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Thy throne is established of old
Thou art from everlasting. - PSALMS.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. - PAUL.
Inadequate theories of creation
1 ETERNAL Truth is changing the universe. As mor-
tals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought
3 expands into expression. "Let there be light,"
is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love,
changing chaos into order and discord into the
6 music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of
creation, anciently classified as the higher criticism, sprang
from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they
9 afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by
the divine Mind.
Finite views of Deity
Mortal man has made a covenant with his eyes to be-
12 little Deity with human conceptions. In league
with material sense, mortals take limited views
of all things. That God is corporeal or material, no man
15 should affirm.
The human form, or physical finiteness, cannot be
made the basis of any true idea of the infinite Godhead.
18 Eye hath not seen Spirit, nor hath ear heard His voice.
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No material creation
1 Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must
yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of ac-
3 tion, thought rises from the material sense to
the spiritual, from the scholastic to the in-
spirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All
6 things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the
creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and
Mother of the universe, including man.
Tritheism impossible
9 The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a per-
sonal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polythe-
ism, rather than the one ever-present I AM.
12 "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord."
No divine corporeality
The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed
within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can
15 He be understood aright through mortal con-
cepts. The precise form of God must be of
small importance in comparison with the sublime ques-
18 tion, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?
Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in
the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will
21 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him,
What doest Thou?"
24 No form nor physical combination is adequate to rep-
resent infinite Love. A finite and material sense of God
leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit of
27 Christianity.
Limitless Mind
A limitless Mind cannot proceed from physical limita-
tions. Finiteness cannot present the idea or the vast-
30 ness of infinity. A mind originating from a
finite or material source must be limited and
finite. Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the
PAGE 257
1 infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind. If
Mind is within and without all things, then all is Mind;
3 and this definition is scientific.
Matter is not substance
If matter, so-called, is substance, then Spirit, matter's
unlikeness, must be shadow; and shadow cannot produce
6 substance. The theory that Spirit is not the
only substance and creator is pantheistic het-
erodoxy, which ultimates in sickness, sin, and death; it is
9 the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind, a soul
governed by the body and a mind in matter. This be-
lief is shallow pantheism.
12 Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the sub-
stance of an idea is very far from being the supposed sub-
stance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind
15 is not the father of matter. The material senses and
human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into
material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic
18 God, instead of infinite Principle, - in other words, divine
Love, - is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the
drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his sea-
21 son," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."
Inexhaustible divine Love
Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus
proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the
24 antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life
or love sufficient to meet the demands of human
want and woe, - to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira-
27 tions? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form,
or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible
Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.
Infinite physique impossible
30 It would require an infinite form to contain infinite
Mind. Indeed, the phrase infinite form involves a con-
tradiction of terms. Finite man cannot be the image and
PAGE 258
1 likeness of the infinite God. A mortal, corporeal, or
finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of
3 limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence
the unsatisfied human craving for something
better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a
6 material belief in a physical God and man. The insuffi-
ciency of this belief to supply the true idea proves the
falsity of material belief.
Infinity's reflection
9 Man is more than a material form with a mind inside,
which must escape from its environments in
order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity,
12 and this reflection is the true idea of God.
God expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop-
ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from
15 a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in
the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as
the true divine image and likeness, than we know of
18 God.
The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea
and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses
21 have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea. The
human capacities are enlarged and perfected in propor-
tion as humanity gains the true conception of man and
24 God.
Individual permanency
Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual
man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him
27 belongs eternal Life. Never born and
never dying, it were impossible for man, under
the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his
30 high estate.
God's man discerned
Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of
divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the
PAGE 259
1 generic term man. Man is not absorbed in Deity, and
man cannot lose his individuality, for he re-
3 flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli-
tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all
substance.
6 In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The
divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who
threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted
9 their lives higher than their poor thought-models would
allow, - thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick,
sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of
12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin-
ciple and idea, - perfect God and perfect man, - as the
basis of thought and demonstration.
The divine image not lost
15 If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection,
then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image
of God. The lost image is no image. The
18 true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection.
Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye there-
fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
21 perfect."
Immortal models
Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms
its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works
24 spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter
never formed a human concept. Vibration is
not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal
27 ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by
the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects
error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine
30 concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious
results.
Deducing one's conclusions as to man from imperfec-
PAGE 260
1 tion instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the
true conception or understanding of man, and make him-
3 self like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from
an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form
and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character
6 of Judas.
Spiritual discovery
The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give
way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through
9 many generations human beliefs will be attain-
ing diviner conceptions, and the immortal and
perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as
12 the only true conception of being.
Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good,
and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already
15 done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness
desired and to bring out better and higher results, often
hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the
18 outset.
Requisite change of our ideals
Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve
their models. A sick body is evolved from
21 sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death
proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad
physical and moral conditions.
24 Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal
mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by
conversation about the body, and by the expectation of
27 perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education
is at the expense of spiritual growth. If we array
thought in mortal vestures, it must lose its immortal
30 nature.
Thoughts are things
If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for
Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit,
PAGE 261
1 we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.
Look away from the body into Truth and Love,
3 the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and
immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur-
ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these
6 into your experience proportionably to their occupancy
of your thoughts.
