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Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
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Title: Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures
Author: Mary Baker Eddy
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Science and Health
With
Key to The Scriptures
by MARY BAKER EDDY
YE shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. JOHN viii. 32.
THERE is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. SHAKESPEARE
OH! Thou hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest :-
Thou here, and /everywhere/. MARY BAKER EDDY
SCIENCE AND HEALTH - Table Of Contents
PREFACE CHAPTER I - PRAYER CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM CHAPTER V - ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE CHAPTER VII - PHYSIOLOGY CHAPTER VIII - FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH CHAPTER IX - CREATION CHAPTER X - SCIENCE OF BEING CHAPTER XI - SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED CHAPTER XII - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE CHAPTER XIII - TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHAPTER XIV - RECAPITULATION
KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES CHAPTER XV - GENESIS CHAPTER XVI - THE APOCALYPSE CHAPTER XVII - GLOSSARY CHAPTER XVIII - FRUITAGE
PREFACE
vi:1 To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is
big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds
vi:3 the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance
of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-
shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in
vi:6 cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human
herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be-
nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ
vi:9 Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn-
ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-
men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of
vi:12 divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.
The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent
of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the
vi:15 portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and
the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling
away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-
vi:18 stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a
right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is
Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall
vi:21 reign forever."
A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make
them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy
vi:24 pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough
granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer
has accomplished.
vi:27 Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in
vii:1 the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has
been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but
vii:3 to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live
in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full
might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense
vii:6 must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the
science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con-
cord to sound.
vii:9 Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and
matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that
Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo-
vii:12 site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by
demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and
this demonstration shows that Christian healing con-
vii:15 fers the most health and makes the best men. On this
basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness
has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma-
vii:18 terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less
sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous
"No" is the response deducible from two connate
vii:21 facts, - the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians,
and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of
diseases since the flood.
vii:24 In the author's work, RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPEC-
TION, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating
experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis-
vii:27 covery of the system that she denominated Christian
Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and
give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for
vii:30 the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions
were crude, the first steps of a child in the newly dis-
covered world of Spirit.
ix:1 She also began to jot down her thoughts on the
main subject, but these jottings were only infantile
ix:3 lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world
through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is
as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet
ix:6 he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words,
and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his
feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite
ix:9 thought, though still imperfectly.
So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of
himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers
ix:12 came." Certain essays written at that early date are
still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are
feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of
ix:15 Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac-
tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing
in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis-
ix:18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of
Christ.
Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy-
ix:21 righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until
1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject
ix:24 could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875,
copies were, however, in friendly circulation.
Before writing this work, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, she
ix:27 made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which
have never been published. This was during the years
1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative
ix:30 ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that
time, and the degrees by which she came at length
to its solution; but she values them as a parent
x:1 may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and
she would not have them changed.
x:3 The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was pub-
lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have
since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory
x:6 and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH.
They regard the human mind as a healing agent,
whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of
x:9 Christian Science. A few books, however, which are
based on this book, are useful.
The author has not compromised conscience to suit
x:12 the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon-
estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort
to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in-
x:15 finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated
cases of healing, she and her students have proved the
worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part
x:18 have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical
attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all
physical supports have failed, because there is so little
x:21 faith in His disposition and power to heal disease.
The divine Principle of healing is proved in the
personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its
x:24 purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po-
tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un-
biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth,
x:27 and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her
method who do not understand her meaning, or dis-
cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their
x:30 works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req-
uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de-
sirable.
xi:1 Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal-
ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the
xi:3 action of the human mind, which action in some unex-
plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con-
trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all
xi:6 other pathological methods are the fruits of human
faith in matter, faith in the workings, not of Spirit,
but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science.
xi:9 The physical healing of Christian Science results
now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine
Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real-
xi:12 ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally
and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and
sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works
xi:15 are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are
the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," a divine
influence ever present in human consciousness and re-
xi:18 peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,
To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
xi:21 To set at liberty them that are bruised.
When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel
to this age, there came also the charge to plant and
xi:24 water His vineyard.
The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing
was started by the author with only one student in
xi:27 Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881,
she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in
Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law
xi:30 relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled
her to get this institution chartered for medical pur-
xii:1 poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien-
tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that
xii:3 date, hers was the only College of this character which
had been established in the United States, where
Christian Science was first introduced.
xii:6 During seven years over four thousand students
were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile
she was pastor of the first established Church of
xii:9 Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci-
entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of
her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole
xii:12 editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal,
the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She
closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of
xii:15 its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the
next two years of her life should be given to the prep-
aration of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which
xii:18 was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and
as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil-
iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never
xii:21 read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu-
cidate her idealism.
