The two sons may stand for any two persons whom God has created. The elder son, being at home, represents the unity that cannot be broken-the oneness of Father and Son. The action of the younger son represents what comes from the false belief of separation of Father and Son. "A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his

living." In realization we all get what we ask for.

The desire to possess something apart from the Father is based in the claim of separation, that man can live, be healthy, happy and satisfied upon a portion of what the Father has to give. Jesus, the Son of God, knows that there are no parts or portions, so he claimed all power in heaven and in earth, and all that the Father possessed was his. This was the way he stayed at home and did everything that was pleasant in his sight.

The supposition that we are separate from God, and that we can possess what is not God's, a portion or part of what is, may be innocent, but it generates desire, and it is that condition that gathers all together and takes a journey into a far country.

When a young man goes to his father and asks to receive his portion of the property, he expects to be independent of his father in business. This seems to be all right in the business world. While we are not dependent creatures, we are not so because we are one in spirit and in body. Men and women of the present day are seeking positions and coming to want, as it were, looking for work and not obtaining it, because they are ignorant of the law of success. They do not expect to succeed and are surprised when they do. Ignorant of the spirit of unity and opulence, they are uncertain, and it is with hesitancy that they seek.

"If one ponders upon objects of sense, there springs

Attraction; from attraction grows desire;

Desire flames to fierce passion, passion breeds

Recklessness; then the memory-all betrayed

Lets noble purpose go"

*

*

* (The Song Celestial.)

The Truth as it was in Christ, and as taught by him, may be found in the following words: "God measures not His Spirit unto His children." "What is begotten of Spirit is Spirit," so, they are Life, Substance, Intelligence and Power; the Limitless does not limit; the Infinite knows no finiteit is all-inclusive. So, in reality, men and women lack nothing; the only seeming need is that of a full recognition of the Truth of the bountiful supply that is ever at hand. In asking and receiving a portion, they recognize no more than what they ask for and receive. They believe there is another portion that they have not received.

When it is believed that we can receive a portion-something less than the whole-it is also believed that the portion that we receive can be wasted or taken from us. If the Son of God could receive a certain portion of Godlife unto himself, he would naturally believe that it could likewise be taken from him; and when he sees the nothingness or the unreality of the claim of separation, there is a mighty famine apparent in the land.

Why is there seeming suffering? There is none apparent anywhere to sense, but the general claims of separation, the various dual doctrines and their practices. Unity is the remedy; unity is forever the state or nature of oneness. (See Scientific "Statement of Being.")

The first point to consider in connection with the younger son is, what his conception of division led to; that what he experienced was in perfect accord with what he asked. As soon as he had gathered together all of his separate belongings, he was, so to speak, in a foreign country, away from God in belief and action (away means unlike). The substance of the son was his reality. It was gradully wasted or lost to view, in that he believed in divisions and portions. This is symbolic of all belief of separation from God, and God's creation. Riotous living stands for beliefs and opinions based in separation, which is in itself a condition of want, a sense of lack of general comfort. There is nothing in the claim of separation that can say or realize that I am the Bread of Life. If one wants what he believes he cannot get, that belief means famine to him.

"He joined himself to a citizen of that country," means that, in belief, he was joined to one who believed the same, who supposed there were degrees of Truth, and separation in God's bounty. He was sent forth to feed the swine. Swine, stands for ungodly opinions, those not true of the Unity of Good.

When the Prodigal came to himself, he realized and knew just where to find what he needed. What is true of the Father is true of the Son. As the condition of separation stands for a supposition that there is something the opposite of God, it is equally the opposite of the Son. So, if the son came to himself, he must have gone from himself in belief; in other words, there must have been a separate judgment set up-one not based in the principle and unity of Being. That false supposition was his only want. When he came to himself he knew at once where his wants would be supplied.

Another point of interest is, that the servants have bread enough and to spare. Those who serve God for the reward they receive are servants; even they are better off than those who wander away into separation, dual beliefs and habits, for such things constitute all the seeming want and deprivation that is apparent.

When the son affirms, "I will arise and go to my Father," he does not say, I am not a son of God, but that, "I am not worthy to be called His son." He judged, not from the plane of Being, but of opinions and conduct. When one takes the attitude of unity of Father and Son, and earnestly and honestly affirms it, he goes to his Father, and God, the Good, meets him when he is yet afar off; that is, the Good manifests itself within him and for him, even though his ways are not all expressions of the Good. The Good receives its own in its own purity and permanent state of happiness, into which no false conditions can by any possible means enter.

To sin against heaven is to fall short in belief, of the peace, harmony and unity of God within, and this, in one sense is before God, or in His presence. The supposition that man is separate from God and unlike Him in nature, character and ability, is the only one that is "dead and lost." Man, created in the image and likeness of God, is "alive and found."

