There is a light “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” This “light” is the divine Soul of each one, and these words declare that every soul is born with this nature--hence, that our natural state is divine.

The newborn babe is God’s child. “Call no man on earth your Father; one is your Father, even God.” “That which is born of spirit is spirit.”

The Truth is here and will free us. As soon as we know that our source is in God--that the divine Spirit gives us “life, breath, and all things.” We know that our inheritance is perfection and our birthright is only good. “We know that we are of God;” that we must “call no man on earth” our life-giver or source. Then can we see we are free from the old law that declared us to be conceived in sin and born in iniquity. Jesus showed us a more excellent truth, by which we see ourselves in a new light and know ourselves “heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ.”

Religion should not only help us in times of trouble, but should keep us out of trouble. This kind of religion sent Jesus about doing good, saving men’s thoughts from wrong beliefs and their consequences. He said that all who followed his Truth and Way should do the same works that he did.

You may ask, Can we heal the sick and do the same wonderful things that Jesus did on earth? Yes, for he said so and we are proving it, but we must follow his Way. When he said, “I am the way,” he showed there is but one Way. And what was that? He said, “Of myself I can do nothing. The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works.” This is the Way. Not by any power of his own did Jesus heal the sick, but by knowing himself one with God; by trusting fully that power of Good within him, he was able to do mighty works. The same Power that dwelt in Jesus dwells in us.

This is the only Way for anyone to do such works. Jesus promised that all who believed and trusted this Way should find its light which would show them, as it did him, the Truth of life.

Everywhere, now, followers of Christ are proving the Power that is within them as it was within Jesus. By letting the Power use us we become more and more able to do its will. It is understanding this Power that heals all that seems sick, and casts out all that seems evil, for Truth is “with you always.”
 

Every one wishes to go to heaven. Why? Because it is generally believed there will be no more sorrow, suffering, or pain, and that there we shall have all that our hearts desire.

Some long for heaven because they want rest. Others look forward to having no more poverty, want, or sickness. Almost everyone believes that there will be no more trials in heaven, that in heaven dear ones will be reunited, hearts will cease to ache and love will fill all, for God will be all presence and power there.

Another reason that has made many seek heaven is the fear that they will be banished forever to a place of misery, if they do not reach heaven. The fear of this place of torment has driven many to try to gain heaven; this seems a very poor motive indeed.

What do you think of a child obeying its mother for fear of punishment? We all understand how much more loving and less selfish is the child who is obedient from love, rather than from fear. How much more loving it is to do good because it is right, than for any thought of reward.

Paul says, “God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” This shows that God does not wish us to be afraid of anything--He never made anything that we need fear. God intends us to be drawn to Him by love only. The sound mind has no fear.

The idea of heaven as a condition of perfect satisfaction is indeed true. John says of it, “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” (Revelation 21:4)

We see then what heaven is. People have been right in the idea that heaven is happiness, peace, love, and rest, because God’s presence fills it; but the question is, where is this heaven and how shall we reach it?

A place has little to do with happiness or peace. Some people live in palaces with great splendor around them and yet are miserable in their hearts, while others live in humble cottages and are happy. This shows that happiness must be in the heart, within us, or else we cannot be happy anywhere.

Jesus said,”The kingdom of God is within you. The kingom of heaven is at hand”. Our happiness or unhappiness--our heaven or our hell--is felt in our own hearts before it is found anywhere else.

Where is heaven? Wherever God is. God in my heart, in my every thought, makes me know heaven; without God in my heart I cannot have heaven or happiness, here or hereafter.

What makes heaven? God’s presence. Where is this Presence? Everywhere. There is no place where God is not, so there can be no place where heaven is not.

One of the first things we learn in Truth is that a place cannot make our heaven or its opposite; that heaven is not somewhere we may go and find happiness waiting for us, but that our happiness is known and felt as we open our thoughts to the presence of God.

This we may do at any moment or in any place. Here and now we may begin to know that we live in heaven, for we live in God’s presence.

