travail not; for the desolate has many more children than she which has a husband." Gal. 4:27

Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for the Lord Omnipotent reigns. When we begin to see that the great Universal God overshadowing the Universe causes it to bring forth in due season, we begin to understand why it is stated, as quoted above, that "the barren and desolate shall have many children." We begin to see that, when we contact the Father within, the old order of trying to make things appear from the outside is done away with. The old order passes away—"Behold, I make all things new, says the Lord of Hosts."

Thousands of people have tried in every way to bring forth the manifestation of Spirit; to make demonstrations; yea, even to help others in the name of the Lord; and have found themselves and their lives barren as the desert, while others about them seemed to bring forth many children; and they have wondered, and finally fallen under the belief that the manifestation of spirit was not for them, but only for a special few; or that they were not fit avenues, or not yet ready to express the Christ Truth—hence they bore no children.

But the old order changes. The light is breaking over the dense human consciousness. Man is awakening to know that contact with the Father within is the propagating influence which will bring forth many more children than "she that has a husband." He is beginning to understand that the creative force of the Universe is even at this instant at work within the secret place of his being, and that just as soon as he is ready to "let" (through the process of recognition), "the word will become flesh and dwell among them," and he shall say, "Let the child be born," and the barrenness of a thousand life-times in the flesh shall be swallowed up in the glorious expression of the flowering desert. "It shall blossom as a rose." The well-watered garden shall take the place of the barren waste.

Martha had many cares in preparing to receive the physical Jesus. Symbolically speaking, the most she got for her work was perhaps a "Thank You," while Mary feasted upon the hidden manna of Spirit. The human sense would like to condone poor, long-suffering Martha. A thousand reasons why she acted as she did are offered, but the rather uncompromising fact stands that she was rebuked, and that the blessing was given to Mary. All this symbolism does not mean that the Mary consciousness might not do just as much work with her hands as the Martha, but from a different standpoint.

When we are on the outside of being, trying to bring forth, we are finally rebuked for our barrenness, even though we have put into expression the best that seemed to being us. Likewise, the state that dreams of perfection and dwells in a mental state of rightness and perfection, is also rebuked for vain imaginings. The Word must become flesh. "In my flesh shall I see God." One extreme is as bad as another. The Word must become flesh, and the flesh must become spiritualized or resurrected, until the two become one. We then have Jesus the Christ—instead of Jesus the son of the carpenter and Christ the son of God dwelling in one body. The two become one, and the sayings of the Scriptures are made true. It is then that "death is swallowed up in victory," because death could only come to the one of a divided consciousness. What is told in secret shall be called from the housetop. Thus we see that the Christ of God decided to submit to what is known as the crucifixion in order that the world might see the transcending power of spirit over matter, and to know that the law, "I have power to pick it up and lay it down," was true and provable. To stay on the heights of this law was to escape the seemingly ugly reality. Do you imagine that the Christ who was able to open the eyes of the blind, restore lost substance to the body of Lazarus, and do a thousand other things directly in opposition to the best accepted laws of the physical world of that day and this could not have averted the Crucifixion? If so, then read Matt. 26:53.

Where is the Father, and how do we pray? You see, then, that the Christ decreed this to come to pass. When he descended to the human Jesus state of consciousness, then he asked that the "cup pass from me." We understand that what he had accepted or decreed in secret should come to pass. So is it true with you. You will begin to see that all the unborn children shall be released when the body and soul become one. To pray then will be to speak forth only that which is about to appear. Prayer will not be the old idea of wondering whether god wants to do a certain thing; it will be merely an exquisite feeling of gratitude, which says, "Thank you, Father," because it knows that the answer exists before the question. Do you begin to see why it is that the one who was barren of manifestation will suddenly become fruitful? The limiting laws of the human concept of creation shall be dropped off, and the recognition of the Father of all shall cause they barrenness to be a forgotten state. "The former things shall pass away—they shall not be remembered nor come into mind anymore." Thus the barrenness shall be swallowed up in the abundance!

From the human standpoint we even admit that we have teachers of Truth or music who cannot demonstrate for themselves but can give readily to others. From the Divine elevation this is an utter impossibility. This state of barrenness which brings forth no manifestation shall be fertilized with the over-shadowing influence of the Ever Presence, and what it has so long conceived on the invisible shall come into manifestation. No more shall the world be filled with barren ones who talk but who do not show forth the works, for they shall have united the body and soul and resurrected the risen Christ, which hath a body and which lives in the world, but is not of the world in so far as coming under the hateful laws of the human mind. Death is swallowed up in victory, and with it all the things that go to bring about or make death possible.

"Call no man your father," for "every man is a liar, and the father of it." We see what lies have been told about us in the name of family, nationality, etc. We are burdened with hateful lies of every sort, because we have recognized human parenthood. We have assigned to ourselves all the limitations of human-kind, and therefore we are full of troubles, and so are our days. "Awake, you that sleeps, and Christ shall give thee light."

Do you begin to see, O barren one, that your name shall be changed, and that you shall be as a land flowing with milk and honey? For the Spirit of the Infinite Spirit broods over all, and has broken the hateful bondage and set the prisoners free. Then is thy house gladsome with the laughter and joy of many children—your glorious ideas that have so long remained in the silence of your mind come forth with joy and thanksgiving.

"This is life eternal, to know ME." Where is this ME, and what will you do with this life eternal? Do you expect to carry on this limited personality for eternity? Do you expect ot be John smith for eternity? Only when Jesus the son of the carpenter became Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, did he ascend above the limiting influences of beliefs that belonged to his family, nationality, and time. When he became Jesus the Christ, and "the Word became flesh," he transcended not only nationality, but time and space, and was able to set aside any law of the belief world, just as the intense sunshine sets aside the dark shadows of night.

All disease and all barrenness out-pictured on your body and affairs are merely the shadows of beliefs cast upon the screen of your life. When the light has come, the shadows disappear. It is no good to throw a picture on a cinema screen if that screen is illuminated. So the shadows of the belief world, that have been formerly true to the human mind, fail absolutely to record when you have come to the place of letting "the light within so shine before men." We do not heal the Christ, nor yet prosper him, nor yet change him. We merely recognize him, and as we do so we bring out that which has been eternally. Thus healing is swallowed up in victory. Were anything real to be healed, it would be utterly impossible to accomplish it. The Christ of God needs no assistance, no help, no healing. But until the John Smith realizes this Christ within himself, and permits it to come into manifestation, he will merely be working on a plane of imagination. Nothing concrete nor definite can take place. So many of us have stood about and seen the demonstrations; yea, we have even partaken of the bread, the fish, and the wine; but we have forgotten to partake of the spirit, so when we had consumed the manifestation we rushed back for more and found ourselves far from the source of substance. So many people are so engrossed in listening to words that they only bask in the light of another’s understanding, and hence miss the glorious possibility of the command, "Go thou and do likewise." Many are asking for life free which is promised, while still holding a miser’s consciousness within themselves. Do you not know, until you can give yourself to the Universe it cannot five the ever-flowing substance to you, for the simple reason that there is no capacity to receive it? The mind which is still hoarding cannot have the infinity rivers of abundance poured into, else it would be destroyed; but the consciousness that has given itself to the Infinite is an open way through which the torrents and floods of substance can flow. It thereafter does not have to seek—it receives before it asks, for an infinite stream of substance is constantly pouring through into expression.

"It is written"—so full of meaning is this statement, nothing shall retract or rub out a single word until it be fulfilled. "Not one jot or tittle shall be removed until the law shall be fulfilled." It is written that "the barren shall be more fruitful than she that hath a husband." The law that is so full of promise, and so glorious to all those who have wondered and grieved and tried to bring forth the works of the Master. "Go thou and do likewise" is a pretty big command, but there it is. What are you going to do about it? Talk it over with some wise one who will go into gushing phrases and words, and whose barren life is filled with testimony of failure? Be still; be very still. Finally you will hear the command, "Go within and shut the door," and you will let the glorious revelation take place within your own consciousness. "Nothing shall by any means hurt you." Who are you, and what are you going to do about?

"And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts." Ye, the newborn, the resurrected one. In the silence, in the tomb, in the aloneness, shall ye know the things which ordinarily are not written nor spoken of—things which are neither seen nor heard by the noisy ones who are clamoring for place and power. "Behold, I make all things new." Do you see? You who red. "all nations shall call thee blessed," for they will recognize the Christ within you; the same glorious Christ that functioned in the man Jesus and enabled him to go against the laws of the human mind and set them aside as non-existent.

