[5]
death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo-
tence to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All-
in-all, matter was palpably an error of premise and
conclusion, while God was the only substance, Life,
and intelligence of man. [10]

The apostle Paul insists on the rare rule in Christian
Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is sus-
ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and
state of human existence. The divine Science of this rule
is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man- [15]
kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for
the sole reason that it is their basis. The foundational
facts of Christian Science are gathered from the supremacy
of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma-
terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with [20]
the sweet sincerity of the apostle, "I take pleasure in
infirmities,"--I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and
all suffering of the flesh, _because_ it compels me to seek the
remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per-
sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul's well-tried hope [25]
met no obstacle or circumstances paramount to the tri-
umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good,
involved in its divine Principle, God: the so-called pains
and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he
regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and sub- [30]
dued it with this understanding.

The abstract statement that all is Mind, supports the

[Page 201.]

entire wisdom of the text; and this statement receives [1]
the mortal scoff only because it meets the immortal de-
mands of Truth. The Science of Paul's declaration re-
solves the element misnamed matter into its original sin,
or human will; that will which would oppose bringing the [5]
qualities of Spirit into subjection to Spirit. Sin brought
death; and death is an element of matter, or material
falsity, never of Spirit.

When Jesus reproduced his body after its burial, he
revealed the myth or material falsity of evil; its power- [10]
lessness to destroy good, and the omnipotence of the
Mind that knows this: he also showed forth the error
and nothingness of supposed life in matter, and the great
somethingness of the good we possess, which is of Spirit,
and immortal. [15]

Understanding this, Paul took pleasure in infirmities,
for it enabled him to triumph over them,--he declared
that "the law of the Spirit of life