Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 42

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and the final destruction of error through this very pro- [1]

cess,-the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal mind is to go from one extreme to another: Truth comes into the intermediate s.p.a.ce, saying, "I wound to heal; I punish to reform; I do it all in love; my peace I leave [5]

with thee: not as the world giveth, give I unto thee.

Arise, let us go hence; let us depart from the material sense of G.o.d's ways and means, and gain a spiritual understanding of them."

But let us not seek to climb up some other way, as we [10]

shall do if we take the end for the beginning or start from wrong motives. Christian Science demands order and truth. To abide by these we must first understand the Principle and object of our work, and be clear that it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we [15]

shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap- pointment, and not according to the infantile concep- tion of our way; as when a child in sleep walks on the summit of the roof of the house because he is a som- nambulist, and thinks he is where he is not, and would [20]

fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he was doing.

My students are at the beginning of their demonstra- tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use [25]

the sword of Spirit.

They cannot in the beginning take the att.i.tude, nor adopt the words, that Jesus used at the _end_ of his demonstration.

If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try [30]

to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment

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must be used in your application of his words and infer- [1]

ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat with error. There _remaineth_, it is true, a Sabbath rest for the people of G.o.d; but we must first have done our work, and entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give [5]

example.

Scientific Theism

In the May number of our _Journal_, there appeared a review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism,"

by Phare Pleigh. [10]

Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than "hands off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying on of hands," as well. Whatever his _nom de plume_ means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one [15]

in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a big protest against injustice; but, the best may be mistaken.

One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat, which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end [20]

of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty or a happy hit at idealism, to ill.u.s.trate the author's fol- lowing point?-

"When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither [25]

laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a _phenomenon without a noumenon_ may succeed, but not before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without a cat." [30]

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True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in [1]

logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso- phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con- ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than [5]

Spirit; hence that the universe of G.o.d is spiritual,-even the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle, with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in quality and quant.i.ty.

The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this: that [10]

matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe- nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat- ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things is unchanged, and that nature is const.i.tuted of and by [15]

Spirit.

Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con- taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup- positional unity and personality, produce matter,-a [20]

third quality unlike G.o.d. Again, that matter is both cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good,- and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a [25]

kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation.

The nature of G.o.d must change in order to become matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter must _dis_appear, for Spirit to appear. To the material [30]

sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense

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takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and [1]

Spirit is G.o.d, and G.o.d is good. Science unfolds the fact that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never produced Mind, and _vice versa_.

The visible universe declares the invisible only by re- [5]

version, as error declares Truth. The testimony of mate- rial sense in relation to existence is false; for matter can neither see, hear, nor feel, and mortal mind must change all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence, before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas. [10]

It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material senses whence to reason out G.o.d, when it is conceded that the five personal senses can take no cognizance of Spirit or of its phenomena. False realistic views sap the Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal [15]

and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and unfolds the real nature of G.o.d and the universe to the spiri- ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and not material. [20]

To begin with, the notion of Spirit as cause and end, with matter as its effect, is more ridiculous than the "grin without a cat;" for a grin expresses the nature of a cat, and this nature may linger in memory: but matter does not express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven [25]

grins are neither eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What can ill.u.s.trate Dr. --'s views better than Pat's echo, when he said "How do you do?" and echo answered, "Pretty well, I thank you!"

Dr. -- says: "The recognition of teleology in nature [30]

is necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual personality in G.o.d."

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According to lexicography, teleology is the science of [1]

the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all Science is divine) neither reveals G.o.d in matter, cause in effect, nor teaches that nature and her laws are the _material_ universe, or that the personality of infinite Spirit [5]

is finite or material. Jesus said, "Ye do err, not know- ing the Scriptures, nor the power of G.o.d." Now, what saith the Scripture? "G.o.d is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." [10]

Mental Practice

It is admitted that mortals think wickedly and act wickedly: it is beginning to be seen by thinkers, that mortals think also after a sickly fashion. In common parlance, one person feels sick, another feels wicked. A [15]

third person knows that if he would remove this feeling in either case, in the one he must change his patient's consciousness of dis-ease and suffering to a consciousness of ease and loss of suffering; while in the other he must change the patient's sense of sinning at ease to a sense of [20]

discomfort in sin and peace in goodness.

This is Christian Science: that mortal mind makes sick, and immortal Mind makes well; that mortal mind makes sinners, while immortal Mind makes saints; that a state of health is but a state of consciousness made mani- [25]

fest on the body, and _vice versa_; that while one person feels wickedly and acts wickedly, another knows that if he can change this evil sense and consciousness to a good sense, or conscious goodness, the fruits of goodness will follow, and he has reformed the sinner. [30]

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Now, demonstrate this rule, which obtains in every [1]