In the spirit of Christ's charity, as one who "hopeth
xii:24 all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear
consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick,
she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.
MARY BAKER EDDY
NOTE. - The author takes no patients, and declines medical consultation.
CHAPTER I - PRAYER
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them.
Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
Him. - CHRIST JESUS.
1:1 THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the
sick is an absolute faith that all things are
1:3 possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him,
an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say
or think on this subject, I speak from experience.
1:6 Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im-
molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing
whatever has been successfully done for the Christian-
1:9 ization and health of mankind.
Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine
Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from
1:12 trusting God with our desires, that they may be
moulded and exalted before they take form in words
and in deeds.
Right motives
2:1 What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to
make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us,
2:3 to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of
men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes,
the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous-
2:6 ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return
unto us void.
Deity unchangeable
God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more
2:9 than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less
than bestow all good, since He is unchang-
ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for
2:12 ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov-
ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip-
service, for He already knows all.
2:15 Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it
tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at-
tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that
2:18 God will save us is not all that is required. The mere
habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads
with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as
2:21 humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit-
ual growth.
God's standard
God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is
2:24 intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any-
thing He does not already comprehend?
Do we expect to change perfection? Shall
2:27 we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-
ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire
does bring us nearer the source of all existence and
2:30 blessedness.
Asking God to /be/ God is a vain repetition. God is
"the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and
3:1 He who is immutably right will do right without being
reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
3:3 sufficient to warrant him in advising God.
The spiritual mathematics
Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the
principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The
3:6 rule is already established, and it is our
task to work out the solution. Shall we
ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own
3:9 work? His work is done, and we have only to avail
ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless-
ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.
3:12 The Divine Being must be reflected by man, - else
man is not the image and likeness of the patient,
tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to
3:15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands
absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.
Prayerful ingratitude
How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit
3:18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni-
present, infinite, and then we try to give
information to this infinite Mind. We plead
3:21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of
benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good
already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the
3:24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.
Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of
thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
3:27 If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and
yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in-
sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro-
3:30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only
acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and
remember our blessings. While the heart is far from
4:1 divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati-
tude of barren lives.
Efficacious petitions
4:3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire
for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness,
love, and good deeds. To keep the com-
4:6 mandments of our Master and follow his
example, is our proper debt to him and the only
worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has
4:9 done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to
express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has
said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
4:12 The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas-
ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the
blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not
4:15 acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness
to be partakers of Love.
Watchfulness requisite
Simply asking that we may love God will never
4:18 make us love Him; but the longing to be better
and holier, expressed in daily watchful-
ness and in striving to assimilate more of
4:21 the divine character, will mould and fashion us
anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the
Science of Christianity through demonstration of the
4:24 divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness
will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring
experience.
Veritable devotion
4:27 Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual
understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer,
watchfulness, and devout obedience enable
4:30 us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers,
superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love,
and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate-
5:1 rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps
him from demonstrating his power over error.
Sorrow and reformation
5:3 Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform
and the very easiest step. The next and great step re-
quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity,
5:6 - namely, reformation. To this end we are
placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation
bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for
5:9 what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there
is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay
"the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall
5:12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run-
ning over."
Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always
5:15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup.
Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God
pours the riches of His love into the understanding and
5:18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin-
ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther,
the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin
5:21 through suffering.
Cancellation of human sin
Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin.
Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven
5:24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and
Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is
cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying,
5:27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin
because he fancies himself forgiven.
Diabolism destroyed
An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to
5:30 "destroy the /works/ of the devil." We should
follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de-
struction of all evil works, error and disease included.
6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip-
tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us."
Pardon and amendment
6:3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the
sinner. God is not separate from the wis-
6:6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we
must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work
badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition
6:9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and
that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.
To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means
6:12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin
will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be-
lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach
6:15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand
the divine Principle of being.
Mercy without partiality
"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask,
6:18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
suppose that God forgives or punishes sin
according as His mercy is sought or un-
6:21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
the safety-valve for wrong-doing.
Divine severity
Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it
6:24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound
her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of-
fence unto me." He came teaching and
6:27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down."
It is believed by many that a certain magistrate,
6:30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His
rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas-
ter confirms this description.
7:1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was,
"Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence
7:3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found
in his own words,- showing the necessity for such
forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed
7:6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de-
prives material sense of its false claims.
Audible praying
Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary
7:9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro-
duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply
into these things, we find that "a zeal . . .
7:12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac-
tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and
wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo-
7:15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of
applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.
Emotional utterances
Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec-
7:18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided
men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo-
ments a higher experience and a better life
7:21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self-
satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes
a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di-
7:24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing
and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is
always known and by whom it will be supplied.
Danger from audible prayer
7:27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp-
tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut-
tering desires which are not real and consoling
7:30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection
that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for-
giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.
