the most unattractive thing in existence was a prayerless woman.

Prayer is not supplication, nor begging, but a simple asking for, and affirmation of that which we know is waiting for us at the hands of our Father. The prayer which Jesus gave as a model is simplicity itself. There is none of that awe-inspiring "Oh, Thou!" which ministers affect in public prayer, but the ordinary informal request of a son to his father for things needed.

"Father. Hallowed be thy name. Here is a recognition of the all-inclusiveness and completeness of Divine Mind. Everything in the visible has its sustenance from the invisible, therefore "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." This kingdom or ruling invisibility is invoked into the visible.

We need supplies for the day only. Hoarding for future necessities breeds selfishness. The children of Israel tried to save the manna but it spoiled on their hands.

The law, "As a man soweth so shall he reap," is here shorn of its terrors. If we forgive others we shall be forgiven, and the penalty of suffering for sins will be eliminated.

It does not seem possible that God would lead us into temptation. This clause follows closely that of the forgiveness of sin, and it is evidently a part of it. Let not temptation lead us, is a permissable interpretation.

Jesus advised asking for what we want, and being persistent in our demands. People ignorant of the relation in which man stands to God wonder why he should ask, and even importune, a Father who has provided all things for him. This is explained when we perceive that God is a Great Mind Reservoir that has to be tapped by man's mind, and through his thought or word poured into visibility. If the mind of man is clogged with doubt, lethargy or fear, he must through his persistent knocking and asking open the way. "Pray without ceasing."

"Be ye instant in prayer." Acquire in prayer a facility in asking equal to the expert mathematician's swiftness in handling numbers, and you will get respones in like proportion.

We give our children what we consider good gifts, from our limited and transitory plane, but when the gifts of God are put into our minds we have possessions that are eternal and will go on producing for all time.

Lesson 5. JJuly 29.

JESUS DINES WITH A PHARISEE.—Luke 14:1-14.

I. And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.

2. And behold, there was before him a certain man who had the dropsy.

3. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not?

4.

But they held their peace.

healed him, and let him go.

And he took him, and

5. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day?

6. And they could not answer again unto these things.

7. And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them,

8. When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him,

9. And he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place.

IO. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee.

II.

For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12.

And he said to him also that had bidden him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.

13. But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14.

And thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.

GOLDEN TEXT-He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.- Luke 14:11.

To go into the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath day has its metaphysical parallel in that state of mind in which we rest and meditate as to the right or wrong of certain thoughts and acts.

The Pharisee always looks at the form of a thing, rather than its inspiring principle. The idea of Sabbath rest to this state of consciousness is inactivity. This leads to inertia and negation, represented by the man with the dropsy, whom Jesus (IAM) heals.

When we rest in the silence of Spirit, we are conscious of the perfection of all things in God. If there is lack of this perfection in our outer realm, the force of the Principle itself is set into action to make it manifest. God has already created all things and pronounced them good, and rests in that perfection. When we enter that realization there is a great scurrying of mortal thought and an adjustment of all things to conform to the perfection of Being:

The ass and the ox represent physical strength. If your strength has fallen into a pit, or material bondage, you will lift it up in this consciousness of the perfection of all things in God's creation. The Pharisees are mute in the presence of these things because they do not understand Spiritual forces.

The feast on the Sabbath day is the inflow of Spiritual substance, which we realize when we enter the inner silence. A "marriage feast" is where there is a conscious union between soul and body in this silent influx of substance.

Pride, ambition and avarice are to be repressed and the spirit of true worth cultivated. When the selfish, ambitious thoughts perceive that there is an all-pervading thought-substance, upon which they can feed and grow fat and rich in all ways, they strive for first place. We should curb this selfishness and let the master of the feast, Divine Intelligence, bid to honorable places the worthy thoughts.

Verse 12. We should build up our weak points, the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind,” thus filling an unnatural vacuum in consciousness.

If we fail to correct our errors, and give all our attention to the thoughts we take pride in, there will be an abnormal development, the excess acting and reacting upon itself. The "recompense" in the "resurrection of the just," is the satisfaction that comes when we have raised up the good in the socalled material body and adjusted it to the just and righteous Law of Being.

15.

Lesson 6. August 5.

FALSE EXCUSES.- Luke 14:15-24.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16.

But he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper; and he bade many:

17. And he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21. And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and blind and lame.

22. And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room.

23. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out in the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.

GOLDEN TEXT—And they all with one consent began to make excuse.- Luke 14:18.

"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word (idea) proceeding out of the mouth of God."

We eat on the spiritual side of our nature through our minds. Then the "great supper" is a mental feast, made by the Lord. The servants He sends forth are our desires. They bid us come to the ever ready fullness of Spirit-Mind.

But the outer mind has its attractions. It thinks there are material demands more important than

going in silence to this inner realm and feasting on the substance of the Spirit. Those who are communing with the forces on the Spiritual side of existence are often charged with laziness, because they seem to be idly dreaming their time away. But they are building up the soul and feeding it at the table of the Lord.

The belief in the reality of matter and material things (a field) keeps one from the consciousness of the real substance, which is Spiritual. The physical strength in the five senses (five yoke of oxen) and the desire to prove to or perpetuate it, excuses the man from that deeper and more enduring Spiritual strength.

Centering the affections without is "marrying a wife," which keeps the heart set on personal love.

When the soul's needs are ignored it is empty, and a sort of vacuum in consciousness exists. "Nature abhors a vacuum," and under the universal law, that all space must be filled, there is an inflow of all sorts of abnormal conditions into mind and body. Instead of choosing and directing the thought forces to build up his constitution, man is a sort of tramp's headquarters where nature's derelects congregate and consume his vitality.

It is a daily necessity to withdraw into the silence of the soul and appropriate through the centres within the subconsciousness the Divine Life and Substance of Being.

We may excuse ourselves by pleading the pressing demands of the world without, but this will not relieve us from the effects of the broken law. We are Spiritual beings first; the material consciousness is secondary. If we do not feed our souls we must not be surprised if they absorb the medly of thoughts nearest at hand in the subconsciousness. Soul starvation and nerve prostration go hand in hand. When you feel that nervous tension within, you may know that your soul is starving, and if you do not feed it, the poor and the lame and the blind will be your portion.