"None of them is lost but the son of perdition." The only thing that is lost is the memory f the human personality—the subconscious mind—the storehouse of all evil. The god that was. The god of the kingdom of WAS is lost, forgotten, wiped out, and the place thereof is no more. The Holy Presence of Christ in the eternal NOW is here. "Awake, you that sleeps, and Christ shall give you light." The desolate barren land shall blossom as a rose.

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou may be rich."

It seems a strange thing to say, Buy gold in order that you may be rich. It would seem that if you had money with which to buy gold you would already be rich. But the secret doctrine causes the light to break over this symbology and to reveal that the complete giving up of the symbol is the buying of the gold which will make you rich. "Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor" is merely another way of stating that man is to take his attention awake from the worship of symbols and place his allegiance on the Power. Awake, thou that sleeps.

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see." Rev 3:18.

Do you begin to see the treasures incorruptible that lie within the consciousness of Christ, awaiting the coming of the Master? Awaiting the coming of that one who will take his Divine Heritage and assume the proportions of the Son of the Living God. The barren one who will suddenly realize that the Father—Infinite Omnipotent—brooding over all ,has suddenly brought into manifestation the unborn children of desire. It is wonderful!

"Who is my father, mother, sister, or brother?" is the question you will answer with deep joy. Not to become a "holier than thou," but because you are ready to partake of the infinite nature of your Divine Fathership. The wonder of the invisible shall be made manifest to you. You shall begin to partake of the qualities of Spirit. As you have born the earthly image, so shall you bear the heavenly. Do you hear? :Yet in my flesh shall I see God." It is wonderful!

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches." When you hear what it is saying to you (for you are the Church of the Living God—the center from which pours this glorious white light of revelation), then you will fold your tent and steal silently away into the new place of expression. And this shall be a natural event, not some human concept of moving out of evil conditions, but showing forth of the God-power into expression. Do you see why "He that travels alone travels far?" and why the command, "salute no man as you pass along the highway," is not unfriendliness, but the essence of wisdom? :Behold I make all [not some] things new." Do you believe that? Where is the I? What about it—you who read these lines? Are you going to run to someone and ask them to explain this to you or are you going to be still and let me explain, and thereby turn your barrenness to fruitfulness and make you a gladsome land?

Just so soon as you begin to see the futility of opinions and beliefs regarding life and the Truth, just so soon will you go within and wah in the living waters, and partake of the hidden manna and "buy gold that has been tried by fire."

"The old order passes away" -the old order is the order of your human personality and its destiny; the old law of cause and effect, of karma –the endless karma that you have been making and passing through. The Spirit of Life has suddenly thrown you off the wheel, and you are freed into expression as the Son of the Living God Do you suppose that the Son of the Living God has anything to do with the son of the carpenter? He has only this much to do: to absorb the personal idea into the glorious impersonal nature of god, and thereby free him of the limitations and narrow confines, yea, the barrenness of the human concept of existence.

Hear ye, you who read this page: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God." do you hear? Do you see? When will you appropriate the gifts of the Spirit? Not until you can go within and shut the door, and listen not to the noisy man whose breath is in his nostrils.

"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." so the unborn ideas that you have been holding in your mind, and wishing for all these many years, suddenly come into expression, for the Christ and Jesus are one. "Whatsoever things you ask in my name, that give I unto thee." It is well.

"For it is written, rejoice, you barren that bear not; break forth and cry, thou that travail not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband."

Do you believe this? If so, you are at this very instant rejoicing. The rejoicing is a command and a statement of a fact at the same instant. You are automatically rejoicing because you have suddenly discovered that the barren years and efforts have been turned to good account, and the glorious ideas have all been freed into expression.

When you come to the place of belief you have come to the place of acceptance. You have come to the place where you have accepted the Reality of Being, and you are therefore not surprised nor are you dismayed at the appearance of the Power of Spirit which instantly neutralizes the beliefs of the flesh. "Let the dead bury the dead" -so the old conditions and beliefs and acts all fall from the cliff of oblivion and you stand on the heights, rejoicing in the name of the Living God which is written on your forehead. You stand on the heights, not as one balanced for the space of a few joyous moments, to be dashed again into the valley of despondency, but you stand there and rest in the new understanding which has shifted the weight of the human mind and beliefs and has freed itself from the law of human gravitation. "If ye be in the Spirit, ye are no more under the law." You are in the Spirit when you recognize the Christ within and act in accordance therewith.

The whole proposition is put to the one who seeks the light. When he has come to the place that he seeks not another’s opinions and beliefs, then he has arrived at the point of: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my words, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life."

Here is a simple statement of a fact. "Believe you this?" If so, you are beginning to experience a new life, a life that is everlasting, right here in the flesh, and the life which is now coming into manifestation cannot come under the condemnation of the former self. You are freed from the condemnation of the John Smith against which you fought so long. You are now passed from the death of these things—these beliefs and difficulties—into Life. Do you hear? You who read this page.

"Get thee up and eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundant rain."

Thus spoke the prophet to Ahab. No one could believe such words; they were too good to be true. Three years had the scorching sun parched the ground, and the wells were dry and the river-beds dusty highways. The brazen sky gave no evidence of it, and yet the prophet said, "There is sound of abundant rain."

Ahab, running back and forth, looking for a sign and finding none, is representative of the person who is looking outside for signs and wonders. When the prophet makes a statement of a fact, it is in face of the direct opposite, as far as the testimony of the human sense is concerned. That is the reason for the insistence of "Be absent from the body," "Judge not from appearances," etc. There is sound of abundant rain, the drenching downpour of spirit on to the parched and dried life of any man. The more real the famine has been, the more drenching rain will appear, but what good is it to tell a person "there is sound of abundant rain" when their cistern is dry and they are subsisting on a few cups of water? No good, because they can show you the reverse, and not only can they show you the contrary, but they can bring a thousand individuals who will verify every word they say. Further than this, they can even bring you men of learning who will prove by many arguments that it cannot possibly rain.. And yet in the face of this the prophet says, "There is a sound of abundant rain."

Finally, on the horizon of that brazen sky of despair appeared a tiny cloud, as small as a man’s hand. The prophet had spoken truly, "Faith is the substance [the very substance] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see." It is the evidence of the unseen, the unheard thing that is about to be released into expression. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Unless you have faith in the principles of harmony you will never become a musician, and you will never produce melody. Unless you have Faith, which in the truest sense of the word is Understanding, Recognition, and Acceptance of the unseen, you cannot bring into manifestation these things. What is the good of saying, "There is a sound of abundant rain," if you only hope there is? What is the good of prayer that only hopes it will be answered? No more than applying the principles of mathematics in the same manner. "Before they call, I will answer" is more than a pretty phrase. It is a statement of a fact to those who have ears and eyes—a statement that what they ask for already exists, and is ready to come into manifestation, in spite of the hateful appearances to the contrary.

Yea, though they be piled to the very heavens, and be as adamant as the rock of Gibraltar, asking, then, becomes a process of speaking the decreeing word. "Ye shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass." Asking then takes on the nature of calling forth that which is.

"Let the dry land appear" is asking for something to appear which already exists in the unseen. But there is no doubt about it appearing; there is no looking for it to appear—there is the pure faith, or acceptance that it is so.

We are only beginning to recognize what exists in the unseen and unheard world about us. The radio gives us ample proof of certain things which would have been emphatically denied by our forebears. That bacteria are being destroyed by the use of vibration would have utterly amazed our grandparents, as well as the fact that sound can be photographed, reproduced, and recognized as the voice of a certain individual. A piece of vulcanized rubber and a bit of steel can reproduce the voice of one long since passed from the mortal pictures. While all these human devices are but playthings to the giant power of which we have heard so much through the man Jesus. We are only beginning to understand that "Judge not from appearances" is more than a religious adage.

"If you have faith you shall say to yon mountain, ‘Be ye removed and be ye cast into the sea.’" But if you have not faith, or recognition of the principle of God everywhere present, then your saying is but idle words that are clouds without rain. But if you have faith, "you shall say" and "it shall be so." do you hear? You who read this page? YOU?