To recognize your heavenly life now, say very carefully, as you do in prayer, these words:

My happiness is within me.
My peace and my joy are from God; I have God in my heart to make me happy.
My health and all my good is in God; the kingdom of God is within me.
I will let the truth of God’s presence keep my thought pure; I shall find my perfect heaven here and now. I love to think of God’s presence within and all around me, for this is Truth.
 

When John tells us what he saw of heaven (twenty-first chapter of Revelation), he does not say that he was taken away off into the sky and shown these things. He said he saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, and heard a voice saying, Behold the tabernacle (dwelling place) of God is with men, and God himself shall be with them and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

John had believed heaven was a place to which we might go after a while and be happy. Now he has a new thought of heaven; he begins to understand what Jesus taught, that it is within man and at hand; that it is something that belongs to earth and to men. He saw heaven filling the earth and the happiness of heaven belonging to men. This is called a “new heaven and a new earth” because it is a new thought of heaven and earth.

So may we all see, as soon as our hearts will receive it, for it is the Truth. We do not need to postpone to a future time or place any good after we know that “God himself” is with us, for God’s presence is the presence of all Good. This makes us realize heaven and destroy everything like sorrow and pain. Heaven is as large as God is. We have seen that God is everywhere. Is there not plenty of heaven, then, to be everywhere? This is just what Jesus’ words mean. Within and all around us is heaven, or the state of happiness, but we must know of this and choose it before we can say we have it.

Since God’s presence makes our heaven, it certainly is of great importance that we know what God’s presence is. The Bible tells us that God is Love. Then God’s presence is the presence of Love, and we have seen that Love filling all makes heaven. So we feel sure that this definition of God is true. After we are sure of a truth, we should think and say it often. Many times a day make this statement: “God is Love and God is everywhere.” Thinking and speaking Truth makes it more real to us.

Again we read in the Bible Jesus’ own words, “God is Spirit” and “Spirit giveth life.” It says also in the same book that God is Life. “He is thy life.” “Whoso findeth me findeth life.”

How we all love life! Love is God and Life is God, so it is right that we should love life.
 
God is Spirit, everywhere present.
God is Love, everywhere present.
God is Life, everywhere present.
I am resolved to see God everywhere.

We are sure these statements are true. Let us say them to ourselves or think them often. If we will keep thinking and saying the Truth we see, we shall soon know more Truth.

God is Truth. When we speak truth we speak of Good. When we speak contrary to Good we do not speak truth. Truth is everywhere. We may think and speak it wherever we wish.

God is Good and God is everywhere. What then? Why, Good is everywhere! Let us think and speak this frequently. Say it even when things do not look good. This is true faith. It is knowing that Good is everywhere whether or not we see it.

Think earnestly what it means to say that God is everywhere. This we have called Omnipresence--a word that means All-Presence. This declares that God is the presence that fills every place and leaves no room for anything else. “Do I not fill heaven & earth? saith the Lord.”

It is also declared, “If I make my bed in hell thou art there.” What! Is God’s presence there? So the Bible declares and we know it must be, since God is omnipresent.

How can we explain this? If you stand in the sunlight and shut your eyes, that does not drive the sun away, it only shuts the light out of your eyes. So, not seeing God’s presence does not send that Presence from you, but it does keep you from knowing and feeling the presence of Good and Love and Life, and this makes you feel desolate and unhappy, restless and full of suffering--just the opposite of heaven, you see. This makes our “hell”--not seeing and feeling God’s presence, although it is right here.

What then does the omni-presence of God mean? It means that wisdom, love, strength, life, health, peace, and All-Good are present everywhere, filling every spot and space; it means you may have all this good as soon as you open your eyes to see it and reach out your hand to take it. God intends us to have all Good.

It also means that if you are not realizing perfect life, health, strength, and good, it is because you are not taking what God has given you.

The way to take God’s good gifts, after we see them, is to earnestly think and speak the Good, and to stop thinking or speaking the opposite. Remember this. God is the Good. You were made in God’s image and likeness. You were made to think and act like God.

