"For 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. 13:33.
Few people at present know aught of the science of mental healing, and so many are obtruding their ignorance, or false knowledge on the public, in the name of science, it behooves all clad in the shining mail, to keep bright their invincible armor, their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives steadfast in Truth.
Dispensing the word charitably, but separating the tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and negative of metaphysical science; what it is, and what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious, Protestants in a higher sense than ever before, to meet and defeat the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or clans pouring in their fire upon us; while white-winged Charity, brooding over all, would cover with her feathers 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."
Science is divine. It is neither of human origin or direction; that which is termed "natural science," the evidences whereof the five personal senses take in, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite law of God; which law is written on the heart, received through the affections, spiritually understood, and demonstrated 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 war, and peace can only be declared on the side of immutable right, the health, holiness and immortality of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and fundamental rule of science must be understood and adhered to, namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture that God is good, hence good is omnipotent and omnipresent.
Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or man's theorems, misstate mental science, its Principle and practice. The most enlightened material sense sees nothing but a law of matter. Who hath ever learned of the schools that there is but one Mind, and this is God, who healeth all our sickness and sins?
Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan philosophy, or scholastic theology, that science is the law of Mind and not of matter, and this law has no relation to, or recognition of matter?
Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God, omnipotent and omnipresent. What then of an opposite so-called science, that saith man is both matter and mind, and Mind is in matter? Can the Infinite be within the finite, or can man resist the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend it is man?
If God is Mind, and filleth all space, is everywhere,—matter is nowhere, and sin obsolete. If Mind, God, is all-power and 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 beside Him not the counterpart, but the counterfeit of man's Creator? Not from Him, for He made man in His own likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called matter? Hath attraction and cohesion formed it? But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of Mind?
For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created. Mind hath no more power to evolve or to create matter than good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement of Mind—a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having power and presence over omnipotence.
Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us come into His presence who removeth all our iniquities, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense of science to what touches the religious sentiment with awe. Let us open our affections to the Principle that moves all in harmony, from the falling of a sparrow to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons, broader than the universe and higher than the heavens of your astronomy, is the science of mental Healing.
What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit, the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is there; and 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 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; a mental state. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come;" but did 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 spiritual facts of man's Life here and now.
The leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal is divine science—the Comforter that leadeth into all Truth, the Holy Ghost—the still, small voice that breathes His presence and power, casting 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 are the sense of life, substance and intelligence which saith, 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 appear, it shall be "the substance of things hoped for."
The measures 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 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," instituting matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their supposition is, there are other minds than His; that one mind controls another; that one belief takes the place of another. But this barbarism of today has nothing to do with the science of mental healing, which acquaints us with God, and reveals the one perfect Mind and His laws.
The attempt to mix matter and Mind, working by means of animal magnetism and divine power, is literally saying. "Have we not in Thy name cast out devils, 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 harmony of science that declares Him, come in with healing, and peace, and perfect Love.
[The above is the brief outline of a sermon soon to be published complete, in pamphlet form. Notice will be given in the Journal, when orders for the same can be filled.—Ed.]