8:1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self-
justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite.
8:3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but
there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi-
cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to
8:6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond
with their character. They hold secret fellowship with
sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like
8:9 unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."
Aspiration and love
If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful,
is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the
8:12 comment upon him? If he reached the
loftiness of his prayer, there would be no
occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu-
8:15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,-
this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive
ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that
8:18 shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray-
ers are like charity in one respect,- they "cover the
multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what-
8:21 ever fervency of expression does not always mean a
desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are
not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses
8:24 the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart
and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do
we not already know more of this heart than we are
8:27 willing to have our neighbor see?
Searching the heart
We should examine ourselves and learn what is the
affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way
8:30 only can we learn what we honestly are. If a
friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa-
tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not
9:1 rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"?
During many years the author has been most grateful
9:3 for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen-
sure,- in the falsehood which does no one any good.
Summit of aspiration
The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these
9:6 questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of
this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish-
ness, satisfied with having prayed for some-
9:9 thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin-
cerity of our requests by living consistently with our
prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness,
9:12 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless
them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great
duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is
9:15 a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition
of our hope and faith.
Practical religion
Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy
9:18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"?
This command includes much, even the sur-
render of all merely material sensation, affec-
9:21 tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.
It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the
divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master,
9:24 and material sense and human will have no place.
The chalice sacrificial
Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and
so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire
9:27 to attain this point? No! Then why make long
prayers about it and ask to be Christians,
since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our
9:30 dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why
pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his
nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right.
10:1 Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in
the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed-
10:3 ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord,
we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.
The world must grow to the spiritual understanding
10:6 of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of
earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor-
rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are
10:9 willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions
will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in
demonstration of power and "with signs following."
10:12 Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the
world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.
Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables
10:15 us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a
higher understanding of the divine Life.
Perfunctory prayers
One of the forms of worship in Thibet is to carry a
10:18 praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the
doors to earn a penny by grinding out a
prayer. But the advance guard of progress has
10:21 paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution.
Asking amiss
Experience teaches us that we do not always receive
the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some mis-
10:24 apprehension of the source and means of
all goodness and blessedness, or we should
certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip-
10:27 tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That
which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always
10:30 best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will
not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer-
ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss."
11:1 Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer,
"Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of
11:3 forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he
said, "Go, and sin no more."
Remission of penalty
A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this
11:6 may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it
only saves the criminal from one form of
punishment. The moral law, which has the
11:9 right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu-
tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law
brings penalty in order to compel this progress.
Truth annihilates error
11:12 Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine
Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they
are corrected) leaves the offender free to re-
11:15 peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already
suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it
with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but
11:18 wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered
for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in-
dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering.
Desire for holiness
11:21 Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor-
tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is
requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we
11:24 desire holiness above all else, we shall sac-
rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this,
that we may walk securely in the only practical road
11:27 to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable
Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding
of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual
11:30 desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us
into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible
expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life.
Prayer for the sick
12:1 "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the
Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re-
12:3 quest that God will heal the sick has no
power to gain more of the divine presence
than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of
12:6 such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak-
ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind
faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out
12:9 another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief
in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which
acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under-
12:12 standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested
in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con-
scientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to
12:15 God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a
drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its
12:18 power from human faith and belief. The drug does
nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal
belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a
12:21 drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.
The common custom of praying for the recovery of the
sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come
12:24 from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief
may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of
human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.
Love impartial and universal
12:27 Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper,
and not help another who offers the same measure of
prayer? If the sick recover because they
12:30 pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti-
tioners (/per se/ or by proxy) should get well. In divine
Science, where prayers are mental, /all/ may avail them-
13:1 selves of God as "a very present help in trouble."
Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and
13:3 bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."
Public exaggerations
In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions,
13:6 beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we
are not secretly yearning and openly striv-
ing for the accomplishment of all we ask,
13:9 our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen
use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we
ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward
13:12 us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de-
sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear
sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is
13:15 sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our
fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon-
estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and
13:18 we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real
wishes with a torrent of words.
Corporeal ignorance
If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will
13:21 prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and
fears which attend such a belief, and so we
cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi-
13:24 nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible.
Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle,
Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal
13:27 creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely
physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re-
flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The
13:30 world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind
to the reality of man's existence, - for the world of sen-
sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body.
Bodily presence
14:1 If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo-
tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we
14:3 would gain, we are not "absent from the
body" and "present with the Lord" in the
demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas-
14:6 ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not
mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon-
stration and understanding of Life as revealed in
14:9 Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in
obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed
by divine Love,- by Spirit, not by matter.
