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(Mockery of truth)
Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecognized
grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his followers
will endure until Christianity's last
triumph. He won eternal honors. He overcame
the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving
their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin,
sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him
crucified." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as
joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.
(A belief suicidal)
The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes
mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone
out of mortality into immortality and bliss.
The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus
overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.
He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not
the threshold over which he must pass into living
glory.
(Present salvation)
"Now," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that
now men must prepare for a future-world salvation,
or safety, but that now is the time in which
to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is
the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures
to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible
in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get
the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists
and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is
apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attainment
is attended with doubts and defeats as well as
triumphs.
(Sin and penalty)
Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes
in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that
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