0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

EXTRACT FROM A SERMON DELIVERED IN BOSTON,
JANUARY 18, 1885 

  	    TEXT: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
24	took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 
  	 — MATT. xiii. 33.

  	    Few people at present know aught of the Science of
27	mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the
  	public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in
  	the name of Science, that it behooves all clad in the shin-
30	ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Sermons. Extracts from Sermon 

 1	their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives
  	steadfast in Truth. 
 3	    Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the
  	tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and
  	the negative of metaphysical Science; what it is, and
 6	what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in
  	a higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat
  	the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or
 9	clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged
  	charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers
  	the veriest sinner. 
12	    Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the
  	three measures be accomplished, and he arrives at
  	fulness of stature; for "the Lord God omnipotent
15	reigneth." 
  	    Science is divine:  ...it is neither of human origin nor of
  	human direction. That which is termed "natural science,"
18	the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal
  	senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite
  	law of God; which law is written on the heart, received
21	through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem-
  	onstrated in our lives. 
  	    This law of God is the Science of mental healing,
24	spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed. 
  	    Mental Science, and the five personal senses, are at
  	war; and peace can only be declared on the side of im-
27	mutable right, — the health, holiness, and immortality
  	of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda-
  	mental rule of Science must be understood and adhered
30	to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture
  	that God is good; hence, good is omnipotent and
  	omnipresent. 
 
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 1	    Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or
  	man's theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle
 3	and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees
  	nothing but a law of matter. 
  	    Who has ever learned of the schools that there is but
 6	one Mind, and that this is God, who healeth all our sick-
  	ness and sins? 
  	    Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan phi-
 9	losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law of
  	Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation
  	to, or recognition of, matter? 
12	    Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God,
  	omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo-
  	site so-called science, which says that man is both matter
15	and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite
  	be within the finite? And must not man have preexisted
  	in the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without
18	space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that
  	it is man? 
  	    If God is Mind and fills all space, is everywhere, matter
21	is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, God, is all-power
  	and all-presence, man is not met by another power
  	and presence, that — obstructing his intelligence — 
24	pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man
  	is intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that
  	is not the counterpart but the counterfeit of man's creator? 
27	Surely not from God, for He made man in His own
  	likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called
  	matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it? 
30	But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of
  	Mind? 
  	    For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created. 
 
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1	Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter
  	than has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement
 3	of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against
  	Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having presence
  	and power over omnipotence! 
 6	    Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us
  	come into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui-
  	ties, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense
 9	of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within
  	man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that
  	moves all in harmony, — from the falling of a sparrow
12	to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons,
  	broader than the solar system and higher than the at-
  	mosphere of our planet, is the Science of mental
15	healing. 
  	    What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit,
  	the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is
18	there — nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this
  	kingdom afar off? No:  it is ever-present here. The
  	first to declare against this kingdom is matter. Shall
21	that be called heresy which pleads for Spirit — the All of
  	God, and His omnipresence? 
  	    The kingdom of heaven is the reign of divine Science:
24	it is a mental state. Jesus said it is within you, and
  	taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come;" but he did
  	not teach us to pray for death whereby to gain heaven. 
27	We do not look into darkness for light. Death can never
  	usher in the dawn of Science that reveals the spiritual
  	facts of man's Life here and now. 
30	    The leaven which a woman took and hid in three
  	measures of meal, is Divine Science; the Comforter;
  	the Holy Ghost that leadeth into all Truth; the "still,
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Sermons. Extracts from Sermon 

 1	small voice" that breathes His presence and power, cast-
  	ing out error and healing the sick. And woman, the
 3	spiritual idea, takes of the things of God and showeth
  	them unto the creature, until the whole sense of being
  	is leavened with Spirit. The three measures of meal
 6	may well be likened to the false sense of life, substance,
  	and intelligence, which says, I am sustained by bread,
  	matter, instead of Mind. The spiritual leaven of divine
 9	Science changes this false sense, giving better views of
  	Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall
  	appear, it shall be "the substance of things hoped for." 
12	    The measure of Life shall increase by every spiritual
  	touch, even as the leaven expands the loaf. Man shall
  	keep the feast of Life, not with the old leaven of the
15	scribes and Pharisees, neither with "the leaven of malice
  	and wickedness; but the unleavened bread of sincerity
  	and truth." 
18	    Thus it can be seen that the Science of mental healing
  	must be understood. There are false Christs that would
  	"deceive, if it were possible, the very elect," by institut-
21	ing matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their
  	supposition is, that there are other minds than His; that
  	one mind controls another; that one belief takes the
24	place of another. But this ism of to-day has nothing
  	to do with the Science of mental healing which acquaints
  	us with God and reveals the one perfect Mind and His
27	laws. 
  	    The attempt to mix matter and Mind, to work by
  	means of both animal magnetism and divine power, is
30	literally saying, Have we not in thy name cast out devils,
  	and done many wonderful works? 
  	    But remember God in all thy ways, and thou shalt

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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Sermons. Extracts from Sermon 

 1	find the truth that breaks the dream of sense, letting the
  	harmony of Science that declares Him, come in with
 3	healing, and peace, and perfect love. 
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