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him; they could not behold his immortal being in the [1]
form of G.o.dlikeness.
All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good, flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my faith in the right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the [5]
proportion that their instructions are a.s.similated, will point the way, shorten the process, and consummate the joys of acquiescence in the methods of divine Love. The Scripture saith, "He that covereth his sins shall not pros- per." No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni- [10]
ties which G.o.d giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can be destroyed.
May my friends and my enemies so profit by these waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined [15]
another"s way may perfect their own lives by gentle benedictions. In every age, the pioneer reformer must pa.s.s through a baptism of fire. But the faithful adher- ents of Truth have gone on rejoicing. Christian Science gives a fearless wing and firm foundation. These are [20]
its inspiring tones from the lips of our Master, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He is but "an hireling" who fleeth when he [25]
seeth the wolf coming.
Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer: the night is far spent, the day dawns; G.o.d"s universal kingdom will appear, Love will reign in every heart, and _His_ will be done on earth as in heaven. [30]
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"Put Up Thy Sword"
While Jesus" life was full of Love, and a demonstra- tion of Love, it appeared hate to the carnal mind, or mortal thought, of his time. He said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send [5]
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in- law. And a man"s foes shall be they of his own house- hold." [10]
This action of Jesus was stimulated by the same Love that closed-to the senses-that wondrous life, and that summed up its demonstration in the command, "Put up thy sword." The very conflict his Truth brought, in accomplishing its purpose of Love, meant, all [15]
the way through, "Put up thy sword;" but the sword must have been drawn before it could be returned into the scabbard.
My students need to search the Scriptures and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to understand [20]
the personal Jesus" labor in the flesh for their salvation: they need to do this even to understand my works, their motives, aims, and tendency.
The att.i.tude of mortal mind in being healed morally, is the same as its att.i.tude physically. The Christian [25]
Scientist cannot heal the sick, and take error along with Truth, either in the recognition or approbation of it.
This would prevent the possibility of destroying the tares: they must be separated from the wheat before they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour [30]
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and the final destruction of error through this very pro- [1]
cess,-the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal mind is to go from one extreme to another: Truth comes into the intermediate s.p.a.ce, saying, "I wound to heal; I punish to reform; I do it all in love; my peace I leave [5]
with thee: not as the world giveth, give I unto thee.
Arise, let us go hence; let us depart from the material sense of G.o.d"s ways and means, and gain a spiritual understanding of them."
But let us not seek to climb up some other way, as we [10]
shall do if we take the end for the beginning or start from wrong motives. Christian Science demands order and truth. To abide by these we must first understand the Principle and object of our work, and be clear that it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we [15]
shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap- pointment, and not according to the infantile concep- tion of our way; as when a child in sleep walks on the summit of the roof of the house because he is a som- nambulist, and thinks he is where he is not, and would [20]
fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he was doing.
My students are at the beginning of their demonstra- tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use [25]
the sword of Spirit.
They cannot in the beginning take the att.i.tude, nor adopt the words, that Jesus used at the _end_ of his demonstration.
If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try [30]
to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment
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must be used in your application of his words and infer- [1]
ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat with error. There _remaineth_, it is true, a Sabbath rest for the people of G.o.d; but we must first have done our work, and entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give [5]
example.
Scientific Theism
In the May number of our _Journal_, there appeared a review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism,"
by Phare Pleigh. [10]
Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than "hands off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying on of hands," as well. Whatever his _nom de plume_ means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one [15]
in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a big protest against injustice; but, the best may be mistaken.
One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat, which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end [20]
of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty or a happy hit at idealism, to ill.u.s.trate the author"s fol- lowing point?-
"When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither [25]
laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a _phenomenon without a noumenon_ may succeed, but not before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without a cat." [30]
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True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in [1]
logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso- phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con- ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than [5]
Spirit; hence that the universe of G.o.d is spiritual,-even the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle, with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in quality and quant.i.ty.
The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this: that [10]
matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe- nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat- ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things is unchanged, and that nature is const.i.tuted of and by [15]
Spirit.
Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con- taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup- positional unity and personality, produce matter,-a [20]
third quality unlike G.o.d. Again, that matter is both cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good,- and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a [25]
kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation.
The nature of G.o.d must change in order to become matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter must _dis_appear, for Spirit to appear. To the material [30]
sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense
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