36. For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?

37. For what should a man give in exchange for his life?

38. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

1. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There are some here of them that stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.

GOLDEN TEXT-Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.-Matt. 16:16.

When the spiritual I Am (Jesus) comes into the consciousness of power and dominion (Cæsarea Philippi), the question arises, who am I in this faculty? In each faculty that the spiritual consciousness enters it takes on a different character, corresponding to the functions of that faculty. This is as it seems to the outer man only-to the Spirit it retains its distinctive character as the pure thought or Son of God-I Am. Power, dominion, mastery, has its center of action in the body in the throat, with its reserve force at the base of the brain or medulla. When man feels himself master his voice is strong and resonant, but when fear, doubt and inefficiency are in evidence, the voice is weak and thin.

From the viewpoint of personality, man has played many parts, and when he shows his supreme mastery in spiritual power the outer thoughts think he is the incarnation of some great personage of the past. These, however, are like the clothes a man has worn; they are past history, out of service, and a deeper insight must be evolved before he can see himself as he really is. Spiritual discernment is called the eye of faith, typified by Peter. It discerns that spiritual man is Christ, the Son, or Thought of the living God. This is the very truth, and it is the rock foundation of the real character of man. The "assembly" or "church" of Jesus Christ is the aggregation of faculties.

When man realizes that he is a spiritual being, the I Am gives to him through faith "the keys to the kingdom

of heaven," or Divine Order, and he has the power in his earthly tenement of binding and loosing, both the material and spiritual realms.

This knowledge of man's Christhood is not readily received by those in mortal consciousness; hence the command to "tell no man."

In order that spiritual man may be supreme in consciousness, mortal man must be crucified. This becomes clear to the inner consciousness as the universal character of the Christ man is revealed, hence the teaching of the necessity of a crucifixion of the man that appears to sense consciousness to have existence independent of God.

The disciples, or faculties of the mind, have been built up largely on the outer plane of consciousness, and they do not understand the necessity of the crucifixion of personality. Peter, especially, rebukes such a proposition, but the Supreme One recognizes his thought as a stumblingblock to that final giving up that precedes the transfiguration. Thus faith in the perpetuity of mortality is a stumbling-block to spiritual development. The loss of this personal life is the only way to find eternal life. The acceptance of this mighty truth takes away the consciousness of death, and reveals the Son of God coming into his kingdom here and now.

LESSON 8, November 24

THE TRANSFIGURATION.—Mark 9:2-13.

2. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them;

3. And his garments became glistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.

4. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

5. And Peter answereth and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

6. For he knew not what to answer; for they became sore afraid.

7. And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there

came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear ye him. 8. And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

9. And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead.

10. And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.

11. And they asked him, saying, How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?

12. And he said unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nought?

13. But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him.

GOLDEN TEXT-A voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye him. And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone.-Luke 9:35.

Matthew says that Jesus went up into a mountain to pray, and was there transfigured. Prayer always brings about an exalted or rapid radiation of mental energy, and when it is accompanied by Faith (Peter), Love (John) and Truth (James), there is such a lifting up of the soul that it electrifies the body; and the raiment (the aura surrounding the body) shines with glistening whiteness.

The appearance of Moses and Elijah represents the two processes through which this picture of the purified man is to be objectified or demonstrated in real life. The first is the Mosaic or evolutionary process of nature, through which there is a steady upward trend of all things. Spencer and Darwin observed this law, and their works are marvels of mental penetration. This evolutionary process is part of a spiritual plan for the redemption of the human race from its fallen state. The other is the ability of the prophet Elijah, or spiritual discerner of Truth, to make conditions rapidly change on the mental plane, to be in due season worked out in substance. Thus we are told in the lesson that Elijah must first come and restore all things.

The

mind must first be set right through spiritual understanding, after which comes the demonstration. Peter, proposing to erect three tabernacles, carries out this idea of a substance manifestation for each, but his ideas were vague as to the process, hence the accompanying voice out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son: hear ye him."

All that we see in our high moments, whether in visions or dreams, are mind pictures, and in the very nature of growth from thought to thing, they must come to visibility. But those who develop their mental powers can dissolve these thought forms and stop their growth, as easily as one crushes a seed in the ground. Thoughts can also be formed and planted in the universal mind-substance. This is what the Master reveals to his disciples, and they are endowed with discernment by the Higher Wisdom, or Son of God, as to how they shall both dissolve and form thoughts. Whoever works in this realm of thought, and is not obedient to the Divine Wisdom, is not safe.

To "tell no man what things they have seen until the Son of man is risen again from the dead," means that we shall not consider these mental pictures as real and talk about them as persons. They represent ideas which can only be understood when they are demonstrated in the risen man.

This process of the submerged Christ coming into life again in human consciousness is of deep metaphysical import, and the disciples are often in the dark as to the meaning of it all, and they question among themselves. But do not become involved in the doubts and fears of your faculties keep your eye on the Christ of God within, and you will understand åll that is written of the Son of man, and what experiences he passes through in demonstrating his Christ-power.

No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle, pure, and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.-Phillips Brooks.

THE FAMILY-HARMONY IN
THE HOME

Home is the Nursery of the Infinite.-Channing.

EDITED BY MYRTLE FILLMORE

THE STORY OF LOVIE

Chapter IV

DAWN

N the glow of the early twilight, while yet "the morning stars sang together," the feathered orchestra of the little wood was a-tune and joining in. To the slender figure standing with bared head, facing the dawning splendor of the unrisen sun, it was as if heaven and earth were uniting in one grand symphony of welcome to the coming day. So full of the beauty and harmony of the morning was the soul of Ned Day that it burst from his lips in a song of praise:

"Oh, blessed Light! Oh, blessed Life!

There is no discord in thy earth or heaven;

Thou art the endless harmony that runs through all.

Thou art the Songster and the song,

Thou art the Giver and the gift,

Thou art the Lover and the loved,

Thou art the Glory and the glorified,
Thou art the Knower and the known.
Thou art the One in all, the all-in-one
Thou art, and thou art God."

The morning held something more for Ned Day than the music of the spheres and the song of birds. He was about to be called to demonstrate the harmony and oneness his soul had realized-for out of the shadows had filed three grotesque little images of humanity and planted themselves where his eyes must fall upon them when he took them from the skies. A moment later and Ned Day faced his problem. Could he, would he, reconcile these