The Lesson
(I)
John 8: 31-35, 47 Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou,
Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of
sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but
the Son abideth ever. He that is of God heareth God's
words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of
God.
Romans 3: 9-11 What then? are we better than they? No, in no
wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that
they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God.
Man reflects God; mankind represents the Adamic
race, and is a human, not a divine, creation.
Mortals are not fallen children of God. They
never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently
be regained. They were, from the beginning of mortal
history, "conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity."
Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief
of material mind.
The name Adam represents the false supposition that
Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end; that the
infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into
non-intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense;
that immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal
mind; that the one God and creator entered what He created,
and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.
Explaining the origin of material man and mortal
mind, Jesus said: "Why do ye not understand my speech? Even
because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father, the
devil [evil], and the lusts of your father ye will do.
If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spiritual
origin. With what truth, then, could the Scriptural
rejoicing be uttered by any mother, "I have gotten a man
from the Lord"? On the contrary, if aught comes from God,
it cannot be mortal and material; it must be immortal and
spiritual.
(II)
Genesis 3: 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her; and he did eat.
Numbers 11: 4-6 And the mixt multitude that was among them
fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again,
and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the
fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and
the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all,
beside this manna, before our eyes.
James 1: 13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death.
The fundamental error lies in the supposition that
man is a material outgrowth and that the cognizance of good
or evil, which he has through the bodily senses, constitutes
his happiness or misery.
The five physical senses are the avenues and
instruments of human error, and they correspond with error.
These senses indicate the common human belief, that life,
substance, and intelligence are a unison of matter with
Spirit. This is pantheism, and carries within itself the
seeds of all error.
Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took
the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it
and to keep it. The name Eden, according to Cruden, means
pleasure , delight . In this text Eden stands for the
mortal, material body.
Sensual treasures are laid up "where moth and rust
doth corrupt." Mortality is their doom. Sin breaks in upon
them, and carries off their fleeting joys. The sensualist's
affections are as imaginary, whimsical, and unreal as his
pleasures.
Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social
scourge of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in
darkness, . . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
The commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," is no
less imperative than the one, "Thou shalt not kill."
Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without
it there is no stability in society, and without it one
cannot attain the Science of Life.
The belief of sin, which has grown terrible in
strength and influence, is an unconscious error in the
beginning, - an embryonic thought without motive; but
afterwards it governs the so-called man. Passion, depraved
appetites, dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into
action, only to pass from shame and woe to their final
punishment.
(III)
Revelation 18: 1,2,7-10 And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and
the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried
mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird. How much she hath glorified
herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow
give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am
no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her
plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine;
and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the
Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who
have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her,
shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see
the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of
her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon,
that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator,
immortal scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes
the mirror in which mortals may see their own image. In
significant figures he depicts the thoughts which he beholds
in mortal mind. Thus he rebukes the conceit of sin, and
foreshadows its doom.
No final judgment awaits mortals, for the
judgmentday of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the
judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material
error. As for spiritual error there is none.
Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The
indulgence of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is
above the lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.
Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, -
to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust
with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit
with honesty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if
you would not cherish an army of conspirators against
health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you to
the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The judge
will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of the moral
law will be executed upon mortal mind and body. Both will
be manacled until the last farthing is paid, - until you
have balanced your account with God. "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." The good man finally can
overcome his fear of sin. This is sin's necessity, - to
destroy itself. Immortal man demonstrates the government of
God, good, in which is no power to sin.
(IV)
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David.
And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men
in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man
had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had
nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and
nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his
children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own
cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared
to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for
the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor
man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and
he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath
done this thing shall surely die: And Nathan said to David,
Thou art the man. David said unto Nathan, I have sinned
against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also
hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
The Science of being unveils the errors of sense,
and spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.
Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will abate and seem
less real as we approach the scientific period, in which
mortal sense is subdued and all that is unlike the true
likeness disappears. The moral man has no fear that he will
commit a murder, and he should be as fearless on the
question of disease.
When false human beliefs learn even a little of
their own falsity, they begin to disappear. A knowledge of
error and of its operations must precede that understanding
of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal,
material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity,
man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized
as the true likeness of his Maker.
By those uninstructed in Christian Science,
nothing is really understood of material existence.
When will the error of believing that there is life
in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations
of God, be unmasked? When will it be understood that matter
has neither intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the
opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering?
God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and
eternal. Where then is the necessity for recreation or
procreation?
(V)
Luke 15: 11-14, 17-20 And he said, A certain man had two
sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he
divided unto them his living. And not many days after the
younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into
a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous
living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And when
he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my
father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with
hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto
him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one
of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and
had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed
him.
Science must go over the whole ground, and dig up
every seed of error's sowing.
In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay
fully and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is
finally brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method
of paying sin's wages involves unwinding one's snarls, and
learning from experience how to divide between sense and
Soul.
How true it is that whatever is learned through
material sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge
is reversed by the spiritual facts of being in Science.
That which material sense calls intangible, is found to be
substance. What to material sense seems substance, becomes
nothingness, as the sense-dream vanishes and reality
appears.
The footsteps of thought, rising above material
standpoints, are slow, and portend a long night to the
traveller; but the angels of His presence - the spiritual
intuitions that tell us when "the night is far spent, the
day is at hand" - are our guardians in the gloom.
(VI)
Joshua 22: 1,2,5 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the
Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, And said unto them,
Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord
commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I
commanded you: But take diligent heed to do the commandment
and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged
you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways,
and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to
serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
And hereby we do know that we know him, if
we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is
not in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself
also so to walk, even as he walked.
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is
separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life
and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true
spiritual growth.
Mind's government of the body must supersede the
so-called laws of matter. Obedience to material law
prevents full obedience to spiritual law, - the law which
overcomes material conditions and puts matter under the feet
of Mind.
Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience,
affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any
lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man power and
strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power.
We must forsake the foundation of material
systems, however time-honored, if we would gain the Christ
as our only Saviour. Not pa rtially, but fully, the great
healer of mortal mind is the healer of the body. The
purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This
point won, you have started as you shou ld. You have begun at
the numeration-table of Christian Science, and nothing but
wrong intention can hinder your advancement.
It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of
Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can
lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link
which establishes man forever in the divine likeness,
inseparable from his creator.
(VII)
Luke 2: 46,48,49 And it came to pass, that after three days
they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the
doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And
when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said
unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy
father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto
them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must
be about my Father's business?
John 16: 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into
the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
John 17: 1,5 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: And now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was.
Ephesians 4: 4,6 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as
ye are called in one hope of your calling; One God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all.
When we learn the way in Christian Science and
recognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and
understand God's creation, - all the glories of earth and
heaven and man.
The mythologic theory of material life at no
point resembles the scientifically Christian record of man
as created by Mind in the image and likeness of God and
having dominion over all the earth.
Proportionately as human generation ceases, the
unbroken links of eternal, harmonious being will be
spiritually discerned; and man, not of the earth earthly but
coexistent with God, will appear. The scientific fact that
man and the universe are evolved from Spirit, and so are
spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof
that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the
sense of sin and disease. Mortals can never understand God's
creation while believing that man is a creator. God's
children already created will be cognized only as man finds
the truth of being. Thus it is that the real, ideal man
appears in proportion as the false and material disappears.
No longer to marry or to be "given in marriage" neither
closes man's continuity nor his sense of increasing number
in God's infinite plan. Spiritually to understand that
there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation,
confirms the Scriptures, brings the sweet assurance of no
parting, no pain, and of man deathless and perfect and
eternal.
HTML copyright � 1996 L. Tisoncik Last updated: 8/21/96 12:59:44 PM EDT.