It is hard to make our thoughts do what we wish them to, all at once, after we have let them do as they please for so long. We shall have to give them daily practice in the new way of thinking, just as a little girl practices her finger exercises in music to get her fingers under control. Our thoughts are the fingers of our soul and by exercising these little fingers we can take hold of the good that God has given us.

Relax and give your thoughts this exercise in Truth:
 
God is Mind, Spirit, and Wisdom.
God is everywhere present at all times as love, life, health, and goodness. This is my heaven.
I live in God--I fear no evil.
 

A little girl, who had been taught to think of God as a great Being away off somewhere in the sky, asked her Mamma, “Is God in Boston?” “Yes, dear,” was the answer. “Well, Mamma, is he in New York, too?” “Yes.” After thinking a moment the child said, “Then he must be a very long God.”

This little one thought God was like a man, having a form or shape. Since we have learned to know God as spirit, as love, as life, and as truth, it is easy to understand how Love may be everywhere at the same time, for it is not a person or a shape, but a Presence that fills every place--a very great God indeed!

The Bible says that “in him we live”; hence we know that we live in love, life, and health every moment. It is our own fault if we lack any good. It is because our eyes are shut to it; our thoughts are asleep.

You can see that the only place where evil might be is where God is not--and there is in Truth no such place. We must see that this is true when we know God’s omnipresence. Paul says, “Neither give place to the devil (evil).” For unless you and I give evil, negative beliefs, a place in our thoughts, it has none. Such thoughts cannot touch us except when we forget God’s presence and power.

Where can we give a place to evil since God, or Good, fills heaven and earth? The only place for evil is within our beliefs. From this we see that our thinking and believing in evil is all there is of it. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” This shows that if we think evil we shall feel it.

In another place in the Bible it is said, “I will visit evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts.” It is true that all so-called evil is the result of the way we have been thinking; it is good to know this, for it will make us begin to change our thinking and to put away our beliefs of ill.

“God is light.” Good is like the light and evil is like the darkness. You know that darkness is the absence of light. Light and darkness cannot be in the same place at the same time--neither can good and evil. When you think of evil you shut the good out of your thought, just as you shut out the sunlight if you close your eyes to it.

Sin, sorrow, sickness, and death are all like darkness; while purity, joy, health, and life are like light. You may think what you wish; but whatsoever fills your thought will seem true to you whether or not it is true. Did Paul have this in mind when he told us, “Whatsoever things are pure--are lovely--are of good report, think on these things”? We may fill our thinking so full of Good that there can be no room for anything else.

If our thoughts are filled with Good there is no place in them for evil thoughts; if full of love, hate cannot enter; sickness cannot even seem to touch your body when your thought is always of health. Let us train our thoughts to think only about health--about Good. If our thoughts are full of health, beliefs of sickness have no chance to get into them.

You have seen that the only place God may not be is in our thinking; this is not really a place but only a belief that God is not in some places. This is a false belief, because God is every place, whether we believe it or not; but all suffering comes from this false belief. This is why we call evil a false belief, or unreality; it is all caused by our believing something that is not true.

God is omni-present--everywhere at all times. Sin, sickness, and death are not in God. These are truths for you to consider carefully; by keeping Good in your thought and refusing to let the opposite, called evil, come to your thoughts, it will destroy all feelings of sickness and fear of wrong.

God’s presence in our thoughts--as it is everywhere else--will be such a power of good to us that we shall experience only good. To exercise your thinking in this true understanding, repeat slowly these words:

I now know that God is everywhere and I can say: God fills all with health, peace, and goodness. There is no real evil. Good is the reality.
This is your first treatment. Use it for yourself every day. Use it for your friends.

God’s presence has always been everywhere within us and around us, and yet we have been afraid of so many things. Does this not seem strange? It shows that if we believe in a power of evil it will make us afraid even where there is nothing to fear.

There is a peculiar verse in the Bible about this; it says, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.” Those whose beliefs are filled with the imagination of a presence and a power that is not of God are always running away from evil when there really is none.

