Death an Enemy, not a Saviour
This week's Lesson Sermon Subject: Probation After Death
Click here to play the audio as you read:
Morning Prayer
Probation, progress, goes on, until there is no life, substance, or intelligence in matter.
from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the "Blue Book"), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 195
Seeing God (Good) everywhere inspite of sense testimony will heal anything. Of course we know that we have to deal with so-called evil, but as its master, refusing to give it reality or place. Christian Science teaches the oneness, allness, of God, (man in His likeness) and universe, spiritual and perfect now.
Instead of being a material man in a material universe, you are a spiritual man in the unobstructed realm of Spirit where nothing but good can find you. These truths, held to, bring liberty.
from Lessons of the Seventh Day, (the "Brown Book"),
by Mary Baker Eddy, page 343
Daily Watch
265 — WATCH lest you retain the beginner’s conception of Christian Science as coming to make this hell of mortal existence a happy place, by taking away everything discordant. This primary picture is what we have to present to the world, in order to win them over to our side, just as it is necessary to depict life in the navy in glowing colors, in order to entice men to enlist. The emphatic purpose of Christian Science is to banish forever the cause of all discord, namely, the human mind; but this warfare does not bring peace to this false mind, but a sword.
Sickness, sin and poverty are merely indications of the error connected with a mortal sense of existence, and it is this mortal sense that Christian Science comes to eliminate. At the same time, when a man is sick, he is in no mental condition to gain a comprehensive idea of the truth, because he is frightened, disturbed and confused. The sickness is the proof of this fact. So he must be healed, if for no other reason than to restore him to a mental state in which he will be able to grasp the truth. The price he is expected to pay for this release is that he will take up in earnest the work of overcoming mortality. He is like a man who is released on probation. He breaks his parole if he settles down to enjoy the freedom from distress that Science has brought him, and may have to go back to jail, until he learns the lesson, namely, that mortality, whether discordant or concordant, is not the reality of existence, and hence is to be dissipated, in order that reality may prevail.
Discussion points
Squaring Our Accounts with God by Mary Beth Singleterry
Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Scientific Translations, from Addresses by Martha Wilcox
Daily Calendar Statement for Saturday, October 24th, 2026
You are not here in the world for yourself. You have been sent here for others. The world is waiting for you!
— Catherine Booth
Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 583
We, to-day, in this class-room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind; for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared.
from Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, pages 279 to 280
A small group of wise thinkers is better than a wilderness of dullards and stronger than the might of empires. Unity is spiritual cooperation, heart to heart, the bond of blessedness such as my beloved Christian Scientists all over the field...
from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 162
The question is often asked, Why is there so much dissension among mental practitioners? We answer, Because they do not practise in strict accordance with the teaching of Christian Science Mind-healing. If they did, there would be unity of action. Being like the disciples of old, "with one accord in one place," they would receive a spiritual influx impossible under other conditions, and so would recognize and resist the animal magnetism by which they are being deceived and misled.
from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 212
I Thessalonians 5:21
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered them to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: “Break it.”
The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none succeeded.
“Untie the bundle,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he told them: “Now, break,” and each stick was easily broken.
Aesop fable, The Bundle of Sticks
“Man’s probation after death is the necessity of his immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destructive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed.
If man should not progress after death, but should remain in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated. Those upon whom “the second death hath no power” are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil, their mortal element, and into good that is immortal; thus laying off the material beliefs that war against Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine Science.” [Miscellaneous Writings page 3]
“Surely the probation of mortals must go on after the change called death, that they may learn the definition of immortal being; or else their present mistakes would extinguish human existence. How long this false sense remains after the transition called death, no mortal knoweth; but this is sure, that the mists of error, sooner or later, will melt in the fervent heat of suffering, mortality will burst the barriers of sense, and man be found perfect and eternal.” [No and Yes page 27-28]
Gaining Life Everlasting — Excerpt
by Violet Ker Seymer
… Ours is the double task of putting off the old man with his deeds and discovering the perfect man who has never lapsed from spiritual perfection. When the belief in sin has been entirely outgrown, there will be no death left to conquer, for its supposititious cause will have been abolished. It is significant that in the Apocalyptic message to the churches, the injunction to "repent" and "overcome" occurs so frequently; it would seem, in deed, as if this were the chief thing that humanity needed to learn. That repentance is the forerunner of salvation is further indicated by the Revelator in the statement which he thus sets down: "I will give unto every one of you according to your works." It is through striving to become aware of the immanence of divine Love and Life that we may lose all sense of those errors of belief which veil from our sight Mind's glorious land- scape all around us now. As St. John grew more and more pure-minded, he began to perceive the true universe as God sees it, made it, and has ever since maintained it, — free from sickness, sin, and sorrow, free from death; in fact, the reflection of His own infinitude and perfection.
