food; and he, having strayed into the world of experience, must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; and woman, the negative part of man, must bring forth children in pain and sorrow.

This was the blight that came upon men when they had turned far enough away from the center of their own being to partake of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Then, for man to become forever cleansed and freed from that blight which he himself, in his masculine and feminine aspect, permitted to come over him, he must "Know the Truth."

If a tree is covered with blight, in order that the perfect tree may express perfectly, the blight must be removed. If it could be done at one grand sweep, it were well; but, most likely, it will be removed by a process which requires working out day by day; but do not forget that the tree stands in its wholeness, its completeness, all the time until the blight is entirely removed and the perfect tree becomes manifest. So it is with man.

Let the awakened student ever keep his eye upon the perfect man,-he whom God expressed into form at the dawn and who forever remains perfect, it matters not what the appearance may be which presents itself as blight. This is the Substantiality of man, and is the foundation upon which the awakened man stands. No winds of adversity will shake him, no storms of the senses overcome him, because he is anchored in the Substantiality of that which Is. With this understanding which knows the Truth, he visions any blight which may encase the outer man, into its own element, which is no-thing and no-where. When the illumined man visions the blight into no-thing, what does he see? The perfect man in expression.

The man was perfect when he was encased with the debris of earth, the shadow, the carnal illusion; but he was not expressing his perfection. He was limited, being in the encasement of the illusion; but, when these carnal,

blighting illusions are removed, he expresses himself as God formed him; and that was perfect.

It matters not how severe the storms which may overtake man ;—even while he is sound asleep in the AdamSleep, the Real man is never touched nor disturbed; he only remains invisible to the outer consciousness of man.

As long as man lives in his natural state, he does not know that there is a higher and better part of himself; but, when he awakens, he learns this; and, if he is thoroughly awakened, he will endeavor to search out and to know concerning the higher part of himself.

The perfect man is in every one, but it requires much washing by denials and polishing by affirmations of Truth, before his mind becomes transparent enough for the Truth of himself, God and the Universe to be revealed to him, transforming his outer self.

Let the student who desires freedom, full and complete, consciously and understandingly stand with the realization of the reality and perfection of his own being, in the Reality and Substantiality of that which Is. That which Is, is God, and who abides in God abides in a substantial place, surrounded by Substantiality. From that foundation he meets every problem which presents itself to him, either within himself or within his world, and masters it, remembering always that God, when He formed man, gave man dominion. From that place of abiding man is to overcome everything that he encounters upon his path which is not like God, remembering that God and God-manifest is all there is in reality or in the Substantiality of that which Is.

When man arrives at the place upon his Path where he is sufficiently awakened to catch the tender sweetness in Jesus' Message that will enable him to perceive man has within him that dominion with which God endued him, and begins to use it to subdue his enemies which are within himself (and these are his sense-evidence), he is moving toward mastership.

When the sense-evidence is understandingly removed, the old man has been nailed to the cross and the new man in Christ becomes manifest.

When man fully realizes that the foundation upon which he stands is solid, sure and steadfast, unchangeable and Eternal, and that this Presence in which he lives, moves and has his being is really a Living, Loving and Tender Presence, he will, when he requires assistance to master any experience he meets upon the path, softly whisper or silently speak a prayer into the ear of this Ever-Presence, and his prayer will be answered, even as Jesus said, speaking to His disciples, the awakened man, "Ask what ye will in my name, and it will

be done."

The Father has promised to answer the prayers which are uttered in the name of Jesus Christ.

When the student-devotee desires the good to become manifest in any form for his or his fellow-man's help, he will ask the assistance of the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.

God is just as able today to, in His Scientific Law of Action, cause Himself to become manifest through the illusions of the carnal man, as He was able to become manifest in His Creation at the dawn of the day when man became an individualized manifestation of the Being which Is. This Being is the Substantiality of that which Is,-"The All in All."

T

CHAPTER XXV

THE SOUL.

HERE is beauty and grandeur in the silent chamber of the Soul; the variegated colors of the Infinite blend there and focus at one point-the Flame-which is the individual flame of the Great Fire, God who "is a consuming Fire."

Down in the depth of the Soul-the heart-center-is the place to abide and there commune with God.

The Infinite fills all space, and there is no place where God is not.

Since God is a consuming fire, Reason says: this fire will finally consume the dross which has accumulated around each one as they have moved along through the earth's experiences; just as the ceaseless action in the ocean purifies the dross and impurities cast therein.

The Soul is the Conscious Life of Man and the flame in the heart is the point where the Individualized Life is connected with the Infinite Life and is as inseparable from the Life of God as the ray is from the sun. The ray could not exist for an instant were it disconnected from the sun; neither could man remain an individualized life if it were disjoined from the Infinite Life. As this cannot be, we see that the Infinite Life flows perpetually into this individualized life, at the Soul-center, the heart, and on through the channels of life, the blood veins. In the physical man these conduits for the blood to circulate through are called veins, and the physical man says that the health depends upon the condition of the circulation of the blood.

Into the real body, the Spirit Body, the form which God created perfect, Life flows from the Heart of the Infinite, with which the life of the individual is ever at-one.

The Soul, then, is the Conscious Life of man, and in the Soul of man is enfolded the memories of the ages which have rolled by since Conscious-Life became individualized.

It is the province of man, when he reaches a certain period in his ongoings toward redemption, to learn how to enter the sacred precinct of his Soul and there, in deep serenity, in Faith and Love, go deep in inner consciousness until he has touched the border line of the Infinite, and there in realization stand face to face with the Being which IS.

When man approaches God thus, where he can consciously stand in the Flame of the Soul (Soul-Consciousness) and commune face to face with God, "Who is a consuming Fire," all the dross will be burned away from him, all his carnal concept of himself; and, lo! the perfect man is visible! All traces of time, disease and death have been burned up in the pure fire of God-Being.

What is this in man which enters the Sacred Precinct of the Soul and goes deep until it sees where the individualized flame is connected with the Infinite Fire?

It is the Ego. Some may ask, What is the Ego? It is the individualized God-Mind, the Super-conscious man.

God caused the individualized Divine-Mind to become manifest and that manifestation is the Ego, the Real Self of the man. Then He gave this individuality SoulConsciousness, which is Conscious-Life; then God clothed these with a form of Spirit born out of the One Substance, the Universal-Divine-Essence.

All of God's work proceeds in order, wisdom and care. When man became individualized he was in the Divine Law and the Laws thence proceeding; and they in him. These Laws are the ceaseless action of Life Eternal in the body of man as well as in his Soul.