const.i.tuted belief of the Jews as referred to by St. Paul.
Their material belief has fallen far below man"s original standard, the spiritual man made in the image and like- ness of G.o.d; for this erring belief even separates its conception of man from G.o.d, and ultimates in the opposite [10]
of _im_mortal man, namely, in a sick and sinning mortal.
We learn in the Scriptures, as in divine Science, that G.o.d made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother of man; that G.o.d is divine Love: therefore divine Love [15]
is the divine Principle of the divine idea named man; in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man.
Now let us not lose this Science of man, but gain it clearly; then we shall see that man cannot be separated from his perfect Principle, G.o.d, inasmuch as an idea cannot [20]
be torn apart from its fundamental basis. This scien- tific knowledge affords self-evident proof of immortality; proof, also, that the Principle of man cannot produce a less perfect man than it produced in the beginning. A material sense of existence is not the scientific fact of [25]
being; whereas, the spiritual sense of G.o.d and His universe is the immortal and true sense of being.
As the apostle proceeds in this line of thought, he undoubtedly refers to the last Adam represented by the Messias, whose demonstration of G.o.d restored to mortals [30]
the lost sense of man"s perfection, even the sense of the real man in G.o.d"s likeness, who restored this sense by
[Page 187.]
the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body,- [1]
casting out evils, _healing the sick_, and raising the dead.
The man Jesus demonstrated over sin, sickness, disease, and death. The great Metaphysician wrought, over and above every sense of matter, into the proper sense of the [5]
possibilities of Spirit. He established health and har- mony, the perfection of mind and body, as the reality of man; while discord, as seen in disease and death, was to him the opposite of man, hence the unreality; even as in Science a chord is manifestly the reality of music, and [10]
discord the unreality. This rule of harmony must be ac- cepted as true relative to man.
The translators of the older Scriptures presuppose a material man to be the first man, solely because their transcribing thoughts were not lifted to the inspired sense [15]
of the spiritual man, as set forth in original Holy Writ.
Had both writers and translators in that age fully com- prehended the later teachings and demonstrations of our human and divine Master, the Old Testament might have been as spiritual as the New. [20]
The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and that one is G.o.d,-Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are G.o.d; and man is their reflection and glory. Did the substance of G.o.d, Spirit, become a clod, in order to create a sick, sinning, dying man? The [25]
primal facts of being are eternal; they are never extin- guished in a night of discord.
That man must be evil before he can be good; dying, before deathless; material, before spiritual; sick and a sinner in order to be healed and saved, is but the declara- [30]
tion of the material senses transcribed by pagan religion- ists, by wicked mortals such as crucified our Master,-
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whose teachings opposed the doctrines of Christ that [1]
demonstrated the opposite, Truth.
Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever, as when the stars first sang together, and creation joined in the grand chorus of harmonious being. It is the trans- lator, not the original Word, who presents as being first [5]
that which appears second, material, and mortal; and as last, that which is primal, spiritual, and eternal. Be- cause of human misstatement and misconception of G.o.d and man, of the divine Principle and idea of being, there [10]
seems to be a war between the flesh and Spirit, a contest between Truth and error; but the apostle says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." [15]
On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses; thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense; and right there he leaves the subject.
Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where [20]
the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian Science. And she has _not_ left it, but continues the ex- planation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, its allness. The recognition of this power came to her through a spiritual sense of the real, and of the unreal [25]
or mortal sense of things; not that there is, or can be, an actual change in the realities of being, but that we can discern more of them. At the moment of her discovery, she knew that the last Adam, namely, the true likeness of G.o.d, was the first, the only man. [30]
This knowledge did become to her "a quickening spirit;" for she beheld the meaning of those words
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of our Master, "The last shall be first, and the first [1]
last."
