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And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the

affections and lusts. - PAUL.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

- PAUL.

For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,

until the kingdom of God shall come. - JESUS.

Divine oneness

18:1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity

with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life,

18:3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated

man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him

endless homage. His mission was both in-

18:6 dividual and collective. He did life's work

aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to

mortals,- to show them how to do theirs, but not to do

18:9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.

Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the

senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he

18:12 refuted all opponents with his healing power.

Human reconciliation

The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not

God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God,

18:15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ

is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself.

The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ,

18:18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived

19:1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose

to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and

19:3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness.

Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him-

self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for

19:6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon-

ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love,

the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer

19:9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter,

sin, and death by the law of Spirit,- the law of divine

Love.

19:12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de-

claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and

death, although his teaching set households at variance,

19:15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a

sword.

Efficacious repentance

Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort

19:18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to

understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid

its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray

19:21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone-

ment,- in the at-one-ment with God,- for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables 19:24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem- onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach- ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If 19:27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur- ity, although God is good.

Jesus' sinless career

Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no

19:30 other gods before me," which may be ren-

dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as

mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,-

20:1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things

which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are

20:3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine

or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved,

not by spirits but by Spirit.

20:6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee

Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the

kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a

20:9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he

established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men

can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the

20:12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet

be sensual and sinful.

Perfect example

Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal

20:15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are

healed." "Despised and rejected of men,"

returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-

20:18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God;

and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and

the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not,

20:21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God,

saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to

holiness.

Behest of the cross

20:24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the

spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all

religion. It commands sure entrance into

20:27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us

lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so

easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that

20:30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self

and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of

all healing.

Moral victory

21:1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and

conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a

21:3 good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be-

cause you are a better man. This is having

our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.

21:6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting

because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph,

that they shall reach his harmony and reward.

21:9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-

ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma-

terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things

21:12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the

start, and gain a little each day in the right direction,

till at last he finishes his course with joy.

Inharmonious travellers

21:15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en route for California, we are not journeying together. We have separate time-tables to consult, 21:18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor- tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my 21:21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our 21:24 companionship may continue.

Zigzag course

Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at

the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither-

21:27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward

for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring

and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for

21:30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can

only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By-

and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow

22:1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid

of this to find and follow the right road.

Moral retrogression

22:3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope

of forgiveness,- selfishness and sensuality causing con-

stant retrogression,- our moral progress will

22:6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals

experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-

ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and

22:9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned

with success.

Wait for reward

"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of

22:12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.

"Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-

ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If

22:15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive

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 dis-

cern 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 suf-

fering 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 be-

tween 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 estab-

lishes 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 defini- tions, 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 spir- itual 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 re-

generation. This is having part in the atone-

ment; 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 pre-

destination 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 af-

fection 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 effi-

cacy 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 spiritu-

ally 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 in-

tended 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 di-

vine 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 compo-

nent 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 mis-

take 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.

Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis-

belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly

29:9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more

needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we

may never receive it in this world.

The Fatherhood of God

29:12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to

the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be-

lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed

29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glori-

ous perception that God is the only author of man.

The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and

29:18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus - that is, Joshua,

or Saviour.

Spiritual conception

The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to

29:21 silence material law and its order of generation, and

brought forth her child by the revelation of

Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of

29:24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed

the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog-

nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever

29:27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the

man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea,

though at first faintly developed.

29:30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit,

is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and

man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-

30:1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give

a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could

30:3 demonstrate the Science of Love - his Father or divine

Principle.

Jesus the way-shower

Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook

30:6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en-

dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with-

out measure. This accounts for his struggles

30:9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to

be the mediator, or way-shower, between God and men. Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal 30:12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal mind as "the way."

Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said:

30:15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood,

by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the

new executor for God, present the divine law of Love,

30:18 which blesses even those that curse it.

Rebukes helpful

As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to

rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death,-

30:21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This

ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole

earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between

30:24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and

of error.

If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of

30:27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we

shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only

in this way can we bless our enemies, though they

30:30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for

ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way

Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found

31:1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit

to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place

31:3 it in such hands.

Fleshly ties temporal

Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call

no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,

31:6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who

is my mother, and who are my brethren," im-

plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We

31:9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of

father. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.

Healing primary

31:12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol-

lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached

no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the

31:15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes

Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him

in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, - following his

31:18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, - we drink of

his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu-

rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full

31:21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs

over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat

this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's

31:24 death till he come."

Painful prospect

Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said:

"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-

31:27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit

and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse-

cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus

31:30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea,

the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think

that he doeth God service; and these things will they

32:1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father

nor me."