All evil is just our own belief in it, and the one that believes in evil will be afraid of evil.

There are several good reasons for not believing in evil. The first, we have seen, is that God, the All-Good, is Omnipresence, or All-Presence. The second is that God, the All-Good, is Omnipotence. This word means all Power, or the one and only Power. Paul says, “There is no power but of God.” If we believe this with all our hearts, we shall have to say there is no power of evil--shall we not?

If we accept God’s omnipresence and omnipotence, we must admit that there is no presence or power of evil. For evil would be just the opposite of God, and cannot be of God nor come from God nor dwell in God.

This brings us to a third reason for knowing that there is no reality in sin, sickness, or death but what man’s thinking has made; this third reason is that God is the only Creator. Since this Creator is perfect its creation must be perfect, too.

We find that the Bible declares God’s work perfect. It says, “And God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good.” Since there was never another Creator, from whence could evil and sin come?

We can see that these spring from the ignorance of man, while he does not know God. In this ignorance, man has held many false opinions about God, about himself, and his life; it is these opinions he himself has made that man fears. We have seen that God never made anything for us to fear. If a child goes into a dark room, and has not been taught to think that God is right there and that there is nothing to fear, he may see in a chair something that can hurt him. He will be as badly frightened as if the chair were really what he thought it was.

Suppose some one who knows better takes a light into the room and shows the child just what it is that frightened him; he finds it to be only a chair, but he thought it [was] something dangerous and felt afraid.

It is just this way in the world. When we are “in the dark” about God, we do not see things clearly and believe that there is something to hurt us; while we believe that way, we feel the hurt.

Jesus is an “elder brother” who has shown the light by telling us the truth about God and about the world. He shows us that God is a loving Father who would not hurt his children, but is keeping them from all evil, if only they will believe wholly in Him; that the kingom of good and of happiness is within us and at hand; therefore, we need not be sick or unhappy.

A last and a very strong reason for knowing that evil has no truth in it is that, when we know and declare it untrue, it leaves us. Showing that, when there is no more belief in evil, there are no more evil conditions. This is the way [that] knowing the Truth makes us free, as Jesus told us it would.

In the “dark,” we have beliefs of anger, fear, hate, selfishness, pain, disease, and death. In the light or understanding of God, all these beliefs disappear.

We are to let in the light. That is our work. Just as, if your room were dark and cold, with the curtains drawn over the windows, and if the sunlight were bright outside, you would draw the curtains aside to let the light and heat of the sun come in. So we must open our thoughts to let God’s light and truth fill them. You may begin to do this by thoughtfully saying:

I see that Light is everywhere and that it casts the darkness out of my thoughts.
God is my light, my life, my strength, and my health forever, because God is the light, life, health, and strength of the whole world forever.

Jesus so often told simple stories to explain great truths. An example is the parable of the good seed and the tares as told in Matthew, Chapter 13, verses 24 to 30.

First, Jesus tells the multitude what the kingdom of heaven is like. He had already told them that this kingdom is at hand and within man’s soul; even so, it is here and now with you.

Jesus then told them that this kingdom of heaven is like a field planted with seed. Who planted it? He says the master of the field did the sowing. “One is your master, even Christ.” The Christ, or Truth of you, is the Master of your soul and your body.

What kind of seeds are sown? Good seed, and no other kind has the Truth created with you. Only that which shall bring forth the good, has God given you.

This shows that God made you good and pure, with power to be perfect in every thought. The kingdom “within you” is your good thought. The kingdom “at hand” is your perfect body.

What now are you to do with this seed? A seed will grow if it is given any chance. You are to watch and keep it. To do this you must stay “awake,” must you not? You must be industrious and keep this field of thought free from everything but the good seed that God planted. We should always keep everything away from our thoughts but the Good. We should have been thinking constantly of life, peace, and health--then no thought of death or unrest or sickness could have started.

Did you ever plant a flower bed in the spring? Did you not put in the kind of seed that you wished to have grow into flowers? If you wanted sweet peas you planted sweet peas, for you knew that what you planted would grow. What God or Truth plants grows.

