Part 39 (2/2)
man has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire to sin.
To arrive at this point of unity of Spirit, G.o.d, one must commence by turning away from material G.o.ds; denying [5]
material so-called laws and material sensation,-or mind in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain. This must be done with the understanding that matter has no sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words [10]
of Jesus: ”When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own.” (John viii. 44.)
When tempted to sin, we should know that evil pro- ceedeth not from G.o.d, good, but is a false belief of the personal senses; and if we deny the claims of these senses [15]
and recognize man as governed by G.o.d, Spirit, not by material laws, the temptation will disappear.
On this Principle, disease also is treated and healed.
We know that man's body, as matter, has no power to govern itself; and a belief of disease is as much the prod- [20]
uct of mortal thought as sin is. All suffering is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of _both_ good and evil; of adherence to the ”doubleminded” senses, to some belief, fear, theory, or bad deed, based on physical material law, so-called as opposed to good,-all of which is corrected [25]
alone by Science, divine Principle, and its spiritual laws.
Suffering is the supposition of another intelligence than G.o.d; a belief in self-existent evil, opposed to good; and in whatever seems to punish man for doing good,- by saying he has overworked, suffered from inclement [30]
weather, or violated a law of matter in doing good, there- fore he must suffer for it.
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G.o.d does not reward benevolence and love with pen- [1]
alties; and because of this, we have the right to deny the supposed power of matter to do it, and to allege that only mortal, erring mind can claim to do thus, and dignify the result with the name of law: thence comes man's ability [5]
to annul his own erring mental law, and to hold himself amenable only to moral and spiritual law,-G.o.d's gov- ernment. By so doing, male and female come into their rightful heritage, ”into the glorious liberty of the children of G.o.d.” [10]
_Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,_ _in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake._-2 COR.
xii. 10.
The miracles recorded in the Scriptures ill.u.s.trate the life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the [15]
hatred of the rabbis. The rulers sought the life of Jesus; they would extinguish whatever denied and defied their superst.i.tion. We learn somewhat of the qualities of the divine Mind through the human Jesus. The power of his transcendent goodness is manifest in the control it [20]
gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mor- tals name matter.
The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under- [25]
standing that all substance, Life, and intelligence are G.o.d. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are neither supernatural nor preternatural; for G.o.d is good, and goodness is more natural than evil. The marvellous healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of Chris- [30]
tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era.
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It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the [1]
mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan- taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man, and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as the better representatives of G.o.d than sin, disease, and [5]
death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo- tence to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All- in-all, matter was palpably an error of premise and conclusion, while G.o.d was the only substance, Life, and intelligence of man. [10]
The apostle Paul insists on the rare rule in Christian Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is sus- ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and state of human existence. The divine Science of this rule is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man- [15]
kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for the sole reason that it is their basis. The foundational facts of Christian Science are gathered from the supremacy of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma- terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with [20]
the sweet sincerity of the apostle, ”I take pleasure in infirmities,”-I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and all suffering of the flesh, _because_ it compels me to seek the remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per- sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul's well-tried hope [25]
met no obstacle or circ.u.mstances paramount to the tri- umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good, involved in its divine Principle, G.o.d: the so-called pains and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and sub- [30]
dued it with this understanding.
The abstract statement that all is Mind, supports the
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