Sacred sacrament

32:3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear

allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath

was sacramentum, and our English word 32:6 sacrament is derived from it. Among the Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the 32:9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows 32:12 forth his bitter experience, - the cup which he prayed might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis- sion to the divine decree.

32:15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed

it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,

Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and

32:18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all

of it."

Spiritual refreshment

The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is

32:21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples

had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them

bread. This would have been foolish in a

32:24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat-

ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the

material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with

32:27 spiritual views.

Jesus' sad repast

The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in

the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion,

32:30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken

at the close of day, in the twilight of a

glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and

33:1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions

to matter.

Heavenly supplies

33:3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour

of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna,

which of old had fed in the wilderness the

33:6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread

indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth

of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error.

33:9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this

bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne

this bread from house to house, breaking (explaining) it to 33:12 others, and now it comforted themselves.

For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about

to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow.

33:15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast-

ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said,

"Drink ye all of it."

The holy struggle

33:18 When the human element in him struggled with the

divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but

Thine, be done!"- that is, Let not the flesh,

33:21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This

is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all

for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the

33:24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses

and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek

in heart.

Incisive questions

33:27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you

shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions

which attend a new and higher understand-

33:30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that

you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all

who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing

34:1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for

the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira-

34:3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out

error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God,"

that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ,

34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com-

memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel,

or God with us; and if a friend be with us, why need we 34:9 memorials of that friend?

Millennial glory

If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really

commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of

34:12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the

world. If all who seek his commemoration

through material symbols will take up the cross, heal

34:15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth,

to the poor, - the receptive thought, - they will bring

in the millennium.

Fellowship with Christ

34:18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more

spiritual and understood better what the Master had

taught. His resurrection was also their resur-

34:21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and

others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into

the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this

34:24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again

in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above

their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness,

34:27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which

has since been called the ascension.

The last breakfast

What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and

34:30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples

in the bright morning hours at the joyful

meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom

35:1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent-

ance, - hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced

35:3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened

by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned

away from material things, and cast their net on the right

35:6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of

time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal

sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new-

35:9 ness of life as Spirit.

This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a

new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists

35:12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re-

ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune

with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their

35:15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh

after death, its exemplification of human probation, and

his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh,

35:18 when he rose out of material sight.

Spiritual Eucharist

Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our

church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can

35:21 unite with this church only as we are new-

born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which

is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth

35:24 the fruits of Love, - casting out error and healing the

sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one

God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven,"

35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira-

tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com-

mended to his followers.

Final purpose

35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the

sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re-

form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to

36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by

experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of

36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation

into another sphere. Divine Science reveals

the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after

36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty

due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape

from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern-

36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his

dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his

36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John,

the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in

silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly

36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral

distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude

Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly-

36:18 minded.

Righteous retribution

A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un-

limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as

36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for

sinners to receive their full punishment this

side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right-

36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the

wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment

and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven,

36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only

toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock-

ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.

Vicarious suffering

36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf-

fering of the just for the unjust. Can God

therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de-

37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that

sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They

37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it

shall be measured to you again."

Martyrs inevitable

History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of

37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in

vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake,

but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.

37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with

another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi-

naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of

37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.

Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but

not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated

37:15 by lookers-on.

Complete emulation

When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate

him in all his ways and to imitate his mighty works? 37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May 37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im- port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow 37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon- stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris- tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in 37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com- mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world, 37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "Heal the sick!"

Jesus' teaching belittled

Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration

38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are

assured that this command was intended only for a par-

38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol-

lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious

than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a

38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will

be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced

by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of

38:9 divine Science.

Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be-

lieve; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they

38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing

his disciples, yet he did not say, "These signs shall follow

you," but them- "them that believe" in all time to come. 38:15 Here the word hands is used metaphorically, as in the text, "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have 38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe "through their word."

Material pleasures

38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical

senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo-

ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ,

38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus

mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ,

the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the

38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati-

fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes

ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un-

38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He

taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its

healing power.

Mockery of truth

39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog-

nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol-

39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last

triumph. He won eternal honors. He over-

came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving

39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin,

sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci-

fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as

39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.

A belief suicidal

The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes

mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone

39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.

The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus

overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.

39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not

the threshold over which he must pass into living

glory.

Present salvation

39:18 "Now," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be- hold, now is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salva- 39:21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleas- 39:24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists 39:27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain- ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as 39:30 triumphs.

Sin and penalty

Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes

in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that

40:1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error

from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad-

40:3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv-

ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing

and its Science, will support them. Another will say:

40:6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient

season I will call for thee."

Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted

40:9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing

the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of

divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method

40:12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's

life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's

sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our

40:15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make

the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal?