Do you see why it is necessary to "go apart"—to bide your own counsel? These things are not to be chattered about in the market place. They are reserved for the "Upper Room" of consciousness. If you desire them, the noisy voice must be silenced, and the asinine habit of setting the other fellow right, while you are full of obvious evils yourself, must stop. "I AM the way; walk you in it."

When you recognize that the substance you are asking for already exists, then you too will be able to say to a barren earth, parched for many years with the scorching sun of failure and lack, "There is a sound of abundant rain," and believe it. What you discover on the invisible—what you recognize as true of God—will become true of the outer manifestation. "That which is told in secret shall be called from the housetops." Yea, "in my flesh shall I see God." But in order to see the manifestation of the rain, it must first be recognized in the invisible. "Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that are prepared or them that love the Lord."

"The things that are prepared." When we recognize a thing from the spiritual standpoint of life, we will see it manifested in the visible world.

You are fed with the hidden manna that your fathers knew not of—your fathers, representing the old order of thinking, the old forms of metaphysics which are dead and which you are told to let alone. "Let the dead bury their dead." You have manna that they knew not of, for they had to see it with their eyes, and handle it with their hands, and they received no blessing. "Blessed are you because you have not needed a sign." You are blessed because you recognize that the Presence is everywhere, just as much in one place as another—everything in every place at the same time. "Awake, you that sleeps, and Christ shall give thee light.

You are feeding upon the heavenly manna, and when you do this in silence you will find that your material body is perfectly fed and cared for, and when you realize that you are clothed in the garments of praise and light you will find the body clothed in perfect raiment. No wonder, then you are invited not to consider the robes of the rich Solomon, but the ways of a lily; there is something most interesting in this. It is the manner in which the lily appears. Out of the unseen. Out of the invisible. Out of the very substance which is about you now.

No one thinks it strange when he plants a lily-bulb that a lily should appear in due season. Why should it be strange, then, that prayer is actually answered?

The prayer is a thousand times surer of results than the lily-bulb, when the prayer is one of recognition, instead of one of begging and beseeching. Why should you think it strange that the much-needed rain should come to the desert? From the human standpoint I know there are a thousand reasons why it should not come, and the testimony of the eye is anything but encouraging. It searches the dome of heaven and sees not a cloud, not a possibility of anything happening, and that is why you are told to "look not to appearances" as one of the first laws of bringing out the answer to true prayer.

When the acceptance is made in the invisible, there comes a joyous abandon. Not a careless abandon, or indifference, but a joyous abandon, for it has been decreed. The dark cloud as big as a man’s hand that appears in the skies is enough to produce floods of rain, and so there is a joyous abandon. Hence, the command to poor tired servant-body, "Get thee up, eat and drink"-in other words, rejoice and be happy, for everything is all right, and there is a sound of abundant rain. There is a glorious feeling of letting down, or resting and relaxing, when we have thrown the weight of our lives over on to the shoulders of the prophet –the Christ within.

Within the domain of everybody there is that something which is symbolized by "the little cloud as large as a man’s hand." You who read this page, you who have felt the hot, dry winds of futility and lost hope, in your life that something us sufficient to produce it all, and is within you now, awaiting recognition.

But the little cloud that is finally to produce the abundant rain has to be let alone, or else it will turn out to be a cloud without rain. Many a person has become anxious that God could not or would not do His work in the right manner, and has turned back the abundant rain. Your anxiety for another, or for yourself, will only cause the famine to endure, for "I have a way ye know not of"-the I AM has a way that you cannot possibly feel or express. "My ways are not your ways—My ways are as high above your ways as the heaven is high above the earth."

"My ways are past finding out." Can you see, you who read this page? YOU?

"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed." You see then that the "little cloud" does exist in your life. Even the tiny little faith that caused you to venture to read this book is all that is necessary to flood your desert with the abundant rain of spirit. "Be not afraid; it is I" -the I of Spirit is always with you, no matter where you go or what you do. It is in the hell of your own making, awaiting recognition, and it is at the uttermost parts or ends of the earth.

Note the word "abundant" in the first mentioned idea. The expression of spirit is always abundant—it is always full, pressed down and running over. It is lavish in the superabundance of its expression. It is wonderful! The poor little measures that you have held to the universe are as nothing—they cannot hold the abundance of spirit that is to be released by recognition.

Do you begin to see the Abundance of Spirit? You are a spiritual being in a universe of spirit. The flesh becomes spiritual by recognizing your true self, and you are actually fed and sustained by the hidden manna. Just as soon as you know you are fed by the hidden manna, you will see the wholesome food manifested. For ":what is told in secret is called from the housetops." Do you see? Do you hear? What, then, are you telling yourself? What you are telling yourself is what the world is re-telling you, and many times that is what you are fighting.

You are fighting the echo of your own voice, your silent voice which calls so loudly t the universe that people do not hear what you are saying with your lips. You argue with your own voice returned to you from the loud speaker of the universe. You hear your own secrets broadcast in the universe. You fight against the injustice of your own secret findings. It is almost ghastly to contemplate, and yet it is glorious to know that it is so, for it immediately brings with it an opportunity of releasing.

"What you tell yourself in secret shall be called from the housetops." You are only telling yourself what you find to be true, and most of this you have found from judging from the appearance of things. Hence when you begin to take your attention away from things and to be "absent from the body and present with the Lord," then will you begin to follow the commands of the Spirit, "Be still and know that I AM God." When you are still, the still small Voice is telling you things in secret that shall be proclaimed from the housetops—things which will make you thrill with joy; things which will bring out glorious new states of expression. So little by little we are finding that the way of attainment is not by struggling and torture, but by peace and contemplation of the Realities and the Recognition of the All-present God of Love.

"There is a sound of abundant rain"-this has come to you for a purpose. It has come to you to make you know the glorious revelation that is even at this moment being made manifest to you, the abundant rain of substance into your life. If the desert be one of sickness and lack of strength, then the abundant rains bring, even at this instant, the flood of health, vitality, and power. If the desert be one of loneliness and futility, then the abundant rains bring floods of joy, thanksgiving, and attainment. Heavenly new fields of expression open before you. The veil drops from your eyes, and you see the reason for many things; the blinding sense of futility has passed away. If it be the desert of financial lack or limitation, then the flooding rains will be in terms of substance suitable to meet all the needs. "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." it will make you free from the beliefs of the human sense, free from your own limitations; different for each man in accordance with his present need.

It is glorious, thrilling. Listen, listen, listen, you who read this page. Listen, listen, listen; "There is a sound of abundant rain—the downpour of spiritual substance in any form that is necessary to neutralize the desert of your belief. Glorious—glorious truth. It is well with thee. You are in the floods of Light and Life. On the invisible you are feeding on the manna that is hidden, at this very instant you are clothed in the garments of light and thanksgiving. It is wonderful. It is glorious. You are in the flood of Spirit, of Light, of Attainment. "Heaven and earth are full of thee—from glory to glory;" you go on into more wonderful fields of realization.

One moment of recognition, one grain of faith as big as a mustard seed, and you have brought in the harvest of substance. If it be to that place filled with in-harmony, you will see the floods of harmony and understanding descending. If it be to the place of pain, then the healthful power of life shall quicken the body. It is wonderful.

Listen, listen, listen. :There is a sound of abundant rain." Even as I write , and you read, there is a sound of abundant rain in the form that you can best appreciate and understand it. "There is a sound of abundant rain," and the desert that is loaded with seed is to blossom as a rose, is to run a riot of glorious colors and perfumes, where once the wind tumbled the dry sage-brush over burning sands. Yes, it is all there; "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." The sound of abundant rain is at this instant audible to your inner ear. Fear not. Be not anxious. It is well—the downpour of Spirit is at this instant upon you.

"Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you. Rise up and walk."

A beggar sitting for years at a temple gate asking for silver and gold. What for? To consume, and then ask for more. The endless getting, and using, and being obliged to get more. The endless making of demonstrations. The endless asking for the loaf of bread which is consumed immediately. The endless looking for symbols, instead of getting back of them.

Picture the cripple at the temple gate. For years he has been there. He has long since accepted his infirmity as his natural heritage, so he begs for a bit of silver. Picture the disciples knowing that if they threw him a handful of gold or silver they were only doing what hundreds of others had done in a more or less degree, that in reality they would not help him. At best, it would only be a temporary relief.

"Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you" -and then followed the gift of healing. How much silver and gold would it have taken to have bought that healing in the marts of the world? More than likely, from worldly standards, it was beyond price. More than likely the body of that cripple was in such an emaciated state that if the healing were possible, it would have taken years to have brought the cripple back to normal. Back to normal by the knife, by food, diet, exercise, and long, long months of convalescing. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you."

