n another person, more material, met me, and I
said, in the words of my Master, "Touch me not." I
shuddered at her material approach; then my heart went
out to God, and I found the open door from this sepulchre
of matter. [15]

I _love_ the Easter service: it speaks to me of Life, and
not of death.

Let us do our work; then we shall have part in his
resurrection.

Bible Lessons

_But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the_
_sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born,_
_not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of_
_God._--JOHN i. 12, 13.

Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to [25]
become the son of God. In the Hebrew text, the word
"son" is defined variously; a month is called the son
of a year. This term, as applied to man, is used in both
a material and a spiritual sense. The Scriptures speak
of Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of man; but [30]

[Page 181.]

Jesus said to call no man father; "for one is your Father," [1]
even God.

Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or
is it the reality of his being, in divine Science? Man's
knowledge of this grand verity gives him power to dem- [5]
onstrate his divine Principle, which in turn is requisite
in order to understand his sonship, or unity with God,
good. A personal requirement of blind obedience to
the law of being, would tend to obscure the order of
Science, unless that requirement should express the claims [10]
of the divine Principle. Infinite Principle and infinite
Spirit must be one. What avail, then, to quarrel over
what is the person of Spirit,--if we recognize infinitude
as personality,--for who can tell what is the form of
infinity? When we understand man's true birthright, that [15]
he is "born, not ... of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God," we shall understand that man
is the offspring of Spirit, and not of the flesh; recognize
him through spiritual, and not material laws; and regard
him as spiritual, and not material. His sonship, referred [20]
to in the text, is his spiritual relation to Deity: it is not,
then, a personal gift, but is the order of divine Science.
The apostle urges upon our acceptance this great fact:
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God." Mortals will lose their sense [25]
of mortality--disease, sickness, sin, and death--in
the propor