chapter of Genesis. The first day's creation was that of light. "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Light is spiritual understanding, and has to do with ideas. Prayer and praise make these ideas manifest. God, the Universal Mind, is here as light. The universe is filled with ideas, and man, through concentration, draws them into his consciousness. Prayer is the accumulative energy of the mind. Mind must grip ideas and bring to earth these heavenly messengers. How this is done is explained in the second day's creation-it is through faith. You have an idea of life, which is innate in Divine Mind. Through prayer, and thinking and aspiring to the great Universal Life, you receive into consciousness this life Idea. At first you feel the life flow only, while concentrating, but you make it substantial through faith. You believe in the continuity of the Ideas in Divine Mind, and you lay hold of them in substance or faith. The Ideas, the Words of God, are perpetually alive. When you have laid hold of them, the next step is to form them. This is the work of the faculty called imagination. On the third day the Word went forth, "Let the dry land appear." Here is the third step in mind, and the exercise of mind.

These processes of mind are in everything that we do. First, ideas come; then we lay hold of them, and then we form them.

Man is coming to the place where he will do away with muscular work. We will never be free from weariness until we learn to do everything in mind, backed by spiritual understanding. When we get hold of our spiritual faculties, or disciples, they will do the work for us.

To what extent have you cultivated your mind? Your faculties are at work all the time. Are you directing them? We know these things but we do not consider them as we should. It is not enough to take it for granted that they are true. We should have understanding, and then we shall work with the Law of Being. It may be difficult at first to change the trend of your thought because of the lack of I Am direction, but you will succeed if you persist.

In hypnotism, whatever is suggested to the mind of the hypnotized one is there pictured and carried out. Hypnotism is mental dominance; dominance of the body and of the mentality that controls it. The I Am should always be in authority. It is wrong for one to control another or to make suggestions that interfere in any way with another's freedom. True treatment is the education of the thinking power. Hypnotism is simply wrong use of the imaging power of the mind.

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Faith is the substance of mind. If faith had to do with the framing of worlds, it may have something to do with framing our bodies. The disciples said, "Increase our faith." Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God." We must have faith in something Supreme. Selfishness is disintegrating, but faith is integrating. It is a substantial quality, and when it reaches into the body and affairs it builds them firmly. Stop hoping, and lay hold with the mind of the real Substance.

Every man has a church. His spiritual consciousness is the church of God, and the church has twelve elders. These twelve elders are the twelve faculties of mind, and they carry out the ideas of Divine Mind in the congregation, or consciousness. We do not always realize this, because we do not bring into consciousness the organizing faithsubstance. We have thought that spiritual things were vague and indefinite, but this is not true, for the only real, tangible things are the things of Spirit.

In seeking Truth, some get so anxious for results that they fail to lay a solid foundation through faith in things spiritual. The roots of a tree must be very deep, and when the storms come it must bend to them. It is not wise to be too tense and resistant. We are not to be whiffled about by every word of doctrine, but are to know what is true. We are not to follow what someone else says, nor what our sect or school has taught, but are to think for ourselves. You do not find Truth by hard study, but by realizing it in the quietness of your own soul. Know

that you are the offspring of the Divine Mind, one with it, and that all its wisdom and knowledge and substance are open to you when you place yourself in faith, and acknowledge your oneness with it. Say, "I do know. In Spirit I know all things. The inspiration of the Almighty gives me understanding."

Are you looking to the Spirit of Truth as your guide into all truth, or are you depending upon some man or woman, or some bible as your authority? It is your privilege to be free. It is not what the church fathers taught, but what does your indwelling Lord teach you?

Hold in mind the perfect image which you wish to demonstrate. "Is it not written in the law, Ye are God's and Sons of the Most High?" Some people think this sacrilege, but it is taught from beginning to end of the Scriptures, which many accept as final authority, that man is made in the image and likeness of God; that we have lost. sight of that likeness, and that we must be, and are being, restored to it. Since we are transformed by beholding, we must continually see ourselves as we are in Spirit and in Truth, and deny every adverse thought which pictures us as weak, and sinful, and sick, and lost.

Jesus had his disciples with him when he multiplied the loaves and fishes. He looked up to heaven and blessed them; then broke and passed out to his disciples, who distributed to the multitude. This is an illustration of the way the mind works. Ideas conceived in consciousness are given substance and multiplication through prayer and blessings, then distributed to the body through the great nerve centers, which are the disciples. When this great law of mental increase is more fully understood, body vitalization through mind action will be a universally accepted truth. Man can take a very small quantity of food and through interior spiritualization fully satisfy his needs.

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SUNDAY LESSONS

SUNDAY, JUNE 24.

THE INCREASING POWER OF FAITH.-Gen. 15:5-18. 5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

6. And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7. And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8. And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9. And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10. And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid half over against the other: but the birds divided he not. 11. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15. But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16. And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.

17. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

18. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

SILENT PRAYER: I have faith in the increasing power of my true thought.

This is a lesson of encouragement to those who are

faithful, yet see no fruit of that faith. Abram was childless, and he asked the Lord what should be given to him, as it seemed that another would be the heir of his house. The answer is, "Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." Whoever works under the Divine Law is protected, and the result is sure. Active faith in the spiritual powers of Being is productive of tremendous results eventually. We may not have any evidence outwardly because of some idea we are holding to that prevents the manifestation. The Lord told Abram that his seed should be in multitude as the stars of heaven. Prof. Camille Flamarion says that the best telescopes reveal one hundred millions of stars. Celestial photography penetrates further still, and the number becomes so great as to be beyond practical computation. This illustrates the generative power of faith exercised in the right place, which is the formless substance of Being. Do not pin your faith to the things of form; they are limited and can bring you but a limited reward. In the formless you have the free range of the whole expanse of heaven, and your results will be like its innumerable stars, beyond computation.

But you may not have the fulfillment of this faith in God until you have opened the way in your consciousness for its descent into externality. But keep on believing. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Then proceed to find out why you do not have the evidence. Abram said, "O Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" Then follows instructions for a sacrifice. Some ideas on the sense plane must be sacrificed. A heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon are mentioned; that is, give up the idea of physical strength (heifer) and realize that its source is spiritual. Give up your human will (goat) and let the Divine Will work in you. Deny away all subconscious resistance to the working of the Divine Law. Let confidence and peace pervade your mind (dove), yet know that swiftness (pigeon) is characteristic of all action in things spiritual. Look for a swift fulfillment of all you have had faith in. In