Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
152:1
more potent than man's Maker, is it well to suppose
more potent than man's Maker, is it well to suppose
Christianity can mix with this belief, so opposite to
Jesus' teachings, and demonstrate as he did the science
of being, casting out error, and healing the sick.
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To understand that "I" is Intelligence, and this the
To understand that "I" is Intelligence, and this the
one God, enables man to gain the immortality of Soul,
and to destroy the errors of sense, and make the body
harmonious and eternal, because it is governed by Spirit;
but to believe ourself nerves, bones, brain, etc., is to
accept the aid of matter to control the body, virtually
admitting God incapable of the entire government of
man. If brains, nerves, etc., are intelligent, then Spirit
and matter commingle, and sin and holiness, sickness
and health, Life and death, good and evil, are mixed,
and who shall say which is one or the other, for this
would be a matter of opinion. Our Master destroyed
this doctrine when He said, "there is no fellowship
between God and Belial." If man is Intelligence,
there are gods many; or if Intelligence is in man, the
greater enters into the lesser; and God becomes less
than man, and there is no God; 'tis in vain we insist
on such self-evident error! Those self-conscious of
any goodness are also conscious of Love and Truth,
outside of matter.
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If man would pay due allegiance to God, what
If man would pay due allegiance to God, what
stronger argument has he by which to overcome sick-
ness and sin, than to regard these not made by God,
"who made all that was made;" and because they
were not, that they are without creation or reality. To
trample on sin by holding yourself superior to it, is wis-
dom; but to fear it, bringeth a snare, because you ac-
knowledge some power or Intelligence superior to God.
153:1
To trample on the belief of sickness, and to regard
To trample on the belief of sickness, and to regard
yourself superior to it, is wise; but to fear sickness,
causes it, by acknowledging its supremacy over you.
If you possess Love, Wisdom, or Truth, you have Life,
that is superior to death, sickness, or sin, and you ought
to prove this fact by demonstration.
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If thought is startled at the strong claims of the sci-
If thought is startled at the strong claims of the sci-
ence of being, and doubts them, are we not surprised
also, by the claims of evil? but admit them, although dis-
cord is unreal and Truth not as surprising or arbitrary
as error.
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When sound is interpreted by personal sense, it is but
When sound is interpreted by personal sense, it is but
a belief that may be lost with a single change of opinion
regarding it, but where it exists in its Principle, we
hold it in Soul, and a self-conscious capacity undying.
The belief that the so-called dead speak audibly to the
living, gives a mental impression the same as other be-
liefs, and has no more reality than those. Sound is pro-
duced by mental impressions, and not by the action of
air on the mechanism of the ear. Hearing is not de-
pendent on matter, but depends either on belief or the
understanding. Those believing in "spirits," may pro-
duce to personal sense the impression of sound that has
the same reality to them as the more common modus
operandi has to others. It is mind alone that hears, and
mind that gives the impression of sound; and this is
proved by clairvoyance.
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One individual believes he must use his hands to
One individual believes he must use his hands to
bring a rose in contact with the olfactories; and another,
equally sincere, believes legerdemain can do this; and
a third, that the so-called dead handle the rose for
him; but each one has produced this phenomenon