Part 5 (2/2)

35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira- tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com- mended to his followers.

Final purpose

35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re- form him, the good man's heaven would be a h.e.l.l to 36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of 36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after 36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with G.o.d's govern- 36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his 36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John, the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly 36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly- 36:18 minded.

Righteous retribution

A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un- limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as 36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for sinners to receive their full punishment this side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right- 36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven, 36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock- ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.

Vicarious suffering

36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf- fering of the just for the unjust. Can G.o.d therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de- 37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They 37:3 who sin must suffer. ”With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

Martyrs inevitable

History is full of records of suffering. ”The blood of 37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.

37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi- naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of 37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.

Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated 37:15 by lookers-on.

Complete emulation

When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate him in _all_ his ways and to imitate his mighty works?

37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May 37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im- port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow 37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon- stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris- tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in 37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com- mands: ”Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!” ”Go ye into all the world, 37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!” ”_Heal the sick_!”

Jesus' teaching belittled

Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration 38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are a.s.sured that this command was intended only for a par- 38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol- lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a 38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are d.a.m.ned; and so it will be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of 38:9 divine Science.

Jesus said: ”These signs shall follow them that be- lieve; ... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they 38:12 shall recover.” Who believes him? He was addressing his disciples, yet he did not say, ”These signs shall follow _you_,” but _them_- ”them that believe” in all time to come.

38:15 Here the word _hands_ is used metaphorically, as in the text, ”The right hand of the Lord is exalted.” It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have 38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe ”through their word.”

Material pleasures

38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo- ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ, 38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the 38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati- fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un- 38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its healing power.

Mockery of truth

39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog- nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol- 39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last triumph. He won eternal honors. He over- came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving 39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. We need ”Christ, and him cruci- fied.” We must have trials and self-denials, as well as 39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.

A belief suicidal

The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone 39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.

The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.

39:15 He was ”the way.” To him, therefore, death was not the threshold over which he must pa.s.s into living glory.

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