Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 49

Divine trinity

VII. Life, Truth, and Love const.i.tute the triune Person 331:27 called G.o.d, - that is, the triply divine Principle, Love.

They represent a trinity in unity, three in one, - the same in essence, though multi- 331:30 form in office: G.o.d the Father-Mother; Christ the spirit- ual idea of sons.h.i.+p; divine Science or the Holy Comforter.

These three express in divine Science the threefold, essen- 332:1 tial nature of the infinite. They also indicate the divine Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of G.o.d 332:3 to man and the universe.

Father-Mother

VIII. Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which in- dicates His tender relations.h.i.+p to His spiritual creation.

332:6 As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a cla.s.sic poet: "For we are also His offspring."

The Son of G.o.d

332:9 IX. Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from G.o.d to men speak- ing to the human consciousness. The Christ 332:12 is incorporeal, spiritual, - yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and 332:15 casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As Paul says: "There is one G.o.d, and one mediator between G.o.d and men, the man Christ Jesus." The corporeal 332:18 man Jesus was human.

Holy Ghost or Comforter

X. Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of G.o.d - the Holy Ghost, 332:21 or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth.

Christ Jesus

XI. Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed 332:24 to speak G.o.d's word and to appear to mortals in such a form of humanity as they could understand as well as perceive. Mary's conception of 332:27 him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and pure Christ Jesus. He expressed the highest type of 332:30 divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age.

Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot enter. Thus it is that Christ ill.u.s.trates the coincidence, 333:1 or spiritual agreement, between G.o.d and man in His image.

Messiah or Christ

333:3 XII. The word _Christ_ is not properly a synonym for Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with 333:6 other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine 333:9 t.i.tle of Jesus. Christ expresses G.o.d's spiritual, eternal nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al- ludes to the spirituality which is taught, ill.u.s.trated, and 333:12 demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig- 333:15 nifies the G.o.dlike.

The divine Principle and idea

XIII. The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is 333:18 without beginning of years or end of days.

Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit- 333:21 ual idea, - the reflection of G.o.d, - has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets 333:24 caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and 333:27 ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, G.o.d.

Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual ident.i.ty thus: "Before Abraham was, I am;" "I and my Father are 333:30 one;" "My Father is greater than I." The one Spirit includes all ident.i.ties.

Spiritual oneness

XIV. By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu- 334:1 man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham; 334:3 not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ, dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, G.o.d, from 334:6 which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father is greater than Spirit, which is G.o.d, but greater, infinitely greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was 334:9 brief.

The Son's duality

XV. The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a 334:12 bodily existence. This dual personality of the unseen and the seen, the spiritual and mate- rial, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest 334:15 in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared, while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in 334:18 the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes.

Eternity of the Christ

334:21 XVI. This was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," - slain, that is, according to the testi- mony of the corporeal senses, but undying in 334:24 the deific Mind. The Revelator represents the Son of man as saying (Revelation i. 17, 18): "I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead 334:27 [not understood]; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, [Science has explained me]." This is a mystical state- ment of the eternity of the Christ, and is also a reference 334:30 to the human sense of Jesus crucified.

Infinite Spirit

XVII. Spirit being G.o.d, there is but one Spirit, for there can be but one infinite and therefore one G.o.d.

335:1 There are neither spirits many nor G.o.ds many. There is no evil in Spirit, because G.o.d is Spirit. The theory, 335:3 that Spirit is distinct from matter but must pa.s.s through it, or into it, to be individualized, would reduce G.o.d to dependency on matter, and establish 335:6 a basis for pantheism.

The only substance

XVIII. Spirit, G.o.d, has created all in and of Him- self. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in 335:9 Spirit out of which matter could be made, for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos, the AEon or Word of G.o.d, "was not anything made 335:12 that was made." Spirit is the only substance, the in- visible and indivisible infinite G.o.d. Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal 335:15 are insubstantial.