Spiritualized consciousness
14:12 Become conscious for a single moment that Life and
intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of
matter, - and the body will then utter no
14:15 complaints. If suffering from a belief in
sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow
is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir-
14:18 itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the
promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me,
the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I
14:21 go unto my Father," - [because the Ego is absent from
the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The
Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material
14:24 sense.
Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate-
rial living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual under-
14:27 standing and the consciousness of man's dominion
over the whole earth. This understanding casts out
error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak
14:30 "as one having authority."
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and,
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
15:1 which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly."
Spiritual sanctuary
15:3 So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of
Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but
lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to
15:6 error, it is open to Truth, and /vice versa/.
The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses,
but He knows all things and rewards according to
15:9 motives, not according to speech. To enter into the
heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be
closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent,
15:12 that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine
Principle, Love, which destroys all error.
Effectual invocation
In order to pray aright, we must enter into the
15:15 closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and
silence the material senses. In the quiet
sanctuary of earnest longings, we must
15:18 deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to
take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to
work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We
15:21 must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an-
swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.
The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and
15:24 let our lives attest our sincerity.
Trustworthy beneficence
Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden
from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness,
15:27 purity, and affection are constant prayers.
Practice not profession, understanding not
belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and
15:30 they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi-
ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a
fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness.
Loftiest adoration
16:1 A great sacrifice of material things must precede this
advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer
16:3 is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra-
tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must
destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth
16:6 that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.
The prayer of Jesus Christ
Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer,
which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Mas-
16:9 ter said, "After this manner therefore pray
ye," and then he gave that prayer which
covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt
16:12 among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an
addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does
not affect the meaning of the prayer itself.
16:15 In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original
properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This
reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti-
16:18 tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or
one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars.
Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and
16:21 sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir-
itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's
Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
16:24 Here let me give what I understand to be the spir-
itual sense of the Lord's Prayer:
Our Father which art in heaven,
16:27 /Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious/,
Hallowed be Thy name.
/Adorable One./
16:30 Thy kingdom come.
/Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present./
17:1 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. /Enable us to know,- as in heaven, so on earth,- God is 17:3 omnipotent, supreme/.
Give us this day our daily bread;
/Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;/
17:6 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
/And Love is reflected in love;/
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
17:9 evil;
/And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth
us from sin, disease, and death./
17:12 For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, forever.
/For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over
all, and All./
CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. - PAUL.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
- PAUL.
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
until the kingdom of God shall come. - JESUS.
Divine oneness
18:1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity
with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life,
18:3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated
man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him
endless homage. His mission was both in-
18:6 dividual and collective. He did life's work
aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to
mortals,- to show them how to do theirs, but not to do
18:9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.
Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the
senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he
18:12 refuted all opponents with his healing power.
Human reconciliation
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not
God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God,
18:15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ
is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself.
The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ,
18:18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived
19:1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose
to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and
19:3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness.
Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him-
self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for
19:6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon-
ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love,
the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer
19:9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter,
sin, and death by the law of Spirit,- the law of divine
Love.
19:12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de-
claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and
death, although his teaching set households at variance,
19:15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a
sword.
Efficacious repentance
Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort
19:18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to
understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid
its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray
19:21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone-
ment,- in the /at-one-ment/ with God,- for he lacks the
practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables
19:24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem-
onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach-
ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If
19:27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur-
ity, although God is good.
Jesus' sinless career
Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no
19:30 other gods before me," which may be ren-
dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as
mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,-
20:1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
20:3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine
or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved,
not by spirits but by Spirit.
20:6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee
Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a
20:9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he
established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men
can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the
20:12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet
be sensual and sinful.
Perfect example
Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal
20:15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are
healed." "Despised and rejected of men,"
returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-
20:18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God;
and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and
the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not,
20:21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God,
saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to
holiness.
Behest of the cross
20:24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the
spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all
religion. It commands sure entrance into
20:27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
20:30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self
and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of
all healing.
Moral victory
21:1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a
21:3 good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be-
cause you are a better man. This is having
our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.
21:6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting
because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph,
that they shall reach his harmony and reward.
21:9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-
ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma-
terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things
21:12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the
start, and gain a little each day in the right direction,
till at last he finishes his course with joy.
Inharmonious travellers
21:15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am /en
route/ for California, we are not journeying together.
We have separate time-tables to consult,
21:18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have
diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor-
tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my
21:21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad
guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I
take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our
21:24 companionship may continue.
Zigzag course
Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at
the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither-
21:27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward
for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring
and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for
21:30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can
only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By-
and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow
22:1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
of this to find and follow the right road.
Moral retrogression
22:3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
of forgiveness,- selfishness and sensuality causing con-
stant retrogression,- our moral progress will
22:6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals
experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-
ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and
22:9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned
with success.