Just so careful should we be with our thoughts, and we shall be when we know that the very kind of thought we think will be our belief about everything. If we talk sickness it shows that we are thinking sickness, and “as a man thinketh, so is he,” the Bible says.

Jesus goes on to say in the story that after the Master had planted only good seed, men fell asleep. What do you suppose anybody that is asleep can do? Certainly not cultivate the good seed that has been planted. What happens to your flower bed if you plant the seed you wish and then go away and never think about it? If you leave it uncared for, even for a few weeks, you will find it all overgrown with weeds.

So, Jesus says that when the wheat came up there appeared tares also. The wheat is the good life, and the tares are the ills of life. Jesus calls these “an appearance.”

The “enemy” to our Good is this “sleep”; we fall asleep because we are careless and ignorant--not always watching for and declaring the Good. While we sleep, we dream. In the story Jesus compares all evil to having a bad dream. Men saw the “enemy” and the “tares” while they slept--while they were not awake to Truth. What we see in our sleep we call a dream, and this was a dream because it invented things contrary to Good. In the dream, it seemed as if there were another planter, or creator, besides the good Master. There appeared to be another power and a will opposite to the Good. These must be inventions, for God is omni-present and omni-potent, no matter what we are thinking.

As the dream went on the “tares” appeared to grow, just as the wheat did. Evil is temporary. Beliefs of evil grow and bear fruit in pain and suffering, until we awake from the dream to know that only the Good is true.

Some one says in the Bible, “Awake, awake, thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light.” Sleep is like the darkness, in which, you will remember, we do not see things as they truly are.

As we awaken to more understanding, we begin, as Jesus says in this story, to see that evil, called sin, does not belong anywhere, since the Good made everything and fills every place. The Truth shows us it is ignorance only that says there is a power of evil in God’s world!

The story ends beautifully; it tells us that at last the tares shall be separated from the wheat and be destroyed; while the wheat shall remain forever. This shows us that the good is real and the evil unreal, for all that is real is eternal. That which can be destroyed is not real.

It is true that the Good, which has been ours from the very beginning, shall be ours forever and all “evil” shall “vanish away.” We know this time has come because we now see, as the servants in the story did, that evil has no real place or power, no rights whatever, and we are throwing it into the consuming power and presence of God.

“Our God is a consuming fire.” As soon as we see this Presence as all Truth, our belief in anything unlike it is consumed. Divine Love is the “consuming fire.” There is a verse that teaches us this very same thing: “Let the wicked perish at the presence of the Lord!” This shows us that we are to give up all belief of wickedness, or of any real presence besides God, when we see God as omni-presence. This is the “lake of fire,” the consuming power of God’s love that shall eventually consume every thought and belief not of Truth.

This is what Jesus meant when he said of the “goats” in another story, “These shall go away into everylasting punishment.” The “goats” are the same as the “tares”--all evil beliefs within any thought shall finally be yielded up for Truth.

Jesus used to word “Gehenna” for everlasting fire. The people to whom he talked understood his meaning: “Gehenna” was a fire just outside of Jerusalem that never went out and into it all the dross of the city was thrown and consumed. It is a perfect illustration of how all the wrong beliefs shall be consumed in the great divine Love that never dies out.

Do you know that it says in the Bible that “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire”? (Revelation 20:14) And again that the “devil...was cast into the lake of fire.” This teaches us that at last, when we know God’s presence as “all in all,” every belief of evil shall perish.

Now think and say the truths that have been shown to you. In the words that follow you make your thoughts the “reapers” that Truth sends out to destroy the “tares” and gather the “wheat.”

Since God is Omnipresence, God fills every place.
Since God is Omnipotence, God is the only Power.
Since God is the only Creator, who creates only good, there is no evil. God is all and in all.

When one learns to ride a bicycle it is at first difficult to avoid hitting into objects that may be near your path. An experienced rider once offered this suggestion: “Look away from the object you wish to avoid, fix your eye upon the place to which you wish to go, and you will reach it safely.”

