Chapter I - Natural Science
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but when partially aroused from the error, or dream
but when partially aroused from the error, or dream
of Life in matter, to the scientific understanding of
Soul and body, or God and man, exclaimed, in awe,
"My Lord, and my God!"
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Man is the idea of his Principle, and only as the im-
Man is the idea of his Principle, and only as the im-
age and likeness of Intelligence and Life, substance and
Spirit, is he beyond the reach of death, in the science
of being, where nothing can harm or destroy him; of
that which is materialized it can only be said, "dust
thou art and unto dust shalt thou return."
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When the sharp experiences of supposed Life in mat-
When the sharp experiences of supposed Life in mat-
ter, its disappointments, and ceaseless woes, turn us
from it as a tired child to a home in the bosom of Love,
then are we fit to understand Life apart from vanity
and lies; but without this weaning process, "who by
searching can find out God?" If through the whole-
some discipline of chastisement we become His children,
understanding in part, righteousness and purity, we
behold the Truth of spiritual science, where enraptured
thought walks boundless, and conception unconfined
has wings to reach its glory. But to gain Truth and
Life, we must not only seek, but "strive to enter in; "
and the strife consists in destroying the error of per-
sonal sense; but here we learn 'tis easier to desire Truth
than to get rid of error.
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Theories of a personal God, based on the false prem-
Theories of a personal God, based on the false prem-
ises of Life and Intelligence in matter, must yield to
science; and the dream of sense, to the Life that is
Soul. We must leave the foundations of time-honored
systems, to gain Christ, Truth; come out from the world
and be separate, or we have no part and lot in this mat-
ter. The so-called laws material, presuppose body and
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Soul one for a period, until separated by a temporary
Soul one for a period, until separated by a temporary
law of divorcement to come together again at some un-
certain future, and in a manner wholly unknown; which
is even less logical than annihilation.
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To be sure, the Sadducees reasoned falsely on the
To be sure, the Sadducees reasoned falsely on the
resurrection, but not more so than the Pharisees!
When we admit the immortality of Soul, we have ad-
mitted the immortal body, also, for if Soul can be sepa-
rated from man, Principle can be severed from its idea,
which is fatal to a self-existent Intelligence, and equal
to saying there may be a time when God is without a
single expression of Himself. We ask instinctively for
something beyond the things of personal sense, and
whence cometh these unsatisfied cravings for immor-
tality?
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Pleasures of sense are broken reeds, that pierce us
Pleasures of sense are broken reeds, that pierce us
to the heart; but the joys of Soul are imperishable, and
attainable even here, for the hereafter commences here;
to-morrow grows out of to-day. We cannot realize the
Truth of being in a moment; but we can let go some-
what the belief that would fasten immortal Soul within
a mortal body. The motive to realize Life and happi-
ness apart from sense, may be gained to-day, and this
point won, we have started right to admit a greater
influx of light. The realization of Truth is sometimes
sudden and severe, as it came of old to Saul of Tarsus,
when personal sense was blind he beheld the vision of
Soul, "what eye hath not seen or ear heard."
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We will specify three of the footsteps that enter in
We will specify three of the footsteps that enter in
by the door, or enable us to become receptive of Truth.
First. To become as a little child in that we are willing
to leave the old for the new, and look beyond land-