Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/47

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CHAPTER II

ONE CAUSE AND EFFECT

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE begins with the First Commandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” It goes on in perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John, who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves, beheld “a new heaven and a new earth,” — the spiritual universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony.

Our Master said, “The works that I do shall ye do also;” and, “The kingdom of God is within you.” This makes practical all his words and works. As the ages advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen to depart from the trend of other Christian denominations in no wise except by increase of spirituality.

My first plank in the platform of Christian Science is as follows: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”[1]

  1. The order of this sentence has been conformed to the text of the 1908 edition of Science and Health.