Soul and Spirit one

XIX. Soul and Spirit being one, G.o.d and Soul are one, and this one never included in a limited mind or a 335:18 limited body. Spirit is eternal, divine. Noth- ing but Spirit, Soul, can evolve Life, for Spirit is more than all else. Because Soul is immortal, it does 335:21 not exist in mortality. Soul must be incorporeal to be Spirit, for Spirit is not finite. Only by losing the false sense of Soul can we gain the eternal unfolding of Life as 335:24 immortality brought to light.

The one divine Mind

XX. Mind is the divine Principle, Love, and can pro- duce nothing unlike the eternal Father-Mother, G.o.d.

335:27 Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspirit- ual can be real, harmonious, or eternal. Sin, sickness, 335:30 and mortality are the suppositional antipodes of Spirit, and must be contradictions of reality.

The divine Ego

XXI. The Ego is deathless and limitless, for limits 336:1 would imply and impose ignorance. Mind is the I AM, or infinity. Mind never enters the finite. Intelligence 336:3 never pa.s.ses into non-intelligence, or matter.

Good never enters into evil the unlimited into the limited, the eternal into the temporal, nor the im- 336:6 mortal into mortality. The divine Ego, or individuality, is reflected in all spiritual individuality from the infini- tesimal to the infinite.

The real manhood

336:9 XXII. Immortal man was and is G.o.d's image or idea, even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor- tal man is coexistent and coeternal with that 336:12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal Mind, G.o.d; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but is reflected by man. The spiritual man's consciousness 336:15 and individuality are reflections of G.o.d. They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Im- mortal man is not and never was material, but always 336:18 spiritual and eternal.

Indivisibility of the infinite

XXIII. G.o.d is indivisible. A portion of G.o.d could not enter man; neither could G.o.d's fulness be reflected 336:21 by a single man, else G.o.d would be manifestly finite, lose the deific character, and become less than G.o.d. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and 336:24 nothing less can express G.o.d.

G.o.d the parent Mind

XXIV. G.o.d, the divine Principle of man, and man in G.o.d's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal.

336:27 The Science of being furnishes the rule of per- fection, and brings immortality to light. G.o.d and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci- 336:30 ence, G.o.d and man coexist and are eternal. G.o.d is the parent Mind, and man is G.o.d's spiritual offspring.

Man reflects the perfect G.o.d

XXV. G.o.d is individual and personal in a scientific 337:1 sense, but not in any anthropomorphic sense. Therefore man, reflecting G.o.d, cannot lose his individuality; but as 337:3 material sensation, or a soul in the body, blind mortals do lose sight of spiritual individuality.

Material personality is not realism; it is not 337:6 the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect G.o.d. Sen- sualism is not bliss, but bondage. For true happiness, man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the 337:9 Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with Christ. According to divine Science, man is in a degree as perfect as the Mind that forms him. The truth of be- 337:12 ing makes man harmonious and immortal, while error is mortal and discordant.

Purity the path to perfection

XXVI. Christian Science demonstrates that none but 337:15 the pure in heart can see G.o.d, as the gospel teaches. In proportion to his purity is man perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial 337:18 being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual ideal.

True idea of man

XXVII. The true idea of man, as the reflection of the 337:21 invisible G.o.d, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses as is man's infinite Principle. The visible uni- verse and material man are the poor counter- 337:24 feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are G.o.d's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the 337:27 thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the oppo- site of the real or the spiritual and eternal.

Truth demonstrated

XXVIII. Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule 337:30 of health and holiness in Christian Science, and you ascertain that this Science is demon- strably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no 338:1 other system can. Christian Science, rightly under- stood, leads to eternal harmony. It brings to light the 338:3 only living and true G.o.d and man as made in His like- ness; whereas the opposite belief - that man originates in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both 338:6 soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and material - terminates in discord and mortality, in the error which must be destroyed by Truth. The mortality 338:9 of material man proves that error has been ingrafted into the premises and conclusions of material and mortal humanity.

Adam not ideal man