The Lesson
(I)
Psalm 138: 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and
praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth:
for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Psalm 119: 105, 130, 140, 152 Thy word is a lamp unto my
feet, and a light unto my path. The entrance of thy words
giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. Thy
word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.
Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou
hast founded them for ever.
Now thanks be unto God, which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we
are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in
Christ.
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through the
holy influence of Truth in healing sickness and sin. This
healing power of Truth must have been far anterior to the
period in which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the
Ancient of days." It lives through all Life, and extends
throughout all space.
Christian Science is dawning upon a material
age. The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light,
shine in the darkness, though the darkness, comprehending
them not, may deny their reality.
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
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 the buoys and healing
currents of Truth are pointed out.
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim
must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by
this understanding can truth be gained. It is this
spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts humanity out
of disease and death and inspires faith. "The Spirit and the
bride say, Come! . . . and whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely." Christian Science separates error
from truth, and breathes through the sacred pages the
spiritual sense of life, substance, and intelligence.
(II)
Deuteronomy 3: 24 O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy
servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is
there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy
works, and according to thy might?
Deuteronomy 4: 7 For what nation is there so great, who
hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all
things that we call upon him for?
Ephesians 1: 15-21 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my
prayers, That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of
his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to
the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come:
God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As
there is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle
of all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the
demonstration of this divine Principle. The letter of
Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day, but its spirit
comes only in small degrees. The vital part, the heart and
soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the
letter is but the dead body of Science, - pulseless, cold,
inanimate.
All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must
come from the schools and along the line of scholarly and
ecclesiastical descent, as kings are crowned from a royal
dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated
the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding
of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which
governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no
dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly. Its only crowned head
is immortal sovereignty. Its only priest is the
spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers
are made "kings and priests unto God." The outsiders did
not then, and do not now, understand this ruling of the
Christ; therefore they cannot demonstrate God's healing
power. Neither can this manifestation of Christ be
comprehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
understood.
The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite
idea and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called
senses have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea.
The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in
proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and
God.
(III)
John 12: 46, 47 I am come a light into the world, that
whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And
if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not:
for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
John 14: 1,2,5,6 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Luke 14: 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come
after me, cannot be my disciple.
Science reveals the glorious possibilities of
immortal man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses. The
Christ-element in the Messiah made him the Way-shower, Truth
and Life.
Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook
partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was endowed
with the Christ, the divine Spirit, without measure. This
accounts for his struggles 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 usage, Jesus would not have been
appreciable to mortal mind as "the way."
A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he
teaches in order to show the learner the way by practice 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 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, and death.
Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would
have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge
hindered 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 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 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.
(IV)
Isaiah 35: 3-6 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm
the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart,
Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save
you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man
leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert.
Matthew 9: 35-36 And Jesus went about all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted,
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Mark 2: 15-17 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at
meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also
together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many,
and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his
disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto
them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but
they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.
Christian Science awakens the sinner, reclaims the
infidel, and raises from the couch of pain the helpless
invalid. It speaks to the dumb the words of Truth, and they
answer with rejoicing. It causes the deaf to hear, the lame
to walk, and the blind to see. Who would be the first to
disown the Christliness of good works, when our Master says,
"By their fruits ye shall know them"?
Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one
and the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth. Hatred, envy,
dishonesty, fear, and so forth, make a man sick, and neither
material medicine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in
body, unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers
him from his destroyers.
xi: 9-21 The physical healing of Christian Science results
now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine
Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality
in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as
necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to
reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not
supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of
Immanuel, or "God with us," - a divine influence ever
present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming
now as was promised aforetime,
To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised.
(V)
Isaiah 12: 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and
not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my
song; he also is become my salvation.
Jeremiah 3: 23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from
the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the
Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
Luke 1: 68, 69, 77-79 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised
up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by
the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our
God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To
give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Philippians 2: 12, 13 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.
SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and
demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death
destroyed.
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you. "Occupy
till I come!" Wait for your reward, and "be not weary in
well doing."
" Now ," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that
now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, 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 pleasures 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 and governs the
universe harmoniously. This thought is apprehended slowly,
and the interval before its attainment is attended with
doubts and defeats as well as triumphs.
By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not
as the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue
to seek salvation through pardon and not through reform, and
resort to matter instead of Spirit for the cure of the sick.
As mortals reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a
higher sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but
from the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the
Christ, Truth, as the healing and saving power.
(VI)
Psalm 48: 1 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in
the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
Isaiah 60: 11, 14,15 Therefore thy gates shall be open
continually: they shall not be shut day nor night; that men
may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that
their kings may be brought. The sons also of them that
afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they
that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of
thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been
forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will
make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Revelation 21: 1,2,24,25 And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And the
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of
it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and
honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all
by day: for there shall be no night there.
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse
(xxi. 16) as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down
from God, out of heaven," represents the light and glory of
divine Science. The builder and maker of this New Jerusalem
is God, as we read in the book of Hebrews; and it is "a city
which hath foundations." As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful
for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on
the sides of the north, the city of the great King." It is
indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and square.
Northward, its gates open to the North Star, the Word, the
polar magnet of Revelation; eastward, to the star seen by
the Wisemen of the Orient, who followed it to the manger of
Jesus; southward, to the genial tropics, with the Southern
Cross in the skies, - the Cross of Calvary, which binds
human society into solemn union; westward, to the grand
realization of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea
of Harmony.
This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary nor
limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the Word of
Life, Truth, and Love; second, the Christ, the spiritual
idea of God; third, Christianity, which is the outcome of
the divine Principle of the Christ-idea in Christian
history; fourth, Christian Science, which to-day and forever
interprets this great example and the great Exemplar. This
city of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for Love is
the light of it, and divine Mind is its own interpreter. All
who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty potentates
and dynasties will lay down their honors within the heavenly
city. Its gates open towards light and glory both within
and without, for all is good, and nothing can enter that
city, which "defileth, . . . or maketh a lie."
HTML copyright � 1996 L. Tisoncik Last updated: 8/21/96 1:00:15 PM EDT.