The bestowal of the gift instantly rehabilitated the disease-laden body. Instantly the cripple accepted the priceless gift, leaped up and ran away rejoicing and singing. Picture the same cripple with a handful of gold. His joy might be increased for a moment, but he would soon return to his former limitation.

Note that the gift was instantly accepted and what was the gift? It was the full recognition of the presence of the Power of God in the midst of him. Every man has the gift. He learns that the gift is beyond the price of fine gold or rubies. Silver and gold and fine rubies become as worthless chattels in face of the priceless gift that every man has to give to the priceless gift that every man has to give to the world—yea, to give to himself.

Yet the world is full of cripples who sit at the gates of their own temple and beg for silver and gold. The world passes by and throws them a copper or two; but sooner or later one comes by and says, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you," and it is at that moment that the beggar has within his grasp complete freedom from the beggardom he has so long accepted.

Unless, however, he accepts his gift, he will remain at the gates of his own temple begging the crowd of human thoughts that go by for enough to live on.

Always seeking the symbol instead of what is back of it, always looking for the loaves and fishes, makes the eye more blind and the ears more deaf.

Looking to outside conditions for help will result in defeat. After you have consumed the loaf of bread you are hungry again and must get another, and thus goes the game of life; devoid of charm, as crude and misshapen as a statue hacked from a block of wood with a clumsy garden axe. Hypnotized to the human thinking, man has accepted his state as one which cannot be helped. He blames his heredity, pre-natal influence, environment, accident, or disease. But all or any of these might have entered into the case of the aforementioned cripple, and still they did not act as a wall against the showing forth of the priceless gift of Spirit. No law that man has made is a law to Spirit, and as soon as man looks away from the symbols he will receive the gift of Spirit and will understand why the priceless gift is not in dollars and cents, but in the substance which lies behind them.

"When the Son of Man shall come shall he find faith on the earth." When the inspiration of the Almighty speaks to you and gives you the priceless gift, can you take it? Can you take your good in the same degree that the cripple at the temple gate accepted that which was given him? It was a tremendous gift that he took, from the standpoint of his bodily condition. It meant that a great physical change had to be made instantly. It meant that the well-nigh impossible had to happen. It meant that he had to let go of a lifetime of hypnotism of human thought. It meant that it was opposed to every single human law, and was placed in the category of the impossible. It meant that it was sweeping aside like so many cobwebs laws that were hoary with age and concreted with millions of proofs. Yes, it meant all these. And it means that the condition that you may be under can be no more difficult than this single unstance that is given you, and it also means that the change which is necessary to bring you from the darkness into the light will be no greater, no more difficult or impossible of attainment, than that performed on the cripple at the temple gates.

Even at this instant, "Behold I stand at the door and knock" -the very "I" that spoke through the disciples and said, "Silver and gold have I none" -the very revelation of your perfect health and freedom stands offering you the gift of life and happiness, offering you freedom from the human bondage, no matter how long it has been with you. "Is anything hard to ME? Is there anything that is difficult for the power of the ALL-GOD within you to bring forth into manifestation?

What is this seeming opposition that seems so much more powerful than God? Awake, awake, awake! Arise and Shine! The thought that has been trailing its wings in the mud of human existence will scale the heights of interstellar space.

You will note in the case of the beggar, and in the case of many others instantaneously healed by the Master and his disciples, that the healing took place almost before they had time to think. A gift is accepted at the instant it is presented.

When we stop for a moment to reason, "Could this happen to me?" we are lost. God has power sufficient to instantly off-set the oldest and most terrible human concept of law, "Fear not; it is I."

"Silver and gold have I none" does not in any sense of the word imply poverty or lack on the part of the disciples. They might have added, "Silver and gold have I none—for thee," knowing that it would not in any way help. "When they ask for bread, I will not give a stone." The glorious help which enables a man to see his true self is more precious than a handful of gold or a world of human sympathy.

Most people are beggars in life. Not all of them sit at the temple gates asking for gold, but they are begging for other gifts, or the symbols of other gifts, and missing the glorious gifts of Spirit which are poured out upon them. So hypnotized to the outside manifestation are they that they fail to see or hear the gift that is bestowed upon them. Symbols, always symbols, until they learn that a symbol without something back of it to animate it is nothing but a puppet, and has no power nor life or expression.

Beggar of life, when will you begin to accept the gifts of the Father? When will you accept your Divine Heritage, and rise from the degrading position and let the light of revelation pour over you in flooding streams?

When will you come out of the old Pauline doctrine of "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" and accept the glorious gift of God, "Fear not...it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom of Heaven?" A gift—yea, even a gift as large as the Kingdom of Heaven must be accepted. Think of it, beloved, the trembling and fear, the working out your own salvation, is suddenly all set aside by the acceptance of the gift of God, i.e., the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as the cripple at the temple gates ran and leaped for joy into his new state of expression, leaped out of years of belief of sickness, ugliness, and filth, leaped into freedom and left behind him all the things that were true of the crippled beggar, so you, son of the Living God, will make the transformation from the present state of sickness, poverty, and unhappiness, into the perfect heaven of harmony and bliss. When will you accept the gift?

"It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Where is your Father? What did Jesus the Master say of this? "My Father within me, He doeth the works." The Father consciousness within you is that which will give you, the human body manifestation, the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. Do you see that it is not something afar off that is going to grant this favor to you? "Yet, in my flesh shall I see God", yet in the present body shall you see the glorious revelation, because soul and body have become one, and "whom the Lord hath joined together let no man put asunder."

In the midst of your chaotic world is the gift of God, the gift of Life Eternal, the gift of the Infinite Riches of the Kingdom, the gift of increasing the manifestation. "Stir up the gift of God which is within you." It is already there, the gift of beautiful life, glorious life, radiant life.

In turn the beggar goes his way rejoicing, and giving in turn the gift. We are afraid of the gift; we make a sickly attempt at speaking the word. We wonder if God would want us to assume such authority and such proportions, and at the same time we acknowledge, "I am the son of the Living God."

"When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" This is addressed directly to you, you who read this page; if the prayer that you asked this morning suddenly came bounding out into expression, would you be ready and willing to accept it? If the piece of gold that you had asked for could actually come into manifestation, would you be able to accept it, or would you have to look to see whether it had a serial number, or whether it were in accord with the human intellect? If you were suddenly to have the gift you were asking for made manifest, could you have faith enough to accept it? Until the perfect acceptance can come and the curiosity has been absorbed in the absolute faith that "all things are possible to God." these things cannot be, no matter what a thousand voice may say pro or con on the subject.

If you should tear the hide from a living body to see how the life was produced underneath, you have no life. The killing of the goose that laid the golden egg is the result of curiosity. If you are secretly cherishing in your mind such ideas, you will see nothing, for nothing shall be there. The soul is not curious, it knows. "I have A WAY THAT YOU KNOW NOT OF." The I AM has it’s wy that no human intellect can see, understand, or believe.

The whole glorious proposition lies within yourself. It is asked of you, "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth [your consciousness]? You have to answer that for yourself. It does not make any difference what the answer be so far as the outside world is concerned; it is, however, tremendously important to you. What would you think? If the prayer you have just asked were at this instant to be fulfilled, could you-yes you, who read this, accept it? "Be still and know that I AM God."

"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel" Num. 23:23.

"I shall overturn and overturn until he comes whose place it is to rule."

This is the day when much is said about enchantment and divination—sometimes openly under these names, but more often referred to only, or spoken of by a new modern name. The mad enchantment of a bird and a serpent is only equaled by the enchantment that exists between man and the serpent of human thinking. The only way for the bird to break the spell is to take it’s eyes away from the fearsome thing upon which it is gazing, and the only way for man to break the spell of disease, hate, fear, sins, and lack is to take his attention away from appearances. "Being absent from the body and present with the Lord" and "Judging not from appearances, but judging righteous judgment", the scriptural means of breaking the enchantment. But few people want to follow these commands. They want their problem clearly stated and set forth, and then they want the remedy. They want to attack the evil and destroy it and so they are destroyed by the very thing they desire to destroy.