Suffering inevitable

Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was

40:18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way

and the power of Truth. If a career so great

and good as that of Jesus could not avert a

40:21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human

brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into

fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of

40:24 Truth and Love.

Service and worship

Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all

men should follow the example of our Master and his

40:27 apostles and not merely worship his personal-

ity. It is sad that the phrase divine service has come so generally to mean public worship instead of 40:30 daily deeds.

Within the veil

The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed,

but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of

41:1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the

Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and

41:3 this advance beyond matter must come

through the joys and triumphs of the right-

eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions.

41:6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense

into the spiritual sense of being.

The thorns and flowers

The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with

41:9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap

what they now sow. The pampered hypo-

crite may have a flowery pathway here, but

41:12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the

penalty due.

Healing early lost

The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave

41:15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his

earthly mission; but in the Christian Church

this demonstration of healing was early lost,

41:18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient

school of philosophy, materia medica, or scholastic theol- ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of 41:21 absolute Science.

Immortal achieval

Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have

before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered

41:24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and

then sat down at the right hand of the Father.

Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about

41:27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and

stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at.

Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing

41:30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national

Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never

made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick.

42:1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God

is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a

42:3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the-

ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God.

A belief in death

The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It

42:6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death

will be found at length to be a mortal dream,

which comes in darkness and disappears with the light.

Cruel desertion

42:9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or

popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world

and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval

42:12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa-

lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends,

who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.

Death outdone

42:15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's

power was the proof of his final triumph over body

and matter, and gave full evidence of divine

42:18 Science, - evidence so important to mortals.

The belief that man has existence or mind separate from

God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine

42:21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won-

drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp-

tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus.

42:24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he

would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates

that in Christian Science the true man is governed by

42:27 God - by good, not evil - and is therefore not a mortal

but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the

Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to

42:30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ-

eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They

must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting

43:1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as

they did understand it after his bodily departure.

Pentecost repeated

43:3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear-

ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled

the disciples to understand what Jesus had

43:6 said. Heretofore they had only believed;

now they understood. The advent of this understanding

is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, - that

43:9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos-

tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history.

Convincing evidence

Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing,

43:12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of

brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of

his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to

43:15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God,

which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay.

The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught,

43:18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the

world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu-

ated and extended it.

Divine victory

43:21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup

of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned

him, but he was demonstrating divine Science.

43:24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies,

he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat-

ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him.

43:27 The divine must overcome the human at every point.

The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over

all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli-

43:30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such

beliefs.

Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must

44:1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns

can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow,

44:3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem-

acy of Spirit be demonstrated.

Jesus in the tomb

The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge

44:6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great

problem of being. His three days' work in

the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time.

44:9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas-

ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris-

tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims

44:12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene.

He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not

depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted

44:15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to

heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and

lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove

44:18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ

his feet as before.

The deific naturalism

Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature

44:21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power?

It was a method of surgery beyond material

art, but it was not a supernatural act. On

44:24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity

brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ-

healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of

44:27 human invention.

Obstacles overcome

His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was

hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon-

44:30 strating within the narrow tomb the power

of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense.

There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great

45:1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus

vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law

45:3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place,

crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting

victory.

Victory over the grave

45:6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci-

ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus'

deed was for the enlightenment of men and

45:9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin,

sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were

enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death

45:12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved

by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked

with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im-

45:15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre.

The stone rolled away

Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts!

Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu-

45:18 man hope and faith, and through the reve-

lation and demonstration of life in God, hath

elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual

45:21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.

After the resurrection

They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection

and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught,

45:24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples

at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre,

for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was:

45:27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."

The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit.

He presented the same body that he had before his cru-

45:30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over

matter.

Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un-

46:1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many

wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion

46:3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them

of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.

Spiritual interpretation

In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends

46:6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them,

and by the breaking of bread. The divine

Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries

46:9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak

through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the

receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and

46:12 healing the sick.

Corporeality and Spirit

The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit,

and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses

46:15 that his body was not changed until he himself

ascended, - or, in other words, rose even

higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince

46:18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail-

prints and the spear-wound.

Spiritual ascension

Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed

46:21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma-

terial conditions; and this exaltation explained

his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a

46:24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave.

Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for

all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen-

46:27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose

above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the

material senses saw him no more.

Pentecostal power

46:30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is

meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they

were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci-

47:1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment

of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them

47:3 a faint conception of the Life which is God.

They no longer measured man by material

sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master,

47:6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter,

but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of

light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming

47:9 power as on the Day of Pentecost.

The traitor's conspiracy

Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude

and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal.

47:12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver

and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his

time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus'

47:15 teachings.