Since it is the belief in sin which beclouds spiritual perception, it follows that the pathway to Life everlasting is gained through conquering this pernicious belief and its indulgence at every point. This is a very different doctrine from the one which teaches mortals to look upon the portal of death as at the same time the gateway into heaven. The origin of all being is clearly stated in the verse in Revelation which says, "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." The definition of the latter term as given in the Glossary of our text-book makes it clear that the Lamb of God is not a person, but a pure emanation of divine Mind, a sinless consciousness, through which the light of reality shines so vividly that it "taketh away the sins of the world," and is thereby the world's Saviour. This emanation is the Christ, and Jesus healed instantaneously because, being faithful in keeping out of his consciousness all that was not Godlike, the reflection of God truly walked in our midst, undefiled and irresistibly mighty.
There Is No Death, a letter sent to Herbert Eustace from one of his students
Is Death a Saviour — Excerpt
by E.F.V
Many people are taught that some glad day our Heavenly Father, in the holy purpose of His will, will send His messenger, Death, to claim our suffering friends; and if they are Christians they will be ushered into Heaven and be made free from all physical ailments.
What does this theory make of Death? Nothing less than a Saviour! Although many people entertain this view, yet there is nothing in the Bible that logically leads to such a conclusion.
If Death is a Saviour, then Jesus the Christ must have hindered the work of that Saviour when he destroyed Death and gave the sick and dying back to their friends. If it is good now for people to pass out of this life; if Death saves them and gives them happiness and rest and peace and a permanent home in Heaven, then it must have been the same good fortune in Jesus' time.
Hence, Jesus had no right to destroy Death, for his mission was to do good and not to destroy it.
No! Death is an enemy and not a Saviour!
There is only one Saviour, even the Christ-Truth which destroys this enemy, Death, and brings "life and immortality to light." "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Would it not be wise, then, instead of trusting Death as a Saviour, to understand that the One God is Life which by His omnipresence destroys Death and reveals man as immortal? …
The only death which can in any possible sense be called a Saviour is the death of sin, which death we can invite and daily entertain. Paul says, "I die daily." Also, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man, and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker G. Eddy, p. 192).
We shall not all sleep — Excerpt
by Rev. Andrew J. Graham
By fearing death one outlines and invites it. In the second chapter of Hebrews we are told the reason why Jesus willingly assumed the death experience, namely, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." We are told that "perfect love casteth out fear;" also that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." It cannot be denied that the heart of Christian Science is Love, and Love is the conqueror of death. There have always been those who inclined to the belief that John did not "sleep." In response to Peter's question Jesus said: "If I will that he [John] tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" God has no favorite persons, times, or places; with Him is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning." What Enoch and Elijah and Jesus attained unto by their understanding of the power of Truth, is open to all in every century and every land.
To imbibe the spirit of the scientific definition of "year" as found on page 598 of Science and Health, is to invigorate the consciousness with that spiritual sense of Truth which causes the shadow (for that is all it is) of death to begin its passage to its original nothingness. The passage reads: "One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity. This exalted view, obtained and retained when the Science of being is understood, would bridge over with life discerned spiritually the interval of death, and man would be in the full consciousness of his immortality and eternal harmony, where sin, sickness, and death are unknown."
Through Mrs. Eddy the truth of being has lovingly, patiently, and insistently knocked at the door of this age, and little by little understanding is opening the door … In her book "Unity of Good" we read: "The sweet and sacred sense of the permanence of man's unity with his Maker can illumine our present being with a continual presence and power of good, opening wide the portal from death into Life; and when this Life shall appear "we shall be like Him,' and we shall go to the Father, not through death, but through Life; not through error, but through Truth" (p. 41). Every case of healing in Christian Science removes in a degree the fear of death from the whole race; and as this fear is eliminated, Christian Science healing becomes easier throughout the world: for the light which comes to one extends to all, until all men shall have, as our Master declared, "the light of life."
The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.
from Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 15
From Our Exchanges
by Rev. R.J. Campbell
[Rev. R. J. Campbell, M.A., in The Christian Commonwealth]
To my perceptions it is perfect goodness, and that alone, which can transcend all limitations and overcome all antagonisms; in fact, the very thought of limitations and antagonisms implies imperfection, it is part of the very nature of evil, it is what evil is. So when Jesus rose from the tomb in which his murderers had laid him, he but revealed in power a truth which belongs to the very essence of the life divine,—namely, that all gates fly open and all barriers fall down before a love which knows neither lack nor limit. It is not possible for such an invincible fact to be holden of death in any form; it dies to self only to live to all; it gives itself away only to find itself more fully; it lays itself down in absolute surrender only to rise again in limitless power and glory.
