Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📖

>Christian experience teaches faith in the right and disbelief 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 believe him the Son of God.” Those instructed 29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glorious 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 recognition 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 endowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, without 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,” implying 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 followers 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 purity; 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 persecution 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 submission 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 natural 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 everlasting 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 commemoration 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 repentance, - 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 receive 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