Extract From A Sermon Delivered In Boston, January 18, 1885
Text: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.—Matt.
xiii. 33.
Few people at present know aught of the Science of
mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the
public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in
the name of Science, that it behooves all clad in the shin-
ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep [30]
their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives [1]
steadfast in Truth.
Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the
tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and
the negative of metaphysical Science; what it is, and [5]
what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in
a higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat
the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or
clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged
charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers [10]
the veriest sinner.
Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the
three measures be accomplished, and he arrives at
fulness of stature; for “the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth.” [15]
Science is divine: it is neither of human origin nor of
human direction. That which is termed “natural science,”
the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal
senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite
law of God; which law is written on the heart, received [20]
through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem-
onstrated in our lives.
This law of God is the Science of mental healing,
spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed.
Mental Science, and the five personal senses, are at [25]
war; and peace can only be declared on the side of im-
mutable right,—the health, holiness, and immortality
of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda-
mental rule of Science must be understood and adhered
to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture [30]
that God is good; hence, good is omnipotent and
omnipresent.
Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or [1]
man's theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle
and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees
nothing but a law of matter.
Who has ever learned of the schools that there is but [5]
one Mind, and that this is God, who healeth all our sick-
ness and sins?
Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan phi-
losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law of
Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation [10]
to, or recognition of, matter?
Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God,
omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo-
site so-called science, which says that man is both matter
and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite [15]
be within the finite? And must not man have preexisted
in the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without
space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that
it is man?
If God is Mind and fills all space, is everywhere, matter [20]
is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, God, is all-power
and all-presence, man is not met by another power
and presence, that—obstructing his intelligence—
pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man
is intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that [25]
is not the counterpart but the counterfeit of man's creator?
Surely not from God, for He made man in His own
likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called
matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it?
But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of [30]
Mind?
For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created.
Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter [1]
than has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement
of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against
Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having presence
and power over omnipotence! [5]
Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us
come into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui-
ties, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense
of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within
man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that [10]
moves all in harmony,—from the falling of a sparrow
to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons,
broader than the solar system and higher than the at-
mosphere of our planet, is the Science of mental
healing. [15]
What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit,
the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is
there—nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this
kingdom afar off? No: it is ever-present here. The
first to declare against this kingdom is matter. Shall [20]
that be called heresy which pleads for Spirit—the All of
God, and His omnipresence?
The kingdom of heaven is the reign of divine Science:
it is a mental state. Jesus said it is within you, and
taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come;” but he did [25]
not teach us to pray for death whereby to gain heaven.
We do not look into darkness for light. Death can never
usher in the dawn of Science that reveals the spiritual
facts of man's Life here and now.
The leaven which a woman took and hid in three [30]
measures of meal, is Divine Science; the Comforter;
the Holy Ghost that leadeth into all Truth; the “still,
small voice” that breathes His presence and power, cast- [1]
ing out error and healing the sick. And woman, the
spiritual idea, takes of the things of God and showeth
them unto the creature, until the whole sense of being
is leavened with Spirit. The three measures of meal [5]
may well be likened to the false sense of life, substance,
and intelligence, which says, I am sustained by bread,
matter, instead of Mind. The spiritual leaven of divine
Science changes this false sense, giving better views of
Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall [10]
appear, it shall be “the substance of things hoped for.”
The measure of Life shall increase by every spiritual
touch, even as the leaven expands the loaf. Man shall
keep the feast of Life, not with the old leaven of the
scribes and Pharisees, neither with “the leaven of malice [15]
and wickedness; but the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.”
Thus it can be seen that the Science of mental healing
must be understood. There are false Christs that would
“deceive, if it were possible, the very elect,” by institut- [20]
ing matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their
supposition is, that there are other minds than His; that
one mind controls another; that one belief takes the
place of another. But this ism of to-day has nothing
to do with the Science of mental healing which acquaints [25]
us with God and reveals the one perfect Mind and His
laws.
The attempt to mix matter and Mind, to work by
means of both animal magnetism and divine power, is
literally saying, Have we not in thy name cast out devils, [30]
and done many wonderful works?
But remember God in all thy ways, and thou shalt
find the truth that breaks the dream of sense, letting the [1]
harmony of Science that declares Him, come in with
healing, and peace, and perfect love.