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REPORT of Wednesday evening meeting, June 16, 1915.______________________
There are two propositions that all reasonable people accept. The first is that the Great Mind, when it designed the universe and man, made provision for man’s sustenance. The second is, that the man, for whom this sustenance is provided, must partake of it of his own free will.
We have many illustrations of this providing by the
parent for its offspring, among the insects. The ordinary grub lays
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its egg, and provides food for the larva when it comes forth; and that larva has to eat. If it should say, "Well, I don't see anything to eat; I don't know the law of eating,"—would it ever get any
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food? You see at once that it would not.
Now this law of the provision by the Creative Kind for man, is true not only in a physical sense, but in a mental, or if you will, a spiritual sense; and that is where we in our present viewpoint, have failed to take advantage of it. Those who have gone deeper into the original condition of man, tell us that his creation in the Garden of Eden, was what might be termed spiritual* That is, his body and all his surroundings, were free from any material limitations. The air that he breathed, he could see; and the thoughts that he expressed, he could see. He could see the substance in which he worked. And every thought that he had was a delight. Every sensation was a pleasure. He was thrilled by the activity of the
great Universal Substance*—as we sometimes in our high moments,
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feel the thrill of music, or of oratory, or of other uplifting thoughts.
Now, in our original creation, we lived in Paradise,— in that worId in which every thought found its perfect expression.
But we did not know just how our thinking would work out, and getting great pleasure out of thinking and living, we began to live for the pleasure. We wanted to feel the thrill and the ecstasy and the uplift, but we did not study how it was brought about. Gradually, we kept getting farther and farther away from the original source, which was in Spirit, in Mind, that is, God. Yet this spiritual Mind kept telling us,—"This all comes from Me, and you must look to Me.
Do not look to the effect. Do not listen to that adversary.” Be-
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cause he knew another state of consciousness begins to be built up in your creative mind, as you look away from the Source; but man did not listen to the Lord. He began to eat of, or appropriate the sensation, and pretty soon, there was a settling down process in the whole planet, and he began to separate from the free state in which he had existed. Like a lot of heavily-loaded birds, man began to sink down to what we call the Earth. tfe began to say, "Why, things are solid, aren’t they?” And our bodies, instead of floating right out on the air, settled down on the Earth, and there was a solidification went on, for millions of years, perhaps. They found the body of a man in Kansas the other day, which they said had been there for fifty million years. Yes. So you see we have been here quite a little time. And it has taken us quite a long time to make this
material condition in which we find ourselves to-day.
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We have
reached the limit; we reached it a good many thousands of years ago, so the Spirit has shown me, and we are on the upgrade now. We have found that we are not material beings. We did not come from a
material basis. We came from a spiritual consciousness. We breathe
in this universal substance. By looking into our own bodies, we set
this substance free. All science tells us that everything, really,
is in a state of activity or flux.
The motor ears that go by my home make such a trembling
as they go down the hill, that the windows rattle. /That causes that?
Why, it is because there is a sympathetic relation between the free
cells that make up the soil, and the house. Everything really is
one, d on11 you know? nothing is solid. As we apprehend that, as
we begin to lay hold with our minds of the truth of that proposition,
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it becomes more and more apparent to us, and pretty soon, we see that this provision that God made for us, was in the mind. ' It was a mental provision* We have been looking for God’s provision out in substance. We have said, ”He provides natural resources:	we
can sow seed in the grou nd, and get a crop. He provides trees, and the fruit comes in its season, and all that sort of thing.” But I believe there is an error in that. There is a more direct provision, and we find it, when we get back to the original proposition, in the mind.
We are provided for like those insects,—everything that we need,—everything is provided. It is in the mind. This brings us to the matter of thinking in order to have. We must accept that
everything has been provided for us. And we must appropriate it.
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Instead of trying to take it with our hands, or eat it in substance, we must take it in our minds, and eat it with our minds, and we must know that there is an "All-sufficiency in all things," as Paul said.
Now, when Paul wrote to those Corinthians, he told them about the law of giving. There v/as a famine in Jerusalem, and he was taking up a collection for the Christians living in Jerusalem.
He told the Corinthians that they must give; that if they expected to receive, they must give. And he told them how they must give.
He said, "You must give,"—it is translated, "cheerfully",—but in the original, it says, "You must give hilariously." You must give as one who gives, and does not count the value. Give with the greatest kind of freedom. Give cheerfully. More than cheerfully. Give so freely that you do not miss it at all. Do not think of it as A
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gift. He said also, "He that soweth grudgingly, or sparingly, shall reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully, shall reap bountifully. And having all-sufficiency in all things, you shall abound in every good work." H
He brought that in, showing that he saw how God had provided for man. All-sufficiency in all things. Did you ever think about that proposition? That "all things" has something to do with the provision of God.
