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of sorrows” knew that the man of joys, his spiritual

      self, or Christ, was the Son of God; and that the mor- [15]

      tal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human

      manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of

      man, or Mary's son.

      Please explain Paul's meaning in the text, “For to me

      to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” [20]

      The Science of Life, overshadowing Paul's sense of

      life in matter, so far extinguished the latter as forever

      to quench his love for it. The discipline of the flesh is

      designed to turn one, like a weary traveller, to the home

      of Love. To lose error thus, is to live in Christ, Truth. [25]

      A true sense of the falsity of material joys and sorrows,

      pleasures and pains, takes them away, and teaches Life's

      lessons aright. The transition from our lower sense of

      Life to a new and higher sense thereof, even though it be

      through the door named death, yields a clearer and [30]

      nearer sense of Life to those who have utilized the present,

      [pg 085]

      and are ripe for the harvest-home. To the battle- [1]

      worn and weary Christian hero, Life eternal brings

      blessings.

      Is a Christian Scientist ever sick, and has he who is

      sick been regenerated? [5]

      The Christian Scientist learns spiritually all that he

      knows of Life, and demonstrates what he understands.

      God is recognized as the divine Principle of his being,

      and of every thought and act leading to good. His pur-

      pose must be right, though his power is temporarily lim- [10]

      ited. Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a

      moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual,

      for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in

      Science: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father

      which is in heaven is perfect.” [15]

      The last degree of regeneration rises into the rest of

      perpetual, spiritual, individual existence. The first

      feeble fluttering of mortals Christward are infantile

      and more or less imperfect. The new-born Christian

      Scientist must mature, and work out his own salvation. [20]

      Spirit and flesh antagonize. Temptation, that mist of

      mortal mind which seems to be matter and the environ-

      ment of mortals, suggests pleasure and pain in matter;

      and, so long as this temptation lasts, the warfare is not

      ended and the mortal is not regenerated. The pleas- [25]

      ures—more than the pains—of sense, retard regenera-

      tion; for pain compels human consciousness to escape

      from sense into the immortality and harmony of Soul.

      Disease in error, more than ease in it, tends to destroy

      error: the sick often are thereby led to Christ, Truth, [30]

      and to learn their way out of both sickness and sin.

      [pg 086]

      The material and physical are imperfect. The in- [1]

      dividual and spiritual are perfect; these have no fleshly

      nature. This final degree of regeneration is saving, and

      the Christian will, must, attain it; but it doth not yet

      appear. Until this be attained, the Christian Scientist [5]

      must continue to strive with sickness, sin, and death—

      though in lessening degrees—and manifest growth at

      every experience.

      Is it correct to say of material objects, that they are noth-

      ing and exist only in imagination? [10]

      Nothing and something are words which need correct

      definition. They either mean formations of indefinite

      and vague human opinions, or scientific classifications

      of the unreal and the real. My sense of the beauty of

      the universe is, that beauty typifies holiness, and is some- [15]

      thing to be desired. Earth is more spiritually beautiful

      to my gaze now than when it was more earthly to the

      eyes of Eve. The pleasant sensations of human belief,

      of form and color, must be spiritualized, until we gain the

      glorified sense of substance as in the new heaven and [20]

      earth, the harmony of body and Mind.

      Even the human conception of beauty, grandeur, and

      utility is something that defies a sneer. It is more than

      imagination. It is next to divine beauty and the gran-

      deur of Spirit. It lives with our earth-life, and is [25]

      the subjective state of high thoughts. The atmos-

      phere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal envi-

      ronment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell,

      constitutes their present earth and heaven: but we must

      grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings [30]

      to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall

      [pg 087]

      soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue tem- [1]

      poral sky.

      To take all earth's beauty into one gulp of vacuity

      and label beauty nothing, is ignorantly to caricature

      God's creation, which is unjust to human sense and [5]

      to the divine realism. In our immature sense of spirit-

      ual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous

      universe: “I love your promise; and shall know, some

      time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light,

      and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and [10]

      knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail con-

      ception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer

      representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the

      immortal Mind.”

      Please inform us through your Journal; if you sent [15]

      Mrs. ——to——. She said that you sent her there to look

      after the students; and also, that no one there was working

      in Science—which is certainly a mistake.

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