When, as little children, we are receptive, become willing to accept the divine Principle and rule of being, as unfolded in divine Science, the interpretation therein will be found to be the Comforter that leadeth into all truth. [5]
The meek Nazarene"s steadfast and true knowledge of preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of G.o.d and man,-made him mighty. Spiritual insight of [10]
Truth and Love antidotes and destroys the errors of flesh, and brings to light the true reflection: man as G.o.d"s image, or "the first man," for Christ plainly declared, through Jesus, "Before Abraham was, I am."
The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into [15]
matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false sense of existence, and the quickening spirit takes it away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and per- fection of a released sense of Life in G.o.d and Life _as_ G.o.d. The Scriptures declare Life to be the infinite I [20]
AM,-not a dweller in matter. For man to know Life as it is, namely G.o.d, the eternal good, gives him not merely a sense of existence, but an accompanying con- sciousness of spiritual power that subordinates matter and destroys sin, disease, and death. This, Jesus demon- [25]
strated; insomuch that St. Matthew wrote, "The people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." This spiritual power, healing sin and sickness, was not con- fined to the first century; it extends to all time, inhabits [30]
eternity, and demonstrates Life without beginning or end.
[Page 190.]
Atomic action is Mind, not matter. It is neither the [1]
energy of matter, the result of organization, nor the out- come of life infused into matter: it is infinite Spirit, Truth, Life, defiant of error or matter. Divine Science demon- strates Mind as dispelling a false sense and giving the [5]
true sense of itself, G.o.d, and the universe; wherein the mortal evolves not the immortal, nor does the material ultimate in the spiritual; wherein man is coexistent with Mind, and is the recognized reflection of infinite Life and Love. [10]
_And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to_ _pa.s.s, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake._-LUKE xi. 14.
The meaning of the term "devil" needs yet to be learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited and contradictory. When the Scripture is understood, [15]
the spiritual signification of its terms will be understood, and will contradict the interpretations that the senses give them; and these terms will be found to include the inspired meaning.
It could not have been a person that our great Master [20]
cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh ill. In this case it was the evil of dumbness, an error of material sense, cast out by the spiritual truth of being; namely, that speech belongs to Mind instead of matter, [25]
and the wrong power, or the lost sense, must yield to the right sense, and exist in Mind.
In the Hebrew, "devil" is denominated Abaddon; in the Greek, Apollyon, serpent, liar, the G.o.d of this world, etc. The apostle Paul refers to this personality of evil [30]
as "the G.o.d of this world;" and then defines this G.o.d
[Page 191.]
as "dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of G.o.d [1]
deceitfully." The Hebrew embodies the term "devil"
in another term, serpent,-which the senses are supposed to take in,-and then defines this serpent as "more subtle than all the beasts of the field." Subsequently, [5]
the ancients changed the meaning of the term, to their sense, and then the serpent became a symbol of wisdom.
The Scripture in John, sixth chapter and seventieth verse, refers to a wicked man as the devil: "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Accord- [10]
ing to the Scripture, if devil is an individuality, there is more than one devil. In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty- eighth verse, it reads: "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name." Here is an a.s.sertion indicating the existence of more than one devil; and by omitting the [15]
first letter, the name of his satanic majesty is found to be evils, apparent wrong traits, that Christ, Truth, casts out. By no possible interpretation can this pa.s.sage mean several individuals cast out of another individual no bigger than themselves. The term, being here em- [20]
ployed in its plural number, destroys all consistent sup- position of the existence of one personal devil. Again, our text refers to the devil as dumb; but the original devil was a great talker, and was supposed to have out- talked even Truth, and carried the question with Eve. [25]
Also, the original texts define him as an "accuser," a "calumniator," which would be impossible if he were speechless. These two opposite characters ascribed to him could only be possible as evil beliefs, as different phases of sin or disease made manifest. [30]
Let us obey St. Paul"s injunction to reject fables, and accept the Scriptures in their broader, more spiritual
[Page 192.]
and practical sense. When we speak of a good man, we [1]
do not mean that man is G.o.d because the Hebrew term for Deity was "good," and _vice versa_; so, when referring to a liar, we mean not that he is a personal devil, because the original text defines devil as a "liar." [5]