"But," says one, "that is the very reason I took up the study of Truth—I want to destroy the evil in my life." "there is nothing in My Kingdom that can or shall be destroyed," and the appearance you are attempting to destroy is the out-picturing of your own belief. You are attempting to destroy it while you are constantly creating it by gazing at the handling it, and examining the nature of it. Many people who are seeking God are turned awry over the appearances of a few leaves in a teacup or a few lines on the hand or other outside things. They will ask anyone to forecast the future, and are much more willing to believe these prognostications than to accept the fact that "God is in His Heaven [state of consciousness], all is well with the world."

In spite of the statement, "No man knoweth what a day brings forth," in spite of all the eloquent declarations that God is the only power, just let the idea of "fortune" be mentioned and they are all ears, being much more willing to take the word of a person who is prostituting the sacred gifts of Life than to have the revelation of their inner soul made manifest to them. "The way is broad that leads to destruction." The flower-strewn way of hearing good things that are about to happen by chance leads them on; they wade knee-deep in glorious flower-covered fields, snatching a posy here and there, thinking how wonderful it is that their "fortune" is so fine, perfectly unaware of the poisonous serpent that suddenly makes itself manifest in the form of a horrid prediction. Then they want to escape it all and fly back into the idea of Truth, and loudly proclaim that "God is ALL"; but the enchantment has done its work.

The flowers of the spurious joy of delving into the future have withered in their hands or turned to thistles. They shriek, "Save me." The terror of seeking those things which are an abomination to the Lord is their portion, yet even in this time of terror, even in this time of desolation, there is always the way of escape.

Why is it that people who profess God as the only power wish to hear of other forces which they seem to think are actually more powerful than God? What is the insane curiosity of looking ahead, and trying to see if something good is going to happen, but the hypnotism of the human mind, and the failure to awaken to the glorious NOW of life? Anyone who has awakened to the Christ consciousness is not looking for the good that is to come; he is reveling in the glorious present of the NOW, and he does not doubt the future. He is not wondering if things will be taken care of. He knows that as long as he stays at the point of the NOW of God, he will not need to prepare to destroy the Devil.

If you are looking for good to come in the future, you are still where you were before you heard the Truth; do not the Gentiles do that? What difference if you have let go of the old idea of heaven, with angels, if you still hold on to the false idea of evil being more powerful than God? What is this belief of a power opposed to God? Why is it that, because someone has prophesied truly for ten thousand people who were under the enchantment of human doctrine, you, the son of the Living God, newly awakened to the powers and the gifts of Spirit, should come under the sway of this lie? Did not the magicians, soothsayers, and wise men produce a serpent after the prophet had produced it as a sign, and did not the appearances show clearly that the power used by the magicians was the same as that used by the Man of God? Yea, it was terrific proof, enough to make the stoutest heart faint for fear of the power of evil, but did not the serpent of the Man of God suddenly devour all the serpents of the magicians, and is there not hidden in this the glorious proof that God is supreme to the belief of any man or any teaching or any idea, however hoary with age and respect they may be? "There is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel."

"Awake, you that sleeps, and Christ shall give thee light."

Awake from the hypnotism of human belief, and break the spell it has cast over you. Realize once for all time that "He watching over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps;" that the I AM consciousness watching over you neither slumbers nor sleeps, and you are eternally in His care. You are the sons of the Living God, and this glorious recognition causes the laws of the human belief, however powerful they may have seemed, to give way before the new dawn. Awake, awake, awake. It is well with you!

Are you true to your own word? Then the whole world (your Universe) will be true to its word. "My words are Spirit and they are Truth, and they shall not [positively not] return unto me void, but shall accomplish whereunto they are sent."

You may be under the enchantment of money. "How hardly can a rich man enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Not that money is bad; it is the love of money that is spoken of as the root of all [not some] evil. It is the enchantment again of looking upon the outside and imagining that there is power there. There is no buying power in the symbol of money; it is what is back of it, for, even while you hold the symbol in your hand, it may decrease in value to a point where it is not worth the paper it is printed upon. The enchantment of money is due to the fact that we have placed power in the symbol instead of placing it where it belongs. Hence, the saying, "Money is power" but what of a dying man who has exhausted the finest arts and crafts that money can buy? What about friendship? What about love? What about anything that really matters in life? Looking on the symbol, people become enchanted by it, then think to possess it, and end by being possessed by it; they are destroyed by the serpent just as surely as the bird is.

Trying to demonstrate symbols of money has not proved successful. Perhaps in a few remote cases it has been done; a handful of gold has been forthcoming, and then the terrible lapse that has followed and the wonder how it happened, and why it does not happen again. Keeping your attention fixed on things will keep them from you. As you pursue them, they flee before you as the mirage in the desert that seems so real and true.

Power is not in the symbol, the substance of money is not in the dollar bill. The golden idol with feet of clay will crash upon your own head. The worship of the golden calf seems to be in accord with the masses of humanity, but it brings the sharp rebuke, "Thou shalt have no [not any] other gods before ME." Where is this ME, and what is the ME that comes before all else, except the I AM consciousness within you, which is your point of contact with the Universal Whole?

"To him that hath shall be given" does not seem fair, and is not fair from the human standard of things, but it is true. To him that hath the consciousness shall be added symbols of that consciousness, not because he needs them, nor because he is receiving a special favor, but because he is automatically functioning a law of God. "With all thy getting, get understanding.," But most people say, "With all thy getting, get gold, then you will be able to go into the world and take possession."

"There is no enchantment against Jacob." There is no law of poverty that is fixed over you through which you are obliged to function. No, not if ten thousand wise men say as much. You are the son of the Living God, the All Power, and when you recognize this then will you understand how there can be no enchantment against Jacob.

"If you seek me after the loaves and fishes you shall not find me" is recorded as the saying of the Master. If you are seeking the things, then you will come under the enchantment of things, and you will reap the result of this divided allegiance.

"Who by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?" You may answer the question our self and look over that which follows, and perhaps through the crannies you will see the light, and hear the command "consider the lilies and the ravens and the sparrows," and many more things, and see that you, as the Son of the Living God, are not dependent upon the divination of the human mind.

Neither shall you be under the enchantment of disease, for the son of the Living God is a being of pure Spirit, and is made of the substance which comes under the direct control of God, who is of "too pure eyes to behold iniquity," Pause a moment and ask yourself whether there possibly could be an actual law of sickness and misery, and, if so, why have you, of all people, been singled out to manifest it? You can only answer that it is because of your acceptance of this law as a power beside which God Himself is powerless. The more you look at the loathsome manifestation the more real it becomes, and the more you realize the utter impossibility of escaping it. Who can gaze at disease in its various forms and even imagine how it could be relieved? Yet in turning away from the appearance lies a sudden and sure escape—just as you know that the bird with two strong wings has an instantaneous means of escape from the serpent, yet so long as it stands gazing at the object of its fear, just so long will it be in the grip of that thing. Take your attention away from the appearance and place it on the All God and you will find wings to escape any difficulty to which your human thinking has brought you. Awake, thou that sleep—Christ is risen. The Christ consciousness within you has risen out of the tomb of your own making, and he comes with all power. Turn your attention away from appearances and the enchantment will be broken.

"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel."

Either God is all powerful, and able to do all things or else our teaching is in vain. "There is NOW, therefore, no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus." When we begin to read the words of light and see the inner meaning, we see that the enchantment of the human mind is broken and that the condemnation of the evil of our beliefs is cancelled, and we are freed into the Spirit of the sons of the Living God. When we forsake the evil in our consciousness, then it is forgiven and released; the condemnation goes with it, and we are feed. Awake, you who sleeps, and Christ shall give you light.

Are you looking for a lucky charm, a sign, or a miracle? Miracles do not happen only to the human belief. The operation of the Divine Mind producing health where the human mind sees sickness, and prosperity where the human mind sees poverty, is a natural process. It is only unnatural to the relative world. The statement, "Signs shall follow, they shall not precede," does not mean anything to the person who is always looking for things. He wonders why, after years and years of serving God, he has never experienced a miracle or revelation. Awake, you that sleeps; the signs follow, they do not precede. Do not seek me after the loaves and fishes, because as soon as the loaves and fishes are consumed you will be without them, and be the creature of chance again. There can be no chance in the law of god, else the very harmony of the Universe would be destroyed. "There is no power opposed to God."