A period was approaching which would reveal the in-

finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas

47:18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of

that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer,

and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The

47:21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time

quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally

loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be-

47:24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti-

mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the

traitor fell with it.

47:27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last

earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio-

lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no

47:30 record.

Gethsemane glorified

During his night of gloom and glory in the garden,

Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi-

48:1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the

staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu-

48:3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could ye

not watch with me one hour?" Could they

not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice-

48:6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world?

There was no response to that human yearning, and so

Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from

48:9 sense to Soul.

Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy

benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum-

48:12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the

same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt-

ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and

48:15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a

life-work.

Defensive weapons

Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one

48:18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence.

"He opened not his mouth." The great dem-

onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before

48:21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of

his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re-

sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy

48:24 sword."

Pilate's question

Pale in the presence of his own momentous question,

"What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence

48:27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate

was ignorant of the consequences of his awful

decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing

48:30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what

life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for

man.

49:1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's

question. They knew what had inspired their devotion,

49:3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand-

ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples

to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject

49:6 unto us through thy name."

Students' ingratitude

Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were

all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the

49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost

sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations,

sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre-

49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last

human yearning with one sign of fidelity?

Heaven's sentinel

The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc-

49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with

God. No human eye was there to pity, no

arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had

49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest

post of power, charged with the grandest trust of

heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing

49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ

is not subject to material conditions, but is above the

reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth,

49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and

the grave.

Cruel contumely

The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly

49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest

proofs of divine power, mocked him on the

cross, saying derisively, "He saved others;

49:30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned

"aside the right of a man before the face of the Most

High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God."

50:1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep

before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

50:3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide

what truth and love are?

A cry of despair

The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-

50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude

of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful

cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would

impugn the justice and love of a father who could with-

hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so

50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to

his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself,

Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken

50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling

question. No! They must abide in him and he in them,

or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the

50:18 human race.

Divine Science misunderstood

If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo-

ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses,

50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even

what they did say, - that Jesus' teachings

were false, and that all evidence of their cor-

50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying

could not make it so.

The real pillory

The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human

50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving

the purpose of his mission, was a million

times sharper than the thorns which pierced

50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill

of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not

the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful

51:1 lips the plaintive cry, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" It was the possible loss of something more important than 51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misappre- hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This dread added the drop of gall to his cup.

Life-power indestructible

51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies.

He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his

spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine;

51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc-

tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish

the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life

51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his

enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom-

plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal,

51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had

no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no

more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could

51:18 be extinguished.

Example for our salvation

His consummate example was for the salvation of us

all, but only through doing the works which he did and

51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing

was not alone to restore health, but to demon-

strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by

51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives

of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance,

inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin-

51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.

Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him

from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist

51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled

Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the

dead.

Master's business

52:1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi-

ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas-

52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He

served God; they served mammon. His affec-

tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in

52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their

senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi-

dence of sin, sickness, and death.

Purity's rebuke

52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present

rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's

hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the

52:12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would

give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's

graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace.

52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite

in putting to shame and death the best man that ever

trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again

52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.

Saviour's prediction

The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing-

ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-

52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were

the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or

Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-

52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human

ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his

disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:

52:27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do

also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."

Defamatory accusations

The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra-

52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb-

auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton

and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils

53:1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and

sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their

53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did

the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far

removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene.

53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because

he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.

Reputation and character

The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his

53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and

practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He

was at work in divine Science. His words

53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above

and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be-

lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine,

53:15 infinite Love.

Inspiring discontent

The world could not interpret aright the discomfort

which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which

53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science

shows the cause of the shock so often pro-

duced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from

53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth.

Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of

denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which

53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.

Bearing our sins

Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the

mortal errors which constitute the material body, and

53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time

when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not

conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma-

53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of

spiritual power.

Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would

54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the

magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine

54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de-

fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished

error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness,

54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified

example introduced.

Inspiration of sacrifice

Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All

54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true

idea of God. That he might liberally pour

his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-

54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus'

intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com-

mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and

54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over

death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest

proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers

54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They

would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor

follow his example.

Spiritual friendship

54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the

dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious

friends, whose religion was something more

54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en-

abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share

the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol-

54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con-

firmed the prediction.

Injustice to the Saviour

If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on

54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro-

fess to love him, reject him? Would they

not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter-

55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs?

The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the

55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and

usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but

this does not affect the invincible facts.

55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more

injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon

the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now

55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the

wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But

that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a

55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be

left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of

the synagogue.

55:15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries,

gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My

weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall

55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as

himself, - when he shall realize God's omnipotence and

the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done

55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful-

filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing

is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly

55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's

cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of

Christian healing.

55:27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another

Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.