The Lesson
(I)
Exodus 4: 29-31 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together
all the elders of the children of Israel: And Aaron spake all the
words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in
the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they
heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that
he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads
and worshipped.
Exodus 5: 1-3 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told
Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go,
that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh
said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel
go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And they
said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray
thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the
Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the
sword.
Exodus 8: 25-27 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and
said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said,
It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the
abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not
stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and
sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.
Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to
save us from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient
to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part.
Petitions bring to mortals only the results of
mortals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is
requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness
above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be
willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only
practical road to holiness.
Self-forgetfulness, purity, and affection are constant
prayers. Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain
the ear and right hand of omnipotence and they assuredly call
down infinite blessings. Trustworthiness is the foundation of
enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we cannot
receive holiness. A great sacrifice of material things must
precede this advanced spiritual understanding. The highest
prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration.
The lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the sick, the
sensual, the sinner, I wished to save from the slavery of their
own beliefs and from the educational systems of the Pharaohs, who
today, as of yore, hold the children of Israel in bondage. I saw
before me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilderness; but
I pressed on through faith in God, trusting Truth, the strong
deliverer, to guide me into the land of Christian Science, where
fetters fall and the rights of man are fully known and
acknowledged. I saw that the law of mortal belief included all
error, and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mortals
are taught their right to freedom, so the claims of the enslaving
senses must be denied and superseded.
(II)
Leviticus 26: 13-15, 23, 24 I am the Lord your God, which
brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be
their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made
you go upright. But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not
do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes,
or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my
commandments, but that ye break my covenant: And if ye will not
be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto
me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you
yet seven times for your sins.
Amos 5: 4 For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek
ye me, and ye shall live:
Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and
the very easiest step. The next and great step required by
wisdom is the test of our sincerity, - namely, reformation.
Reform comes by understanding that there is no abiding
pleasure in evil, and also by gaining an affection for good
according to Science, which reveals the immortal fact that
neither pleasure nor pain, appetite nor passion, can exist in or
of matter, while divine Mind can and does destroy the false
beliefs of pleasure, pain, or fear and all the sinful appetites
of the human mind.
If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a good fight .
. . I have kept the faith," because you are a better man. This
is having our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.
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. If the disciple is advancing
spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns
away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable
things 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.
Reforms have commonly been attended with bloodshed and
persecution, even when the end has been brightness and peace; but
the present new, yet old, reform in religious faith will teach
men patiently and wisely to stem the tide of sectarian
bitterness, whenever it flows inward.
(III)
Leviticus 14: 1,2,19,20 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing:
He shall be brought unto the priest: And the priest shall offer
the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be
cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the
burnt offering: And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and
the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an
atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
Luke 5: 12-14 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain
city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his
face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him,
saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy
departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and
shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing,
according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Matthew 11: 2-6 Now when John had heard in the prison the works
of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art
thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus
answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things
which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead
are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and explained
the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of
the divine power, demonstrations which were not understood.
Jesus' works established his claim to the Messiahship. In reply
to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come," Jesus returned
an affirmative reply, recounting his works instead of referring
to his doctrine, confident that this exhibition of the divine
power to heal would fully answer the question.
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from
the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked
upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed that they were
healed of the poisonous stings of vipers. In national prosperity,
miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they
departed from the true idea, their demoralization began. Even in
captivity among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and in kings'
palaces.
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent
for all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike,
to possess the Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and
to heal the sick as well as the sinning.
Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort
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 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has
little part in the atonement, - in the at-one-ment with God, -
for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart
and enables man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot
demonstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the
teachings and practice of our Master have no part in God.
(IV)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Romans 5: 1, 10 Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Colossians 1: 19,20 For it pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of
his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to
man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, 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, Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived
from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose to
reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and Truth are not at
war with God's image and likeness. Man cannot exceed divine Love,
and so atone for himself. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to
error, for Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in
reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the
divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer sense of
Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the
law of Spirit, - the law of divine Love.
The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is
honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind.
He must prove, through living as well as healing and teaching,
that Christ's way is the only one by which mortals are radically
saved from sin and sickness.
(V)
Titus 3: 4,5 But after that the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Matthew 19: 24-29 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they
were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus
beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but
with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what
shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say
unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall
inherit everlasting life.
John 12: 37, 38 But though he had done so many miracles before
them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed?
He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will believe
our report, and rise into newness of life with regeneration.
This is having part in the atonement; this is the understanding,
in which 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 which has come over
popular opinions in regard to predestination and future
punishment.
It is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle," than for sinful beliefs to enter the kingdom of heaven,
eternal harmony. Through repentance, spiritual baptism, and
regeneration, mortals put off their material beliefs and false
individuality. It is only a question of time when "they shall
all know Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest."
Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards the joys
of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final triumph over the
body.
Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual
understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer,
watchfulness, and devout obedience enable us to follow Jesus'
example.
Atonement is the exemplification of man's unity with God,
whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, 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
individual 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 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 refuted all opponents with his healing power.
(VI)
Isaiah 29: 18, 19, 24 And in that day shall the deaf hear the
words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of
obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase
their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in
the Holy One of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall
come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn
doctrine.
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these
things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished
up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou
hast attained.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the
love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its
scientific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful
sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and
suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine
Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy
cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of
joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never
produce mind nor life result in death. The perfect man -
governed by God, his perfect Principle - is sinless and eternal.
Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom.
Love is enthroned. That evil or matter has neither intelligence
nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and
this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error.
A simple statement of Christian Science, if demonstrated
by healing, contains the proof of all here said of Christian
Science. If one of the statements in this book is true, every
one must be true, for not one departs from the stated system and
rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader, the Science of
healing, and so ascertain if the author has given you the correct
interpretation of Scripture.
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts!
Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and
faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in
God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the
spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
HTML copyright � 1996 L. Tisoncik Last updated: 8/21/96 1:00:52 PM EDT.