death, in a
heaven, a hell, and everlasting life, not wholly consistent with your
remarks."

"The Epistle to the Hebrews," returned Father Waite, "was not written
by Paul, nor is it quite consistent with his letters. But, read Paul's
wonderful eighth chapter of Romans. Read his third chapter of First
Corinthians. Read all his letters in the order in which I have
mentioned them, which was as they were written, and you can not fail
to grasp his marvelous expanding perception of the Christ-principle;
the nothingness of the material concept; the impotence of the lie that
opposes God, and constitutes all evil; and the necessity of
right-thinking if one would work out his salvation from the errors
that assail mankind. Paul shows that he passed through a 'belief
period,' and that he emerged into the light of demonstrable
understanding at last. If men had followed him they never could have
fallen into the absurd theological beliefs of foreordination, infant
damnation, the resurrection of the flesh, and all the other
theological horrors and atrocities of the centuries.

"Yes, the Bible is, as Arnold said, based on propositions which all
can verify. The trouble is, _mankind have not tried to verify them_!
They have relegated all that to the life beyond the grave. I fear a
sorry disappointment awaits them, for, even as Paul says, they will be
after the change called death only what they were before. It is like
recovering from a case of sickness, for sickness and death are alike
manifestations of mortal thought. We awake from each still human,
still with our problems before us. We must break the mesmerism of the
belief that the practical application of Jesus' teachings must be
relegated to the realm of death, or to the unattainable. We must apply
the Christ-principle, and learn to hit the mark, for sin is always
weakness, never strength.

"And remember this: having acquired a knowledge of the Christ, we are
bidden to acknowledge him--that is, to _act-our-knowledge_. Many of
the world's philosophers have worked out great truths. But they have
rested content with that. Many scientists, knowing that matter is
unreal, nevertheless conduct themselves _as if it constituted the one
and only real fact of existence_! Is error like truth? Decidedly no!
It is truth's exact opposite. Is truth real? Certainly it is! Then its
opposite _can not_ be real. The human mentality holds the belief that
there is something apart from God, spirit. Tha