Our true Being stays at home in the Father's house in which are many mansions. It knows no want, no lack, and suffers not. Let us not do as did the elder son, call ourselves servants and refuse to recognize our God-given inheritance, for though we claim to be one with God, unless we do as did Jesus, claim that "all that the Father hath, is mine," that all power is given unto us, we do not make the Father's idea our idea. The Father, in this parable, did not recognize the elder son as a servant, but said: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." In this idea there is no sin, sickness, poverty or death, no lack of any good thing. This is what Sonship means, to the Father. Let us accept the true idea of Sonship, which knows no hunger or thirst. It will prove to be the Bread of Life; it will prove to be the "Well of Water," springing up within unto everlasting life.

Let us stand fast in the unity, in which is all freedom, and not believe in a limited inheritance, or that we are parts of God; that there are degrees of Truth, or that there are limitations anywhere.

Neither son recognized the true inheritance, but in the reality and substance of their Being they were Sons of God.

The Father looked upon both as equal, and condemned neither. It is clear that the younger son did, in returning to the Father, all that was necessary to realize bountiful supply; every good thing was bestowed upon him on his return. This was a realization of what already belonged to him. It is clear that the elder son's only need was to accept the Father's idea of Infinite supply, to be happy at all times, and to rejoice with every one who returns from duality to unity, for all that belonged to God was his.

M. E. CRAMER.

Let Them Alone.

Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught:

"But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."-Act. 5: 38-39.

G

AMALIEL, a Pharisee and Doctor of the Law, gave this good advice to

the Jews. His reason for doing so is found in the 36th and 37th verses. "For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody: to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who were slain: and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to naught.

"After this man rose up Judas, of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him he also perished: and all, even as many as obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone."

It is a fact that can be relied upon, that if a work is of God, it cannot be overthrown; and if it is not of God, it cannot stand. We should possess ourselves in peace about our work, and likewise about the work of others. "Trusts" may be formed which would impose binding conditions upon the people (through the endeavor to sustain what is supposed to be right), but we know that in so far as the work is based in God it will survive the test of time, and be sustained; in so far as it partakes of the true spirit of Fatherhood and Sonship, and the Eternal Love of Divine Brotherhood, will it stand.

Societies may counsel together to dethrone other societies, and may command a hundred thousand (all of whom may be willing to obey) to maliciously put down the work of their supposed opponents, but all that we need to know is, that in so far as their work is based in the true principles of brotherhood, will anything be accomplished by them. It is the Good alone that has power to succeed. We cannot succeed by working against Truth, nor can we injure it. We are successful only by working with and for it. All true effort will succeed, and nothing can possibly prevail against it.

When our motives are based in Truth, the unity of God and Man, nothing but good can come from them to others, whether they, in belief, are working with us or against us. If any are working in a manner calculated to persecute individuals and injure their cause, we should remember the wonderful lesson of Saul's conversion; how Jesus, after the Resurrection and Ascension, let His light fall upon Saul from heaven, within, and illumined him with His own glory. Now that we know the true unity and are abiding

in the light of Divine consciousness, we know what the true at-one-ment or ascension means. We cannot illumine those who seem to be enemies to us while we have any feeling of prejudice or personal resistance, but it can be done by the realizing sense, "that the earth is as full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea." If their work is not of God it will destroy itself. A so-called work of destruction is in itself destructible; hence, it is of short duration. It is good to state plain facts concerning such things and then practice the non-resistance of Divine Love, and thus give no place to

error.

There are no divisions in Truth, no opposite qualities or attributes, no high nor low. Our various ways of expressing Truth do not stand for differences, any more than do the various demonstrations in the science of numbers: they rather testify of the Infinity of Truth. Statements that contradict each other, though upon the same subject, are the only differences we have to minimize, and since but one of them can be true of the subject, the other has no real power to oppose it, for there is no power that works against power, since power is one. All power is God.

We should receive one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Let us each seek to exercise that power toward those who speak against us and our work, that Jesus exercised toward Saul when he converted him. It can be done with the same consciousness, which is free from all condemnation. The motive should be, to cause them to realize that they also are chosen vessels to carry this glorious Gospel of glad tidings to all people; that there is no dead matter in all God's kingdom; that all is Life, conscious Life, which is its own law and intelligence.

"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?'"

Saul's persecution of the disciples in his endeavor to put down Christianity, Jesus recognized as persecution of himself; hence, he said, "Why persecutest thou me?”

"And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

Jesus appeared to Saul as a great light, and Saul heard a voice but saw no man. What Jesus did for Saul may be done for another by any one who is free from human feeling concerning such things, and who speaks from the standpoint of Truth.

"And he, trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' And the Lord said, 'Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what to do'."