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the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by
experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of
Truth and Love simply through translation
into another sphere. Divine Science reveals
the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after
death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty
due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape
from punishment is not in accordance with God's government,
since justice is the handmaid of mercy.
(The fall of error)
Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his
dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his
earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John,
the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in
silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly
price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral
distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude
Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly-minded.
(Righteous retribution)
A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the unlimited
and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as
well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for
sinners to receive their full punishment this
side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the righteous
their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the
wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment
and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven,
or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only
toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mockery
of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.
(Vicarious suffering)
Religious history repeats itself in the suffering
of the just for the unjust. Can God
therefore overlook the law of righteousness which destroys
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