Chapter VIII - Footsteps Of Truth
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can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as
can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as
straining out gnats and swallowing camels.
The scientific unity which exists between God and man
must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must
be universally done.
Divine study
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If men would bring to bear upon the study of the
If men would bring to bear upon the study of the
Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so‑
called pains and pleasures of material sense,
they would not go on from bad to worse,
until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but
the whole human family would be redeemed through
the merits of Christ, – through the perception and ac-
ceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian
Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding.
Harmonious life-work
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Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal
Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal
man, in accord with the divine Principle of His being,
God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days
of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di-
minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the
true way leads to life instead of to death, and earthly
experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite
capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion
over all the earth.
Belief and practice
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Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict the
Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict the
practice growing out of them. Error abounds where
Truth should "much more abound." We
admit that God has almighty power, is "a
very present help in trouble;" and yet we rely on a drug
or hypnotism to heal disease, as if senseless matter or err-
ing mortal mind had more power than omnipotent Spirit.
Sure reward of righteousness
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Common opinion admits that a man may take cold in
Common opinion admits that a man may take cold in
the act of doing good, and that this cold may produce
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fatal pulmonary disease; as though evil could overbear
fatal pulmonary disease; as though evil could overbear
the law of Love, and check the reward for do-
ing good. In the Science of Christianity, Mind
– omnipotence – has all-power, assigns sure
rewards to righteousness, and shows that matter can
neither heal nor make sick, create nor destroy.
Our belief and understanding
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If God were understood instead of being merely be-
If God were understood instead of being merely be-
lieved, this understanding would establish health. The
accusation of the rabbis, "He made himself
the Son of God," was really the justification
of Jesus, for to the Christian the only true
spirit is Godlike. This thought incites to a more exalted
worship and self-abnegation. Spiritual perception brings
out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught
but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in
deed and in truth.
Suicide and sin
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We are prone to believe either in more than one Su-
We are prone to believe either in more than one Su-
preme Ruler or in some power less than God. We im-
agine that Mind can be imprisoned in a sensuous body.
When the material body has gone to ruin, when evil has
overtaxed the belief of life in matter and destroyed it,
then mortals believe that the deathless Principle, or
Soul, escapes from matter and lives on; but this is not
true. Death is not a stepping-stone to life, immortality,
and bliss. The so-called sinner is a suicide.
Sin kills the sinner and will continue to kill
him so long as he sins. The foam and fury of illegiti-
mate living and of fearful and doleful dying should
disappear on the shore of time; then the waves of sin,
sorrow, and death beat in vain.
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God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give
God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give
him eternal Life, for God alone is man's life. God is at