Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/324

298 wrote, “Trust In the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Nothing is gained by wrong-doing. St. Paul's words take in the situation: “Not. . . (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.”

When causing others to go astray, we also are wanderers. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Ask yourself: Under the same circumstances, in the same spiritual ignorance and power of passion, would I be strengthened by having my best friend break troth with me? These words of St. Matthew have special application to Christian Scientists; namely, “It Is not good to marry.”

To build on selfishness is to build on sand. When Jesus received the material rite of water baptism, he did not say that it was God's command; but implied that the period demanded it. Trials purify mortals and deliver them from themselves, — all the claims of sensuality. Abide by the morale of absolute Christian Science, — self-abnegation and purity; then Truth delivers you from the seeming power of error, and faith vested in righteousness triumphs!

The true consciousness is the true health. One says, “I find relief from pain in unconscious sleep.” I say, You mistake; through unconsciousness one no more gains freedom from pain than immunity from evil. When unconscious of a mistake, one thinks he is not mistaken; but this false consciousness does not change the fact, or