THE human mind is distinctly experimental in its methods. This is proof positive that it is not guided or controlled by an unerring Principle. Being only a counterfeit of the one Mind, the methods of this so-called mind must be counterfeit methods, regardless of the human faith reposed in them. If this human mind could have its own way it would decree that all mankind comply with its demands, regardless of the fact that Christ Jesus, the great Way-shower of humanity, taught and demonstrated a method of salvation that, is in no way allied to human ways and means; and regardless of the fact that intelligent people in every walk of life in all parts of the world have gone so far as to prove the practical efficiency of the Christ-method and would not and could not under any circumstances think of resorting to methods outgrown.
Christ Jesus was the highest exponent of God that the world has ever witnessed. He wrought through Mind. He said plainly that the human mind could do nothing of itself, that the only real actor was his Father, the one Mind. He laid no claim to being a wonder performer. Knowing that divine Mind is the only power in the universe, his part was simply to understand man's relationship to this power and to demonstrate its modus of operation. This understanding was tersely expressed in these words: "I and my Father are one;" and "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." This understanding of man's at-one-ment with divine Mind made Jesus the conscious manifestation or reflection of God's power, and enabled him to obey in every detail the divine command, "Let there be light." His loving obedience to this demand of the Father healed the sick, redeemed the sinner, comforted the sorrowing, and raised the dead. The modus of such work was at no time miraculous to Jesus. He knew that light dispels darkness, and that the operation of divine law was the lighted torch of spiritual understanding which is unceasingly radiating light, unseen and unknown to those "dead in trespasses and sins." It was as divinely natural and lawful for Jesus to reflect and demonstrate the power of divine Mind to correct and heal every human discord, as it seems to be natural and lawful for benighted mortals to look to matter for help.
Jesus was the most natural, loving, and law-abiding individual who ever walked the earth. He thought and acted in perfect harmony with Mind. As the lawful exponent of God he understood the nature of the divine consciousness; what constituted spiritual activity. He knew that the operation of divine Principle is absolutely essential to correct and adjust everything that is not in harmony with God's laws. He never attempted to mix the human with the divine in thought or act. He knew that all human mistakes, whether classified as sin, sickness, or death, were "from beneath." and that their only corrective must be "from above." He knew that there could be no so-called physical manifestation without a prior thought expression, alias a mental cause; consequently that any trouble which is primarily mental can only be destroyed through mental means. In other words, Jesus had a perfect understanding of cause and effect, in which non-intelligent matter and its assumed laws play no part. To his exalted sense there was no mixture of mind and matter. He stood irrevocably upon the basis of one infinite all-inclusive Mind. He knew that all right thinking proceeds from this Mind, and that the passing of right thought from Mind to its reflection, idea, or man, constitutes the only available activity or method through which to extirpate the discordant elements of the human mind.
