Part 37 (2/2)

[Page 187.]

the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body,- [1]

casting out evils, _healing the sick_, and raising the dead.

The man Jesus demonstrated over sin, sickness, disease, and death. The great Metaphysician wrought, over and above every sense of matter, into the proper sense of the [5]

possibilities of Spirit. He established health and har- mony, the perfection of mind and body, as the reality of man; while discord, as seen in disease and death, was to him the opposite of man, hence the unreality; even as in Science a chord is manifestly the reality of music, and [10]

discord the unreality. This rule of harmony must be ac- cepted as true relative to man.

The translators of the older Scriptures presuppose a material man to be the first man, solely because their transcribing thoughts were not lifted to the inspired sense [15]

of the spiritual man, as set forth in original Holy Writ.

Had both writers and translators in that age fully com- prehended the later teachings and demonstrations of our human and divine Master, the Old Testament might have been as spiritual as the New. [20]

The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and that one is G.o.d,-Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are G.o.d; and man is their reflection and glory. Did the substance of G.o.d, Spirit, become a clod, in order to create a sick, sinning, dying man? The [25]

primal facts of being are eternal; they are never extin- guished in a night of discord.

That man must be evil before he can be good; dying, before deathless; material, before spiritual; sick and a sinner in order to be healed and saved, is but the declara- [30]

tion of the material senses transcribed by pagan religion- ists, by wicked mortals such as crucified our Master,-

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whose teachings opposed the doctrines of Christ that [1]

demonstrated the opposite, Truth.

Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever, as when the stars first sang together, and creation joined in the grand chorus of harmonious being. It is the trans- lator, not the original Word, who presents as being first [5]

that which appears second, material, and mortal; and as last, that which is primal, spiritual, and eternal. Be- cause of human misstatement and misconception of G.o.d and man, of the divine Principle and idea of being, there [10]

seems to be a war between the flesh and Spirit, a contest between Truth and error; but the apostle says, ”There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” [15]

On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses; thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense; and right there he leaves the subject.

Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where [20]

the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian Science. And she has _not_ left it, but continues the ex- planation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, its allness. The recognition of this power came to her through a spiritual sense of the real, and of the unreal [25]

or mortal sense of things; not that there is, or can be, an actual change in the realities of being, but that we can discern more of them. At the moment of her discovery, she knew that the last Adam, namely, the true likeness of G.o.d, was the first, the only man. [30]

This knowledge did become to her ”a quickening spirit;” for she beheld the meaning of those words

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of our Master, ”The last shall be first, and the first [1]

last.”

When, as little children, we are receptive, become willing to accept the divine Principle and rule of being, as unfolded in divine Science, the interpretation therein will be found to be the Comforter that leadeth into all truth. [5]

The meek Nazarene's steadfast and true knowledge of preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of G.o.d and man,-made him mighty. Spiritual insight of [10]

Truth and Love antidotes and destroys the errors of flesh, and brings to light the true reflection: man as G.o.d's image, or ”the first man,” for Christ plainly declared, through Jesus, ”Before Abraham was, I am.”

The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into [15]

matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false sense of existence, and the quickening spirit takes it away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and per- fection of a released sense of Life in G.o.d and Life _as_ G.o.d. The Scriptures declare Life to be the infinite I [20]

AM,-not a dweller in matter. For man to know Life as it is, namely G.o.d, the eternal good, gives him not merely a sense of existence, but an accompanying con- sciousness of spiritual power that subordinates matter and destroys sin, disease, and death. This, Jesus demon- [25]

strated; insomuch that St. Matthew wrote, ”The people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” This spiritual power, healing sin and sickness, was not con- fined to the first century; it extends to all time, inhabits [30]

eternity, and demonstrates Life without beginning or end.

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