Acting from within the conditions of poor, burdened humanity, shut within the prison-house of the flesh, and operating consistently from the standpoint that human life is somehow one and indivisible, and that none can find his own soul except in sacrificing it to the larger life of the race, Jesus emerged victorious—the first fruits of them that sleep, and in so doing gave us a foreglimpse of what will happen when all mankind is governed by his spirit. The bands of death were loosed for him; material conditions could confine him no longer; the flesh ceased to be a bondage; he was as free of all his former hampering restrictions as though they had melted into nothingness. And that is just what is coming when all our race is perfectly conformed to his likeness and becomes one with him in a fellowship which nothing can ever dissolve. "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." They will have to go, be sure of that; not one of them can remain when the love of Christ is all-in-all. "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
Responsive Reading: Revelation 22
1. And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2 — The Tree of Life
Revelation 22:2
down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
down the middle of the main street of the city.
The river of the water of life flows in the central avenue of the New Jerusalem, showing that God’s life-giving presence stands at the heart of the eternal city and is openly available to all who dwell there. The redeemed no longer approach God through earthly temples, sacrifices, or restricted courts; they live in the light of His immediate presence. The holy city fulfills the promises of restored Zion, where former enemies bow before the Lord and His people possess everlasting peace (Isaiah 60:14).
On either side of the river stood a tree of life,
The tree of life, barred to fallen humanity after Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:22–24), appears again in the new creation as a permanent witness that the curse has been overcome. Access to life with God is fully restored through the redeeming work of Christ. The abundant placement of the tree along the river recalls Ezekiel’s vision of trees nourished by waters flowing from God’s sanctuary, whose fruit provides food and whose leaves bring healing (Ezekiel 47:12) bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month.
The continual harvest reveals the unfailing abundance of God’s provision. Twelve reflects the completeness of God’s redeemed people, including the tribes of Israel and the apostles of the Lamb. Unlike the present world, marked by decay, hunger, changing seasons, and scarcity, the new creation knows no interruption in the provision of life.
And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
The nations redeemed by Christ share in complete wholeness, peace, and reconciliation. No sickness, death, or curse remains in the New Jerusalem, so the healing leaves proclaim the lasting removal of every effect of sin and division. God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham’s offspring reaches its final fulfillment as people from every tribe, language, people, and nation dwell together before the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Reversing Error by Eric W. Carr
from the February 11, 1928 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
In Luke's Gospel it is recorded that Jesus once "went into a city called Nain." Now Nain was a small town situated only a few miles from Nazareth, where Jesus was brought up and spent his early manhood; so it may be gathered that Jesus knew the place well, and in all probability had friends and acquaintances there. On the day before this visit Jesus had done a wonderful work at Capernaum: he had healed the servant of a centurion much beloved by the Jews, for he had built them a synagogue.
The result of this healing was that when Jesus went to Nain, he was followed not only by his own disciples, but by a multitude of people. On approaching the gateway of Nain, this large concourse with Jesus at the head was met by a procession coming in the opposite direction. This procession proved to be a funeral party coming out of the city and following the bier of a young man, the only son of a sorrowing mother.
It was the custom among the Jews at that time for anyone who met a funeral party to join the procession and accompany it to the graveside. To do this was looked upon as a sign of respect to the dead. It would be expected of Jesus, perhaps, and of all who were with him, that they should turn and follow this sad party to the burial place. But our Master had no intention of so doing. Instead, his compassionate look went straight to the one who was suffering most, the mother of the young man; and he said to her, "Weep not." Then turning to the bier he bade the young man arise. "And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother." No wonder those who stood around glorified God! Within a few moments Jesus had reversed the whole situation, the sad occasion, the mournful procession, the grief of the mother; and one can imagine with what joy that erstwhile sad party must have turned back and accompanied Jesus and his followers. In this beautiful story of one of our Master's great works we find a profound lesson, helpful to Christian Scientists in their daily experience.
Perhaps as we proceed along our mental journey some problem may arise that seems to suggest difficulty, discouragement, or grief, and we become aware of a procession of doleful thoughts wending their way along our mental path and claiming to fill the whole horizon of our consciousness. Why has this trouble come to me? What have I done to deserve it? I feel utterly depressed and miserable about it. So the train of mortal thoughts takes its weary way towards the graveside of the problem, there to let it destroy itself through time or suffering.
