Saul of Tarsus beheld the way — the Christ, or Truth 24— only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a Conversion of Saulspiritual sense, which is always right. Then the man was changed. Thought assumed a 27nobler outlook, and his life became more spiritual. He learned the wrong that he had done in persecuting Chris-tians, whose religion he had not understood, and in hu-30mility he took the new name of Paul. He beheld for the first time the true idea of Love, and learned a lesson in divine Science.

    Paul was not at first a disciple of Jesus but a perse-cutor of Jesus’ followers. When the truth first appeared 21Paul’s enlightenmentto him in Science, Paul was made blind, and his blindness was felt; but spiritual light soon enabled him to follow the example and teach-24ings of Jesus, healing the sick and preaching Christian-ity throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and even in imperial Rome.

27    Paul writes, “If Christ [Truth] be not risen, then is our preaching vain.” That is, if the idea of the suprem-acy of Spirit, which is the true conception of being, 30come not to your thought, you cannot be benefited by what I say.

    Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast 27them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity Modern evangelnow, as aforetime, to learn and to practise Christian healing. The Scriptures contain it. 30The spiritual import of the Word imparts this power. But, as Paul says, “How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be 272 272:1sent?”

    In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also 12Indestructible beingappear [be manifested] with him in glory.” When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found 15in God’s image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, “hid with 18Christ in God,” — with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man.

    Paul had a clear sense of the demands of Truth upon 21mortals physically and spiritually, when he said: “Pre-Consecration requiredsent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac-ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 24service.” But he, who is begotten of the beliefs of the flesh and serves them, can never reach in this world the divine heights of our Lord. The time cometh when 27the spiritual origin of man, the divine Science which ushered Jesus into human presence, will be understood and demonstrated.

    This understanding of man’s power, when he is 15equipped by God, has sadly disappeared from Christian Promise perpetualhistory. For centuries it has been dormant, a lost element of Christianity. ... Under-21standing spiritual law and knowing that there is no mate-rial law, Jesus said: “These signs shall follow them that believe, . . . they shall take up serpents, and if they 24drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” It were well had Christendom believed and obeyed this 27sacred saying.

    A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little under-6standing of Christian Science proves the truth of all that Imitation of JesusI say of it. Because you cannot walk on the water and raise the dead, you have no right to 9question the great might of divine Science in these direc-tions. Be thankful that Jesus, who was the true demon-strator of Science, did these things, and left his example for 12us. In Science we can use only what we understand. We must prove our faith by demonstration.

    Rabbinical lore said: “He that taketh one doctrine, firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him.” Doctrines and faithThis preaching receives a strong rebuke in 15the Scripture, “Faith without works is dead.” Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be -tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, 18advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-lishes the claims of God.

    Abuse of the motives and religion of St. Paul hid from view the apostle’s character, which made him equal to 24Persecution harmfulhis great mission. Persecution of all who have spoken something new and better of God has not only obscured the light of the ages, but has been fatal 27to the persecutors. Why? Because it has hid from them the true idea which has been presented. To mis-understand Paul, was to be ignorant of the divine idea he 30taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea — igno-561561:1rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal 3good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice of evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.

    Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable Right methodsin Truth and known by their fruit, and classify 18all others as did St. Paul in his great epistle to the Galatians, when he wrote as follows:

    “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are 21these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, 24revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But 27the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”