Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.—Matt. xvi. 24.
These words of Jesus contain more of true life than is, as a rule, ascribed to them. In fact, mortal man cannot comprehend the true meaning of the thought advanced by the Master. Jesus was trying to awaken the sinner, that his dream of life might vanish, and he see the nothingness of himself; for the belief of mortal life but hides the true life. "When the wicked rise, a man is hidden." Prov. xxviii. 12. It is the revelation of Truth that shows us error. In the book of Revelation we see more of the seeming power of evil than in almost any other part of the Scriptures; but with it we see also, the destruction of its claim of power. Was it because John was farther from God that he saw so much evil, or had he seen so much Truth, and drawn so near the infinite Mind, that error appeared to him in its most terrible forms? Was he not shown, in a truly scientific way, the nothingness of its claims? Surely he had much to deny! Through scientific understanding of God, we too are able to deny even Satan, the Red Dragon, and destroy his seeming power.
We are shown in Science and Health more of error as error than it is possible for the world to see, but with it we are shown the Truth that is ever destroying it. We may seek to avoid this knowledge of evil, and think to reach heaven (harmony) without denying every claim of a belief of a material self. We may say that others may have, but we have not much to deny; that we will not see so much error in ourselves; that we will just ignore it, and slip right into the consciousness of good only. "Verily, verily, I say unto you; A servant is not greater than his lord." Can we go out of sense or self by some other way than that shown us by Jesus, and again revealed in Science and Health?
John says, "He that is born of God cannot commit sin;" and again, "He," the mortal man, "that saith he has no sin is a liar, and the truth is not in him." To material sense, these are two contradictory statements; yet both are true. Jesus revealed the Christ, the Son "born of God" and without sin; but if he that is born of the flesh "saith that he has no sin he is a liar," for the carnal, fleshly man is sin. We are taught the same in Science and Health; that the man of the flesh is not born of God.
Again, Jesus said, "If ye had known me, ye had known my Father also." Did he not, in this statement, declare that what material sense saw him to be was not the Son of his Father? Yet did he have no belief of material sense to deny at that time? Did he not ask of the Father, that the cup might pass from him? At that moment, he had still the claims of self to deny. He saw much more of the seeming power of evil than was ever beheld before, or has been by any man beheld since; yet he denied it. "Not my will," the will of flesh "but Thy will," the will of Spirit, "be done." It was in his material consciousness that a belief of life of the flesh still protested, and, soon as uttered, had to be denied.
What can hinder our advancement from darkness into light more than to deny the need of more light, thus holding to the belief that our darkness is light? If we will not see all of the error to deny, how can we receive all of Truth—or eternal Life?
It is often asked: "When will the need of denial of error cease?" Not until its every claim to be (and its name is legion) is seen, denied; and Truth (whose name is Infinity) seen, demonstrated, understood, is put in its place. Persistently the temptation comes: "I will see no more error. I will declare that Good is all. Good being all, I have nothing to deny; "but the words of the apostle again confront us; "He that saith he hath no sin is a liar and the Truth is not in him." Jesus—in his demonstration over the last claim of error, the belief of death—in that cry of mortal agony, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me," showed how to the very last error must be seen and denied. Can we doubt that error stood before him in its most appalling seeming? Nay; but also came a clearer recognition of the omnipresence and omnipotence of Good. Truly, he was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin",—without sin because he had destroyed it with Truth.
Error must be seen in its every form, and be denied, through understanding of Truth. We have not passed from death unto life until we, like our Exemplar, present to our fellow-workers in Truth the "likeness of sinful flesh" that "condemns sin in the flesh." Although our words declare we have no belief in error (no sin), our demonstrations so far only show that we are little by little losing our belief in error. "To the pure all things are pure," but there is nothing pure but Spirit; and Science and Health teaches that Spirit does not recognize matter, neither can matter recognize Spirit. Paul says: "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be"; hence had we no belief of error to deny, error, as mortal man, would see no more of us than it sees of God as Spirit. Jesus never claimed his material form to be in heaven while he was recognized by the material senses; but he said that he was going to the Father; that is, that the last belief of error would disappear from his own consciousness. And when it was lost to him, his existence passed also from material sight and understanding. 'Twas then he had no beliefs of error to deny.
