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even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine
or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved,
not by spirits but by Spirit.
To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee
Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a
new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he
established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men
can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the
clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet
be sensual and sinful.
(Perfect example)
Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal
belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are
healed." "Despised and rejected of men,"
returning blessing for cursing, he taught mortals
the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God;
and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and
the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not,
well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God,
saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to
holiness.
(Behest of the cross)
Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the
spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all
religion. It commands sure entrance into
the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self
and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of
all healing.
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