Part 15 (2/2)
fection, and by no means the medium of imperfection.
Immortal man is the eternal idea of Truth, that cannot lapse into a mortal belief or error concerning himself and his origin: he cannot get out of the focal distance of infinity. If G.o.d is upright and eternal, man as His like- [15]
ness is erect in goodness and perpetual in Life, Truth, and Love. If the great cause is perfect, its effect is per- fect also; and cause and effect in Science are immutable and immortal. A mortal who is sinning, sick, and dying, is not immortal man; and never was, and never can be, [20]
G.o.d's image and likeness, the true ideal of immortal man's divine Principle. The spiritual man is that per- fect and unfallen likeness, coexistent and coeternal with G.o.d. ”As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” [25]
_What course should Christian Scientists take in regard_ _to aiding persons brought before the courts for violation of_ _medical statutes?_
Beware of joining any medical league which in any way obligates you to a.s.sist-because they chance to be [30]
under arrest-vendors of patent pills, mesmerists,
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occultists, sellers of impure literature, and authors of [1]
spurious works on mental healing. By rendering error such a service, you lose much more than can be gained by mere unity on the single issue of opposition to unjust medical laws. [5]
A league which obligates its members to give money and influence in support and defense of medical char- latans in general, and possibly to aid individual rights in a wrong direction-which Christian Science eschews -should be avoided. Anybody and everybody, who [10]
will fight the medical faculty, can join this league. It is better to be friendly with cultured and conscientious medical men, who leave Christian Science to rise or fall on its own merit or demerit, than to affiliate with a wrong cla.s.s of people. [15]
Unconst.i.tutional and unjust coercive legislation and laws, infringing individual rights, must be ”of few days, and full of trouble.” The _vox populi_, through the provi- dence of G.o.d, promotes and impels all true reform; and, at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injus- [20]
tice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Govern- ment. G.o.d reigns, and will ”turn and overturn” until right is found supreme.
In a certain sense, we should commiserate the lot of regular doctors, who, in successive generations for cen- [25]
turies, have planted and sown and reaped in the fields of what they deem pathology, hygiene, and therapeutics, but are now elbowed by a new school of pract.i.tioners, outdoing the healing of the old. The old will not patronize the new school, at least not until it shall come to understand [30]
the medical system of the new.
Christian Science Mind-healing rests demonstrably on
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the broad and sure foundation of Science; and this is [1]
not the basis of _materia medica_, as some of the most skil- ful and scholarly physicians openly admit.
To prevent all unpleasant and unchristian action-as we drift, by right of G.o.d's dear love, into more spiritual [5]
lines of life-let each society of pract.i.tioners, the matter- physicians and the metaphysicians, agree to disagree, and then patiently wait on G.o.d to decide, as surely He will, which is the true system of medicine.
_Do we not see in the commonly accepted teachings of the_ [10]
_day, the Christ-idea mingled with the teachings of John_ _the Baptist? or, rather, Are not the last eighteen centuries_ _but the footsteps of Truth being baptized of John, and com-_ _ing up straightway out of the ceremonial (or ritualistic)_ _waters to receive the benediction of an honored Father, and_ [15]
_afterwards to go up into the wilderness, in order to over-_ _come mortal sense, before it shall go forth into all the cities_ _and towns of Judea, or see many of the people from beyond_ _Jordan? Now, if all this be a fair or correct view of this_ _question, why does not John hear this voice, or see the_ [20]
_dove,-or has not Truth yet reached the sh.o.r.e?_
Every individual character, like the individual John the Baptist, at some date must cry in the desert of earthly joy; and his voice be heard divinely and humanly. In the desolation of human understanding, [25]
divine Love hears and answers the human call for help; and the voice of Truth utters the divine verities of being which deliver mortals out of the depths of ignorance and vice. This _is_ the Father's benediction. It gives lessons to human life, guides the understanding, peoples [30]
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the mind with spiritual ideas, reconstructs the Judean [1]
religion, and reveals G.o.d and man as the Principle and idea of all good.
Understanding this fact in Christian Science, brings the peace symbolized by a dove; and this peace floweth [5]
as a river into a sh.o.r.eless eternity. He who knew the foretelling Truth, beheld the forthcoming Truth, as it came up out of the baptism of Spirit, to enlighten and redeem mortals. Such Christians as John cognize the symbols of G.o.d, reach the sure foundations of time, stand [10]
upon the sh.o.r.e of eternity, and grasp and gather-in all glory-what eye hath not seen.
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