People like to start in on this science, just where they are at. (That is the way we take it in Missouri.) They like to make God provide for them in their particular situation in life, you might say. If they have been used to diamonds, and automobiles, and beefsteaks, and all that sort of thing, they want God to provide for all tioct those things. That i,^_their all-sufficiency
Well, God does not always do it just that way. He is going to provide for you an all-sufficiency of all things that are necessary for you. There are conditions in this provision of God. We have gone into false ways. We think that we need a great many things that we do not need. Suppose the larva as it comes to consciousness, should find the honey there in the honeycomb, but it
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should say, "Well, I don’t like honey; I want beef steak. I won't eat honey."	Would it survive? You say. Ho, it would have to take
the thing that is provided. God has provided for man an all-sufficiency of just the right kind of things. Those people that want God to provide for them in a certain abundance, those things that they have been in the habit of having,—those people will have to become
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simpler, probably, in their demands. God does provide abundantly for everything that you need, but I do not believe that be provides diamonds for everybody. Because there would not be enough to go around. I do not believe that he provides food for everybody, that would not be good for them. They want to use the law to get hold of those things on their own account. They have artificial needs.
They do not know what is good for them* They do not know how to provide for themselves sometimes. They would know that, though, if they understood the law better.
I read a story the other day of William Penn, who was riding in Philadelphia. And a lady sitting opposite to him, shivered,
and said how cold it was.- He said, "Yes, but if thee had another
breastpin on, thee would be warm." So people try to keep themselves
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comfortable with things that are not fitted to the comfort of the body. I believe that this all-sufficiency of God's provision, is in right relation to the needs, and in asking God to provide for us, if we take the stand that God knows what we need, there will be a change in the whole man. We will find that we do not need a great lot of things, but we need just the right kind of things. I do not know what the man will become, but I do know that things will be fitted to his case. You will be shown that you need to change your desires in certain directions. Perhaps you are wearing too many clothes. 1 do not know. Some people have an excess of clothes. They do not know how to clothe themselves. They do not know how to eat. Under this divine law of God's providing, I think there will
be an adjustment all along the line.
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Then, 3hould we not ask for divine wisdom? In everything ask for wisdom* And then your provision will be in divine order; and your needs will be met in divine order, and everything will come to you that you require.
This is a wonderful law, but it is a tr^e law, and those who have applied it, have found that it. works out* If you begin to think seriously about this Everywhere-present Substance of God, and to receive it through your mind, it is there. The Lord was wiser, and more careful of men than the bee is of his larva, and He has made a greater provision.
He has provided for us a twelve-fold food. You were answering questions a few moments ago, as to which is the greatest
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gift. I do not know that we can say that one is greater than another. The gifts of life, love, wisdom, must surely go together. We could not exist in mere life. We must have the other gifts to go with it. Life is hut a vibratory energy, and we must have wisdom to direct love, and so with all the gifts. The fact is, that man has twelve great powers. Twelve fundamental underlying activities which he can use; and he must have them all at work in divine harmony, all equalized, before he can be an all-round man. We must not set any one gift above another. Take all the provision God has given you, and oi-en your minds to it all. And then having opened your mind,
begin appropriating.
This appropriation is so many-sided, that we cannot lay down a law, and say that one certain thought will bring you
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prosperity. Some certain thought may work in a certain direction. You may think of God as your resource, and do away with some limited idea, and begin to be prosperous along that line. But it is not true prosperity until you are prosperous along all lines,—until every department of your being is prospered. Jesus Christ said that when you gave in Spirit, you should not receive just a mere equivalent for your gift, but you should receive bountifully,— heaped-up, pressed down, shaken together, and running over measure, should men give into your bosom.
How men do not give that way. They do not give a dime for a nickel: that is not the rule. I think I have told you of a man who was so careful of his nickels, he would not give one away, unless
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he was sure it would come back the next day, leading a dime b$> the hand. That is not the law of man, nor the law of anything except God. But when you give this wonderful truth to man, and tell about it, and tell how God has provided bountifully, don’t you know, those words begin to come back. I am careful how I say anything about lack. I am careful how I neglect talking about plenty. That is why, about once a month, we must have our prosperity meeting. We must talk about prosperity in these meetings. If we let go of our prosperity thought, the old worldly thought of lack, and poverty, and hard times, will come in on you. Every loophole you have in your mind will be filled in, just as if somebody was putting in blocks to
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fill the loose places in your mind, with thoughts like this,—"I think I wonTt get as much as I expected out of that.” Or, "People are not paying their bills.” Say, "Yes, they are." Preach it, talk it right out. Say, "How prosperous I am." You are talking about the absolute truth, and you will stimulate this Universal Substance, and you will begin, through this thought, to take hold of the All-sufficiency in all things, made for you to appropriate.
That is what we are here for to-night. Let us talk about prosperity, and with our minds, reach out and eat it up. You eat with your mind.This eating of food is only a temporary condition. But when you eat with your mind, you get a lasting food. This is eternal life. You lay hold of the real life, that of God, and
you appropriate something that is continuous.	It goes through you,
and takes up activity in your whole organism.	I-t is continuous* -16-
'.Vhen you take into your mind such thoughts as these,—
I am supplied in all ways; God meets every need,—you begin to appropriate it, you begin to take out of the universal substance, and work up in your own mind, and your own body, the universal life. The food you eat agrees with you better. People who are always wanting something, are never really satisfied when they eat.	Did
you ever have that experience, of being hungry all the time?	It
is because you have not got the right kind of thoughts. You are grasping for something in your own mind. Stop and say, I am satisfied now. I realize perfect satisfaction in my thought and in my body. And that desire for something more to eat will gradually adjust itself.
