ONTINUING the subject of How to Pray, I want to illustrate the Spoken Word and the Laying on of Hands. It is difficult for me to illustrate this lecture except by giving incidents of cases that have come under either my own practice or that of students of this church. There may be other churches

or branches of what is termed the New Thought that practice this; but if this is so, I am unacquainted with them. Those who are termed the the followers of Mrs. Eddy are prohibited from this kind of treatment by her express command that you shall not put your hands on a patient.

As I have told you before, what led to the taking up of this was this: A young lady came to my house some years ago

and have never known what it was to be free from suffering." free from suffering." I said, "If you will stand up I will cure that." She stood up, and I gave her the Laying-on-ofHands treatment. The pain was stopped instantaneously, and she has never had it since. That was the first time I tried it. I was induced to try it because Jesus said that among the powers the believer would have after listening to the preaching of those who preacehd the Gospel throughout the world, they "should have the power to lay hands on the sick, and they should recover." It was not meant for those only who were there listening, but He told them to go into all the world and preach this gospel to

for the purpose of having another person treated. When she finished talking about the other person's case, I looked at her and saw that her face was drawn, that she was very pale, and looked as though she was in misery. I said to her, "You look as though you needed some help yourself." She said, "Yes, I have had a constant pain in my back ever since I was eleven years old,

every creature, and that certain signs should follow those who believed. Among other powers they would have the power to lay hands upon the

sick, and they should recover.

This took it out of what we might term the personal power of any clique, or any class, but gave it to the whole world. What power one believer has, all others have the same power, and if they do not all exercise the same power, it is their own fault. I have no greater power than

the others of God's children, if they exercise the same absolute faith and trust that I try to exercise. I have many students who are equal to me in this respect, and all of us are growing stronger every day, but the great stumbling blocks over which they fall are fear and doubt. All we can do is to judge others by our own feelings, and as we evolve from that land of guesswork and ignorance--because we are all actuated more or less by the same conditions; we are surrounded by the same environments-I believe it is possible to heal every case instantaneously, if the healer has the absolute faith that Jesus Christ had. He knew when He spoke the word that the work was done. A Roman officer came to him when He was hemmed in by the crowd, to have Him heal his son. Jesus said, "Go thy way; thy son is healed." The son was healed by the spoken word, and in accordance with what is this day called Absent Treatment. "The works I do, the works you shall do, and even greater," was the promise he gave to His Disciples, for they went along the lines of this liberty-giving truth. You must have faith; you must have absolute confidence. So far as I know-so far as I am trying to practiceI give the same power to the Spoken Word as if it was an accomplished fact. I do not think about whether I have power or whether I have not. The question of doubt must be eliminated, and this can be accomplished, as everything else is accomplished in this line of healing, by the prayer of the Realization. You may call it Treatment, or whatever you choose, but the prayer is, "God does give me power to treat this case—to eliminate from my consciousness all fear-and God gives me the power to speak the word without doubt." The Apostle James tells you that the one who doubts is lost. Our Sa

vior said, "He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is no good;" it is only those who take hold of this, knowing that they are going to receive an affirmative reply to their prayer, whether you call it treatment or whatever it may be, it is only those who have perfect faith who have perfect results, and in the degree. that we can exercise that perfect faith, in that degree we have the power that Jesus said we should have. There is no room for a doubter; there in no room for a coward'; there is no room for hesitation. All of these are breakers before the student as he travels through this ocean of life, and he must avoid them, keeping in the center of the stream, knowing that God Almighty is the Pilot, and that He is perfect and invincible.

There is another environment that is not under the immediate control of the healer-the environment that surrounds the patient. Unless the patient himself is recipient, having the right exercise of his own ability, compos mentis, unless such person is willing to be treated and wants this treatment and wants God to heal him, we cannot heal him, because we have that power given to us of self-selection, we may call it. Everyone has the right to do or not to do, being responsible for his doing in accordance with the seed he sows. When the patient says "I will not have it; I do not believe in it, and do not want anything to do with it," I have never been able to heal; but really I do not think I have tried. However, I would not try to heal anybody like that. You have no more right to enter another person's mentality than you have to burglarize his house or steal his horse. Your mentality is to you what the old English law made a man's domicile, it is your castle. You have no right to interfere with any other person's thoughts any more

