Chapter V - Prayer and Atonement
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was, saying, "Go and tell him the things ye see and
was, saying, "Go and tell him the things ye see and
hear; how the sick are healed, the lame walk, the
deaf hear, the blind see, and to the poor the gospel is
preached." Tell him what its demonstration is; and
the spiritual John will at once perceive God is its Prin-
ciple. Materia medica professed the ability to heal, also,
and the Pharisees to teach Christ, Truth, but they only
hindered the success of Jesus' mission; many of the
seventy he had taught, stood in his way also, together
with one who boldly betrayed him into the hands of
his enemies. If our Master had never had a student,
he would not have come to the death on the cross; but
his mission would have been unfulfilled, and his history
lacked its sweetest pathos. Through his unmerited
persecutions we see the fate of science in a world of
error, and the reception a sensuous world gives the
Principle that contradicts personal sense with Soul.
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At the same time that I love Jesus more than all men
At the same time that I love Jesus more than all men
of the past or present ages, treading alone a path of
thorns, up to the throne of Wisdom, in speechless
agony exploring the way for others, yet I cannot see
that he has spared us one individual experience, or
that we have not the "cup" to drink in proportion to
our fitness to drink it and demonstrate God, above
others. To keep the commandments of our Master
and follow his example, is our proper return, and only
evidence of gratitude for all he has done for us; but
this is not a personal worship, nor reward to a person;
it is to understand the Principle Jesus taught and
proved, and follow, as much as in us lies, his example;
to separate ourselves from the world of error and press
forward to the Life that is Truth and Love. The
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pleasures, frowns, or flatteries of earth, are but ghosts
pleasures, frowns, or flatteries of earth, are but ghosts
of nothingness, compared to the prize set before us,
"And laying aside every weight and sin that so easily
beset us, let us press forward to the high calling of
God in Christ," putting aside personal self and sense,
for Soul, the Principle of being.
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Every pang of repentance, every suffering for sin,
Every pang of repentance, every suffering for sin,
(accompanied with reformatory efforts) and every good
deed, atones for sin. But if the sinner is sorry, and
continues to pray, and to sin and be sorry, he hath no
part in the at-one-ment. To understand God, "Whom
to know aright is Life eternal," is to do the will of
Wisdom; and none hath part in Him, who demonstrates
not, in part, the Principle embraced in the teachings
and practice of our Master. If not obeying the science
of being according to its Principle, God, we should
have no confidence in man's safety, because God is
good, and man repents. But if we are growing spirit-
ual, and error is yielding to Truth in our demonstra-
tions of being, and our daily walk and conversation,
we shall say at length, "I have fought the good fight
and kept the faith;" for I am a better man. This is
having part in the at-one-ment. If a man stands still,
praying, and expecting because of another man's good-
ness, sufferings and triumphs, he will reach his harmony
and reward; that man will vibrate, a pendulum, between
sin and the hope of forgiveness; selfishness and sensu-
ality winding him up to this action, and his growth
will be slow. An at-one-ment with Love and Truth,
is to apply the meaning of the Life, and not death of
Jesus, to deeds and a Christian character, and not to
cover, or forgive sin, but to destroy it in the most