IN that great spiritual message, both practical and idealistic, called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expounded a great and far-reaching truth when he said, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Many of the profound truths taught by Jesus, by apostles and prophets, have lain through the centuries a veritable power house of strength and wisdom, yet apparently dormant and hidden from men because of their lack of spiritual discernment. The Scriptures are illumined for us only so far as our spiritual vision penetrates the mists of materiality, and until we behold the spiritual universe and perfect man.
Before the revelation of spiritual discernment, the single eye can mean nothing else than the pulling down of double standards and the destruction of false beliefs concerning man and the universe. The student of Christian metaphysics discerns somewhat the underlying causes of the struggles and conflicts that are being witnessed in the world to-day. It could not be otherwise than that there should be conflicts in a material sense of life, since all material sense is arrayed against the universe of Spirit, which is the only real and true universe.
Continuing his line of reasoning, Jesus said: "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" In the light of divine Science, it is seen that the dense darkness of materiality enveloping humanity is the result of believing that man and the universe are material instead of spiritual. The double eye is the eye that sees the double standard —that sees both Spirit and matter, both good and evil, as realities, and concedes as much, if not more power to evil than to good. When we take the double standard of good and evil, we have the false knowledge which the serpent promised to mankind as the reward of disobedience—a knowledge which has darkened counsel through all the ages, and which has apparently brought with it confusion, discord, sin, disease, and death.
