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

through thy name.”

 

Students’ ingratitude

 

Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were

all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the 49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost

sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations,

sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre-49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last

human yearning with one sign of fidelity?

 

Heaven’s sentinel

 

The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc-49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with

God. No human eye was there to pity, no

arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had 49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest

post of power, charged with the grandest trust of

heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing 49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ

is not subject to material conditions, but is above the

reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, 49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and

the grave.

 

Cruel contumely

 

The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly 49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest

proofs of divine power, mocked him on the

cross, saying derisively, “He saved others; 49:30 himself he cannot save.” These scoffers, who turned

“aside the right of a man before the face of the Most

High,” esteemed Jesus as “stricken, smitten of God.” 50:1 “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep

before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” 50:3 “Who shall declare his generation?” Who shall decide

what truth and love are?

 

A cry of despair

 

The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude

of his work, wrung from Jesus’ lips the awful

cry, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” 50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would

impugn the justice and love of a father who could withhold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so 50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to

his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself,

Love’s pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken 50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling

question. No! They must abide in him and he in them,

or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the 50:18 human race.

 

Divine Science misunderstood

 

If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a moment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses, 50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even

what they did say, - that Jesus’ teachings

were false, and that all evidence of their cor-50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying

could not make it so.

 

The real pillory

 

The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human 50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving

the purpose of his mission, was a million

times sharper than the thorns which pierced 50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill

of grief, was the world’s hatred of Truth and Love. Not

the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful 51:1 lips the plaintive cry, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” It

was the possible loss of something more important than 51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misapprehension of the sublimest influence of his career. This

dread added the drop of gall to his cup.

 

Life-power indestructible

51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies.

He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his

spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; 51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruction of the mortal body in order that he might furnish

the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life 51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his

enemies’ hands; but when his earth-mission was accomplished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, 51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had

no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no

more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could 51:18 be extinguished.

 

Example for our salvation

 

His consummate example was for the salvation of us

all, but only through doing the works which he did and 51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing

was not alone to restore health, but to demonstrate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by 51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives

of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance,

inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin-51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.

 

Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him

from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist 51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled

Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the

dead.

 

Master’s business

52:1 From early boyhood he was about his “Father’s business.” His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas-52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He

served God; they served mammon. His affections were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in 52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their

senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evidence of sin, sickness, and death.

 

Purity’s rebuke

52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present

rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world’s

hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the 52:12 prophet’s foresight of the reception error would

give him. “Despised and rejected of men,” was Isaiah’s

graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace. 52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite

in putting to shame and death the best man that ever

trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again 52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.

 

Saviour’s prediction

 

The “man of sorrows” best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were

the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or

Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human

ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his

disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: 52:27 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do

also;” and “These signs shall follow them that believe.”

 

Defamatory accusations

 

The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra- 52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb—

auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton

and a wine-bibber. They said: “He casteth out devils 53:1 through Beelzebub,” and is the “friend of publicans and

sinners.” The latter accusation was true, but not in their 53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did

the Baptist’s disciples; yet there never lived a man so far

removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene. 53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because

he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.

 

Reputation and character

 

The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his 53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and

practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He

was at work in divine Science. His words 53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above

and contrary to the world’s religious sense. Mortals believed in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine, 53:15 infinite Love.

 

Inspiring discontent

 

The world could not interpret aright the discomfort

which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which 53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science

shows the cause of the shock so often produced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from 53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth.

Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of

denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which 53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.

 

Bearing our sins

 

Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the

mortal errors which constitute the material body, and 53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time

when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not

conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma-53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of

spiritual power.

 

Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would 54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the

magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine 54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished

error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, 54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified

example introduced.

 

Inspiration of sacrifice

 

Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All 54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true

idea of God. That he might liberally pour

his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus’

intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine commission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and 54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over

death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest

proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers 54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They

would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor

follow his example.

 

Spiritual friendship

54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the

dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious

friends, whose religion was something more 54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it enabled them to understand the Nazarene and to share

the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol-54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has confirmed the prediction.

 

Injustice to the Saviour

 

If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on 54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now profess to love him, reject him? Would they

not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter-55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs?

The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the 55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and

usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but

this does not affect the invincible facts. 55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more

injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon

the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now 55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the

wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But

that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a 55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be

left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of

the synagogue.

55:15 Truth’s immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries,

gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My

weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall 55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as

himself, - when he shall realize God’s omnipotence and

the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done 55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be fulfilled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing

is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly 55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ’s

cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of

Christian healing. 55:27 In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another

Comforter, that he may abide with you