Article February 19, 1927 Issue

Overcoming Resentment

SAMUEL FREDERICK SWANTEES

Paul tells us that "the carnal mind is enmity against God;" and it follows logically from his statement that all that in belief is controlled by this so-called carnal or mortal mind is at enmity with good. So long, therefore, as we believe in matter, or accept as real a material creation governed wholly by a so-called carnal mind, we shall be under the domination of enmity or resentment against God and His reflection man. In such a state of thought it will be found to be a well-nigh hopeless task to overcome resentment, since we have no logical basis within ourselves for doing so. Believing in a materially-minded Deity and a so-called material man governed by the fleshly senses, we have no foundation for love in our concept of the universe; instead, enmity and resentment are the natural concomitants of the world of our dreams. Thus we find matter, mortal mind, and resentment all in the same category.

Love, the antithesis of hate and resentment, is the foremost demand of Christianity. To have the Mind in us which was in Christ Jesus is to be animated wholly by unselfed love. To be rid, therefore, of resentment and enmity is a scientific demand, based upon the law of divine Love, and not upon mere human emotion. The beginning of obedience to this immutable demand of God lies in the denial of reality in matter, alias mortal mind, so that the allness of Spirit or the divine Mind may appear to us. We shall always find that any assertion about the love for God and man which does not deny matter and sinful men as real, but insists that they are God's creation, is illogical, and holds within itself the embers of resentment. So long as the flesh is paramount in our thought, we have not overcome resentment; nor are we ready to do so.

Shortly before his crucifixion Jesus said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." It is well to remember in this connection what was said to this "prince of this world" on another occasion, when he (devil, evil) said to Christ Jesus, after showing him all the kingdoms of the world, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." We know what Jesus said in reply. Is it not clear, then, that the Master's refusal to worship evil, alias the carnal mind, the belief of life, intelligence, and substance in matter, had much to do with his success in overcoming resentment, so that even on the cross he could express his great love and say, "Father, forgive them"? Let us not read these words carelessly, for in the light of Christian Science they undoubtedly reveal the acme of Christ Jesus' demonstrations, namely, his successful vanquishment of all resentment. This was the grand culmination of his work as our true Way-shower. It proved that his Father, divine Principle. was Love, and that he was at-one with this Principle. It made his resurrection and ascension sure.

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