hood of God means nothing to him. What is God as Father? Above all He is love, wise-impartial, universal love. He is made known to the individual soul as the Holy Spirit; it is the Spirit which unites Father and son. Therefore to be a son of God in very truth is to manifest the divine love and wisdom, to walk by the Spirit. The grace of God is conferred when the Spirit speaketh. The Spirit speaks in accents of peace. It soothes the troubled soul, even as a father pitieth his children.

which leadeth into all truth.

It is the comforter

The very fact, then, that one approaches God with the great word, "Father," implies that one has overcome the sense of separateness which ordinarily sunders man from God, that one is ready to give up one's own way, and ask in deepest humility, "What wilt thou have me do?" For it is in our dependence, in our extremity that we cry out unto the Father, with a confession that our own way has failed, and we know not whither to turn. Hence it is still from the Father's side that the decisive power comes. The Father so loves His children that He descends in the form of the Holy Spirit. The whole meaning of the incarnation is involved in this coming of the Spirit to waken man out of his forgetfulness.

"If you are faithful in desiring to establish your untried powers by constantly withdrawing your thoughts from inharmonious conditions, you can make life a perpetual round of happy attainments."

All one's life is music if one touches the notes rightly and in tune. But there must be no hurry. There's no music in "rest," but there's the making of music in it."- RUSKIN.

TO UNITY READERS Mr. Fillmore's Lesson, which should have appeared here in regular Course, was not ready when UNITY went to press, so had to be omitted.

TRUE PROSPERITY.

BY MARY BREWERTON DE WITT.

PAPER III.

THE OPEN HEART.

Behold, a door was opened in heaven.- Rev. 4:1.

Close the door of your heart, and you are as one lost. Open the door, and the sunlight and fresh air stream in. Who would not have light rather than darkness? Who would not enjoy the sweet, pure air rather than the stifling impurities of a closed room? Thus is the heart when every tender thought and feeling is shut away, cramped and hidden.

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'If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me." In such a promise we have the entity of life. Is this, indeed, not a hopeful aspect-the sweet companionship of the Master, the one who knew? And if he sup with me, and I with him, is it not a sweet satisfaction to know myself at-one with Divinity? Life is no longer dark or dreary when we know its secret. Our life is no more oppressive when we realize how to treat it. Monotony is a thing of the past when we have found life's relation to the soul. Life sings its song to our listening ear, and we rest upon its bosom in blessed happiness, drawing our sustenance from it as the child from the mother's breast.

Happy life! No pain can enter in when we know its true worth. Sad is that one who bemoans his state, fearing life and its responsibilities, not understanding that within each care lies a grand possibility of hope perfected. If pride is allowed her sway, life appears heavy and ill at ease, and the birds no longer sing in unison. The pride that will give without accepting is a bait for poverty. The gifts that come. are only from God, and that one who refuses is

guilty of refusing the bounty of the Creator, no matter how insignificant nor how great the gift may seem to be. Personalities are the instruments of the One Good, therefore let man be careful how he refuses a gift given in the spirit of Christ lest he is deprived of all, and become poor in the world's goods as well as poor in Spirit. He who accepts all of life's blessings as coming from an All-wise Creator is the one who opens the door of his heart. No hardness, no coldness, no selfishness may dwell there, and as he receives so does he give, without pride, without fear, but as unto the Lord.

The key to the open door is thanksgiving, eternal gratitude to the source of All Good. Such gratitude causes one to be thoughtful, tender-hearted and loving toward all.

Be not faint-hearted in well-doing; be not slow in recognizing the true life. The open heart is beautiful to contemplate. From it comes all the feelings, emotions and aspirations. The heart is the soul's house, in a sense, but the soul, or spirit, being unlimited is not necessarily confined within its walls. Yet we may call it the home, or sanctuary of the Spirit. It is a joy to know that that door can be opened wide in welcome to all of God's people. What of that heart that keeps its door fast closed and locked? It cannot know the joys of the kingdom; it cannot have listened to the voice of the Master who says, "Feed my sheep, feed my lambs." It is from the heart that we are fed; it is only Love that feeds. The most tempting viands that ever graced a board would be without savor if the soul were an hungered. A meal without love is as so much poison. It may feed the flesh, but only temporarily.

A gift without the giver's heart is without its blessing; therefore a duty gift is a stone. It behooves us then to be careful in our giving. Even in the paying of a bill we should rejoice, and pay it not only cheerfully, but with pleasure. Love must enter into every act of our life, for our life is not only

human, but divine, and if divine, then, must it take on, or show forth, the qualities of Divinity: Faith, love, wisdom, joy and peace. Such a soul is rich and prosperous in the gifts of God, and can well afford to share with others by throwing wide the door of its heart. Acting from the highest motive, doing one's best, and living nobly can leave no person poor, for the best the world has to give is attracted to the rich soul. No one is barred out of the kingdom of joy and wealth. God has given all gifts equally to all peoples. Jesus said, "He maketh his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." It is we who bury our talents or hide our light under a bushel. God is lavish in His gifts, and the pearl of great price is ours for the acceptation. It has been given, but we must discover, or bring it to light. We can well afford to be open-hearted, generous, unselfish, frank and free; blessing all that come our way. Our lips must be closed from prophesying evil, our hearts must be open to the great good that lies within and about us.

Share! share! Refuse no one. He that has concecrated his life to the service of the Lord will not be imposed upon, but will only be asked to give where God wills it so. Expect no imposition, but look only for the will of God. Give thanks for the opportunity of lightening another's burden.

As we contemplate life in all its phases there is a spurring on to beauty and to love a stirring of the soul, as the awakening of the plant that is pushed by Mother Nature up and above the cool dark soil into the beautiful light and warmth of day. Thus it is with the soul that struggles upward to fulfill its mission, out of past darkness into the light of conscious fulfillment.

Now, indeed is the door of the heart open when the soul works in conscious unison with the great plan of Nature. The soul's life is a life of love; a life of giving and bestowing, not mere gifts, but the

best that she possesses - herself.

She must not hesitate to love with a Divine compassion all that come her way. She must give herself to the world's work. She must expand as the bud, and be herself perfect in perfection of blooming. Her perfume is not spread abroad for one day only, but diffuses itself continually, entering into all hearts, and awakening the soul in each. Such is the message of that soul that is already awakened. The knowledge of life is hers. She gives of that knowledge that which she may; wipes the tears from the eyes of the sorrowful, and lays the healing touch where health has been forgotten. If the heart be open in such manifestations of righteousness, then, indeed, is it rich in words and deeds of the Spirit, and a rich heart creates rich environments.

Without love life is empty; without love the door is closed; without love the soil is barren, and our efforts are but vain ones. Love is necessary to the growing seed-the love of Nature. Love is necessary, to the little child-the love of mother. Love is necessary to the Divine soul- the love of God. Without it we are nothing; with it we are all. No life is so small or puny that has not a recognition of Divinity in some shape or form. No life is so darkened that does not love some one or some thing. Love is the key-note to power. Love is the door to the open heart. By it ye may "go in and out and

find pasture."

Professor O. M. Stewart, of the University of Missouri, in a lecture before the students declared that material scientists are coming to regard all kinds of matter as different manifestations of electricity. Experiments, he says, have shown that any kind of matter if divided and re-divided until it reaches its smallest form, will reduce to small electric charges identical with the unit of electricity. From this and other facts they conclude that forms of matter are but different manifestations of electricity.