Wait for reward
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
22:12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
"Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-
ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If
22:15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive
no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
sluggard in the race.
22:18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
cern the good you have done, and receive according to
your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from
22:21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
Deliverance not vicarious
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
22:24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
one's faith without works to another's vicarious
22:27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
understand God.
Justice and substitution
22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not
23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin.
23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That
23:6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-
23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf-
fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Doctrines and faith
23:12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him."
This preaching receives a strong rebuke in
23:15 the 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,
23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-
lishes the claims of God.
Self-reliance and confidence
23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, /faith/ and the
words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
tions, /trustfulness/ and /trustworthiness/. One
23:24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
23:27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!"
23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
itual understanding and confides all to God.
The Hebrew verb /to believe/ means also /to be firm/ or
24:1 /to be constant/. This certainly applies to Truth and Love
understood and practised. Firmness in error will never
24:3 save from sin, disease, and death.
Life's healing currents
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of
men), open the way for Christian Science to be
understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where
24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed
out.
Radical changes
He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will
24:12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re-
generation. This is having part in the atone-
ment; this is the understanding, in which
24:15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant
when the ordinary theological views of atonement will
undergo a great change, - a change as radical as that
24:18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to pre-
destination and future punishment.
Purpose of crucifixion
Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus
24:21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who
ask for it and are willing to be forgiven?
Does spiritualism find Jesus' death necessary
24:24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material
Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then
we must differ from them both.
24:27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical af-
fection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The
truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that
24:30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own
disciples could not admit such an event to be possible.
After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was
25:1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of
Truth and Love.
True flesh and blood
25:3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The effi-
cacy of Jesus' spiritual offering is infinitely greater than
can be expressed by our sense of human
25:6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no
more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed
upon "the accursed tree," than when it was flowing in
25:9 his veins as he went daily about his Father's business.
His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat
his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine
25:12 Life.
Effective triumph
Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that
we may understand how this divine Principle heals
25:15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over
death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better
than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By
25:18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu-
ally than all others the Principle of being. Hence the
force of his admonition, "If ye love me, keep my com-
25:21 mandments."
Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease,
the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving
25:24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for
their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as
he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith
25:27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow
on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We
must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the
25:30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to
bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made
manifest in the humanity of Jesus.
Individual experience
26:1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with
gratitude for what he did for mortals, - treading alone
26:3 his loving pathway up to the throne of
glory, in speechless agony exploring the way
for us, - yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe-
26:6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all
have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion
to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed
26:9 through divine Love.
Christ's demonstration
The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his
own statements: "I am the way, the truth, and the life;"
26:12 "I and my Father are one." This Christ,
or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine
nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth,
26:15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness,
and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of
celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does
26:18 for man.
Proof in practice
A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he
teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac-
26:21 tice as well as precept. Jesus' teaching and
practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice
as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was
26:24 the precious import of our Master's sinless career and
of his demonstration of power over death. He proved
by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin,
26:27 and death.
Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief.
It was the divine Principle of all real being which he
26:30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no
form or system of religion and worship, but Christian
Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love.
27:1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was in-
tended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had
27:3 come: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have
seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
27:6 to the poor the gospel is preached." In other words:
Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is,
and he will at once perceive that God is the power in
27:9 the Messianic work.
Living temple
That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance
after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien-
27:12 tific statement: "Destroy this temple [body],
and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up."
It is as if he had said: The I - the Life, substance,
27:15 and intelligence of the universe - is not in matter to
be destroyed.
Jesus' parables explain Life as never mingling with
27:18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root
of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut
down the false doctrine of pantheism, - that God, or
27:21 Life, is in or of matter.
Recreant disciples
Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only
eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits
27:24 him with two or three hundred other disciples
who have left no name. "Many are called,
but few are chosen." They fell away from grace because
27:27 they never truly understood their Master's instruction.
Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the
essential religion he came to establish? Jesus' persecu-
27:30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point.
They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and
to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.
Help and hindrance
28:1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the di-
vine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus'
28:3 mission. Even many of his students stood
in his way. If the Master had not taken a
student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would
28:6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit
in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and
Love.
28:9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out
of it, one's consecration to Christ is more on the ground
of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we
28:12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding
more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we
are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.
Misleading conceptions
28:15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of
Jesus was generally understood. Not a single compo-
nent part of his nature did the material
28:18 world measure aright. Even his righteous-
less and purity did not hinder men from saying: He
is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is
28:21 his patron.
Persecution prolonged
Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if
thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy
28:24 Master's feet! To suppose that persecution
for righteousness' sake belongs to the past,
and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world
28:27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mis-
take the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself.
The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle,
28:30 "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some
form, every pioneer of truth.
