Article October 23, 1920 Issue

Man Is Spiritual and Immortal

LEVI N. BLYDENBURGH

Unsatisfied desire has been the constant companion of mankind along with any sense of need. That such desire exists is prophetic of the progress and development of the divine idea expressed in the spiritual and immortal life of man. Busy with the object lessons of the material seeming, limited by the horizon of physical sense, one needs to understand the reason why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." Born—that is, awakened to the truth expressed by Mrs. Eddy in the last words of the scientific statement of being, "Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468). The physical sense that would limit the existence of a man by months and years is fatal to progress, suppresses action, and seemingly blights every budding hope that awakens in the thought of mankind. What a blessing comes with the realization that man is spiritual. The bonds of limitation are broken, the physical horizon is lost in the sense of infinity, and the spirit of the Scriptures, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," comes like a refreshing draught, stimulating and strengthening one and demonstrating, in natural development, the image and likeness of God.

The mission of Jesus was to rescue man from sickness, sin, and fear of that called "the last enemy," the overcoming of which he accomplished. His reply to the question of John the Baptist clearly defines the work of salvation as understood by Jesus. John asked, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." What is that gospel? Its basic fact is stated in the lines already quoted from the scientific statement of being, "Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." It voices in the teaching of Jesus the doctrine of infinite good and the demonstration of perfect Love. In the gospel of John, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth chapters inclusive, we find the last discourse of Christ Jesus to his disciples before the supreme sacrifice and the final demonstration of victory over death. This is the Christ that the Christian church of all creeds and denominations professes to follow—the same Christ Jesus who said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Master, after celebrating the Passover, while crossing the brook of Cedron and in the garden, beheld with prophetic vision the results of disobedience to the law of Love by men and nations. It is for us to remember another saying of Jesus, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"

Divine Principle and law under the law of cause and effect are self-enforcing, and punishment comes as a natural effect of the error in thought and deed. Divine Love is expressed in cooperation and in unselfishness and in the law of right action. Competition is a form of strife and war differing in degree from the simplest rivalry to brutal and destructive antagonism. The spirit of Love is mankind's only deliverer; it alone develops the spirit and purpose of salvation and goes to the cross with the thought, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

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