Page:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.djvu/189

Rh hung around the necks of the wicked. Christ Jesus paid our debt and set us free by enabling us to pay it; for which we are still his debtors, washing the Way-shower's feet with tears of joy.

The intentional destroyer of others would destroy himself eternally, were it not that his suffering reforms him, thus balancing his account with divine Love, which never remits the sentence necessary to reclaim the sinner. Hence these words of Christ Jesus: “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” (Luke 13: 27, 28.) He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the kingdom of heaven within himself, within his own consciousness, is saved through Christ, Truth. Mortals must drink sufficiently of the cup of their Lord and Master to unself mortality and to destroy its erroneous claims. Therefore, said Jesus, “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.”

We cannot boast ourselves of to-morrow; sufficient unto each day is the duty thereof. Lest human reason becloud spiritual understanding, say not in thy heart: Sickness is possible because one's thought and conduct do not afford a sufficient defence against it. Trust in God, and “He shall direct thy paths.” When evil was avenging itself on its destroyer, his preeminent goodness, the Godlike man said, “My burden is light.” Only he who learns through meekness and love the falsity of supposititious life and intelligence in matter, can triumph over their ultimatum, sin, suffering, and death.