A Cynic once said that a man is immortal until death; whereas popular religion declares that his immortality begins then. Certainly no one can be called immortal so long as he lives in the constant expectation of death, even if he believes that he may take up the broken threads of his existence beyond the grave. Most people, however, are heavily burdened by the seeming uncertainty of it all, yet the "immortal hope" refuses to be silenced and bids us lift up eyes of faith to the heights whence cometh our aid. Now uncertainty vanishes as Truth is understood in Christian Science, but the certitude which takes its place does not rest upon material foundations. It reveals God as Mind, Spirit, Life, also as the source of spiritual law, which it holds to be the only law, and this agrees with Paul's declaration, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
The real history of the race is the record of its progress toward the realization of spiritual ideals, all of which lay hold upon immortality. On page 200 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "The law of Sinai lifted thought into the song of David." Then she adds, "Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind." Thus we have the promise of immortality linked to the law of Sinai; and this recalls Jesus' answer to the lawyer who asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life. The Master referred him to the Mosaic law, and the man's response showed that he was not ignorant of its deeper meaning, for he summarized its demands as love to God and our neighbor. Jesus' comment was, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Here thought reverts instinctively to Moses, who taught his people as they were slowly emerging from Egyptian idolatry and sensualism, as much of the truth of being as they were ready to grasp. In the one hundred and third psalm we read that God "made known his ways unto Moses,"—the way that leads to life, not death, the way of health, holiness, and happiness. In Deuteronomy we read of Moses parting from his people after he had led them through the wilderness, and we are told that while he could see the land of promise from Mount Nebo he was not permitted to go there with them. His biographer tells us that Moses died on that lonely mountain, yet it is added that although he was one hundred and twenty years of age his vigor and his vision were unabated. How strange it is to read that God buried him, when we remember Jesus' words, "He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him." Moses assuredly could not have lost his sense of life in drawing nearer to God who is Life, nor can anyone to-day.
After long centuries we again see the great Hebrew Lawgiver, this time on the mount of transfiguration, somewhere, it may be assumed, on the other side of Jordan from Mount Pisgah, from which he had beheld the promised land. The story of the transfiguration is beautiful in its simplicity and naturalness. To mortal belief Moses and Elias had died, the one nearly fifteen hundred years before Jesus' time, the other over eight hundred years before that day, yet they talked with Jesus of the great problem of human salvation as if they had never laid down their tasks. Here we must not forget that these men had passed beyond the vision of their fellow men, holding firmly to the eternal truth of man's immortality. They had overcome death for themselves, but had not been able to open up the way to the understanding and demonstration of immortality for all men. It remained for Christ Jesus to do this, to prepare the way for Christian Science, and to link together the ages in the realization of the Life that knows no death.
A story is told of a boy and a girl who lived beside a broad and deep river, and often with childish longing they wished to cross it and see the other side. Years went by, with a long absence in foreign lands, and after their return to the old home the desire to cross the river was gratified. Once on the other side, however, that which held them with absorbing interest was the dear home of their childhood as seen from the opposite side of the river, and the brother and sister wondered that they had never before appreciated its loveliness. To the Christian Scientist the lesson here is obvious. We are even now in the Father's house, in the home of Love, surrounded every day by opportunities to be strong, heroic workers, doing our part to abolish death and to bring life and immortality to light, as Paul tells us that Christ Jesus did.
These are startling words found on page 430 of Science and Health, and uttered by the one who has given the message of divine Truth to our age: "Belief in sickness and death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the true sense of Life and health. When will mankind wake to this great fact in Science?" That the ages have grimly and tenaciously held to the belief in death, in the face of the Master's teachings, his glorious gospel of life, is but an added reason why we should prove our obedience and love. Did he not declare, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death"? Do we keep his saying, guard above every earthly treasure his words of life, for with him it was always life? Even the hard experiences of the present time are serving to break up the world-wide belief in death, for otherwise none could endure them; but the men who give themselves to the glorious task of serving the cause of God, liberty and truth, will find mortality "swallowed up of life," to quote Paul's words.
In that wonderful fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians, this apostle makes no distinction between those who "sleep" and those who remain here to work out their human problems, for Truth demands that "we shall all be changed," that we shall all rise above sin, fear, and fleshliness, and express man's original being,—godlikeness. This we can do, for the way of life is opened up anew in Christian Science, and with the apostle we can say, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
