Part 63 (2/2)
The Supreme Bench decides in favor of intelligence, that no law outside of divine Mind can punish or reward Mortal 441:27 Man. Your personal jurors in the Court of Error are myths. Your attorney, False Belief, is an impostor, per- suading Mortal Minds to return a verdict contrary to law 441:30 and gospel. The plaintiff, Personal Sense, is recorded in our Book of books as a liar. Our great Teacher of mental jurisprudence speaks of him also as ”a murderer from the 441:33 beginning.” We have no trials for sickness before the tri- 442:1 bunal of divine Spirit. There, Man is adjudged innocent of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such 442:3 laws. Our statute is spiritual, our Government is divine.
”Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Divine verdict
The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a 442:6 verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience- chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty. Then the prisoner rose up regenerated, strong, free.
442:9 We noticed, as he shook hands with his counsel, Chris- tian Science, that all sallowness and debility had dis- appeared. His form was erect and commanding, his 442:12 countenance beaming with health and happiness. Divine Love had cast out fear. Mortal Man, no longer sick and in prison, walked forth, his feet ”beautiful upon the 442:15 mountains,” as of one ”that bringeth good tidings.”
Christ the great physician
Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters into the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot 442:18 be reversed, but the reverse of error is true.
An improved belief cannot retrograde. When Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into 442:21 a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understand- ing, and sin, disease, and death disappear. Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the ma- 442:24 terial, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually. St. Paul says, ”Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:” Jesus 442:27 said, ”Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” This truth is Christian Science.
442:30 Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
CHAPTER XIII - TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. - PROVERBS.
Study of medicine
443:1 WHEN the discoverer of Christian Science is con- sulted by her followers as to the propriety, advan- 443:3 tage, and consistency of systematic medical study, she tries to show them that under ordi- nary circ.u.mstances a resort to faith in corporeal means 443:6 tends to deter those, who make such a compromise, from entire confidence in omnipotent Mind as really possessing all power. While a course of medical study is at times 443:9 severely condemned by some Scientists, she feels, as she always has felt, that all are privileged to work out their own salvation according to their light, and that our motto 443:12 should be the Master's counsel, ”Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
Failure's lessons
If patients fail to experience the healing power of 443:15 Christian Science, and think they can be benefited by certain ordinary physical methods of medical treatment, then the Mind-physician should 443:18 give up such cases, and leave invalids free to resort to whatever other systems they fancy will afford relief.
Thus such invalids may learn the value of the apostolic 443:21 precept: ”Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” If the sick find these material expedients 444:1 unsatisfactory, and they receive no help from them, these very failures may open their blind eyes. In some way, 444:3 sooner or later, all must rise superior to materiality, and suffering is oft the divine agent in this elevation. ”All things work together for good to them that love G.o.d,” is 444:6 the dictum of Scripture.
Refuge and strength
If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from other Scientists, - their brethren upon whom they may 444:9 call, - G.o.d will still guide them into the right use of temporary and eternal means. Step by step will those who trust Him find that ”G.o.d is our refuge 444:12 and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Charity to those opposed
Students are advised by the author to be charitable and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion 444:15 and medicine, but to those who hold these dif- fering opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing the way through Christ, as we understand it, 444:18 but let us also be careful always to ”judge righteous judg- ment,” and never to condemn rashly. ”Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
444:21 That is, Fear not that he will smite thee again for thy for- bearance. If ecclesiastical sects or medical schools turn a deaf ear to the teachings of Christian Science, then part 444:24 from these opponents as did Abraham when he parted from Lot, and say in thy heart: ”Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between My herd- 444:27 men and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” Immortals, or G.o.d's children in divine Science, are one harmonious family; but mortals, or the ”children of men” in material 444:30 sense, are discordant and ofttimes false brethren.
Conforming to explicit rules
The teacher must make clear to students the Science of healing, especially its ethics, - that all is Mind, and 445:1 that the Scientist must conform to G.o.d's requirements.
Also the teacher must thoroughly fit his students to defend 445:3 themselves against sin, and to guard against the attacks of the would-be _mental a.s.sa.s.sin_, who attempts to kill morally and physically. No 445:6 hypothesis as to the existence of another power should interpose a doubt or fear to hinder the demonstration of Christian Science. Unfold the latent energies and capac- 445:9 ities for good in your pupil. Teach the great possibilities of man endued with divine Science. Teach the dangerous possibility of dwarfing the spiritual understanding and 445:12 demonstration of Truth by sin, or by recourse to material means for healing. Teach the meekness and might of life ”hid with Christ in G.o.d,” and there will be no desire for 445:15 other healing methods. You render the divine law of healing obscure and void, when you weigh the human in the scale with the divine, or limit in any direction of 445:18 thought the omnipresence and omnipotence of G.o.d.
Divine energy
Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and ill.u.s.trates the unlabored motion 445:21 of the divine energy in healing the sick. Self- seeking, envy, pa.s.sion, pride, hatred, and revenge are cast out by the divine Mind which heals 445:24 disease. The human will which maketh and worketh a lie, hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to health, and is the cause of disease rather than its cure.
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