Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
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the rule itself; but Truth is science walking over all
the rule itself; but Truth is science walking over all
lies. Christianity is open seige with the world; on
which side are you fighting? Popularity gained by
dishonesty, is smoking flax ready to perish. The wrong
you do another weighs most heavily against yourself,
for at some time Truth will adjust the balances. As
soon think to make evil good, as to benefit yourself by
injuring others. If the balance of your character is
wrong you lose the weight of Truth, and work not in
science; if you treat the sick mesmerically, or with
medicine, you are calling on your gods, like the wor-
shippers of Baal, but they are not the Prophet's God,
the Principle of being; the moral mercury is what rises
or falls your demonstration, according to the amount
of Truth you possess. Worshipping in temples made
with hands; loving the world and listening to the de-
mands of personal sense, is not the true worship.
Then let the Christian who has grown away from forms
and ceremonies, enjoy his worship in the right way, viz.,
Spirit and in Truth. If we come out from the world,
as the Scripture demands, and are separate, we shall
have its frowns instead of flatteries, and they will enable
us, more than its favors, to be a Scientist. Losing her
crucifix, the poor Catholic said, "I have nothing left
now but Christ," and this was not greater ignorance
of God than to fall away from Truth because of perse-
cution. If we have God on our side, what need we
more? Loving error more than Truth we shall not
separate ourself from the world, but wait on its approval
until sickness comes to dull this false sense of happi-
ness. When we silence the demands of conscience, at
some future hour we shall hear the reply, "darkness
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leadeth not into the guest-chamber of Wisdom; ye can-
leadeth not into the guest-chamber of Wisdom; ye can-
not enter now." Our unimproved opportunities gone,
are not easily reproduced; nor can we borrow Wisdom,
therefore we must then learn from suffering. The
hour of darkness will come to those who improve not
the preparatory school of the present, to fit them for the
future, but would step suddenly into all the benefits of
experience; alas! what were the science of being to
them in that hour? – a blessing? yea, a blessing infi-
nite. The dream of Life in matter, based on the evi-
dence of personal sense, will vanish ere long, when we
would gladly turn from its fading vision and the pains
of sense, to peace and immortality; but the accumulated
error of years dies slowly, and sometimes with severe
struggles. As a general rule, man will not seek Truth
until suffering shows him the need he has of it, or sci-
ence opens the eyes of his understanding to see it; for
science guides man safely over the quicksands and shoals,
making Life what it is, harmony, and not discord.
Personal sense is a broken reed that leaves man to fall
to the earth; but science raises him up to the resources
within himself. The very logic of Truth declares the
higher and more enduring claims of Spirit over matter
in all our experiences, showing that something besides
the body, and perishable things of earth, demand our
care and must furnish our support. Soul is heard above
the din of sense, saying to error, "Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity." Man should obey the voice of
Wisdom outside his body, that calls him away from a
sense or contemplation of sickness, sin, and death, to
harmony, health, and Life.
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It is not from matter, personal sense, or from doc-
It is not from matter, personal sense, or from doc-