Part 16 (2/2)
G.o.d is recognized as the divine Principle of his being, and of every thought and act leading to good. His pur- pose must be right, though his power is temporarily lim- [10]
ited. Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual, for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in Science: ”Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” [15]
The last degree of regeneration rises into the rest of perpetual, spiritual, individual existence. The first feeble fluttering of mortals Christward are infantile and more or less imperfect. The new-born Christian Scientist must mature, and work out his own salvation. [20]
Spirit and flesh antagonize. Temptation, that mist of mortal mind which seems to be matter and the environ- ment of mortals, suggests pleasure and pain in matter; and, so long as this temptation lasts, the warfare is not ended and the mortal is not regenerated. The pleas- [25]
ures-more than the pains-of sense, r.e.t.a.r.d regenera- tion; for pain compels human consciousness to escape from sense into the immortality and harmony of Soul.
Disease in error, more than ease in it, tends to destroy error: the sick often are thereby led to Christ, Truth, [30]
and to learn their way out of both sickness and sin.
[Page 86.]
The material and physical are imperfect. The in- [1]
dividual and spiritual are perfect; these have no fleshly nature. This final degree of regeneration is saving, and the Christian will, must, attain it; but it doth not yet appear. Until this be attained, the Christian Scientist [5]
must continue to strive with sickness, sin, and death- though in lessening degrees-and manifest growth at every experience.
_Is it correct to say of material objects, that they are noth-_ _ing and exist only in imagination?_ [10]
_Nothing_ and _something_ are words which need correct definition. They either mean formations of indefinite and vague human opinions, or scientific cla.s.sifications of the unreal and the real. My sense of the beauty of the universe is, that beauty typifies holiness, and is some- [15]
thing to be desired. Earth is more spiritually beautiful to my gaze now than when it was more earthly to the eyes of Eve. The pleasant sensations of human belief, of form and color, must be spiritualized, until we gain the glorified sense of substance as in the new heaven and [20]
earth, the harmony of body and Mind.
Even the human conception of beauty, grandeur, and utility is something that defies a sneer. It is more than imagination. It is next to divine beauty and the gran- deur of Spirit. It lives with our earth-life, and is [25]
the subjective state of high thoughts. The atmos- phere of mortal mind const.i.tutes our mortal envi- ronment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell, const.i.tutes their present earth and heaven: but we must grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings [30]
to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall
[Page 87.]
soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue tem- [1]
poral sky.
To take all earth's beauty into one gulp of vacuity and label beauty nothing, is ignorantly to caricature G.o.d's creation, which is unjust to human sense and [5]
to the divine realism. In our immature sense of spirit- ual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous universe: ”I love your promise; and shall know, some time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light, and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and [10]
knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail con- ception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the immortal Mind.”
_Please inform us through your Journal; if you sent_ [15]
_Mrs. -- to --. She said that you sent her there to look_ _after the students; and also, that no one there was working_ _in Science,-which is certainly a mistake._
I never commission any one to teach students of mine.
After cla.s.s teaching, he does best in the investigation of [20]
Christian Science who is most reliant on himself and G.o.d. My students are taught the divine Principle and rules of the Science of Mind-healing. What they need thereafter is to study thoroughly the Scriptures and ”Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” To [25]
watch and pray, to be honest, earnest, loving, and truth- ful, is indispensable to the demonstration of the truth they have been taught.
If they are haunted by obsequious helpers, who, un- called for, imagine they can help anybody and steady [30]
G.o.d's altar-this interference prolongs the struggle
[Page 88.]
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