In Nigeria, all sorts of black magic is practiced, with the most terrible results. But in every instance the person who is to receive the baneful effects of this so-called power must be informed that it is being used against him, and this alone tells the tale, "Not that which goes into a man defiles him, but that which comes out." it is not what you take in that counts, but that which comes out. If you hear evil and accept it, it comes out in the form of evil in your universe, therefore it is that which defiles you. If disease is real, then it must come into manifestation.

"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel."

The only enchantment in any of the evil lies in the fact that your attention is fixed upon it, and so it becomes real to you; but as soon as you take your attention away from it, and place your consciousness on God, the enchantment is broken.

We look out upon a universe of our own making. "To the pure all things are pure," "Let the filthy be filthy still," "What you be, that thou see. The one who is perpetually looking for the clay feet of others stands on crumpling feet, and falls in his own dust. "Be thou wise as serpents and harmless as doves," "Occupy till I come." " I come quickly" -It is well!

"Then went he in and shut the door." What goes on behind the closed doors is going to be of tremendous interest to the outside world. "that which is told in secret is called from the housetops." When you think of the word "secret" you think of the "closed door," you think of the "Secret place of the Most High" -in fact you think of the center of Being. Until a man learns the law of silence he cannot leave his burning desert of human experience.

"He that travels alone shall travel far;" "He that holdeth his tongue shall take a city [a new state of consciousness]:" and so he who learns to "come apart from among them and be separate" is getting his feet firmly placed on the ladder that leads safely to heaven realization.

Power is noiseless; its manifestation may make a terrific tumult, but power of itself is noiseless. "Be still and know that I AM God" has a command which has been as little heeded as the one, "Before they ask I will answer" -but that also bespeaks of silence accomplishing something that noise could not. The burning coal which is placed on the lips seals them for ever, and it is to such an one that power is given ...given because he has discovered something in the silence that he can never discover anywhere else. He has found certain secret springs which, when released, will cause the whole face of his universe to change, and people sill say, "It is a miracle," but he will know differently.

Until man learns the law of silence, he will travel on in the heat of the burning desert of experience, comparing notes with others; discussing and arguing about the vital truths which never seem to work, and yet seem so plausible and real.

"I do not see why it is that I cannot make more progress." "I have been faithful—I have helped many—I have heard hundreds of lectures—I have read hundreds of books—I have given of my substance—and still am in this terrible condition."

The answer to all this is simple, yet it will be rejected by many because they like to "talk it over" first with someone who is supposed to know more than they do; and then they want to talk it over with God and tell Him just what to do before things will be right in the Universe. But nothing happens and they either go down into the ditch of human failure or hear the "still small voice" which constantly says, "Be still, be still, be still, and know that I AM God."

In the quietness and peace shall be they strength." A thousand times that is read over, and by the very one who is seeking light and understanding, but will you obey it? Nay! Nay! You will pass it over, and go again into the desert of human hope seeking for shade and water. In the desert through which you are traveling is the deep secret well of silence, and when you drink waters thereof you are refreshed, and the water there from will transform the desert into a garden.

"Be still" Be very still and KNOW that I AM God, and you will find out something about the Promised land you have been seeking, lo, these many years. The something you will find out is that the Promised Land lies in your own consciousness, and the moment you are through seeking it, and begin the process of recognizing it as here and now within the secret place of your heart, that moment you see the transformation beginning to make itself manifest.

Do not expose the seed to the parching winds of human opinion. "Thou fool, do you not know that a seed must first fall into the ground and rot before it shall be made alive?" Do you not know that the seed idea must be dropped into the secret place, and there lose its outer wrapping of human opinion and belief before the new manifestation shall come forth? The ugly brown bulb is transformed into a cluster of lilies. What a transformation! All for the simple following of the law. Yet this process of change is no more wonderful than the transformation that shall go on in you. "O you of little faith." -when you can follow the law. "Be uye transformed by the renewing of your mind." How can the mind be renewed if it be not still? How can the earth be renewed unless it go deep into the secret place of the roots and there restore itself or its manifestation by the substance that is stored up there? Do you begin to see why it is that the lips shall be sealed? You who read?

The butterfly and chrysalis, the chick in the shell, and a thousand other things give you an ample idea, but all these are inadequate to convey the power of the Word which is to work out in you when you can be still.

The law states very clearly, "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find: knock and it shall be opened unto you," and yet there be thousands that will say they have done all these things and are still without the bare necessities of life. Seeking amidst the husks of human reasoning and opinions, among the findings of the human intellect, will not be productive of much more than a grain or two of substance. Asking the world at large for freedom from your sorrows will merely bring pity or ridicule on your head. Knocking at the gates of human temples is disheartening, and yet the law continues:

"For every [no exceptions] one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened."

The pristine beauty of this assurance sounds forth like a glorious bell across the smooth waters of a silver lake, or like an answered SOS to a tempest tossed ship, an yet no results have come. Men have gone down in the ditch trying to wrench away from the Universe, a decent living. One by one the dreams of youth are exploded because they cannot be fulfilled, although they seemed so right and so possible of attainment.

"For everyone that asks receives." You may prove that you spend hours a day in good works and prayer, just as a man states, and truly, that he holds an oak tree in his hand when he shows you an acorn. In spite of the fact that you have "faith as a grain of mustard seed" that is said to be enough to move mountains, nothing happens, and nothing is going to happen until you enter the place of silence and set the seal on your lips.

When you are once in this place of silence you find the processes reversed. "Before you ask, I will answer." The asking is merely voicing something that is about to be made visible. It is the decreeing of the thing that will eventually come into manifestation. The chick in the shell, hidden away from the world of curious human eyes, is evolving into a new state; you will begin to see what takes place in the silence of your being, and why you are commanded to :Be still and know that I AM God." Presently, you leave the noisy company of those traveling in the desert and enter into your secret place, to discover that the Promised Land is not a place, but a state of consciousness, and it exists in the NOW of time, the HERE of space.

"But the land where you go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drink water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy God cares for; the eyes of the Lord thy God cares for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.,"

Note the words, "the Lord they God," and see if the light of the governing influence of your Christ consciousness does not blaze forth with such effulgence that the noonday is as the twilight, and in this revelation are revealed the glorious things that heretofore were hidden from the human mind. "Eyes have not seen," etc., etc. But it is there all the same, and makes itself manifest when the eye becomes single and when the lips become silent and when the recognition is made in the secret place. Here and Now does not mean more waiting, more patience with the appearance of things, but it means a beautiful transformation that goes on before your eyes, a coming into being of the Promised Land.

When you pause for a moment to consider that the Lord thy God is watching over this Promised land, "where you go to possess," from "the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year," then you can understand why you are admonished to take no thought for the body, for the food, for the purse, scrip, or upper chamber.

"I have much to say unto you, but you could not bear it now." No one can bear the deep Truth of Life until his lips have been sealed. No one can take the new state of consciousness until he can hold his tongue, for it is by means of the tongue—symbolically speaking that you shall be defiled. Watch, therefore, that you enter not into temptation to tear away the protective coating of silence from about the new idea. Let not the manifestation be retarded or deformed by your anxiety, for, the moment you recognize the new idea, the soul of you is singing, no matter what the outward appearances for now the Child is born. Every idea that has its immaculate conception in the mind of silence will come forth to rule over its domain gloriously. Be still, be still, be still and know that I AM God.

The sign of a silent soul is serenity, poise, and power. There is a confidence and an abandon. There is a light of joy in the consciousness.

"Serene I fold my hands and wait," -quite a different waiting from the old idea of waiting for something to happen. It is the confident waiting for the Divine event to take place, a serene confidence that it is done and the mechanics will be perfectly executed. Can you see why it is necessary for you to come apart from them and be separate? Be still, be still, be still.

The froward is an abomination to the Lord, the same as the one who digs up the garden after it is planted, and opens the egg after it has been placed under the bird. Abomination, because he is destroying the manifestation that is due to appear.

Awake, you who sleep, and Christ will give you light." Awake and arise from the dead. Fold your tent and steal silently away into the secret place where you can enlarge the borders of your tent without asking the permission of anyone. No matter how loving the advice may be, the things of spirit that are deep and pure will have to be found alone in the silent place, alone with God.

All that is necessary to enter therein is willingness on the part of the student, willingness to listen instead of to tell; willingness to accept the promises as made by the master, and to plant the seed and let the human limitations and husks of belief rot away from it, in order that the new life may appear. In the place of the Most High you have no favors to ask, no special permission to gain. What you tell yourself in secret shall be called from the housetop. The Word shall become flesh. There is a rest for the people of God. All of these beautiful things become true to the silent soul. "Be still and know that I AM God."

