Chapter II - Atonement And Eucharist
Moral victory
21:1
If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a
good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be-
cause you are a better man. This is having
our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.
Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting
because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph,
that they shall reach his harmony and reward.
21:9
If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-
If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-
ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma-
terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things
of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the
start, and gain a little each day in the right direction,
till at last he finishes his course with joy.
Inharmonious travellers
21:15
If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en
If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en
route for California, we are not journeying together.
We have separate time-tables to consult,
different routes to pursue. Our paths have
diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor-
tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my
friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad
guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I
take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our
companionship may continue.
Zigzag course
21:25
Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at
Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at
the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither-
ward. He is like a traveller going westward
for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring
and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for
six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can
only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By‑
and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow
22:1
the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
of this to find and follow the right road.
Moral retrogression
22:3
Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
of forgiveness, – selfishness and sensuality causing con-
stant retrogression, – our moral progress will
be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals
experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-
ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and
through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned
with success.
Wait for reward
22:11
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
"Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-
ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If
your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive
no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
sluggard in the race.
22:18
When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
cern the good you have done, and receive according to
your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from
temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
Deliverance not vicarious
22:23
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
one's faith without works to another's vicarious
effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
understand God.
Justice and substitution
22:30
Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not