Chapter X - Science Of Being
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eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Be-
eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Be-
ing who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.
Death no advantage
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If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of man's being
If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of man's being
are not in the least understood before what is termed death
overtakes mortals, they will rise no higher spir-
itually in the scale of existence on account of
that single experience, but will remain as material as be-
fore the transition, still seeking happiness through a ma-
terial, instead of through a spiritual sense of life, and from
selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite
and physical or is manifested through brain and nerves,
is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
its effects, – sickness, sin, and death. To the spiritual
class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second death
hath no power."
Future purification
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If the change called death destroyed the belief in sin,
If the change called death destroyed the belief in sin,
sickness, and death, happiness would be won at the mo-
ment of dissolution, and be forever permanent;
but this is not so. Perfection is gained only
by perfection. They who are unrighteous shall be un-
righteous still, until in divine Science Christ, Truth, re-
moves all ignorance and sin.
Sin is punished
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The sin and error which possess us at the instant of
The sin and error which possess us at the instant of
death do not cease at that moment, but endure until the
death of these errors. To be wholly spiritual,
man must be sinless, and he becomes thus only
when he reaches perfection. The murderer, though slain
in the act, does not thereby forsake sin. He is no more
spiritual for believing that his body died and learning that
his cruel mind died not. His thoughts are no purer until
evil is disarmed by good. His body is as material as his
mind, and vice versa.
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The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unfor-
The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unfor-
saken, that happiness can be genuine in the midst of
sin, that the so-called death of the body frees from sin,
and that God's pardon is aught but the destruction of
sin, – these are grave mistakes. We know that all will
be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," when the last
trump shall sound; but this last call of wisdom cannot
come till mortals have already yielded to each lesser call
in the growth of Christian character. Mortals need not
fancy that belief in the experience of death will awaken
them to glorified being.
Salvation and probation
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Universal salvation rests on progression and probation,
Universal salvation rests on progression and probation,
and is unattainable without them. Heaven is not a local-
ity, but a divine state of Mind in which all the
manifestations of Mind are harmonious and
immortal, because sin is not there and man is
found having no righteousness of his own, but in posses-
sion of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
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"In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
"In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be." So we read in Ecclesiastes. This text has been
transformed into the popular proverb, "As the tree
falls, so it must lie." As man falleth asleep, so shall he
awake. As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be
after death, until probation and growth shall effect the
needed change. Mind never becomes dust. No resur-
rection from the grave awaits Mind or Life, for the grave
has no power over either.
Day of judgment
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No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-
No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-
day of wisdom comes hourly and continually,
even the judgment by which mortal man is di-
vested of all material error. As for spiritual error there
is none.