ent, full of good odor, and cause them to wait patiently on G.o.d for man"s rich heritage,-"dominion over all the earth"? Thus abiding in Truth, the warmth and sunlight of prayer and praise and understanding will ripen the fruits of Spirit, and goodness will have its spring- [10]
tide of freedom and greatness.
When the white-winged dove feeds her callow brood, nestles them under her wings, and, in tones tremulous with tenderness, calls them to her breast, do mortals remember _their_ cradle hymns, and thank G.o.d for those [15]
redemptive words from a mother"s lips which taught them the Lord"s Prayer?
O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour; Thou Love that guards the nestling"s faltering flight! [20]
Keep Thou my child on upward wing to-night.
Midst the falling leaves of old-time faiths, above the frozen crust of creed and dogma, the divine Mind-force, filling all s.p.a.ce and having all power, upheaves the earth.
In sacred solitude divine Science evolved nature as thought, [25]
and thought as things. This supreme potential Principle reigns in the realm of the real, and is "G.o.d with us,"
the I AM.
As mortals awake from their dream of material sen- sation, this adorable, all-inclusive G.o.d, and all earth"s [30]
hieroglyphics of Love, are understood; and infinite Mind
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is seen kindling the stars, rolling the worlds, reflecting [1]
all s.p.a.ce and Life,-but not life in matter. Wisely governing, informing the universe, this Mind is Truth,- not laws of matter. Infinitely just, merciful, and wise, this Mind is Love,-but not fallible love. [5]
Spring is here! and doors that closed on Christian Science in "the long winter of our discontent," are open flung. Its seedtime has come to enrich earth and en- robe man in righteousness; may its sober-suited autumn follow with hues of heaven, ripened sheaves, and harvest [10]
songs.
"Where Art Thou?"
In the allegory of Genesis, third chapter and ninth verse, two mortals, walking in the cool of the day midst the stately palms, many-hued blossoms, perfume-laden [15]
breezes, and crystal streams of the Orient, pondered the things of man and G.o.d.
A sense of evil is supposed to have spoken, been listened to, and afterwards to have formed an evil sense that blinded the eyes of reason, masked with deformity the [20]
glories of revelation, and shamed the face of mortals.
What was this sense? Error versus Truth: first, a supposition; second, a false belief; third, suffering; fourth, death.
Is man the supposer, false believer, sufferer? [25]
Not man, but a mortal-the antipode of immortal man. Supposing, false believing, suffering are not fac- ulties of Mind, but are qualities of error.
The supposition is, that G.o.d and His idea are not all- power; that there is something besides Him; that this [30]
[Page 333.]
something is intelligent matter; that sin-yea, self- [1]
hood-is apart from G.o.d, where pleasure and pain, good and evil, life and death, commingle, and are for- ever at strife; even that every ray of Truth, of infinity, omnipotence, omnipresence, goodness, could be absorbed [5]
in error! G.o.d cannot be obscured, and this renders error a palpable falsity, yea, nothingness; on the basis that black is not a color because it absorbs all the rays of light.
The "Alpha and Omega" of Christian Science voices [10]
this question: Where do we hold intelligence to be? Is it in both evil and good, in matter as well as Spirit?
If so, we are literally and practically denying that G.o.d, good, is supreme, _all_ power and presence, and are turn- ing away from the only living and true G.o.d, to "lords [15]
many and G.o.ds many."
Where art thou, O mortal! who turnest away from the divine source of being,-calling on matter to work out the problem of Mind, to aid in understanding and securing the sweet harmonies of Spirit that relate to the [20]
universe, including man?
Paul asked: "What communion hath light with dark- ness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?" The worshippers of Baal worshipped the sun. They believed that something besides G.o.d had authority and power, [25]
could heal and bless; that G.o.d wrought through matter -by means of that which does not reflect Him in a single quality or quant.i.ty!-the grand realities of Mind, thus to exemplify the power of Truth and Love.
The ancient Chaldee hung his destiny out upon the [30]
heavens; but ancient or modern Christians, instructed in divine Science, know that the prophet better understood
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Him who said: "He doeth according to His will in the [1]
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"
Astrology is well in its place, but this place is second- [5]
ary. Necromancy has no foundation,-in fact, no intelligence; and the belief that it has, deceives itself.
Whatever simulates power and Truth in matter, does this as a lie declaring itself, that mortals" faith in matter may have the effect of power; but when the whole fabrication [10]
is found to be a lie, away goes all its supposed power and prestige.
Why do Christian Scientists treat disease _as_ disease, since there is no disease?
This is done only as one gives the lie to a lie; because [15]
it is a lie, without one word of Truth in it. You must find error to be _nothing_: then, and _only_ then, do you handle it in Science. The diabolism of suppositional evil at work in the name of good, is a lie of the highest degree of nothingness: just reduce this falsity to its proper [20]
denomination, and you have done with it.
How shall we treat a negation, or error-by means of matter, or Mind? Is matter Truth? No! Then it cannot antidote error.
Can belief destroy belief? No: understanding is re- [25]
quired to do this. By the subst.i.tution of Truth demon- strated, Science remedies the ills of material beliefs.
Because I have uncovered evil, and dis-covered for you divine Science, which saith, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good," and you have not loved sufficiently to understand this Golden Rule and demonstrate the might of perfect Love that casteth out
[Page 335.]
all fear, shall you turn away from this divine Principle [1]
to graven images? Remember the Scripture:-
"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;"
"And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to [5]
eat and drink with the drunken;