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We are here to-night to talk about God's supply, to tell each other how the Lord has provided for us, and for a little time now., let everybody testify. Everybody here has had a demonstration since last Wednesday,—a financial demonstration of some kind,—a substance demonstration* Because it is not always the thing; it ia the knowledge that has come to you in the way of substance.
A man gave me a new necktie the other day- 7/asn't that a good demonstration? I can remember well, in the early part of my work, I didn’t know very well how to demonstrate, and my clothes got shiny. I wore the same clothes, I think, for about three years.
A friend said to me one day, "I have a coat put away in my closet at home, a nice Prince Albert coat, and you can have it. I don't
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use it." I was a little proud then. I had always bought my own clothes, and it was pretty hard for me to accept another man’s clothes.	But I said, "I will take that coat," and he sent it
around.	That was the best coat I ever had! It lasted for years.
I don't know but I have it now,—no, I gave it away. I believe in passing things on. If I have an old coat, or a new one, that someone needs, I believe in giving it away
Don't be too proud to take other people's clothes, for they sometimes fit you firstclass.
A lady told me the other day that she found ten cents in the street. That was a demonstration. God provided that for her. Count your blessings.
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(After waiting a little, the Speaker resumed:)
I have had so many this week, that I don’t believe I can count them.	But here is one. A lady away off in California
sent me a letter, and said:—"I read one of your articles on time, --on the idea of doing away with time. ^ am getting to an age when it is necessary for me to do away with time. That article helped me. Enclosed find check for $50.00." See how saying the word comes back? I told her there was not any such thing as time. Some people might laugh at that. She found truth in it.
I will say to you,—Don't talk about your age, or about time, or the passing years. The years do not pass. We pass.
We have yet a few minutes. I have talked quite a long time, and you will have to be hasty.
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Mr. PENN:	I	started	down	town	on	Sunday	afternoon,
with my daughter Dorothy. There were signs up, announcing the play of Little Lord Pauntleroy. The youngster wanted to go, and we could not see the way clear to letting her go. We told her we would put it in God's hands, and the next day, we had tickets sent us for Little Lord Pauntleroy, from a source that we had not expected. And the source didn’t know that we wanted them, or that Mrs. Penn's little girl wanted to go.
Mrs. HARMON:	I	have	had many demonstrations of late
of the All-providing Substance. I will mention two.
To-day I was taken off my feet by a wonderful thing that was done for me:	a	piano	was	sent	to me, free of all charge, for
three months. And that of course, means my living.
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Several weeks ago, I was called up, and asked how I was getting along. I was feeling pretty doleful, because I had only ten cents to my name. If any of you have been down that far, with no way apparently of getting any money, you know what it feels like. Especially when you feel as if you wanted to eat.	So I said, "I
am as badly off as I can be.	I have just ten cents to my name. ITm
feeling pretty badly used."
My friend said, "Oh dear, I am so sorry." And she began to tell me doleful things. In the midst of it, I said to myself, "Aren’t you ashamed to have started anything like this?"
I asked pardon, and I said, "Well, I have ten cents anyhow." Then I recalled that I had some potatoes and milk, and I thought I would
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make some potato soup, and call in the lady that lived with me to have some potato soup.
Just about that time the phone rang. The lady I lived with had been down town, and she called up, and said, "How are you?"
I said, "Fine and dandy I Come home and have some potato soup."	She
said, "I am at the grocery store. What 3hall I bring for supper?"
She brought fruit and salad, and we had a wonderful feast. Hot only that, but she is in this understanding, and we went into the silence, and thanked God for our many blessings. And we had a blessing indeed.
Mr. BREDEMAN:	Not	very long ago, I was under the im-
pression that I needed a suit of clothes. A party called me up, and said he had a new 3uit of clothes that did not fit him, and hi3 tailor
would be glad to alter it for me, and fit me up. I had a realiza-tion, just before that, that the clothes I needed, were coming to me. I considered that a great demonstration, for he made me a present of a thirty-five dollar suit of clothes.
The SPEAKER:	Small beginnings increase so rapidly.
I am reminded of the story of the man who got down to where they did not have anything to eat in the house, nor any work. He went out in the yard, and took up a handful of pebbles. And he went to a woman, and said, "Madame, would you let me have a little water to boil these stones in?"	She said, "What do you want to boil those
stones for?” He said he wanted to make some soup. She said she could let him have some onions and potatoes to go with them. And
she gave him some onions and potatoes. Then he went to the next house, and did the same thing, and before noon, he had two basketfuls of stuff.
Miss CRYSTAL:	I have had some demonstrations in the
past week. I have trusted the Spirit to provide things for me, and I have thought, 'Be still, the Spirit can work it for me', and I kept trusting, and things all came around right.
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