Christian warfare
There is too much animal courage in society and not
29:1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms
against error at home and abroad. They must grapple
29:3 with sin in themselves and in others, and
continue this warfare until they have finished
their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the
29:6 crown of rejoicing.
Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis-
belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly
29:9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more
needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we
may never receive it in this world.
The Fatherhood of God
29:12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to
the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be-
lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed
29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glori-
ous perception that God is the only author of man.
The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and
29:18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus - that is, Joshua,
or Saviour.
Spiritual conception
The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to
29:21 silence material law and its order of generation, and
brought forth her child by the revelation of
Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of
29:24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed
the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog-
nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever
29:27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the
man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea,
though at first faintly developed.
29:30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit,
is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and
man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-
30:1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give
a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could
30:3 demonstrate the Science of Love - his Father or divine
Principle.
Jesus the way-shower
Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook
30:6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en-
dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with-
out measure. This accounts for his struggles
30:9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to
be the mediator, or /way-shower/, between God and men.
Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal
30:12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal
mind as "the way."
Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said:
30:15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the
new executor for God, present the divine law of Love,
30:18 which blesses even those that curse it.
Rebukes helpful
As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to
rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death,-
30:21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This
ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole
earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between
30:24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and
of error.
If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of
30:27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we
shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only
in this way can we bless our enemies, though they
30:30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for
ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way
Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found
31:1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit
to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place
31:3 it in such hands.
Fleshly ties temporal
Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call
no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
31:6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who
is my mother, and who are my brethren," im-
plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We
31:9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of
/father/. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and
therefore as the Father of all.
Healing primary
31:12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol-
lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached
no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the
31:15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes
Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him
in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, - following his
31:18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, - we drink of
his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu-
rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full
31:21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs
over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
31:24 death till he come."
Painful prospect
Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said:
"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-
31:27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse-
cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus
31:30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea,
the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service; and these things will they
32:1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father
nor me."
Sacred sacrament
32:3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear
allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath
was /sacramentum/, and our English word
32:6 /sacrament/ is derived from it. Among the
Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a
feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the
32:9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's
oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and
in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows
32:12 forth his bitter experience, - the cup which he prayed
might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis-
sion to the divine decree.
32:15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed
it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,
Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and
32:18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all
of it."
Spiritual refreshment
The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is
32:21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples
had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them
bread. This would have been foolish in a
32:24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat-
ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the
material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with
32:27 spiritual views.
Jesus' sad repast
The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in
the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion,
32:30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken
at the close of day, in the twilight of a
glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and
33:1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions
to matter.
Heavenly supplies
33:3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour
of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna,
which of old had fed in the wilderness the
33:6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread
indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth
of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error.
33:9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this
bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne
this bread from house to house, /breaking/ (explaining) it to
33:12 others, and now it comforted themselves.
For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about
to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow.
33:15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast-
ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said,
"Drink ye all of it."
The holy struggle
33:18 When the human element in him struggled with the
divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but
Thine, be done!"- that is, Let not the flesh,
33:21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This
is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all
for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the
33:24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses
and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek
in heart.
Incisive questions
33:27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you
shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions
which attend a new and higher understand-
33:30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that
you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all
who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing
34:1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for
the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira-
34:3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out
error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God,"
that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ,
34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com-
memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel,
or /God with us/; and if a friend be with us, why need we
34:9 memorials of that friend?
Millennial glory
If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really
commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of
34:12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the
world. If all who seek his commemoration
through material symbols will take up the cross, heal
34:15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth,
to the poor, - the receptive thought, - they will bring
in the millennium.
Fellowship with Christ
34:18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more
spiritual and understood better what the Master had
taught. His resurrection was also their resur-
34:21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and
others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into
the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this
34:24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again
in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above
their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness,
34:27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which
has since been called the ascension.
The last breakfast
What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and
34:30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples
in the bright morning hours at the joyful
meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom
35:1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent-
ance, - hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced
35:3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened
by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned
away from material things, and cast their net on the right
35:6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of
time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal
sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new-
35:9 ness of life as Spirit.
This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a
new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists
35:12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re-
ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune
with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their
35:15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh
after death, its exemplification of human probation, and
his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh,
35:18 when he rose out of material sight.
Spiritual Eucharist
Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our
church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can
35:21 unite with this church only as we are new-
born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which
is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth
35:24 the fruits of Love, - casting out error and healing the
sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one
God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven,"
35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira-
tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com-
mended to his followers.
Final purpose
35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the
sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re-
form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to
36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by
experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of
36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation
into another sphere. Divine Science reveals
the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after
36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty
due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape
from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern-
36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.
Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his
dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his
36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John,
the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in
silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly
36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral
distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude
Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly-
36:18 minded.
