Part 41 (1/2)

274:27 Science and understanding, governed by the unerring and eternal Mind, destroy the imaginary copartners.h.i.+p, matter and mind, formed only to be destroyed in a manner and 274:30 at a period as yet unknown. This suppositional partner- s.h.i.+p is already obsolete, for matter, examined in the light of divine metaphysics, disappears.

Spirit the starting-point

275:1 Matter has no life to lose, and Spirit never dies. A partners.h.i.+p of mind with matter would ignore omnipres- 275:3 ent and omnipotent Mind. This shows that matter did not originate in G.o.d, Spirit, and is not eternal. Therefore matter is neither substantial, living, 275:6 nor intelligent. The starting-point of divine Science is that G.o.d, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind, - that G.o.d is Love, and therefore He 275:9 is divine Principle.

Divine synonyms

To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning G.o.d as the divine Principle 275:12 of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, combine as one, - and are the Scriptural names for G.o.d. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im- 275:15 mortality, cause, and effect belong to G.o.d. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His 275:18 wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good G.o.d bestows.

The divine completeness

Divine metaphysics, as revealed to spiritual understand- 275:21 ing, shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is G.o.d, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, - that is, all power, all presence, all Science.

275:24 Hence all is in reality the manifestation of Mind.

Our material human theories are dest.i.tute of Science.

The true understanding of G.o.d is spiritual. It robs the 275:27 grave of victory. It destroys the false evidence that mis- leads thought and points to other G.o.ds, or other so-called powers, such as matter, disease, sin, and death, superior 275:30 or contrary to the one Spirit.

Truth, spiritually discerned, is scientifically understood.

It casts out error and heals the sick.

Universal brotherhood

276:1 Having one G.o.d, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick, and fulfils these sayings of Scripture, ”I 276:3 am the Lord that healeth thee,” and ”I have found a ransom.” When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellows.h.i.+p, 276:6 in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, G.o.d, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: ”Let this Mind be in you, 276:9 which was also in Christ Jesus.” Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of G.o.d.

276:12 The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings objects and thoughts into human view in their true light, and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony 276:15 in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is unreal and mortal.

Perfection requisite

If G.o.d is admitted to be the only Mind and Life, 276:18 there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.

When we learn in Science how to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, 276:21 thought is turned into new and healthy channels, - towards the contemplation of things immortal and away from materiality to the Principle of the universe, includ- 276:24 ing harmonious man.

Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never mingle. The latter destroys the former. Discord is the 276:27 _nothingness_ named error. Harmony is the _somethingness_ named Truth.

Like evolving like

Nature and revelation inform us that like produces 276:30 like. Divine Science does not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles. Intelli- gence never produces non-intelligence; but matter is 277:1 ever non-intelligent and therefore cannot spring from intelligence. To all that is unlike unerring and eternal 277:3 Mind, this Mind saith, ”Thou shalt surely die;” and else- where the Scripture says that dust returns to dust. The non-intelligent relapses into its own unreality. Matter 277:6 never produces mind. The immortal never produces the mortal. Good cannot result in evil. As G.o.d Himself is good and is Spirit, goodness and spirituality must be im- 277:9 mortal. Their opposites, evil and matter, are mortal error, and error has no creator. If goodness and spirit- uality are real, evil and materiality are unreal and can- 277:12 not be the outcome of an infinite G.o.d, good.

Natural history presents vegetables and animals as preserving their original species, - like reproducing like.

277:15 A mineral is not produced by a vegetable nor the man by the brute. In reproduction, the order of genus and species is preserved throughout the entire round of nature.

277:18 This points to the spiritual truth and Science of being.

Error relies upon a reversal of this order, a.s.serts that Spirit produces matter and matter produces all the ills 277:21 of flesh, and therefore that good is the origin of evil.

These suppositions contradict even the order of material so-called science.

Material error

277:24 The realm of the real is Spirit. The unlikeness of Spirit is matter, and the opposite of the real is not divine, - it is a human concept. Matter is an error of state- 277:27 ment. This error in the premise leads to errors in the conclusion in every statement into which it enters.

Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immor- 277:30 tal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phe- nomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always erroneous.