saying a good deal, to say that the people of to-day are wrong in their understanding of God, but we know that Jesus or his disciples could have done in a few minutes, what the prayers of the whole world, in a longer time, failed to do.

In time of war, both sides pray to the same God pray for him to lead them on to victory. Both sides believe that their cause is right, and each prays with equal earnestness, believing God will hear the prayer; but only one side can come off victorious. Does God hear and reward

one, and not the other? Is he partial? Did he not promise that all who asked, believing, should receive? They were not fighting for the righteousness of God; therefore, God did not hear either, but they asked amiss, — they prayed for worldly success, for a kingdom of this world; and the things of this world were given us from the beginning; therefore the Father giveth them not again. One may ask God to pun

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ish his enemy, while the enemy and his friends are praying for God to let his blessings fall upon them. "God is not of confusion, but of peace," and how can he give ear unto such prayers, vain babblings, selfish desires, carnal wants? James said, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend in your pleasures"; "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?" These are prayers for material things, and God only promised us eternal Life. The earth, and the fulness thereof, God gave us from the beginning; he is unchangeable, and never withdraws his hand from us. James also said, “The prayer of faith (understanding) shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." This is a different prayer from what the people to-day call a prayer of faith, and this is the prayer that I shall explain to you.

We have all reasoned from our changeable senses to an unchangeable God, that is,

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from the imperfect to the Perfect or from man-changeable soul and body, to God unchangeable Spirit; thus starting from an imperfect and changeable standpoint, the reasoning remains in an imperfect channel, and cannot reach a perfect and unchangeable result. To reason truly, one must have a perfect, unchangeable standpoint to start from, therefore, man must reverse his reasoning, and reason from the Perfect (unchangeable Spirit) to the imperfect (changeable soul and body); then will he see himself as he is seen, and know as he is known. Paul said, "Let no man deceive himself. any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For it is written, He taketh the wise (in this world's wisdom) in their own craftiness; and if any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." A fool sees no wisdom or sense in a wise man's reasoning, because he does not understand his premises;

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but if he should afterward perceive and accept the wise man's standpoint, he would see the wisdom of the reasoning, and also see that he was not wise before; so if they who think they are wise in the wisdom of God, would reason from a perfect, unchangeable standpoint such as will be shown them hereafter, they would realize how little they know of God, and how far they are from the true Understanding.

The people say that God took President Garfield, and to confirm this statement they quote Job's words, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord," interpreting them according to their own material perception, thus making God, not only the author of death, but also changeable. But Jesus, through his teaching, brought eternal Life to light, and destroyed every root which his heavenly Father had not planted, namely, sin, sickness, and death, the works of him who hath power of death, which is the devil.

God never took President Garfield from his family and the people; but a pistol (man's invention made for the purpose of destroying life) in the hands of a life void of understanding, carried away by vain imagination and strange doctrine, produced his death. The people prayed to God who is theAlmighty, to restore him to health, and the doctors administered drugs, brandy, etc., showing that while they admit in statement, God's omnipotence, they deny it in proof by using material means. Therefore they prayed amiss, or not in "spirit and in truth," as Jesus said we must worship. This should show you very clearly that while the people. ask God to assist them out of sickness and trouble, they do not rely entirely upon him, but feel it necessary to use some material means also, that is, they trust more in the knowledge of the world regarding power in matter, than they do in the power of God, thus, as the scriptures say, they honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from