the premises whereof are not to be found in the Scriptures.
The Master"s divine logic, as seen in our text, contradicts this inference,-these are his words: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." That per- fect syllogism of Jesus has but one correct premise and [20]
conclusion, and it cannot fall to the ground beneath the stroke of unskilled swordsmen. He who never unsheathed his blade to try the edge of truth in Christian Science, is unequal to the conflict, and unfit to judge in the case; the shepherd"s sling would slay this Goliath. I once be- [25]
lieved that the practice and teachings of Jesus relative to healing the sick, were spiritual abstractions, impractical and impossible to us; but deed, not creed, and practice more than theory, have given me a higher sense of Christianity. [30]
The "I" will go to the Father when meekness, purity, and love, informed by divine Science, the Comforter,
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lead to the one G.o.d: then the ego is found not in [1]
matter but in Mind, for there is but one G.o.d, one Mind; and man will then claim no mind apart from G.o.d.
Idolatry, the supposition of the existence of many minds and more than one G.o.d, has repeated itself in all manner [5]
of subtleties through the entire centuries, saying as in the beginning, "Believe in me, and I will make you as G.o.ds;" that is, I will give you a separate mind from G.o.d (good), named evil; and this so-called mind shall open your eyes and make you know evil, and thus become [10]
material, sensual, evil. But bear in mind that a serpent said that; therefore that saying came not from Mind, good, or Truth. G.o.d was not the author of it; hence the words of our Master: "He is a liar, and the father of it;"
also, the character of the votaries to "other G.o.ds" which [15]
sprung from it.
The sweet, sacred sense and permanence of man"s unity with his Maker, in Science, illumines our present existence with the ever-presence and power of G.o.d, good.
It opens wide the portals of salvation from sin, sickness, [20]
and death. When the Life that is G.o.d, good, shall ap- pear, "we shall be like Him;" we shall do the works of Christ, and, in the words of David, "the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner,"
because the "I" does go unto the Father, the ego does [25]
arise to spiritual recognition of being, and is exalted,- not through death, but Life, G.o.d understood.
_Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved._-ACTS xvi. 31.
The Scriptures require more than a simple admission [30]
and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they
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require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons [1]
into our lives that these truths become the motive-power of every act.
ur chosen text is one more frequently used than many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from sin [5]
and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import of this text is not yet recognized. It means a _full_ salva- tion,-man saved from sin, sickness, and death; for, unless this be so, no man can be wholly fitted for heaven in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers [10]
pursue.
In order to comprehend the meaning of the text, let us see what it is to believe. It means more than an opinion entertained concerning Jesus as a man, as the Son of G.o.d, or as G.o.d; such an action of mind would be of no more [15]
help to save from sin, than would a belief in any historical event or person. But it does mean so to understand the beauty of holiness, the character and divinity which Jesus presented in his power to heal and to save, that it will compel us to pattern after both; in other words, to "let [20]
this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
(Phil. ii. 5.)
Mortal man believes in, but does not understand life in, Christ. He believes there is another power or intelli- gence that rules over a kingdom of its own, that is both [25]
good and evil; yea, that is divided against itself, and there- fore cannot stand. This belief breaks the First Command- ment of G.o.d.
Let man abjure a theory that is in opposition to G.o.d, recognize G.o.d as omnipotent, having all-power; and, [30]
placing his trust in this grand Truth, and working from no other Principle, he can neither be sick nor forever a
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sinner. When wholly governed by the one perfect Mind, [1]
man has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire to sin.
To arrive at this point of unity of Spirit, G.o.d, one must commence by turning away from material G.o.ds; denying [5]
material so-called laws and material sensation,-or mind in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain. This must be done with the understanding that matter has no sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words [10]
of Jesus: "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own." (John viii. 44.)
When tempted to sin, we should know that evil pro- ceedeth not from G.o.d, good, but is a false belief of the personal senses; and if we deny the claims of these senses [15]
and recognize man as governed by G.o.d, Spirit, not by material laws, the temptation will disappear.
On this Principle, disease also is treated and healed.
We know that man"s body, as matter, has no power to govern itself; and a belief of disease is as much the prod- [20]
uct of mortal thought as sin is. All suffering is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of _both_ good and evil; of adherence to the "doubleminded" senses, to some belief, fear, theory, or bad deed, based on physical material law, so-called as opposed to good,-all of which is corrected [25]
alone by Science, divine Principle, and its spiritual laws.
Suffering is the supposition of another intelligence than G.o.d; a belief in self-existent evil, opposed to good; and in whatever seems to punish man for doing good,- by saying he has overworked, suffered from inclement [30]
weather, or violated a law of matter in doing good, there- fore he must suffer for it.
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G.o.d does not reward benevolence and love with pen- [1]
alties; and because of this, we have the right to deny the supposed power of matter to do it, and to allege that only mortal, erring mind can claim to do thus, and dignify the result with the name of law: thence comes man"s ability [5]
to annul his own erring mental law, and to hold himself amenable only to moral and spiritual law,-G.o.d"s gov- ernment. By so doing, male and female come into their rightful heritage, "into the glorious liberty of the children of G.o.d." [10]
_Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,_ _in persecutions, in distresses for Christ"s sake._-2 COR.
xii. 10.
The miracles recorded in the Scriptures ill.u.s.trate the life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the [15]
hatred of the rabbis. The rulers sought the life of Jesus; they would extinguish whatever denied and defied their superst.i.tion. We learn somewhat of the qualities of the divine Mind through the human Jesus. The power of his transcendent goodness is manifest in the control it [20]
gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mor- tals name matter.
The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under- [25]
standing that all substance, Life, and intelligence are G.o.d. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are neither supernatural nor preternatural; for G.o.d is good, and goodness is more natural than evil. The marvellous healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of Chris- [30]
tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era.
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It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the [1]
mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan- taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man, and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as the better representatives of G.o.d than sin, disease, and [5]
death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo- tence to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All- in-all, matter was palpably an error of premise and conclusion, while G.o.d was the only substance, Life, and intelligence of man. [10]
The apostle Paul insists on the rare rule in Christian Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is sus- ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and state of human existence. The divine Science of this rule is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man- [15]
kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for the sole reason that it is their basis. The foundational facts of Christian Science are gathered from the supremacy of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma- terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with [20]
the sweet sincerity of the apostle, "I take pleasure in infirmities,"-I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and all suffering of the flesh, _because_ it compels me to seek the remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per- sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul"s well-tried hope [25]
met no obstacle or circ.u.mstances paramount to the tri- umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good, involved in its divine Principle, G.o.d: the so-called pains and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and sub- [30]
dued it with this understanding.
The abstract statement that all is Mind, supports the
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