But no! We hear an inward voice crying "Halt" to such thinking! We remember that Christian Science has revealed to us the Comforter, and the Christ-understanding has thereby risen in our hearts. So, like Jesus before that funeral procession, we refuse to accept the evidence of the material senses as real, and are able to reverse their claims. Christian Science has taught us that God is good, the sender and giver of good only; therefore that evil, in whatever guise or disguise it may present itself, has no real entity or power. Evil just stands, as it were, in our path and asks us to believe in it. But we are able to take our mental stand against it, and reverse its suggestions in our own thinking. Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 120), "Science reverses the false testimony of the physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the fundamental facts of being." In these fundamental facts of being we find only the perfection of God and His spiritual creation. To God, then, there is no problem, for He sees perfect harmony everywhere; and what we have to do is to rise in consciousness and see things from His standpoint, continuing steadfastly to hold our gaze in this, the right direction.
In order that the fact of divine perfection shall be manifested outwardly and visibly, the solution of the human problem needs to appear in our experience. Here we have to see that we are not to outline the means or method by which good is to flow to us, but rather to abide in the expectation of divine harmony, trusting God to take care of the whole situation. Yes, one may say, I have tried hard to do this and to think along these lines, but still the problem does not yield; what more can I do? In such a case we need to continue to apply the great qualities of patience, persistence, and trust.
Paul counseled the Ephesians, "Having done all, to stand." Are we not tempted sometimes, having done all we seemingly can, to give way? If error seems persistent, we need to be more persistent still in maintaining the truth. If error seems relentless, we need to stand more relentlessly and courageously still for God's allness. There is nothing eternal about error. It is bound to come to an end sometime, for it carries within itself not a single lasting element. Every moment of time is now; so why should not God's glory be made manifest and the problem melt into its native nothingness here and now?
Let us take courage from our Exemplar, Jesus the Christ, and call a halt to any procession of distressed or unhappy thoughts in which we may be indulging. It may need a big effort to do this, but there is no occasion to accept and indulge in thinking that is without Principle or reality. On the contrary, such thinking can be straightway reversed if we will fairly and squarely face the fact that God is the only Mind. Thus we shall rise in thought and find that from God's point of view everything is all right, and we are entering the heavenly city of divine consciousness and experience.
Mrs. Eddy shows us what we can do and what we may expect when she writes (Science and Health, p. 406), "We can, and ultimately shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direction of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no more fear that we shall be sick and die."
Final Readings
The Life-giving Voice — Excerpt
by Irving C. Tomlinson, M.A
The vital message given in the fifth chapter of John, "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live," is a prophecy which was proved true when the dead did hear and heed the voice of Jesus. The widow's son and Lazarus caught the Master's words and arose from the dream of death to life and activity. Those "dead in trespasses and sins" were awakened, the publican and the Magdalen heard the divine message and experienced a resurrection to truer, better living. Even so today the healing truth contained in the Bible and interpreted by the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, is discerned by those morally and spiritually dead and it uplifts them into useful, helpful, joyous living.
The needful condition for the restoration of those who are deadened to health and peace is simply that the voice of Truth be heard and assimilated. St. Augustine thus beautifully phrases it : "Thou dost give audience everywhere, O Truth, to all who ask counsel of thee, and at once answerest, though on manifold matters they ask thy counsel. Clearly dost thou answer, though all do not hear." The action of Truth upon the unawakened is like the raising of a curtain to let in the sunshine, when the darkness necessarily vanishes. So to the open ear and receptive heart of the needy comes the stimulating and corrective voice of Truth, and the work of banishing the darkness of error is silently but surely accomplished. The psalmist says of God, "He spake, and it was done :" that is to say, the spiritual universe, including man, is the speech, the word, of divine Mind, eternal Truth, the one omnipotent God. Because the utterance of the father is clear, distinct, and powerful, so the voice of the true man is spiritual, truthful, and loving. When a son of God so speaks, those apparently dead to Truth hear his voice and live. … Mankind have vainly sought to hear the voice of Truth in the seats of the mighty and in various ologies and isms, but their listening was fruitless; the divine utterance was not there. Elijah's experience as it is recorded is after all very like that which comes to many another: "A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake : and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire : and after the fire a still small voice." When this voice of Truth again spake through Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, the world was impelled to reject it; but many with the listening ear heard, as did the prophet, for in the "still small voice" of Truth God has spoken and is speaking, and those that hear do live.