Where could we find a better illustration of Truth? If we keep looking at sickness, thinking about it, and dreading it; if we are always saying, “this will hurt me,” or “that will make me sick,” fears come and we are likely to run right into the thing we dread. May we not adopt the advice of the bicyclist? If we look away from appearances of evil, and keep our “eye,” or thought, fixed upon the good, we shall lose fear of evil and find the good.

A more beautiful lesson upon this subject is given to us in the story of Peter walking to Jesus upon the water when the storm was tossing the waves and the wind was high. Jesus had told Peter that he could walk upon the water; Peter trustingly stepped out of the boat and started toward Jesus. For awhile he walked safely enough and had no fear. His “eye” was looking straight at Jesus, toward whom he was going. Presently he turned and looked upon the storm and heavy waves; then he began to be afraid and as soon as he was afraid he sank. Is it not plain that if he had kept looking at Jesus he would not have thought of storm or wind and would not have feared? If he had not been afraid he would not have sunk. This shows us what fear will do to us. We can now understand the verse: “The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”

To trust in the Lord is to believe in the presence of Good, to know that it is in everything and, hence, that there is nothing anywhere to really hurt us. It is our own fear and ignorance that is the cause of all hurt. To know the Truth frees us from this ignorance and saves us from fear and hurt. Remember, our thought is at first young; it is like a little child that must not run away from its mother or it will get lost. This is why it is said Jesus came to seek and to save that which was “lost.”

If we found a little child wandering away from home and parents, how gladly would we show it the way home. All the world was like this little child. In doubt and confusion it knew not where its home was, nor who was its Father. Jesus knew, and he spent his life showing men the way back to peace and happiness.

When we know a thing we act upon it. I may think a certain thing is true today, and act upon it. Tomorrow, I may find out that something entirely different is Truth. What would I do then? Would I go on acting upon what is not true, or would I give that up and believe in that which I see is true? I believe we all would do the latter; that we would give up whatever is found to be false, especially if it had brought us much trouble and suffering, and accept the true which promises us peace and satisfaction.

We have, every one, believed that sin, sickness, and death had to be; that these were part of our nature, and that we must expect them on earth. Now we see this is untrue. We are children of God, made in his image and likeness. This settles it. Children of God, have God’s nature; the “image and likeness” of God must be God-like. There need not be any more sorrow on earth than in heaven, for we have seen that heaven is within us; belief in separation from God causes all of our trouble.

At the birth of Christ Jesus, the angels sang ”peace on earth,” and peace will always be on earth as it is in heaven, when this Christ or Truth is received in our thought. We are children of God and made like God. Seeing this Truth, we wish to discard our old belief about the presence and power of what is called evil, and to think only of the one Presence and the one Power.

To have Good, we claim it, for it is ours already. As a child of God, you are an heir of all Good; you need only know this and accept it to make all Good yours indeed.

Quietly and firmly repeat the following treatment:

The truth that God is my life, my good, my all in all, has made me free from all fear.
There is no presence but of God.
There is no knowledge but of God.
There is no power but of God.

It has never seemed that we could do this. Now we are learning that it is possible; when we understand what prayer really is, we must be constantly praying.

Jesus taught rules of prayer to suit all kinds of people; if you do not know where the thing you need is, ask and seek for it. People, not knowing where heaven is, nor understanding his saying that it is “at hand,” have been asking and seeking for it ever since Jesus was on earth. After you have found a thing you desire, you no longer hunt or beg for it. You then use it and enjoy it with thanksgiving. Since we have found where heaven is and that we have it now, we are no longer seeking the Good, but are receiving it and giving thanks. We seek only to know about it.

To such as could understand this, Jesus said, “When you pray, believe you have received.” After you believe or know you have received, you no longer beg. God has given us, in his kingdom ever present, all of Good. His part is done; ours remains to be done--which is to take what He has given us. We have not taken before because we were blind to the presence of God. We have even imagined that evil is more powerful than good. Remember always that evil has no power except that which we give it.