Five thousand hungry men, far from food and shelter. Five thousand men in the desert, hungry, calling for bread; and only five barley loaves. The nearest food depot miles away.

Dozen of empty vessels, all crying out to be filled. Great, yawning, ugly, black vacuums of debt and want, and only a few drops of oil in the cruse.

Great stretches of parched desert scorched by sun and wind— Dry, barren, ugly, useless. Worthless,

Helpless, unwanted, crying for expression, and only a small desert water-hole under a scraggy tree, half-filled with poisonous water, and a mass of bone-dry seeds buried in the sands.

Any one of these pictures is enough to make the average strong heart quail and turn away with a sense of helplessness. "Why does God permit
such terrible things to exist if He is All-powerful?" "Why do I have to continue always under an avalanche of debt and limitations, with never enough to do anything with?" "Why do I lie on a bed of pain, my body racked with loathsome disease?"

"I have tried and tried and yet no results come." "Anyone could see that five loaves would not feed five thousand men. A loaf to a thousand? What good to even pause to consider such an absurd idea? What good to consider the empty jars when only a few drops of oil are visible?" "Thus man reasons, and thus he fails. Having drawn his conclusions in accordance with the best human understanding and wisdom, he abides by the results.

The first and great law of breaking the belief of limitation is, ‘judge not from appearances." We have heard it often, but we have never really heard it until we can do it. When you actually hear a word of Truth you can fulfill it. Taking your attention away from the appearance of things, or judging not from appearances, is not merely closing the material eyes and refusing to see that which you know in your human thinking is real. "Being absent from the body and present with the Lord" is actually placing the attention on the Invisible Source of All. This is neither as abstract nor as difficult as it seems at first glance. It is not a difficult thing through the process of your imagination to possess those things which are necessary for your well-being. It is not a difficult for you to imagine that it would be a simple matter to the All Power to produce all the desires of your heart seeing it has already created infinitely more right before your eyes. It is not difficult for you to place your consciousness in the realm of Spirit, and there feel the freedom of the All Spirit, being lost in the immensity of light, and finding the hard outlines and form of things all melting back into the infinite ONE out of which all things came into being.

After all, a moment’s thought will cause you to throw much of the limiting reasoning of human wisdom away. Just think of the infinite flow of water into the Universe. From the single drop to the mighty torrents, where does it come from? Out of the same invisible realm of substance we see millions of different manifestations, just as out of the same garden plot we see a hundred varieties of seeds bringing forth as many different kinds of flowers and fruits, all drawing on the identical substance for their life. Why does a poppy and a grain of wheat, drawing on the same elements, bring forth such radically different manifestations? Who can answer except with the absurd reply, "It is the nature of the seed."

Why should it seem strange, then that man should make a conscious contact with this Infinite Power, and see it step up the process of time and bring out the instant manifestation of whatsoever is needed, instead of seeing it put through the limiting human thought process? Why should it be thought so absolutely outside the ken of possibility?

Further, why is it that you, the very reader of this page, will go into your garden and scatter a handful of seeds in the ground without so much as a mental effort as to how they are going to draw their substance out of the invisible? Pushing this idea back a little farther, you find it is because you have a perfect confidence that it can be done, not in a way you know, but in an unseen way. Somehow or other this tiny seed will be able will be able to select the pigmentation of color and the qualities for its own expression. And, do you not find this strange; it has ceased to be wonderful. It is natural. You dismiss it. The handful of seed is all that is necessary for you presently to reap a harvest that many men with many baskets cannot gather in.

Yet if someone said, "There are five loaves to feed five thousand hungry men," you would immediately place it under the head of miraculous. Something outside the laws of nature and life. Why should it be thought more difficult to increase one substance than another? Well, you scatter your seed with abandon, and with absolute faith that it’s increase is assured; you give it little or no thought after it is sown. But if you were to attempt to increase the loaves you would be concerned to such an extent with the manifestation that the law would not operate.

If you have five seeds and want to increase them to five thoughts and, you do not lay the five seeds on the table and pray offer them. You do something. You cast them into the ground. There is no wondering or questioning the action. After you have abandoned them in this way, the work on the outside is done; the next move must be from the realm of the Invisible.

When will you, you who read this page, open your eyes and see what is going on all about you? When will you start the flow of substance by taking your attention away from the symbol and placing it on the substance back of the symbol? In other words, when will you cast the seed into the ground of Spirit and let the Invisible Power of the Lord work upon it? When you drop the seeds into the ground, you have already given thanks, perhaps not in words, for the harvest. You have actually accepted your good—your increase—your fulfillment—and yet you have seen nothing. But you have obeyed the law, you have not asked for a sign—knowing that the "signs will follow, they do not precede."

When Jesus, the Master, saw the five thousand the five loaves, he said to his disciples: "Give them to eat." The disciples, even as you and I, immediately looked at the problem before them and in the most intelligent manner asked: "Where can we get the bread?" Over and over the word is spoken to us, yet the deaf ears hear nothing. When the Voice commands, it should be sufficient to cause you to move into action; for it will never say "do," "go," "be," "have," or any of the commands, unless wrapped up in that very word is the means of expressing the command in its fullness.

Strange as it may seem to the human sense, man is always in possession of enough to start the increase which will unfold or unroll until it has filled every empty thing. Hence, in the desert, five loaves were "seed" sufficient to increase the manifestation unto the need.

Jesus took the five loaves and blessed them. His blessing was one of pure recognition of the infinite increase, or the infinite abundance of substance. "He blessed, and brake, and gave…"

He regarded absolutely all appearances, "He blessed, and brake, and gave"...and he kept on breaking the bread until everything was filled and there was enough and to spare. His attention being away from the appearance of things all the while and placed on the invisible. The very invisible out of which the tremendous increase of your seed-planting took place last spring. Only his attention was so conscious of the Presence that the time lag was wiped out and it became the glowing, vibrating NOW of Spirit.

"Borrow vessels, not a few"-the same power blessing, recognizing the infinite source of substance, looked away from the few drops of oil and began to pour it out just as it had broken the bread. Presently out of the invisible source of all things the flow of oil came in such abundance that everything was full to overflowing.

The only benefit of these parables is the direct application to your present manifestation. Many people stand in the place, symbolically speaking, of the master with five thousand hungry men and five loaves, or with hundreds of empty vessels and only a few drops of oil, wondering why they do not demonstrate abundance, not heeding the urge of Spirit to "Bless and break, and give" to recognize the presence of the Spirit ad begin the process of breaking and giving. Wherever you are, and whatever your problems may be, you have the five loaves necessary, or the few drops of oil, and you can "Bless, and break, and give."

All three steps are necessary. You are doing the same thing constantly in your garden, whether consciously or unconsciously. Your garden is brought forth is just this way. You realize that half the joy of your garden is the giving of its rich harvest to others, yet many people in the Truth imagine that the giving is something entirely apart from the getting. It is only by making a constant outlet for the expression of good that more can flow into your life. It is reasonable to believe that the increase of anything would stop if it had no outlet. We notice in the five loaves and five thousand men demonstration that bread was given as fast as they came for it. It was not all manifested at once and then passed out. Your substance does not have to be mountain high before you can give it out. In fact, if the flow is not kept open, the increase stops.

It is a glorious revelation that you, just where you are, begin the process of breaking and giving the bread of life and see the endless flow of substance making itself manifest to you and your Universe.

You can begin to see why the command of "Silence" is so essential. Why, the great prayer is "Be still and know that I AM God" not the human limited power, but that which can step up the time lag and make the NOW of the manifestation appear. The power which is back of this potent statement "You say it is four months until the harvest, but ‘I’ say look again." Only those that have eyes that have been opened to the reality of being can see the harvest where the human sense says the planting has not yet even taken place. "Having eyes, you see not; having ears, you hear not." "Awake, you that sleep." The new dimension is edging into your picture.

Do you begin to see the futility of keeping the attention fixed on the few drops of oil, or the five loaves and the hungry masses? Bring this right down to your problems and a door will open to you. A new joy will fill you, for you will discover that you have all that is necessary to bring out the fullness of the invisible substance.

Beloved, do not let it be said of you any more "You seek ME, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled."

Do you not see how perishable is the symbol but how unlimited is that which is back of it? "Labor not for meat that perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life."

