Vainglory

         Comparisons are odorous.—SHAKESPEARE

16    Through all human history, the vital outcomes of
         Truth have suffered temporary shame and loss from
         individual conceit, cowardice, or dishonesty. The bird
         whose right wing flutters to soar, while the left beats its
20    way downward, falls to the earth. Both wings must be
         plumed for rarefied atmospheres and upward flight.

         Mankind must gravitate from sense to Soul, and human
         affairs should be governed by Spirit, intelligent good.
         The antipode of Spirit, which we name matter, or non-
25    intelligent evil, is no real aid to being. The predisposing
         and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the
         sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedi-
         ence to God, spiritualizes man’s motives and methods,
         and crowns them with success; while disobedience to

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1      this divine Principle materializes human modes and con-
         sciousness, and defeats them.

         Two personal queries give point to human action: Who
         shall be greatest? and, Who shall be best? Earthly
5      glory is vain; but not vain enough to attempt pointing
         the way to heaven, the harmony of being. The imaginary
         victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats. The Holy
         One saith, “O that thou hadst hearkened to My com-
         mandments! then had thy peace been as a river.” He
10    is unfit for Truth, and the demonstration of divine power,
         who departs from Mind to matter, and from Truth to
         error, in pursuit of better means for healing the sick and
         casting out error.

         The Christian Scientist keeps straight to the course.
15    His whole inquiry and demonstration lie in the line of
         Truth; hence he suffers no shipwreck in a starless night
         on the shoals of vainglory. His medicine is Mind—
         the omnipotent and ever-present good. His “help is
         from the Lord,” who heals body and mind, head and
20    heart; changing the affections, enlightening the mis-
         guided senses, and curing alike the sin and the mortal
         sinner. God’s preparations for the sick are potions of
         His own qualities. His therapeutics are antidotes for
         the ailments of mortal mind and body. Then let us not
25    adulterate His preparations for the sick with material
         means.

         From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone
         is irresistible, permanent, eternal. Remember that hu-
         man pride forfeits spiritual power, and either vacillating
30    good or self-assertive error dies of its own elements.
         Through patience we must possess the sense of Truth;
         and Truth is used to waiting. “Commit thy way unto

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1      the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to
         pass.”

         By using falsehood to regain his liberty, Galileo vir-
         tually lost it. He cannot escape from barriers who commits
5      his moral sense to a dungeon. Hear the Master
         on this subject: “No man can serve two masters: for
         either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he
         will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
         serve God and mammon.”

10    Lives there a man who can better define ethics, better
         elucidate the Principle of being, than he who “spake as
         never man spake,” and whose precepts and example have
         a perpetual freshness in relation to human events?

         Who is it that understands, unmistakably, a fraction
15    of the actual Science of Mind-healing?

         It is he who has fairly proven his knowledge on a Chris-
         tian, mental, scientific basis; who has made his choice
         between matter and Mind, and proven the divine Mind
         to be the only physician. These are self-evident proposi-
20    tions: That man can only be Christianized through Mind;
         that without Mind the body is without action; that Science
         is a law of divine Mind. The conclusion follows that the
         correct Mind-healing is the proper means of Christianity,
         and is Science.

25    Christian Science may be sold in the shambles. Many
         are bidding for it,—but are not willing to pay the price.
         Error is vending itself on trust, well knowing the will-
         ingness of mortals to buy error at par value. The Reve-
         lator beheld the opening of this silent mental seal, and
30    heard the great Red Dragon whispering that “no man
         might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name
         of the beast, or the number of his name.”

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1      We are in the Valley of Decision. Then, let us take
         the side of him who “overthrew the tables of the money-
         changers, and the seats of them that sold doves,”—of
         such as barter integrity and peace for money and fame.
5      What artist would question the skill of the masters in
         sculpture, music, or painting? Shall we depart from the
         example of the Master in Christian Science, Jesus of
         Nazareth,—than whom mankind hath no higher ideal?
         He who demonstrated his power over sin, disease, and
10    death, is the master Metaphysician.

         To seek or employ other means than those the Master
         used in demonstrating Life scientifically, is to lose the
         priceless knowledge of his Principle and practice. He
         said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His right-
15    eousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
         Gain a pure Christianity; for that is requisite for heal-
         ing the sick. Then you will need no other aid, and will
         have full faith in his prophecy, “And there shall be one
         fold, and one shepherd;” but, the Word must abide in
20    us, if we would obtain that promise. We cannot depart
         from his holy example,—we cannot leave Christ for the
         schools which crucify him, and yet follow him in heal-
         ing. Fidelity to his precepts and practice is the only pass-
         port to his power; and the pathway of goodness and
25    greatness runs through the modes and methods of God.

         “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”