Chapter 4
the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor- tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith: In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down to earth. [5]
But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is indeed G.o.d; and this infinite Principle hath infinite [10]
claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human; and man's ability to meet them is from G.o.d; for, being His likeness and image, man must reflect the full dominion of Spirit-even its supremacy over sin, sick- ness, and death. [15]
Here, then, is the awakening from the dream of life in matter, to the great fact that _G.o.d is the only Life_; that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both G.o.d and man. We must learn that G.o.d is infinitely more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that [20]
G.o.d is a divine _Whole_, and _All_, an all-pervading in- telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun [25]
in Christian Science.
Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn- estly to contemplate this new-born spiritual alt.i.tude; for this statement demands demonstration.
Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite [30]
Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible con- flict between the flesh and Spirit. You stand before the
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awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the [1]
thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om- nipotent harmony and good, as opposed to any supposi- [5]
t.i.tious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes-lay aside your material appendages, human opinions and doc- trines, give up your more material religion with its rites [10]
and ceremonies, put off your _materia medica_ and hygiene as worse than useless-to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then, you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea that our great Master gave of the power of G.o.d to heal and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first [15]
time the divine Principle that redeems man from under the curse of materialism,-sin, disease, and death.
This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand- ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy of Spirit, and of man as His likeness, whereby man reflects [20]
the divine power to heal the sick.
A material or human birth is the appearing of a mor- tal, not the immortal man. This birth is more or less prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un- timely circ.u.mstances, the normal or abnormal material [25]
conditions attending it.
With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless, spiritual existence dawns on human thought,-through the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the peris.h.i.+ng pleasure and acc.u.mulating pains of sense,-by which [30]
one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of Spirit and spiritual man.
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The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit, [1]
develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man, and efface the mark of the beast. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and
come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law and gospel of Christ, Truth.
The prominent laws which forward birth in the divine order of Science, are these: "Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me;" "Love thy neighbor as thyself," [10]
These commands of infinite wisdom, translated into the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every G.o.d- quality, even in substance; thou shalt recognize thy- self as G.o.d's spiritual child only, and the true man [15]
and true woman, the all-harmonious "male and female,"
as of spiritual origin, G.o.d's reflection,-thus as chil- dren of one common Parent,-wherein and whereby Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and divine idea, even the divine "Us"-one in good, and [20]
good in One.
With this recognition man could never separate him- self from good, G.o.d; and he would necessarily entertain habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil [25]
thoughts, can we in belief separate one man's interests from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt to separate Life from G.o.d. This is the mistake that causes much that must be repented of and overcome.
Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that [30]
aught that G.o.d sends is unjust,-or that those whom He commissions bring to you at His demand that which
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is unjust,-is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking, [1]
evil speaking, covetousness, l.u.s.t, hatred, malice, are always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of G.o.d, and the obedience demanded of His servants in [5]
carrying out what He teaches them,-these are never unmerciful, never unwise.
The task of healing the sick is far lighter than that of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris- tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men [10]
to adopt them and bring them out in human lives. He who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the [15]
current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to G.o.d, its divine source.
But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit.
I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, [20]
one who abides by his statements and works upon as high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental malpract.i.tioner.
Between the centripetal and centrifugal mental forces [25]
of material and spiritual gravitations, we go into or we go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and its results. Which, then, shall be our choice,-the sin- ful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving, and eternal? [30]
The spiritual sense of Life and its grand pursuits is of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring. This
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sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of [1]
divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and physically,-exhaling the aroma of Jesus' own words, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." [5]
CHAPTER II. ONE CAUSE AND EFFECT.
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Christian Science begins with the First Com- [1]
mandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me." It goes on in perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John, [5]
who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves, beheld "a new heaven and a new earth,"-the spiritual universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony.
Our Master said, "The works that I do shall ye do also;" and, "The kingdom of G.o.d is within you." This [10]
makes practical all his words and works. As the ages advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen to depart from the trend of other Christian denomina- tions in no wise except by increase of spirituality.
My first plank in the platform of Christian Science [15]
is as follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for G.o.d is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is [20]
G.o.d, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."(1)
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I am strictly a theist-believe in one G.o.d, one Christ [1]
or Messiah.
Science is neither a law of matter nor of man. It is the unerring manifesto of Mind, the law of G.o.d, its divine Principle. Who dare say that matter or [5]
mortals can evolve Science? Whence, then, is it, if not from the divine source, and what, but the contempor- ary of Christianity, so far in advance of human knowl- edge that mortals must work for the discovery of even a portion of it? Christian Science translates Mind, G.o.d, [10]
to mortals. It is the infinite calculus defining the line, plane, s.p.a.ce, and fourth dimension of Spirit. It abso- lutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorp- tion, or annihilation of individuality. It shows the impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one [15]
individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve in G.o.d's...o...b..ts: they come from G.o.d and return to Him,-and untruths belong not to His creation, there- fore these are null and void. It hath no peer, no comp- pet.i.tor, for it dwelleth in Him besides whom "there is [20]