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still waters," ponder this lesson of love. Learn its pur- [1]
pose;and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the spirit of my life-purpose,-to impress humanity with the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian [5]
Science.
CHAPTER VIII. PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT
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"Thy Will Be Done"
This is the law of Truth to error, "Thou shalt surely die." This law is a divine energy. Mortals cannot prevent the fulfilment of this law; it covers all sin and its effects. G.o.d is All, and by virtue of this nature and [5]
allness He is cognizant only of good. Like a legislative bill that governs millions of mortals whom the legislators know not, the universal law of G.o.d has no knowledge of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and governs it. [10]
Mortals have only to submit to the law of G.o.d, come into sympathy with it, and to let His will be done. This unbroken motion of the law of divine Love gives, to the weary and heavy-laden, rest. But who is willing to do His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own [15]
wills, and so disobey the divine order.
All states and stages of human error are met and mastered by divine Truth"s negativing error in the way of G.o.d"s appointing. Those "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." His rod brings to view His love, and inter- [20]
prets to mortals the gospel of healing. David said, "Be- fore I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word." He who knows the end from the be-
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ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and [1]
remedies.
Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga- tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach G.o.d not to punish sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets, [5]
and cry, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace,"-yea, that healest the wounds of my people slightly?
The Principle of divine Science being Love, the divine rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own [10]
physics. Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more dangerous pleasures.
Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv- [15]
ion nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose Life is G.o.d, for G.o.d neither slumbers nor sleeps. The loss of gustatory enjoyment and the ills of indigestion tend to rebuke appet.i.te and destroy the peace of a false sense. False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no [20]
right to be at peace. To suffer for having "other G.o.ds before me," is divinely wise. Evil pa.s.sions die in their own flames, but are punished before extinguished. Peace has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be concealed and that life and happiness should still attend [25]
it. Joy is self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are one: suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master of evil.
To this scientific logic and the logic of events, egotism and false charity say, " "Not so, Lord;" it is wise to [30]
cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have peace." Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of
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error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its [1]
disguises, and-behold the result: evil, uncovered, is self-destroyed.
Christian Science never healed a patient without prov- ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found [5]
out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself. Do men whine over a nest of serpents, and post around it placards warning people not to stir up these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said, "They shall take up serpents;" and, "Be ye therefore [10]
wise as serpents and harmless as doves." The wisdom of a serpent is to hide itself. The wisdom of G.o.d, as revealed in Christian Science, brings the serpent out of its hole, handles it, and takes away its sting. Good deeds are harmless. He who has faith in woman"s special adapt- [15]
ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked when she puts her foot on the head of the serpent, as it biteth at the heel.
Intemperance begets a belief of disordered brains, membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves [20]
to uncover and kill this lurking serpent, intemperance, that hides itself under the false pretense of human need, innocent enjoyment, and a medical prescription. The belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and [25]
thus may save him from his destroyer.
Charity has the courage of conviction; it may suffer long, but has neither the cowardice nor the foolhardiness to cover iniquity. Charity is Love; and Love opens the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out. [30]
Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not
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lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform [1]
them.
Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor- tals to handle serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision [5]
must be clear to open the eyes of others, else the blind will lead the blind and both shall fall. The sickly charity that supplies criminals with bouquets has been dealt with summarily by the good judgment of people in the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, cla.s.s legisla- [10]
tion, and Salem witchcraft, are not indigenous to her soil.
"Out of the depths have I delivered thee." The drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave is unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his [15]
peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because you wish to save him from death. Then, if a criminal is at peace, is he not to be pitied and brought back to life? Or, are you afraid to do this lest he suffer, trample on your pearls of thought, and turn on you and rend you? [20]
Cowardice is selfishness. When one protects himself at his neighbor"s cost, let him remember, "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it." He risks nothing who obeys the law of G.o.d, and shall find the Life that cannot be lost. [25]
Our Master said, "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup."
Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with G.o.d. He drank this cup giving thanks, and he said to his followers, "Drink ye all of it,"-drink it all, and let all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer,-"Thy [30]
kingdom come." Shall we repeat our Lord"s Prayer when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and
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to fulfil the conditions of our pet.i.tion? Human policy [1]
is a fool that saith in his heart, "No G.o.d"-a caressing Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This G.o.d- less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is obtained. [5]
Jesus did his work, and left his glorious career for our example. On the sh.o.r.e of Gennesaret he tersely re- minded his students of their worldly policy. They had suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas- [10]
ter and cast their nets on the right side. When they were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means ought to silence ours. One step away from the direct line of divine Science cost them-what? A speedy re- [15]
turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre- quited toil.
The currents of human nature rush in against the right course; health, happiness, and life flow not into one of their channels. The law of Love saith, "Not my will, [20]
but Thine, be done," and Christian Science proves that human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white Christ, is the remunerator.
If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a wrong direction, who will step forward and open his [25]
eyes to see this error? He who _is_ a Christian Scientist, who has cast the beam out of his own eye, speaks plainly to the offender and tries to show his errors to him before letting another know it.
Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting [30]
form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis- ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of