will ever be, till we learn that there
        is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay
        "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall
5:12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run-
        ning over."

        Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always
5:15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup.
        Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God
        pours the riches of His love into the understanding and
5:18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin-
        ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther,
        the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin
5:21 through suffering.

Cancellation of human sin

        Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin.
        Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven
5:24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and
        Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is
        cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying,
5:27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin
        because he fancies himself forgiven.

Diabolism destroyed

        An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to
5:30 "destroy the /works/ of the devil." We should
        follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de-
        struction of all evil works, error and disease included.
6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip-
        tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us."

Pardon and amendment

6:3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
        pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the
        sinner. God is not separate from the wis-
6:6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we
        must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work
        badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition
6:9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and
        that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.

        To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means
6:12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin
        will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be-
        lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach
6:15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand
        the divine Principle of being.

Mercy without partiality

        "God is Love." More than this we cannot ask,
6:18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
        suppose that God forgives or punishes sin
        according as His mercy is sought or un-
6:21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
        the safety-valve for wrong-doing.

Divine severity

        Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it
6:24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound
        her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of-
        fence unto me." He came teaching and
6:27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
        He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down."

        It is believed by many that a certain magistrate,
6:30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His
        rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas-
        ter confirms this description.

7:1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was,
        "Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence
7:3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found
        in his own words,- showing the necessity for such
        forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed
7:6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de-
        prives material sense of its false claims.

Audible praying

        Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary
7:9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro-
        duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply
        into these things, we find that "a zeal . . .
7:12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac-
        tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and
        wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo-
7:15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of
        applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.

Emotional utterances

        Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec-
7:18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided
        men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo-
        ments a higher experience and a better life
7:21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self-
        satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes
        a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di-
7:24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing
        and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is
        always known and by whom it will be supplied.

Danger from audible prayer

7:27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp-
        tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut-
        tering desires which are not real and consoling
7:30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection
        that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for-
        giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.

8:1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self-
        justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite.
8:3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but
        there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi-
        cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to
8:6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond
        with their character. They hold secret fellowship with
        sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like
8:9 unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."

Aspiration and love

        If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful,
        is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the
8:12 comment upon him? If he reached the
        loftiness of his prayer, there would be no
        occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu-
8:15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,-
        this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive
        ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered