0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

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      SUFFERING FROM OTHERS' THOUGHTS

1	    Jesus accepted the one fact whereby alone the rule of
  	Life can be demonstrated, — namely, that there is
 3	no death. 
  	    In his real self he bore no infirmities. Though "a man
  	of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," as Isaiah says of
 6	him, he bore not his sins, but ours, "in his own body on
  	the tree." "He was bruised for our iniquities; . . . and
  	with his stripes we are healed." 
 9	    He was the Way-shower; and Christian Scientists who
  	would demonstrate "the way" must keep close to his
  	path, that they may win the prize. "The way," in the
12	flesh, is the suffering which leads out of the flesh. "The
  	way," in Spirit, is "the way" of Life, Truth, and Love,
  	redeeming us from the false sense of the flesh and the
15	wounds it bears. This threefold Messiah reveals the self-
  	destroying ways of error and the life-giving way of Truth. 
  	    Job's faith and hope gained him the assurance that
18	the so-called sufferings of the flesh are unreal. We shall
  	learn how false are the pleasures and pains of material
  	sense, and behold the truth of being, as expressed in his
21	conviction, "Yet in my flesh shall I see God;" that is,
  	Now and here shall I behold God, divine Love. 
 
   
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 ...1	    The chaos of mortal mind is made the stepping-stone
  	to the cosmos of immortal Mind. 
 3	    If Jesus suffered, as the Scriptures declare, it must have
  	been from the mentality of others; since all suffering
  	comes from mind, not from matter, and there could be
 6	no sin or suffering in the Mind which is God. Not his
  	own sins, but the sins of the world, "crucified the Lord
  	of glory," and "put him to an open shame." 
 9	    Holding a quickened sense of false environment, and
  	suffering from mentality in opposition to Truth, are signifi-
  	cant of that state of mind which the actual understanding
12	of Christian Science first eliminates and then destroys. 
  	    In the divine order of Science every follower of Christ
  	shares his cup of sorrows. He also suffereth in the flesh,
15	and from the mentality which opposes the law of Spirit;
  	but the divine law is supreme, for it freeth him from the
  	law of sin and death. 
18	    Prophets and apostles suffered from the thoughts of
  	others. Their conscious being was not fully exempt from
  	physicality and the sense of sin. 
21	    Until he awakes from his delusion, he suffers least from
  	sin who is a hardened sinner. The hypocrite's affections
  	must first be made to fret in their chains; and the pangs
24	of hell must lay hold of him ere he can change from flesh
  	to Spirit, become acquainted with that Love which is
  	without dissimulation and endureth all things. Such
27	mental conditions as ingratitude, lust, malice, hate, con-
  	stitute the miasma of earth. More obnoxious than
 
   
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 1	Chinese stenchpots are these dispositions which offend
  	the spiritual sense. 
 3	    Anatomically considered, the design of the material
  	senses is to warn mortals of the approach of danger by
  	the pain they feel and occasion; but as this sense disap-
 6	pears it foresees the impending doom and foretells the
  	pain. Man's refuge is in spirituality, "under the shadow
  	of the Almighty." 
 9	    The cross is the central emblem of human history. 
  	Without it there is neither temptation nor glory. When
  	Jesus turned and said, "Who hath touched me?" he
12	must have felt the influence of the woman's thought; for
  	it is written that he felt that "virtue had gone out of him." 
  	His pure consciousness was discriminating, and rendered
15	this infallible verdict; but he neither held her error by
  	affinity nor by infirmity, for it was detected and dismissed. 
  	    This gospel of suffering brought life and bliss. This
18	is earth's Bethel in stone, — its pillow, supporting the
  	ladder which reaches heaven. 
  	    Suffering was the confirmation of Paul's faith. Through
21	"a thorn in the flesh" he learned that spiritual grace was
  	sufficient for him. 
  	    Peter rejoiced that he was found worthy to suffer for
24	Christ; because to suffer with him is to reign with him. 
  	    Sorrow is the harbinger of joy. Mortal throes of anguish
  	forward the birth of immortal being; but divine Science
27	wipes away all tears. 
  	    The only conscious existence in the flesh is error of some
 
   
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 1	sort, — sin, pain, death, — a false sense of life and happi-
  	ness. Mortals, if at ease in so-called existence, are in their
 3	native element of error, and must become dis-eased, dis-
  	quieted, before error is annihilated. 
  	    Jesus walked with bleeding feet the thorny earth-road,
 6	treading "the winepress alone." His persecutors said
  	mockingly, "Save thyself, and come down from the cross." 
  	This was the very thing he was doing, coming down from
 9	the cross, saving himself after the manner that he had
  	taught, by the law of Spirit's supremacy; and this was
  	done through what is humanly called agony. 
12	    Even the ice-bound hypocrite melts in fervent heat,
  	before he apprehends Christ as "the way." The Master's
  	sublime triumph over all mortal mentality was immortal-
15	ity's goal. He was too wise not to be willing to test the
  	full compass of human woe, being "in all points tempted
  	like as we are, yet without sin." 
18	    Thus the absolute unreality of sin, sickness, and death
  	was revealed, — a revelation that beams on mortal sense
  	as the midnight sun shines over the Polar Sea.
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