Chapter 16
_Is there infinite progression with man after the destruc-_ _tion of mortal mind?_
Man is the offspring and idea of the Supreme Being, [15]
whose law is perfect and infinite. In obedience to this law, man is forever unfolding the endless beat.i.tudes of Being; for he is the image and likeness of infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite [20]
mortals see and comprehend only as abstract glory. As mortal mind, or the material sense of life, is put off, the spiritual sense and Science of being is brought to light.
Mortal mind is a myth; the one Mind is immortal. [25]
A mythical or mortal sense of existence is consumed as a moth, in the treacherous glare of its own flame- the errors which devour it. Immortal Mind is G.o.d, immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith "we live, and move, and have our being." This Mind, then, is not [30]
subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine
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intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding [1]
man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss, as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good.
_In your book, Science and Health,_(_3_)_ page 181, you_ [5]
_say: __"__Every sin is the author of itself, and every_ _invalid the cause of his own sufferings.__"__ On page_ _182 you say: __"__Sickness is a growth of illusion, spring-_ _ing from a seed of thought,-either your own thought_ _or another's.__"__ Will you please explain this seeming_ [10]
_contradiction?_
No person can accept another's belief, except it be with the consent of his own belief. If the error which knocks at the door of your own thought originated in another's mind, you are a free moral agent to reject or [15]
to accept this error; hence, you are the arbiter of your own fate, and sin is the author of sin. In the words of our Master, you are "a liar, and the father of it [the lie]."
_Why did Jesus call himself __"__the Son of man__"__?_ [20]
In the life of our Lord, meekness was as conspicuous as might. In John xvii. he declared his sons.h.i.+p with G.o.d: "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." [25]
The hour had come for the avowal of this great truth, and for the proof of his eternal Life and sons.h.i.+p. Jesus'
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wisdom ofttimes was shown by his forbearing to speak, [1]
as well as by speaking, the whole truth. Haply he waited for a preparation of the human heart to receive start- ling announcements. This wisdom, which character- ized his sayings, did not prophesy his death, and thereby [5]
hasten or permit it.
The disciples and prophets thrust disputed points on minds unprepared for them. This cost them their lives, and the world's temporary esteem; but the prophecies were fulfilled, and their motives were rewarded by [10]
growth and more spiritual understanding, which dawns by degrees on mortals. The spiritual Christ was infal- lible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ. The "man of sorrows" knew that the man of joys, his spiritual self, or Christ, was the Son of G.o.d; and that the mor- [15]
tal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human manifestation of the Son of G.o.d was called the Son of man, or Mary's son.
_Please explain Paul's meaning in the text,
The Science of Life, overshadowing Paul's sense of life in matter, so far extinguished the latter as forever to quench his love for it. The discipline of the flesh is designed to turn one, like a weary traveller, to the home of Love. To lose error thus, is to live in Christ, Truth. [25]
A true sense of the falsity of material joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, takes them away, and teaches Life's lessons aright. The transition from our lower sense of Life to a new and higher sense thereof, even though it be through the door named death, yields a clearer and [30]
nearer sense of Life to those who have utilized the present,
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and are ripe for the harvest-home. To the battle- [1]
worn and weary Christian hero, Life eternal brings blessings.
_Is a Christian Scientist ever sick, and has he who is_ _sick been regenerated?_ [5]
The Christian Scientist learns spiritually all that he knows of Life, and demonstrates what he understands.
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.
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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
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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
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