God the Only Cause and Creator

Transcription

1 Golden Text Psalms 86:10 thou... thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Responsive Reading Psalms 148:1, 4, 5; 111:2, 4, 7, 8; 147:3 5, 15, 20 Praise 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. 2 The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. 4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. 8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly Praise ye the Lord. 1 Proverbs 3:19, 20 Section 1 19 The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. 20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. 2 Isaiah 46:9, 10 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 3 Isaiah 61:11 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. 4 Romans 11:33, 34, 36 (to 1 st.) 33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, 2013 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. This copy of a Weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly is licensed for your own personal use and may not be distributed electronically or in print, except as described in the Copyright Terms and Conditions at. Christian Science Quarterly is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Study references are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

2 and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever :11 (only), He Section 1 The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. 18 He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all- The universal cause 21 inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and in- 24 dividuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind :21 21 A material world implies a mortal mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God :11 The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal 12 mind or immortal Mind that is causative. We should forsake the basis of matter for metaphysical Science and its divine Principle. Useful knowledge 4 513:26 6 God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are 27 spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind being nonexistent and consequently not within the range of im- 1 mortal existence could not by simulating deific power invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per- 3 sons or things upon its own plane, since nothing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive infinity, in which and of which God is the 6 sole creator :9 13, 21 9 God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and 12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light. God s thoughts are spiritual realities Love imparts beauty 21 Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God. 5 Psalms 33:1, 4, 5, 8, 9 Section 2 1 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. 4 For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. 5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 2

3 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 6 Psalms 104:24, 30 (to :) 24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: 7 Psalms 36:9 9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. 8 James 3:11, Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 9 John 3:6 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Section :28 30 This strong point in Christian Science is not to be overlooked, that the same fountain cannot send forth 30 both sweet waters and bitter :1 2, 12 1 Is Spirit the source or creator of matter? Science reveals nothing in Spirit out of which to create matter. 12 That matter is substantial or has life and sensation, is one of the false beliefs of mortals, and exists only in a supposititious mortal consciousness. Hence, One cause supreme 15 as we approach Spirit and Truth, we lose the consciousness of matter. The admission that there can be material substance requires another admission, 18 namely, that Spirit is not infinite and that matter is selfcreative, self-existent, and eternal. From this it would follow that there are two eternal causes, warring forever 21 with each other; and yet we say that Spirit is supreme and all-presence :22 8 Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic 24 belief that there is mind in matter; but this belief contradicts alike revelation and right Pantheistic tendencies reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached 27 only through the knowledge that there are not two bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, Mind. 30 Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God, seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and intelligence in matter The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 3

4 1 In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown. Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod- 3 ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All. From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections The things of God are beautiful 6 of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental :14 15 All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im- 15 mortality, cause, and effect belong to God. 10 Isaiah 59:19 When Section 3 19 When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. 11 Isaiah 45:5, 6 5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. 12 Habakkuk 1:12 (to?), 13 (to :) 12 Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: 13 Psalms 143:1 (to :), 8, 10 1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: 8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 14 I John 1:3, 5 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Section :8 14 What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life, 9 or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil, matter, error, and death? God could never Only one impart an element of evil, and man possesses standard 12 nothing which he has not derived from God. How then has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he obtain the propensity or power to do evil? 2013 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 4

5 11 480:23, 31 2 Evil is a 24 false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious parent of evil is a lie :5 7, 9 Christian Science 6 acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. Truth an alterative As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the 1 other. How important, then, to choose good as the reality! : Christ is the offspring of Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates 3 neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sickness, and death. In Isaiah we read: I make peace, and create evil. I 6 the Lord do all these things; but the prophet referred to divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its Cleansing upheaval utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re- 9 ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms 12 of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought to know that God s law uncovers so-called sin and its 15 effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin. 9 The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind. 15 Psalms 8:1, 3, 4, 6 Section 4 1 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 16 Matthew 9:35 Jesus 35 Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 5

6 17 Luke 9:38 43 (to.) 38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. 39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. 40 And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. 41 And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. 42 And as he was yet a-coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God :12 Section 4 12 Physical causation was put aside from first to last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that 15 is real :27 27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man s origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every concept which seems to begin with the brain Mind the only cause 30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms :32 4 Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult 1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they had failed to heal, he said to them, O faithless gen- 3 eration, implying that the requisite power to heal was in Mind. Jesus own practice :8 12, 15 The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically 9 that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error. This cor- Scientific rective is an alterative, reaching to every part corrective 12 of the human system. 15 The matter-physician deals with matter as both his foe and his remedy. He regards the ailment as weakened or strengthened according to the evidence which Coping with difficulties 18 matter presents. The metaphysician, making Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to 21 error and discord, has rendered himself strong, instead of weak, to cope with the case; and he proportionately strengthens his patient with the stimulus of courage and 24 conscious power. Both Science and consciousness are now at work in the economy of being according to the law of Mind, which ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 6

7 18 John 6:1 Jesus, 2, 28, 29, 38, 45 Section 5 1 Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 19 Matthew 11: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 20 Philippians 2:13 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Section :8 If God heals not the sick, 9 they are not healed, for no lesser power equals the infinite All-power; but God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the sick through the prayer of the righteous :24 24 To mortal sense Christian Science seems abstract, but the process is simple and the results are sure if the Science is understood. The tree must be good, which Certainty of results 27 produces good fruit. Guided by divine Truth and not guesswork, the theologus (that is, the student the Christian and scientific expounder of the divine 30 law) treats disease with more certain results than any other healer on the globe. The Christian Scientist should understand and adhere strictly to the rules of divine meta- 1 physics as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstration on this sure basis :14 The refutation of the testimony of material sense is 15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this testimony. The refutation becomes arduous, False testimony not because the testimony of sin or disease is refuted 18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelming weight of opinions on the wrong side, all teaching 21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 7

8 21 417:10 16 Maintain the facts of Christian Science, that Spirit is God, and 12 therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting through spiritual law. Then hold your ground with 15 the unshaken understanding of Truth and Love, and you will win : If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native 18 nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine. 21 Revelation 4:11 Section 6 Speedy healing 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. 22 Psalms 40:5 5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 23 Psalms 145: All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 24 Psalms 150:1, 2, 6 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Section :26 31 Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power 27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and Impossible must be first eternally, then give to Mind the coalescence 30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name : And Christian Science does honor God as no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works 30 through the divine name and nature The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 8

9 25 516:4 The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; 6 and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere :2 11 Arctic regions, 3 sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, all point to Mind, the spiritual 6 intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns nat- 9 urally towards the light. In the order of Science, in which the Principle is above what it reflects, all is one grand concord. Some lessons from nature :28 When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man s spiritual being, we shall behold and under- 30 stand God s creation, all the glories of earth and heaven and man The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 9