Part 5 (1/2)
none other.”
That Christian Science is Christian, those who have demonstrated it, according to the rules of its divine Principle,-together with the sick, the lame, the deaf, and the blind, healed by it,-have proven to a waiting world. [25]
He who has not tested it, is incompetent to condemn it; and he who is a willing sinner, cannot demonstrate it.
A falling apple suggested to Newton more than the simple fact cognized by the senses, to which it seemed to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal [30]
cause, or Mind-force, invisible to material sense, lay concealed in the treasure-troves of Science. True,
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Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much; [1]
but Science, demanding more, pushes the question: Whence or what is the power back of gravitation,-the intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true?
Does mind ”sleep in the mineral, or dream in the [5]
animal, and wake in man”? Christianity answers this question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon- strated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves, obey this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake [10]
in creation, ”and it was done”? The answer is self- evident, and the command remains, ”Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me.”
It is plain that the Me spoken of in the First Com- mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris- [15]
tian's G.o.d, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even talk; and the serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf, lied. Reason and revelation declare that G.o.d is both noumenon and phenomena,-the first and only cause.
The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic [20]
action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust.
G.o.d, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one G.o.d, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris- tian Science means by the word _reflection_. G.o.d is seen [25]
only in that which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love- yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats precisely the looks and actions of the object in front of it.
All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to [30]
natural science, G.o.d, Spirit, could not change its species and evolve matter.
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These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and [1]
knowledge of them makes man spiritually minded. St.
Paul writes: ”For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” This knowl- edge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it [5]
to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned on the night of material sense. This knowledge is practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from an injury caused by an accident, and p.r.o.nounced fatal by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called [10]
for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact [15]
that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub- jective state which it names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit. _Per contra_, Mind and man [20]
are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense is illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it cannot be true. A knowledge of both good and evil (when good is G.o.d, and G.o.d is All) is impossible. Speak- ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: ”When he [25]
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” G.o.d warned man not to believe the talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing it. The Nazarene Prophet declared that his followers should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle falsi- [30]
ties or illusions, and thus destroy any supposed effect arising from false claims exercising their supposed power
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on the mind and body of man against his holiness and [1]
health.
That there is but one G.o.d or Life, one cause and one effect, is the _multum in parvo_ of Christian Science; and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity, [5]
the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of error, and that neither one really exists, since G.o.d is Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in its direct application to human needs, confirms this [10]
conclusion.
Science, understood, translates matter into Mind, rejects all other theories of causation, restores the spir- itual and original meaning of the Scriptures, and ex- plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is religion's [15]
”new tongue,” with ”signs following,” spoken of by St. Mark. It gives G.o.d's infinite meaning to mankind, healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the spirit- ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re- iterates the word, repeats the works, and manifests the [20]
spirit of Christ.