Decapitation of error
The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away
false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections
266:1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,
"rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of
266:3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,
materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and
destiny.
Uses of adversity
266:6 Would existence without personal friends be to you
a blank? Then the time will come when you will be
solitary, left without sympathy; but this
266:9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine
Love. When this hour of development comes, even if
you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will
266:12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.
Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the
lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for "man's extremity
266:15 is God's opportunity." The author has experienced the
foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches
mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.
266:18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love
is the divine way in Christian Science.
The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the
266:21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite per-
secutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would
deceive the very elect.
Beatific presence
266:24 Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstra-
tions, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite
Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs
266:27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the
idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming
the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He
266:30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers
of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with
God and the universe.
The infinitude of God
267:1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but
the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal.
267:3 The offspring of God start not from matter
or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,
divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The
267:6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,
and specifically man means all men.
It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-
267:9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must
have had children prior to Adam. The great I AM made
all "that was made." Hence man and the spiritual uni-
267:12 verse coexist with God.