Going to God in prayer is something like going to your dinner at home. It has been made ready for you, and you would never think of begging for each meal. You know that the food is intended for you. You never for a moment doubt that it is yours. We have a right to be just as trustful with our divine Father. His spirit of Love says to all of us,”Come, for all things are now ready--all things are yours.”

We also read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” This shows us that God has provided everything for our needs and when sin, disease, or any evil seems to threaten us, there is right at hand the means to destroy such thoughts. The same Spirit says, “Before they call, I will answer,” and when we understand these facts we shall know that prayer is simply taking what God has given us, and returning to this great, good Giver our love and obedience.

In the omnipresence of Good we have every good and need not ask God for more, but we do need something in ourselves; what is it? We need to have our eyes opened to see! Do you remember the story of Hagar and her boy? When they were outcasts in the wilderness the boy was dying of thirst. The mother went a little way from the boy and prayed to God. How do you think the answer came? ”God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.”

The well must have been there all the time, but it did her no good until she saw it; just so has All-Good been with us always, but while we knew it not, we accepted it not. Eternal Life and perfect health have been ours always, but because we did not know it, we have been sick and dying.

The beautiful seeds of love, strength, life, and health were put within us and have remained ever since; because we have not cultivated the thought of these, we have not known and seen the Good that is ours.

We read, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” and how true it is. Certainly we need to have our eyes opened to understand Truth better, to believe in God more fully.

Jesus said, they that believe “shall speak with new tongues.” We will now give in the “new tongue” some health statements.
 

Man is the “Son of God”--therefore his inheritance is perfect life, goodness, health, and peace.
Life is changeless perfection, hence health is an eternal verity. I am ever in health and it, being a phase of God’s omnipresence, is ever in me.
I cannot get out of health; I cannot be sick.
Some one asked, “Suppose a child is sick; how can she say, ‘I cannot get out of health; I cannot be sick’”? Let her say it then six times instead of once. She feels sick because she has forgotten that God is her health. Claiming God as her health will remind her of the Truth and drive away false belief. This is the “Prayer of faith” that heals the sick. Faith knows without seeing.

There is something else that must go with prayer in order to heal--something more difficult than prayer. Jesus said of those who could “remove mountains” by their faith, “This kind goeth forth, but by prayer and fasting.” What is fasting?

Well, prayer fills your thought with Good, but your thought must be empty of everything else! You can easily see that this must be so. You cannot fill a thing that is already full.

The thought of the world seems full of the belief of evil and sickness. People talk more of these than of anything else, which proves what we have said. The more we think and speak of ills the more of them we see.

Have you ever thought why we are given the power to think and speak? It is that we may think and speak of Good. How ungrateful we are then to spend so much time thinking and speaking of ills. These are the “idle words” of which we do truly have to give an account.

We have not known that the goodness, truth, and love of the great infinite Mind is active in our thinking and speaking--but such is God’s law. We have all the understanding of Good that we think and speak. So we can ill afford to waste our opportunity by speaking words contrary to Good.

When we know this, we shall want to make all the room we can for good thinking. To do so, we must empty our thought of all evil thinking. We shall begin to say to the belief of fear, or hate, or sickness, “No, no, you are unlike God and I must think in His likeness. I cannot afford to give you time or place. I must have my thought full of Good.” Try your best never again to think or speak of sickness or evil.

By doing this we shall “resist the devil” and belief of evil will flee from us when we refuse to entertain it. This is fasting--it is keeping out of our thoughts all beliefs of evil; it is putting out all that we have been thinking, and letting God think in us: it is being just as pure in body as we are in soul.

If we wish to get rid of sickness in body, we must get rid of sickness in our thought. If we have made mistakes in our way of thinking about God and ourselves, we must now put out all this wrong thinking by thinking the Truth.

After thus cleansing our thought of belief in ills, fill it with knowledge of the presence of God. This is fasting and praying continually, for in everything we meet and in all that we do we shall be saying constantly, “God, the Good, is right here.”

We practice fasting by refusing to believe in an evil power.

We practice prayer by affirming every idea of Good.

