  Comparisons are odorous.—Shakespeare Through all human history, the vital outcomes of [16] Truth have suffered temporary shame and loss from individual conceit, cowardice, or dishonesty. The bird whose right wing flutters to soar, while the left beats its way downward, falls to the earth. Both wings must be [20] plumed for rarefied atmospheres and upward flight. Mankind must gravitate from sense to Soul, and human affairs should be governed by Spirit, intelligent good. The antipode of Spirit, which we name matter, or non- intelligent evil, is no real aid to being. The predisposing [25] and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedi- ence to God, spiritualizes man's motives and methods, and crowns them with success; while disobedience to this divine Principle materializes human modes and con- [1] sciousness, and defeats them. Two personal queries give point to human action: Who shall be greatest? and, Who shall be best? Earthly glory is vain; but not vain enough to attempt pointing [5] the way to heaven, the harmony of being. The imaginary victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats. The Holy One saith, “O that thou hadst hearkened to My com- mandments! then had thy peace been as a river.” He is unfit for Truth, and the demonstration of divine power, [10] who departs from Mind to matter, and from Truth to error, in pursuit of better means for healing the sick and casting out error. The Christian Scientist keeps straight to the course. His whole inquiry and demonstration lie in the line of [15] Truth; hence he suffers no shipwreck in a starless night on the shoals of vainglory. His medicine is Mind— the omnipotent and ever-present good. His “help is from the Lord,” who heals body and mind, head and heart; changing the affections, enlightening the mis- [20] guided senses, and curing alike the sin and the mortal sinner. God's preparations for the sick are potions of His own qualities. His therapeutics are antidotes for the ailments of mortal mind and body. Then let us not adulterate His preparations for the sick with material [25] means. From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone is irresistible, permanent, eternal. Remember that hu- man pride forfeits spiritual power, and either vacillating good or self-assertive error dies of its own elements. [30] Through patience we must possess the sense of Truth; and Truth is used to waiting. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to [1] pass.” By using falsehood to regain his liberty, Galileo vir- tually lost it. He cannot escape from barriers who commits his moral sense to a dungeon. Hear the Master [5] on this subject: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Lives there a man who can better define ethics, better [10] elucidate the Principle of being, than he who “spake as never man spake,” and whose precepts and example have a perpetual freshness in relation to human events? Who is it that understands, unmistakably, a fraction of the actual Science of Mind-healing? [15] It is he who has fairly proven his knowledge on a Chris- tian, mental, scienti
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