Why should you worry about the symbols, take your attention away from them or the lack of them and keep breaking and giving of the precious substance. Do not invert the process and reason thus in your hearts, "If I give I shall get," that is a losing game, give because the overflowing substance within you seeks its level. That is, it is complete fulfillment, automatically. You cannot help pouring out the gift of the Father when you begin to see that the infinite flow of joy is coursing through you, and through your Universe. Rejoice and be exceeding glad and let fall the drenching rain of recognition of the presence of God; let it fall on the barren desert of your life and the desert will blossom as a rose, for it has the seeds of infinite possibilities hidden away in it’s burning sands, awaiting recognition. It is well, "Break your bread and five it to the hungry multitude of desires in your life."

In spite of this, men still wonder if it is possible for God to set aside the evil in their lives; if it is possible for the All power to neutralize fearful problems that have come to them.. "All power is given unto ME in heaven and in earth." This statement is certainly not true of man, for he seems strangely without power. In fact, everything else in the Universe seems to have more power than man. Hence he is subject to all sorts of influences over which he seemingly has no control, God is ruled out of His Universe and a power of evil is enthroned.

When man examines his human self to ascertain his capacities and abilities, he finds them strangely lacking in power. He takes into account his birth, breeding, education, muscular power, general health, etc., and knows exactly what he can do, even to his earning capacity. This is verified by thousands of laws, statistics, and proofs, as well as the findings of the wisdom of the world. What good is it to tell a man who has measured himself by these standards that a power exists that can and does make everyone of his findings null and void?

He knows he cannot lift a two-hundred pound weight, he has tried it. What is the good of argument on this point? He can prove it to you. Yet occasionally he finds that someone, in a moment of excitement or stress, has lifted many times his own weight and this in spite of the best findings of human intellect. He knows it cannot be done, and yet time and again it has been done and man says, "by a supernatural power." Exactly, and that is what he should say, and that recognition should suddenly turn his attention away from the limited human capacity unto the Supernatural Power.

The law by which this power is discovered and used is by taking the attention away from the limitations of the human world, and contemplating the Real and Supernatural Universe, the unconditioned power of God.

The following article was clipped from the New Yorker of a recent date. It was found in an article on Zimbalist, the great violinist: "Somehow, nobody told Zimbalist that he was supposed to play the piano too; but during the final examinations, in his eighteenth year, they handed him a Beethoven sonata to be read at sight, in the presence of the whole faculty. He had never touched a piano except to get his ‘A’. He sat down, however, got his breath, played. When he finished, he was told to close the book and repeat the whole sonata from memory; he did so. After a moment of silence the room broke unanimously into applause—an unheard of demonstration."

All the human intellect in the Universe could not conceive this possible. They would immediately say it could not take place, and yet it did take place. Few things could be more difficult. It bespeaks of a power which is entirely outside human capacity. Imagine reading a difficult sonata once, and then playing it note perfect, and this on an instrument you had never touched. Just think about it a moment, then you will begin to see what the power of which Jesus spoke is capable of doing. It is capable of setting every human law at naught. Is it any wonder, then that within this law lies the Kingdom of Heaven, and should it not thrill you to know that this very law is possible of operation within your midst?

"Ah, but Zimbalist is a genius." Not being able to dispose of the Power, which upsets the most cherished laws of the human mind, it finally disposes of the matter in that way. BUT, presently it is confronted with another interesting new item concerning an invalid who had been paralyzed for twenty years and was being conveyed on a stretcher to another town. In crossing the tracks, the carriers suddenly discovered they were in the way of an on-coming express train. Without time to go forward or backward the length of a stretcher, they did the most natural human thing. The law of self-preservation came into play and they dropped the stretcher and fled. From the human standpoint it was certain destruction to the invalid, who had not walked a step for years and could not move himself. But what happened? He, the invalid, suddenly seeing the train, leaped from the stretcher and ran. But how? Only a moment before he could not move. A miracle had happened, said the Press, and so it had. Something that the human mind not conceive as possible had happened, and laws of twenty years standing were as naught. What about it? Do you think it is necessary for the God Power to have an express train in the picture in order to operate? Do you think it is always necessary to have some terrific thing about to happen before God is able to come into manifestation? It does not matter whether it takes an on-rushing train , an earthquake, or torrent to produce it, or whether you produce it in the quiet of your own soul. One thing alone is necessary, and that one, all important point is your willingness to take your attention away from the limited human concept of yourself. In the simple language of Jesus, we find "that to be absent from the body and present with the Lord" is the way of great miracles. Looking at the appearances of things only binds you to the human capacity which is practically nil.

The story of the prophet and his servant is the story of every man. The servant, looking to appearances, saw that they were about to be destroyed and called out in fear. But the prophet was smiling and called the servant’s attention to the invisible visible power and said, "Those that are for us are more than those that are against us." That is, the power that is for you is greater than all the combined beliefs opposed to you. The reward is rich if you can heed the Scriptures, "Be absent from the body and present with the Lord."
If the Lord knows your every need, and supplies it before you ask, then why not fix the attention of the All-ness of God NOW?

"They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides for ever."

Can you but place your Trust in the Lord, not as some mysterious power, but as the very presence of Life within you and your Universe, then you can know the feel of instant release from the evil of human belief. "With god all [not some] things are possible." ALL things are possible. Do you hear, you who read this book? "Believe you this?"

"They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, even as the waters cover the sea."

We begin to see, then that Jesus was a Truth sayer when he said, "I come not to destroy, but to fulfill." The idea that we are here for the purpose of destroying something gives way to the truth of the redemption of everything. The fulfilling of the law is the realization of the presence of the Power which is able to do that which the human limitation finds impossible.

"God is able to do for us exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." The God Power is able and willing to do that which completely out distances human thinking with its limited idea of the possibilities of the God Power; but note the crux of the whole thing lies in the word "according." According to your acceptance of the God Power as everywhere present, and as omnipotent, will It be able to do more than human thought can conceive of. The God Power reverses every human law. "Before they ask I shall answer" is one of the interesting things to be considered. From the standpoint of reason this is absolutely ridiculous, so inversely to the Divine Mind the "Reason of man is foolishness in the eyes of God."

Cannot you see, you who read this page, how we are fast approaching the state of "Be still and know that I AM God?" Can you see why the noisy chattering of the human mind must give way to the glorious peace and poise of the Presence? If your question is answered before it is asked, why repeat it over and over, why not stay on the finished idea?

"The former things have passed away, they shall not come into mind nor be remembered any more."

Even the memory of the evil shall be passed through the waters of forgetfulness and man shall arise from this glorious bath and be clothed in a cloud of perfume from an unseen flower of spirit. He shall stand on the heights naked and be enveloped by a golden veil of life. The former things shall have passed away and shall not be remembered any more.

"The works that I do, I do not of myself, but the Father that dwells within me, He does the works."

Indwelling in every man is this Father which is able to do more than we ask or think, and which is able to set aside the limitations of the human expression. Making your union with this Father brings you to the point of which Jesus spoke: "I can of myself do nothing, but with God all things are possible;" and a little contemplation will cause you to see that if you will open wide the doors of your consciousness and let this Christ come into your life and become one with you, "the Father within" will do the works.

"Behold I have received a commandment to bless, and He hath blessed and I cannot reverse it." The capacity of the Father within is to bless, and the meaning of the word "bless" conveys that heavenly capacity of invoking the Divine favor. It is wondrous and beautiful to contemplate that "I have received the commandment to bless." The "I" of you hath received the commandment to bless, to "invoke the Divine favor," It is that which sets aside the sternest human laws and beliefs; it is the power which causes the oldest and time honored limitations to crumple as a sand castle before a tidal wave. Nothing can revoke this Divine blessing, when once it is recognized and called into manifestation. All that is necessary to bring out the glorious re elation are the simple words "I bless you" spoken from the conscious recognition of your atonement with the Father within. Remembering all the while that this glorious teaching is given to the child. Not the child in years, but in consciousness. The mind that can accept that God is the only Power and is everywhere present.

"All power is given unto ME in heaven and in earth." In the mind and in the body is all power given unto the I AM. Arise and go forth with this glorious command written in gold across your heart: "Behold I have received a command to bless [to invoke the Divine Power], and he hath blessed and I cannot reverse it." You can go your way invoking the Divine Power because you are the Child f the Living God, and right now and right in the place you stand you have the power to do this.

"Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of God has risen upon you."