Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 5

Painful prospect

Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- 31:27 s.h.i.+ppers shall wors.h.i.+p the Father in spirit and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse- cution 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.s from him, though he bowed in holy submis- sion 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 nat- ural 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 Pa.s.sover, 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, antic.i.p.ating 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 everlast- ing 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 trespa.s.ses 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 G.o.d? 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 G.o.d,"

that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ, 34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com- memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or _G.o.d 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.

Fellows.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d 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 sh.o.r.e of the Galilean Sea! His gloom 35:1 had pa.s.sed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent- ance, - 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 sh.o.r.e 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 re- ceive 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 G.o.d. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven,"

35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira- tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com- mended to his followers.

Final purpose

35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re- form him, the good man's heaven would be a h.e.l.l to 36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of 36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after 36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with G.o.d's govern- 36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his 36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John, the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly 36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly- 36:18 minded.

Righteous retribution

A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un- limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as 36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for sinners to receive their full punishment this side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right- 36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven, 36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock- ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.

Vicarious suffering

36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf- fering of the just for the unjust. Can G.o.d therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de- 37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They 37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

Martyrs inevitable

History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of 37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.

37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi- naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of 37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.

Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated 37:15 by lookers-on.

Complete emulation

When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate him in _all_ his ways and to imitate his mighty works?

37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May 37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im- port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow 37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon- stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris- tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in 37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com- mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world, 37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "_Heal the sick_!"

Jesus' teaching belittled

Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration 38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are a.s.sured that this command was intended only for a par- 38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol- lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a 38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are d.a.m.ned; and so it will be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of 38:9 divine Science.

Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be- lieve; ... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they 38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing his disciples, yet he did not say, "These signs shall follow _you_," but _them_- "them that believe" in all time to come.

38:15 Here the word _hands_ is used metaphorically, as in the text, "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have 38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe "through their word."

Material pleasures

38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo- ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ, 38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the 38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati- fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un- 38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its healing power.

Mockery of truth

39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog- nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol- 39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last triumph. He won eternal honors. He over- came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving 39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci- fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as 39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.

A belief suicidal

The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone 39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.

The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.

39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not the threshold over which he must pa.s.s into living glory.