Every day we should practice this fasting and prayer; then, when some one asks us for help, we are ready to speak the word of Truth for him without doubting, just as one can play beautifully for friends if one has given time daily and faithfully to practice.

Our daily prayer should be:

I do not believe in evil; there is nothing to fear, for God is all Power and fills every place.

Even a child can learn how to practice that which heals. None are too young, either in years, or in understanding, because healing is so simple. We shall try to give some rules that all can follow, if they will become “as a little child.”

First: Learn what God is, and what it means to be a child of God. God is Spirit, and Jesus said that whatever is born of Spirit is Spirit. So, after thinking of God as Spirit (not aspirit, but all Spirit), think of yourself as being born of Spirit; for that is what it means to be a child of God. It also means being Spirit, so that you can say, I am Spirit.

We have learned that there is but one Spirit, because there is but one God. “The Lord is that Spirit.” Therefore you are a part of God’s own Spirit. This is why the Bible says, “The Spirit of God hath made me. He hath given us of his Spirit.”
 

WHAT IS THIS SPIRIT?

We say it is Substance. What is Substance? Look at the hills, the rocks, the trees, the grass, the flowers. Look at your pet dog, or cat, or horse. Look at your friends, and you shall see that all are made of something. This, that everything and everybody is made of, we call Substance. Think how wonderful that everything is made of Spirit-Substance. Again, we say:

Spirit is Intelligence. This means that Spirit knows everything. And Spirit is everywhere. It fills everything with knowledge. Your pet knows you, loves you. This is because the one Spirit is all and its intelligence is everywhere.

Spirit is Life. There is life in your dog as well as in yourself. There is life in every plant, in every thing, and it is all the same Life, Spirit.

Spirit is Love and is always loving. Every bit of love you see and feel is this Spirit of love.

Spirit is Power, forever strong. It gives everything and everybody strength. Remember you are made by this Spirit and of this Spirit. You must be like it, knowing, loving, and helping everybody. So, you can give this treatment.
 

A SPIRITUAL TREATMENT:

All is Spirit, hence I am Spirit, and can say of my (true) self whatever I can say of Spirit.

First. Spirit is the very substance of which my body is made. It is perfect.
Second. My Spirit knows all things; it is full of trust and confidence.
Third. My Spirit is life, happy and free now, as life always is.
Fourth. My Spirit is love; I am always loving and this gives me the joy of life.

When shall we say this? Every morning and every evening; not waiting until we feel as though we had a sick body, or until we have unhappy thoughts, or believe we dislike something or somebody.

Of course, if any of these beliefs come into our thoughts, we can chase them away with these true words. For instance: suppose you find yourself thinking, or even speaking, unkindly of somebody, or fretting about something you feel you do not like. Stop it. Begin right away to think the fourth statement. Think it, or, if alone, say it over several times; you will find the unloving thoughts and feelings going away.

Suppose you begin to have a feeling of being sick in body. Stop; think the first and third statements over and over, and your feelings will change.

Suppose you feel afraid of something. Say the second statement until you know it, and soon your trust in God will drive out all fear.

All of this will soon come to you, if you have been saying these true words every day. You will soon learn them, and have them ready for quick use.

You see you are to change your thought just as soon as it begins to believe in sickness, or fear, or dislike, or unhappiness--yes, right at the beginning, for then it will be easy to do so.

Really, the time to change wrong thinking to right thinking is before you begin to feel dis-ease. You must heal yourself before you entertain negative thoughts.

This is what you do when you repeat the true words we have given you in the Spiritual Treatment. Repeat them thoroughly, earnestly, believing in them with all your heart. Say, “I am always loving, for that is the only kind of Spirit I am. I am always healthy, for that is the only kind of Substance I am. I am always happy and strong and well, for that is the only kind of Life I am.” Do you not see that joyfully declaring these true things every day, you will not be likely to think or feel different at any time?

You can say these same things of others, for they are made of the same Spirit that you are. Thus, you can go about “doing good,” by seeing good everywhere, just as Jesus did.