Unreality of pain
The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is
9 seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such
absorbed interest as to forget it, the body
experiences no pain. Under the strong im-
12 pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was
accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and
sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively
15 as the youngest member of the company. This old man
was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and
sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, - a signal
18 which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if
he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos-
session of his so-called senses.
Immutable identity of man
21 Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only
a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning
of God, or good, and the nature of the immu-
24 table and immortal. Breaking away from the
mutations of time and sense, you will neither
lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own iden-
27 tity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will
rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird
which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a
30 skyward flight.
Forgetfulness of self
We should forget our bodies in remembering good and
the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in
PAGE 262
1 which to work out the problem of being. Consecration
to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but
3 heightens it. Neither does consecration di-
minish man's obligations to God, but shows
the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian
6 Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it
ascribes to Him the entire glory. By putting "off the old
man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."
9 We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's
creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We
must reverse our feeble flutterings - our efforts to find
12 life and truth in matter - and rise above the testimony
of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal
idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God-
15 like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference
of his being.
The true sense
Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
18 ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo
Job's thought, when the supposed pain and
pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They
21 will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of
joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,
working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.
24 Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontane-
ously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Mind only the cause
27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of
man's origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every
concept which seems to begin with the brain
30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause
or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter,
in mortal mind, or in physical forms.
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Human egotism
1 Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be
independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-
3 leged originators of something which Deity
would not or could not create. The creations
of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man
6 alone represents the truth of creation.
Mortal man a mis-creator
When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence
with the spiritual and works only as God works,
9 he will no longer grope in the dark and cling
to earth because he has not tasted heaven.
Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-
12 tary hypocrite, - producing evil when he would create
good, forming deformity when he would outline grace
and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He
15 becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a
semi-god. His "touch turns hope to dust, the dust we
all have trod." He might say in Bible language: "The
18 good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would
not, that I do."
No new creation
There can be but one creator, who has created all.
21 Whatever seems to be a new creation, is but the discovery
of some distant idea of Truth; else it is a
new multiplication or self-division of mor-
24 tal thought, as when some finite sense peers from its
cloister with amazement and attempts to pattern the
infinite.
27 The multiplication of a human and mortal sense of per-
sons and things is not creation. A sensual thought, like
an atom of dust thrown into the face of spiritual im-
30 mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal
consciousness of creation.
Mind's true camera
The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-
PAGE 264
1 terial earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind.
They have their day before the permanent facts and their
3 perfection in Spirit appear. The crude crea-
tions of mortal thought must finally give place
to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the
6 camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spir-
itual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading,
finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.
9 Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm
of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we
must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we
12 have our being.
Self-completeness
As mortals gain more correct views of God and man,
multitudinous objects of creation, which before were
15 invisible, will become visible. When we
realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of
matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-
18 pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other
consciousness.
Spiritual proofs of existence
Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.
21 Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin
is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and
death were overcome by Jesus, who proved
24 them to be forms of error. Spiritual living
and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can
recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace
27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.
When we learn the way in Christian Science and rec-
ognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and under-
30 stand God's creation, - all the glories of earth and heaven
and man.
Godward gravitation
The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings,
PAGE 265
1 and its government is divine Science. Man is the off-
spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of
3 Mind. Man understands spiritual existence
in proportion as his treasures of Truth and
Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward,
6 their affections and aims grow spiritual, - they must near
the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper
sense of the infinite, - in order that sin and mortality
9 may be put off.
This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for
Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity
12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en-
larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,
a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent
15 peace.
Mortal birth and death
The senses represent birth as untimely and death as
irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a
18 flower withered by the sun and nipped by
untimely frosts; but this is true only of a
mortal, not of a man in God's image and likeness. The
21 truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and
obsolete.
Blessings from pain
Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained
24 stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after
heavenly good comes even before we discover
what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss
27 of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending
path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform
us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is
30 spiritual.
Decapitation of error
The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away
false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections
PAGE 266
1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,
"rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of
3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,
materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and
destiny.
Uses of adversity
6 Would existence without personal friends be to you
a blank? Then the time will come when you will be
solitary, left without sympathy; but this
9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine
Love. When this hour of development comes, even if
you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will
12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.
Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the
lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for "man's extremity
15 is God's opportunity." The author has experienced the
foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches
mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.
18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love
is the divine way in Christian Science.
The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the
21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite per-
secutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would
deceive the very elect.
Beatific presence
24 Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstra-
tions, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite
Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs
27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the
idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming
the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He
30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers
of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with
God and the universe.
PAGE 267
The infinitude of God
1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but
the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal.
3 The offspring of God start not from matter
or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,
divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The
6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,
and specifically man means all men.
It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-
9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must
have had children prior to Adam. The great I AM made
all "that was made." Hence man and the spiritual uni-
12 verse coexist with God.
Christian Scientists understand that, in a religious
sense, they have the same authority for the appellative
15 mother, as for that of brother and sister. Jesus said:
"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and
18 mother."
Waymarks to eternal Truth
When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals
present more than is detected upon the surface, since
21 inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must
be counterfeits of Truth. Thought is bor-
rowed from a higher source than matter, and
24 by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind,
in which all error disappears in celestial Truth. The
robes of Spirit are "white and glistering," like the raiment
27 of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, "let thy gar-
ments be always white." "Blessed is the man that en-
dureth [overcometh] temptation: for when he is tried,
30 [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
(James i. 12.)