Part 33 (2/2)
Higher law ends bondage
227:3 I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error, and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mor- tals are taught their right to freedom, so the 227:6 claims of the enslaving senses must be de- nied and superseded. The law of the divine Mind must end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware 227:9 of man's inalienable rights and in subjection to hope- less slavery, because some public teachers permit an ignorance of divine power, - an ignorance that 227:12 is the foundation of continued bondage and of human suffering.
Native freedom
Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to fore- 227:15 see the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legiti- mate state of man. G.o.d made man free.
Paul said, ”I was free born.” All men should 227:18 be free. ”Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib- erty.” Love and Truth make free, but evil and error lead into captivity.
Standard of liberty
227:21 Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and cries: ”Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sick- ness, sin, and death!” Jesus marked out the 227:24 way. Citizens of the world, accept the ”glori- ous liberty of the children of G.o.d,” and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not 227:27 divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and de- faced the tablet of your being.
227:30 If G.o.d had inst.i.tuted material laws to govern man, disobedience to which would have made man ill, Jesus would not have disregarded those laws by healing in 228:1 direct opposition to them and in defiance of all material conditions.
No fleshly heredity
228:3 The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncra- sies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact of being were learned, - namely, that nothing 228:6 inharmonious can enter being, for Life _is_ G.o.d.
Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin the- ories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the 228:9 right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear.
G.o.d-given dominion
The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will 228:12 cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his G.o.d-given dominion over the material senses.
Mortals will some day a.s.sert their freedom in 228:15 the name of Almighty G.o.d. Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.
Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize har- 228:18 mony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material unreality.
If we follow the command of our Master, ”Take no 228:21 thought for your life,” we shall never depend on bodily conditions, structure, or economy, but we shall be masters of the body, dictate its terms, and form and control it with 228:24 Truth.
Priestly pride humbled
There is no power apart from G.o.d. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dis- 228:27 honor G.o.d. The humble Nazarene overthrew the supposition that sin, sickness, and death have power. He proved them powerless. It should have 228:30 humbled the pride of the priests, when they saw the dem- onstration of Christianity excel the influence of their dead faith and ceremonies.
229:1 If Mind is not the master of sin, sickness, and death, they are immortal, for it is already proved that mat- 229:3 ter has not destroyed them, but is their basis and support.
No union of opposites
We should hesitate to say that Jehovah sins or suffers; 229:6 but if sin and suffering are realities of being, whence did they emanate? G.o.d made all that was made, and Mind signifies G.o.d, - infinity, not finity.
229:9 Not far removed from infidelity is the belief which unites such opposites as sickness and health, holiness and unholiness, calls both the offspring of spirit, and 229:12 at the same time admits that Spirit is G.o.d, - vir- tually declaring Him good in one instance and evil in another.
Self-const.i.tuted law
229:15 By universal consent, mortal belief has const.i.tuted itself a law to bind mortals to sickness, sin, and death.
This customary belief is misnamed material 229:18 law, and the individual who upholds it is mis- taken in theory and in practice. The so-called law of mortal mind, conjectural and speculative, is made void 229:21 by the law of immortal Mind, and false law should be trampled under foot.
Sickness from mortal mind
If G.o.d causes man to be sick, sickness must be good, 229:24 and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He makes is good and will stand forever. If the transgression of G.o.d's law produces sickness, it 229:27 is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom. It is the transgression of a belief of mortal mind, not of a law of 229:30 matter nor of divine Mind, which causes the belief of sick- ness. The remedy is Truth, not matter, - the truth that disease is _unreal_.
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