Some of his own people, even those who had believed in him, were outraged when Christ Jesus told them, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." ^{John 8:51;} Were not Abraham and the prophets dead, they asked? Was Jesus setting himself up to be greater than the patriarchs? Did he really believe he could guarantee immortality when the great spiritual seers could not?

But the truth taught by the master Christian, which results in proving that Life is everlasting and there is no death, had come to light gradually over the centuries. The unfolding revelation of true being emerges with Abraham's glimpse of the one God. Step by step the understanding of infinite, divine Life, or Mind, as the creative Principle, or source, of all being became fuller and clearer through the vision and demonstration of successive prophets and enlightened men and women. Finally, it culminated in Jesus' own inspired teaching, and his proof, when he emerged from the tomb, of death's powerlessness to destroy life.

This momentous happening not only proved in a particular instance that there is no death. It showed that everyone in any age can demonstrate immortality for themselves, since Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." ^14:12;

The Master's assurance is still valid: that anyone who keeps his saying "shall never see death." Christianity makes death obsolete because it teaches the supremacy of God, eternal Life. Mrs. Eddy says, "This statement of our Master is true, and remains to be demonstrated; for it is the ultimatum of Christian Science"; then she continues with the warning, "but this immortal saying can never be tested or proven true upon a false premise, such as the mortal belief that soul is in body, and life and intelligence are in matter." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 76;} Christianity teaches that God is infinite Spirit, and so it must follow that man, God's offspring, is spiritual, not material; infinite, not finite; immortal, not mortal.

The immortality of man's being is found in Spirit through spiritualization of thought. "The last enemy," death, is only conclusively destroyed after mankind's other enemies—the false belief in evil, the expression of ungodlike, mortal habits of character, and the indulgence of material sense—are abandoned in favor of the pure manifestation of divine Spirit.

God is infinite good, and His reflection, man and the universe, is wholly and eternally good. God is Spirit, and the entire universe including man is spiritual. God is Soul, and true substance and identity are the manifestation of Soul, recognized through spiritual sense. God is immortal Life, and all His ideas are immortal, active, and alive, not mortal and subject to deterioration and death. They exist forever, without beginning and without end. Death is an error of belief. It cannot be truly seen or experienced.

We can begin now to demonstrate these facts by insisting on our God-given right always to see and express Life and Love—or, to put it the other way round, never to witness or experience death or evil.

In order to be consistent in our fidelity to Life, we need to be perpetually alert. Arguments of death are often so persuasive that one is easily caught up in them. Junior may demand comfort as he displays the limp body of a beloved pet; a friend may expect congratulations when he exhibits some trophy of a hunting expedition; a neighbor may require support at a time of bereavement. Are we alert to remember, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death," and thereby keep free from the mesmerism?

A resolute rejection of the false belief of death in any form and the refusal to see its evidence—even while one is expressing compassion in warmest terms—may be very important both to oneself and to others. It could be the beginning of a stalwart stand for the eternality of Life that would enable us to overcome death as Jesus did in cases where life has apparently terminated.

The people "laughed him to scorn" when Jesus refused to believe that a child had died. "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth" ^{Matt. 9:24;} was his contention, and he proved his point by raising her again to the expression of normal consciousness and vitality. The ability to reverse the evidence of the senses was achieved through his certainty of the omnipresence of God, divine Life. This understanding enabled him to be strong in his denial of the arguments of the absence of life and to comfort the family as no words of sympathy ever could.

Such power to overcome death is available to us all, and we should not shut our thought to the possibility of overcoming "the last enemy" in the most practical way. On the contrary, we should strive to attain that continuous conviction of God's presence—Life's presence—which will eventually render death obsolete.

Death is always a lie, never the truth. It is always an enemy, never a friend. Death is fundamentally nothing more than a false belief that must be resisted, not welcomed or even tolerated. Man, the manifestation or reflection of God, Mind, is forever alive—all God's creations are alive and lively. They are immortal. They must forever fulfill the purpose for which God created them. As Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health: "Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof." ^{Science and Health, p. 246.}

Naomi Price