Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures - Mary Baker Eddy (golden son ebook txt) 📗
- Author: Mary Baker Eddy
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no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
sluggard in the race.
22:18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will discern the good you have done, and receive according to
your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from 22:21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
Deliverance not vicarious
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in 22:24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
one’s faith without works to another’s vicarious 22:27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
understand God.
Justice and substitution
22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not 23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. 23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
constant self-immolation on the sinner’s part. That 23:6 God’s wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Doctrines and faith
23:12 Rabbinical lore said: “He that taketh one doctrine,
firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him.”
This preaching receives a strong rebuke in 23:15 the Scripture, “Faith without works is dead.”
Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging between nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, 23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and establishes the claims of God.
Self-reliance and confidence
23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the
words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One 23:24 kind of faith trusts one’s welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one’s “own salvation, with fear and trem-23:27 bling.” “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!”
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, “Believe … and thou shalt be saved!” 23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God.
The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or 24:1 to be constant. This certainly applies to Truth and Love
understood and practised. Firmness in error will never 24:3 save from sin, disease, and death.
Life’s healing currents
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and 24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of
men), open the way for Christian Science to be
understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where 24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed
out.
Radical changes
He to whom “the arm of the Lord” is revealed will 24:12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with regeneration. This is having part in the atonement; this is the understanding, in which 24:15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant
when the ordinary theological views of atonement will
undergo a great change, - a change as radical as that 24:18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to predestination and future punishment.
Purpose of crucifixion
Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus 24:21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who
ask for it and are willing to be forgiven?
Does spiritualism find Jesus’ death necessary 24:24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material
Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then
we must differ from them both.
24:27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical affection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The
truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that 24:30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own
disciples could not admit such an event to be possible.
After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was 25:1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of
Truth and Love.
True flesh and blood
25:3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The efficacy of Jesus’ spiritual offering is infinitely greater than
can be expressed by our sense of human 25:6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no
more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed
upon “the accursed tree,” than when it was flowing in 25:9 his veins as he went daily about his Father’s business.
His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat
his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine 25:12 Life.
Effective triumph
Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that
we may understand how this divine Principle heals 25:15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over
death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better
than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By 25:18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritually than all others the Principle of being. Hence the
force of his admonition, “If ye love me, keep my com-25:21 mandments.”
Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease,
the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving 25:24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for
their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as
he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith 25:27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow
on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We
must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the 25:30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to
bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made
manifest in the humanity of Jesus.
Individual experience
26:1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with
gratitude for what he did for mortals, - treading alone 26:3 his loving pathway up to the throne of
glory, in speechless agony exploring the way
for us, - yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe-26:6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all
have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion
to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed 26:9 through divine Love.
Christ’s demonstration
The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his
own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” 26:12 “I and my Father are one.” This Christ,
or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine
nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, 26:15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness,
and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of
celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does 26:18 for man.
Proof in practice
A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he
teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac-26:21 tice as well as precept. Jesus’ teaching and
practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice
as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was 26:24 the precious import of our Master’s sinless career and
of his demonstration of power over death. He proved
by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin, 26:27 and death.
Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief.
It was the divine Principle of all real being which he 26:30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no
form or system of religion and worship, but Christian
Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love. 27:1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was intended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had 27:3 come: “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have
seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 27:6 to the poor the gospel is preached.” In other words:
Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is,
and he will at once perceive that God is the power in 27:9 the Messianic work.
Living temple
That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance
after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien-27:12 tific statement: “Destroy this temple [body],
and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up.”
It is as if he had said: The I - the Life, substance, 27:15 and intelligence of the universe - is not in matter to
be destroyed.
Jesus’ parables explain Life as never mingling with 27:18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root
of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut
down the false doctrine of pantheism, - that God, or 27:21 Life, is in or of matter.
Recreant disciples
Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only
eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits 27:24 him with two or three hundred other disciples
who have left no name. “Many are called,
but few are chosen.” They fell away from grace because 27:27 they never truly understood their Master’s instruction.
Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the
essential religion he came to establish? Jesus’ persecu-27:30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point.
They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and
to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.
Help and hindrance
28:1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the divine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus’ 28:3 mission. Even many of his students stood
in his way. If the Master had not taken a
student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would 28:6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit
in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and
Love.
28:9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out
of it, one’s consecration to Christ is more on the ground
of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we 28:12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding
more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we
are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.
Misleading conceptions
28:15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of
Jesus was generally understood. Not a single component part of his nature did the material 28:18 world measure aright. Even his righteous—
less and purity did not hinder men from saying: He
is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is 28:21 his patron.
Persecution prolonged
Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if
thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy 28:24 Master’s feet! To suppose that persecution
for righteousness’ sake belongs to the past,
and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world 28:27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mistake the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself.
The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle, 28:30 “of whom the world was not worthy,” await, in some
form, every pioneer of truth.
Christian warfare
There is too much animal courage in society and not 29:1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms
against error at home and abroad. They must grapple 29:3 with sin in themselves and in others, and
continue this warfare until they have finished
their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the 29:6 crown of rejoicing.
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