The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under- [25] standing that all substance, Life, and intelligence are God. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are neither supernatural nor preternatural; for God is good, and goodness is more natural than evil. The marvellous healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of Chris- [30] tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era. [Page 200.] It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the [1] mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan- taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man, and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as the better representatives of God than sin, disease, and [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.