So it is with the Life. We must live its principles every day every hour, every moment thinking some good thought, some God-thought.
If one hears, that is, listens carefully and obediently to these lessons, and then practices them all he can, he has built his house upon a rock, and no matter how he may be assailed by sickness or trouble, it can get no hold upon him, but he will stand, and the more the storm beats about his house the more secure he will feel himself within.
But he that hears, be he ever so attentive and pleased with the doctrine, but does not do may know why some problems seem too hard for him, and sickness and disaster undermine him.
Build upon rock by continual practice of the Word. Jesus called this "praying always."
In the interim between the study of a lesson and the next hold this statement in mind, often silently repeating it : Only the Good is true.
Copy the following, and mentally repeat it every night and morning :
God is Health, Life, Love, Truth, Substance, Intelligence.
God is All.
God is Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience.
I am the Thought of God, the Idea of the divine Mind. In Him I live, move, and have my being. I am spiritual, harmonious, fearless, and free. I am governed by the law of God, the everlasting Good, and I am not subject to the law of sin, sickness, and death.
I know the Truth, and the Truth makes me free from evil in every form and from all material bondage, now and forever.
God works through me to will and to do whatever ought to be done by me.
I am happy. I am holy. I am loving. I am wise.
I and the Father are one. Amen.
LESSON II. THE REAL AND THE UNREAL.
HE first lesson the student of Truth must learn is summed up in the answer of Jesus Christ to the scribe who asked him what was the first commandment, or rule, for right living:
"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. " Mark 12:29-31.
God must be loved with the whole nature, and this is only possible as we know that God is all that really is. God is the One Good, everywhere present. God is the One Spirit, the One Mind in everybody. God is the One Substance in the universe. God is the One Life, Health, Love, Truth, Substance, and Intelligence.
God is the only Self in us and in our neighbor. Therefore the second commandment is just the same as the first, for if we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, what love have we left for ourselves or our neighbor unless the real Self in us be God?
There is only God. There is no reality in anything that is not God.
It is written, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This is true, and as we look about us and see the human race so in bondage to evil we have but one conclusion in our minds it must be that they do not know the Truth. Some seem free from one thing but are in bondage to another; others are almost entirely free, yet something still limits and binds, and in the case of these we must conclude that they have received but part of the Truth, or have been contented with a mixture of Truth and error, for when once they know the whole Truth, and practice it, they must be wholly free. Part-truths heal us only in part.
Why is it that men who are preaching what they believe to be the Truth are sick and poor, weak and full of sorrow and trouble?
This is the reason: While they declare God to be good and to be omnipotent, in the same breath they begin to talk of another power called evil, the devil, as very strong and powerful, which is continually warring against God, and most of the time prevailing.
At the same time that men have said God is omnipresent, everywhere present, they talk of another being, exactly opposite to God, the Good, as a real presence, and even ascribe to it the All-presence that belongs to God. Thus they break their first commandment : "Thou shalt have no other gods [powers] before me."
To give evil even the smallest presence is to put it in the place where God should be yes, where God really is. They should know the omnipresence of the Good only, and acknowledge that in order to be free from the evil in which they have so long been believing.
Gautama Buddha, the great Eastern sage, after days of prayer and fasting, desiring above all things to know why his people suffered so, received this word from the Divine Spirit : "The reason of suffering is ignorance. Teach the people the truth, and they shall be free." It is ignorance of God that we must rise out of in order to be set free from those ills that are the results of it. And this ignorance is expressed by the people as a belief in the universal presence of evil. From this error every mind must be set free by being imbued with the idea of the universal presence of God.
Is it reasonable to say that God is good and all-powerful, and then say that evil has any power at all ? Is it reasonable to believe in the omnipresence of God and at the same time think the devil has any real presence? Come, let God in you speak to you the whole Truth!
Since God is the Good and God is everywhere, Good must be everywhere, and there is no real presence to evil at all. Since God is all and He is the one creator, He must create all out of His own substance, which is Good. God creates Good only. "And God saw that it was good."
"And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. 1:31. Good is all that really is made. There is, in reality, no place for evil in God's universe. Evil has no real presence, or power, or law, and all that can be classed under the head of evils are delusions and unrealities, and should be recognized as only such.
Sin, sickness, sorrow, death, have no place in the omnipresence of God.
God does not think impure, unholy thoughts, therefore sinful desires, words, and deeds have no part or place in the true Self. There is no reality in sin; it is without power, law, or substance.
God is omnipresent Health. There is no pain, no sickness, no disease in God. There is nothing in God to be sick or out of which to make disease, therefore He does not make pain, sickness or disease. There is no reality in disease.
God is immortal, changeless Life, omnipresent Life. Life does not end. There is no reality in death. Absence of life is an appearance, and no one ever really dies. Death has no real place or power in God's world.
God is Spirit pure, holy, unlimited, eternal, perfect Substance. Since God is all, His creation must be in and of Himself, in and of His substance, therefore the world of God must be Spiritual and not material. Matter is not
