Chapter XIV - Recapitulation
Spiritual reflection
480:1
When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, – the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
480:8
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, – is in God, the origin and gov-
ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
480:19
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
site of good – that is, evil – which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
480:26
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
[the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness, and
death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
481:1
other. How important, then, to choose good as the
other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
free "to enter into the holiest," – the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
481:7
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," – this growth of
material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.
Sense and pure Soul
481:24
If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is
supported, God must uphold it, and this is
impossible, since Truth cannot support error.
Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, –
hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that
it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be
found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a
sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-