Righteous retribution
A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un-
limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as
36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for
sinners to receive their full punishment this
side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right-
36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the
wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment
and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven,
36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only
toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock-
ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.
Vicarious suffering
36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf-
fering of the just for the unjust. Can God
therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de-
37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that
sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They
37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again."
Martyrs inevitable
History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of
37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in
vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake,
but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.
37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with
another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi-
naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of
37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.
Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but
not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated
37:15 by lookers-on.
Complete emulation
When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate
him in /all/ his ways and to imitate his mighty works?
37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that
righteous man would gladly have turned his
sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May
37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im-
port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty
and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow
37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon-
stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris-
tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in
37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com-
mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world,
37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "/Heal the
sick/!"
Jesus' teaching belittled
Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration
38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are
assured that this command was intended only for a par-
38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol-
lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious
than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a
38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will
be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced
by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of
38:9 divine Science.
Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be-
lieve; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing
his disciples, yet he did not say, " These signs shall follow
/you/," but /them/- "them that believe" in all time to come.
38:15 Here the word /hands/ is used metaphorically, as in the text,
"The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses
spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have
38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not
for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe
"through their word."
Material pleasures
38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical
senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo-
ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ,
38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus
mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ,
the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the
38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati-
fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes
ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un-
38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He
taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its
healing power.
Mockery of truth
39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog-
nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol-
39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last
triumph. He won eternal honors. He over-
came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving
39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin,
sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci-
fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as
39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.
A belief suicidal
The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes
mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone
39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.
The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus
overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.
39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not
the threshold over which he must pass into living
glory.
Present salvation
39:18 "/Now/," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be-
hold, /now/ is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that
now men must prepare for a future-world salva-
39:21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which
to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is
the time for so-called material pains and material pleas-
39:24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible
in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get
the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists
39:27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is
apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain-
ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as
39:30 triumphs.
Sin and penalty
Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes
in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that
40:1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error
from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad-
40:3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv-
ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing
and its Science, will support them. Another will say:
40:6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient
season I will call for thee."
Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted
40:9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing
the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of
divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method
40:12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's
life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's
sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our
40:15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make
the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal?
Suffering inevitable
Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was
40:18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way
and the power of Truth. If a career so great
and good as that of Jesus could not avert a
40:21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human
brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into
fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of
40:24 Truth and Love.
Service and worship
Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all
men should follow the example of our Master and his
40:27 apostles and not merely worship his personal-
ity. It is sad that the phrase /divine service/
has come so generally to mean public worship instead of
40:30 daily deeds.
Within the veil
The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed,
but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of
41:1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the
Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and
41:3 this advance beyond matter must come
through the joys and triumphs of the right-
eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions.
41:6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense
into the spiritual sense of being.
The thorns and flowers
The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with
41:9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap
what they now sow. The pampered hypo-
crite may have a flowery pathway here, but
41:12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the
penalty due.
Healing early lost
The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave
41:15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his
earthly mission; but in the Christian Church
this demonstration of healing was early lost,
41:18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient
school of philosophy, /materia medica/, or scholastic theol-
ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of
41:21 absolute Science.
Immortal achieval
Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have
before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered
41:24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and
then sat down at the right hand of the Father.
Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about
41:27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and
stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at.
Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing
41:30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national
Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never
made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick.
42:1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God
is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a
42:3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the-
ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God.
A belief in death
The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It
42:6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death
will be found at length to be a mortal dream,
which comes in darkness and disappears with the light.
Cruel desertion
42:9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or
popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world
and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval
42:12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa-
lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends,
who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.
Death outdone
42:15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's
power was the proof of his final triumph over body
and matter, and gave full evidence of divine
42:18 Science, - evidence so important to mortals.
The belief that man has existence or mind separate from
God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine
42:21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won-
drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp-
tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus.
42:24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he
would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates
that in Christian Science the true man is governed by
42:27 God - by good, not evil - and is therefore not a mortal
but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the
Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to
42:30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ-
eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They
must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting
43:1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as
they did understand it after his bodily departure.
Pentecost repeated
43:3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear-
ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled
the disciples to understand what Jesus had
43:6 said. Heretofore they had only believed;
now they understood. The advent of this understanding
is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, - that
43:9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos-
tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history.
Convincing evidence
Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing,
43:12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of
brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of
his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to
43:15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God,
which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay.
The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught,
43:18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the
world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu-
ated and extended it.
Divine victory
43:21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup
of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned
him, but he was demonstrating divine Science.
43:24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies,
he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat-
ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him.
43:27 The divine must overcome the human at every point.
The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over
all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli-
43:30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such
beliefs.
Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must
44:1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns
can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow,
44:3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem-
acy of Spirit be demonstrated.
