NO human ingenuity can safely guard mankind on the way from sense to Soul. The attempt to rely upon the mind which Paul calls "carnal," and which Mrs. Eddy denominates as "mortal," for a sufficient guide on the journey, must be disastrous, because this mind knows neither the way nor the goal. Jesus said of himself as the Christ, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." No man can know God except through the Christ-consciousness. Jesus' contemporaries could understand only a little of what he taught. Even his students grasped only in part the purport of his teaching. To understand him and his goal meant to have a glorious perception of man in the image of God, and of Soul itself. This understanding Jesus once declared was "life eternal."
Mankind turns eagerly to every material semblance of help. It devises material contrivances to perform its work or to protect it from heat and cold; elaborates safeguards against the fury of the elements; erects physical barriers against the invasion of want or wo; but no mechanical device has ever yet been found which can insure safety for man or put him in possession of the true aims of life; namely, happiness, harmony, and completeness. Mankind has sought out many inventions. These may seem satisfying for a while, until the carnal mind loses its blind belief in them and clamors for something new. Material ceremonies seem to satisfy temporarily the instinctive desire to do reverence to God, material remedies may seem to work certain desired results upon the physique, and material assistance to satisfy the needs of the poor and forlorn, but these appearances are deceptive. The time comes when men yearn to be spiritually cognizant of God, "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord;" to attain the sense of substance which transcends matter. Then the Christ knocks at the door of human consciousness and proves a welcome guest.
To be faithful to the Christ-idea is to come under a divine law of harmony of adjustment. This law does not operate from the basis of human knowledge and ingenuity, but from Principle, and it insures justice in God's way. A great part of mortal wo results from uncertainty. The puzzled man is the unhappy man. His footsteps are uncertain and slow. He veers to right and left, halts and hesitates, and presently he stumbles and falls, bruised by the roughness of the way. To be uncertain is to find one's capabilities for good benumbed by the chill of doubt. To be certain of the course to be pursued is to feel the glow of vigor and of enterprise spurring one on to action. Therefore to take Christ at his word, and accept him as "the way," is to acquire the right to peaceful progress and blessed fruition.
