Part 15 (1/2)
thought,-and must proceed from G.o.d; hence it must [1]
be sinless, and dest.i.tute of self-created or derived capacity to sin.
_Third:_ Jesus said, ”If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” This statement of our Master [5]
is true, and remains to be demonstrated; for it is the ultimatum of Christian Science; but this immortal saying can never be tested or proven true upon a false premise, such as the mortal belief that soul is in body, and life and intelligence are in matter. That doctrine is not [10]
theism, but pantheism. According to human belief the bodies of mortals are mortal, but they contain immortal souls! hence these bodies must die for these souls to escape and be immortal. The theory that death must occur, to set a human soul free from its environments, [15]
is rendered void by Jesus' divine declaration, who spake as never man spake,-and no man can rationally reject his authority on this subject and accept it on other topics less important.
Now, exchange the term _soul_ for _sense_ whenever this [20]
word means the so-called soul in the body, and you will find the right meaning indicated. The misnamed human soul is material sense, which sinneth and shall die; for it is an error or false sense of mentality in matter, and matter has no sense. You will admit that Soul is the [25]
Life of man. Now if Soul sinned, it would die; for ”the wages of sin is death.” The Scripture saith, ”When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The Science of Soul, Spirit, involves this appearing, and is essential to the fulfilment [30]
of this glorious prophecy of the master Metaphysician, who overcame the last enemy, death.
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_Did the salvation of the eunuch depend merely on his_ [1]
_believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of G.o.d?_
It did; but this believing was more than faith in the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Here the verb _believe_ took its original meaning, namely, to be _firm_,-yea, to [5]
_understand_ those great truths a.s.serted of the Messiah: it meant to discern and consent to that infinite demand made upon the eunuch in those few words of the apostle.
Philip's requirement was, that he should not only ac- knowledge the incarnation,-G.o.d made manifest through [10]
man,-but even the eternal unity of man and G.o.d, as the divine Principle and spiritual idea; which is the in- dissoluble bond of union, the power and presence, in divine Science, of Life, Truth, and Love, to support their ideal man. This is the Father's great Love that He [15]
hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless Life and one eternal round of harmonious being. It guides him by Truth that knows no error, and with supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love. To _believe_ is to _be firm_. In adopting all this vast idea of [20]
Christ Jesus, the eunuch was to _know_ in whom he be- lieved. To _believe_ thus was to enter the spiritual sanctuary of Truth, and there learn, in divine Science, somewhat of the All-Father-Mother G.o.d. It was to understand G.o.d and man: it was sternly to rebuke the mortal [25]
belief that man has fallen away from his first estate; that man, made in G.o.d's own likeness, and reflecting Truth, could fall into mortal error; or, that man is the father of man. It was to enter unshod the Holy of Holies, where the miracle of grace appears, and where the miracles of [30]
Jesus had their birth,-healing the sick, casting out evils, and resurrecting the human _sense_ to the belief
[Page 78.]
that Life, G.o.d, is not buried in matter. This is the spirit- [1]
ual dawn of the Messiah, and the overture of the angels. This is when G.o.d is made manifest in the flesh, and thus it destroys all sense of sin, sickness, and death,-when the brightness of His glory encompa.s.seth [5]
all being.
_Can Christian Science Mind-healing be taught to those_ _who are absent?_
The Science of Mind-healing can no more be taught thus, than can science in any other direction. I know [10]
not how to teach either Euclid or the Science of Mind silently; and never dreamed that either of these partook of the nature of occultism, magic, alchemy, or necro- mancy. These ”ways that are vain” are the inventions of animal magnetism, which would deceive, if possible, [15]
the very elect. We will charitably hope, however, that some people employ the _et cetera_ of ignorance and self- conceit unconsciously, in their witless ventilation of false statements and claims. Misguiding the public mind and taking its money in exchange for this abuse, has become [20]
too common: we will hope it is the froth of error pa.s.sing off; and that Christian Science will some time appear all the clearer for the purification of the public thought con- cerning it.
_Has man fallen from a state of perfection?_ [25]
If G.o.d is the Principle of man (and He is), man is the idea of G.o.d; and this idea cannot fail to express the ex- act nature of its Principle,-any more than goodness, to present the quality of good. Human hypotheses are always human vagaries, formulated views antagonistic [30]
[Page 79.]
to the divine order and the nature of Deity. All these [1]
mortal beliefs will be purged and dissolved in the cru- cible of Truth, and the places once knowing them will know them no more forever, having been swept clean by the winds of history. The grand verities of Science [5]
will sift the chaff from the wheat, until it is clear to hu- man comprehension that man was, and is, G.o.d's perfect likeness, that reflects all whereby we can know G.o.d. In Him we live, move, and have being. Man's origin and existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of per- [10]