Chapter V - Prayer and Atonement
296:1
Atonement is oneness with God; it is Life, Truth,
Atonement is oneness with God; it is Life, Truth,
and Love fulfilled, whereby sickness, sin, and death,
are destroyed. Jesus of Nazareth explained and dem-
onstrated his oneness with the Father, for which we
owe him endless love and homage, although at the time
of his labors he received less gratitude and honor than
other men. His mission was both individual and col-
lective; he did Life's work right in justice to himself,
and to show us how to do ours, but not to do it for us,
or to relieve us of a single responsibility in the case.
He taught us the way of Life, its Principle and proof,
demonstrating what He taught, that we might under-
stand its Principle; how it healed the sick, cast out
error, and triumphed over death. Jesus was more the
idea of God than a man can be whose origin is less
spiritual than his, therefore he demonstrated higher
than others the Principle of being, even his oneness with
God. He understood the science of those sayings of his,
"I am the Truth and Life," "I and the Father are
one." Any reference to himself was made to Christ,
the Principle of the man Jesus, for he called not Intel-
ligence man, but God. It was not to a person, but to
Truth, Life, and Love, he looked to destroy sickness,
sin, and death. The mission of Jesus was to demonstrate
the science of Life, he was its idea, even the chosen of
Principle to prove God, and what God does for man.
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Belief had established the false conclusion that God
Belief had established the false conclusion that God
was in matter; that Truth and Life were in man, and
man was mortal, sinning, sick, and dying. He wished
to show, this belief was the very opposite of Truth,
and that Spirit was not in matter, hence the death of
the cross and the re-appearance of Jesus according to
297:1
his scientific statement of Life, namely, "Though you
his scientific statement of Life, namely, "Though you
destroy this temple (body) yet will I (Spirit) build it
again." "I," the Life, Substance, and Intelligence of
the universe, and man, am not in matter that you can
destroy. His beautiful metaphors and parables of the
tree and its fruit; the fount and stream; the tares and
wheat; the sower and husbandman, etc., explained
Intelligence and Life not mingled with sin and death.
He laid the axe of science at the root of the "tree of
knowledge" to cut down all that embraced opposite
doctrines; hence error's hatred of him, and Truth's
approval. This more pure, and spiritual idea, named
Jesus, destroyed the beliefs of Life in matter, and gave
to man the understanding of the Principle of being.
Those students who followed his instructions and exam-
ple, loved and honored him, and those who did not,
hated and dishonored him. The former cast out error,
and healed the sick with Christ, Truth; the latter, only
in the name of Truth. Of the seventy he taught, but
eleven remained faithful, showing how far the science
he taught and demonstrated, was apart from the accep-
tance of the world of sense. And when Christ, Truth,
cometh again, will he find faith on earth? Over eigh-
teen centuries ago, "He came to his own and his own
received him not." Those professing Christ are some-
times the first to reject Truth, if it collides with their be-
liefs; even its severest persecutors have been of this class.
The honest fishermen who had little to leave, were those
who left all for Christ, Truth, until progress compelled
the change, and the learned Paul stepped forth for Truth.
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When a teacher of music demonstrates by some
When a teacher of music demonstrates by some
masterly performance, the harmony of music, he gives