Never send thoughts to anyone except thoughts of love, thoughts of good, and under no circumstances ever permit yourself to ever give out a vile thought to anyone. It hurts the one to whom it is sent, and it is destructive to the sender. The only doctrine and the only path I know of are the doctrine and the path that Jesus taught us. He gave us the truth which he said would make us free. He was the Way, the Truth and the Light. His way was the truthful way to Eternal life, which was the unfoldment of the truth that makes us free. If you will follow in His footsteps, study His philosophy, practice as He told us to, have the faith and determination He exhorted us to have, you will become invincible along the lines of this advancement in Truth and the upbuilding of the nations of the earth. It is coming and coming rapidly; it is the truth that does the work, and not churches, and the greatest barrier that holds you back today among civilized nations is what is termed "professional religion."

Religion should be free; it belongs to every one of God's children, and we should not be made to bow down to this dogma or that dogma in order to support a set of preachers who are professional men, one teaching one way and the other another. It is part and parcel of a system that has been in vogue since the earliest. history, a system of holding people down in ignorance and keeping them there through suffering and death.

Religion is free; it comes free; it is like the pure air of Heaven, the waters of the springs, or the broad ocean. All is free, like the beautiful sunshine, and when man seeks to curtail and control it in the interest of any special purpose, he is com

his race. God Almighty will let them reap the crop they sow. The crop they sow is error and the reaping is death, it is sickness, it is poverty, from the cradle to the grave it is a cry for bare existence.

MAGIC WORDS

Once Judge William M. Conley, of Madera, Cal., was trying a case wherein a woman sought to recover a diamond ring she had in fonder moments given to a gentleman friend.

"When you gave this man this ring didn't you think him the best ever?" asked the judge.

The woman blushed and hesitated, and finally admitted she did.

"Now be honest," continued the judge; "didn't you think him the handsomest man you had ever known?"

The woman blushed again and then leaned over and whispered something to the judge. Presently he instructed the jury to find for her.

Everybody wondered what it was the witness had told the judge. The judge wouldn't tell, but finally a stenographer divulged the secret. What she whispered was: "Not half so handsome as you are, judge."

The mind of man is this world's true dimension;

And knowledge is the measure of the mind:

And, as the mind, in her vast comprehension

Contains more worlds than all the world can find,

So knowledge doth itself far more extend

Than all the minds of man can comprehend.

-Lord Brooke.

"He who seeks of God Shall find.” OD does give me Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding.

"God does give me the knowledge of Truth, freedom and fullness of life.

"God does reveal to me the Kingdom of Heaven-the Kingdom of Harmony, of All Good.

"God does grant to me the Holy Ghost to lead me in all truth, to strengthen my power of thought and to bring all necessary power to my command.

"In God I live, move and have my being. I am his offspring, heir to All Good and joint heir with Jesus Christ. I am created in His Image and Likeness. God is Spirit. I must therefore image Him in spirit; hence I am a spiritual being.

"God has All Power and is All Power and Dominion. I, being like Him, have the same power and the same dominion.

"My powers are both active and latent. My active powers, like their source, are creative. My latent powers will become available and then creative.

"I do exercise at all times the power to choose. This power I know is a creative power. I may choose what I will. I will to choose only Good. Thus I am blessed with Good, the only Good, the consciousness of The Indwelling God. This consciousness gives me dominion over all the earth, land and sea.

"All yield to my demand. I demand of them Goodness, and they supply it bountifully, for they are but The Hands of God.

ness thereof, the seas and all that in them is.'

"Being heir to all that He has and joint heir with Jesus Christ, my inheritance is incorruptible and inexhaustible.

"I realize this as The Truth of Being, and I thank and praise God for this realization in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen."

The words of the foregoing prayer, which are but personal expressions of common property, were written over two years ago, and were from the time of the writing to the dawn of 1912 my daily meditations, but during the first hours of the first morning of 1912 there came to me other expressions comprehended in these, and since then they have been my meditations. To-day, while glancing over the above prayer, I seemed to be flooded with a sense of real happiness of rather more than ordinary rapport, and with it. came a strong impression to pass this common property on to whoever may have use for it.

The prayer has been expressed many times before and in much of the identical

language here used, but each individual's realization of it, if expressed in words, must of necessity bear the color of his individuality. I am of the opinion that this must be so in all thought communication until we advance beyond the stage of individuality. Then will Truth have. a common language.