Jesus in the tomb
The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge
44:6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great
problem of being. His three days' work in
the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time.
44:9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas-
ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris-
tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims
44:12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene.
He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not
depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted
44:15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to
heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and
lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove
44:18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ
his feet as before.
The deific naturalism
Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature
44:21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power?
It was a method of surgery beyond material
art, but it was not a supernatural act. On
44:24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity
brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ-
healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of
44:27 human invention.
Obstacles overcome
His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was
hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon-
44:30 strating within the narrow tomb the power
of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense.
There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great
45:1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus
vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law
45:3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place,
crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting
victory.
Victory over the grave
45:6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci-
ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus'
deed was for the enlightenment of men and
45:9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin,
sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death
45:12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked
with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im-
45:15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre.
The stone rolled away
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts!
Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu-
45:18 man hope and faith, and through the reve-
lation and demonstration of life in God, hath
elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual
45:21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
After the resurrection
They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection
and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught,
45:24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples
at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre,
for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was:
45:27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit.
He presented the same body that he had before his cru-
45:30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over
matter.
Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un-
46:1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many
wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion
46:3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them
of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.
Spiritual interpretation
In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends
46:6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them,
and by the breaking of bread. The divine
Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries
46:9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak
through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the
receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and
46:12 healing the sick.
Corporeality and Spirit
The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit,
and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses
46:15 that his body was not changed until he himself
ascended, - or, in other words, rose even
higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince
46:18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail-
prints and the spear-wound.
Spiritual ascension
Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed
46:21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma-
terial conditions; and this exaltation explained
his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a
46:24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave.
Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for
all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen-
46:27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose
above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the
material senses saw him no more.
Pentecostal power
46:30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is
meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they
were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci-
47:1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment
of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them
47:3 a faint conception of the Life which is God.
They no longer measured man by material
sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master,
47:6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter,
but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of
light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming
47:9 power as on the Day of Pentecost.
The traitor's conspiracy
Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude
and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal.
47:12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver
and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his
time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus'
47:15 teachings.
A period was approaching which would reveal the in-
finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas
47:18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of
that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer,
and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The
47:21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time
quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally
loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be-
47:24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti-
mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the
traitor fell with it.
47:27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last
earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio-
lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no
47:30 record.
Gethsemane glorified
During his night of gloom and glory in the garden,
Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi-
48:1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the
staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu-
48:3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could Ye
not watch with me one hour?" Could they
not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice-
48:6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world?
There was no response to that human yearning, and so
Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from
48:9 sense to Soul.
Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy
benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum-
48:12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the
same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt-
ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and
48:15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a
life-work.
Defensive weapons
Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one
48:18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence.
"He opened not his mouth." The great dem-
onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before
48:21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of
his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re-
sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy
48:24 sword."
Pilate's question
Pale in the presence of his own momentous question,
"What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence
48:27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate
was ignorant of the consequences of his awful
decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing
48:30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what
life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for
man.
49:1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's
question. They knew what had inspired their devotion,
49:3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand-
ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples
to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject
49:6 unto us through thy name."
Students' ingratitude
Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were
all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the
49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost
sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations,
sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre-
49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last
human yearning with one sign of fidelity?
Heaven's sentinel
The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc-
49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with
God. No human eye was there to pity, no
arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had
49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest
post of power, charged with the grandest trust of
heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing
49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ
is not subject to material conditions, but is above the
reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth,
49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and
the grave.
Cruel contumely
The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly
49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest
proofs of divine power, mocked him on the
cross, saying derisively, "He saved others;
49:30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned
"aside the right of a man before the face of the Most
High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God."
50:1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
50:3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide
what truth and love are?
A cry of despair
The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-
50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude
of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful
cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would
impugn the justice and love of a father who could with-
hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so
50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to
his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself,
Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken
50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling
question. No! They must abide in him and he in them,
or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the
50:18 human race.
Divine Science misunderstood
If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo-
ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses,
50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even
what they did say, - that Jesus' teachings
were false, and that all evidence of their cor-
50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying
could not make it so.
The real pillory
The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human
50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving
the purpose of his mission, was a million
times sharper than the thorns which pierced
50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill
of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not
the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful
51:1 lips the plaintive cry, "/Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?/" It
was the possible loss of something more important than
51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misappre-
hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This
dread added the drop of gall to his cup.
Life-power indestructible
51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies.
He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his
spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine;
51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc-
tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish
the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life
51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his
enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom-
plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal,
51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had
no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no
more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could
51:18 be extinguished.
Example for our salvation
His consummate example was for the salvation of us
all, but only through doing the works which he did and
51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing
was not alone to restore health, but to demon-
strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by
51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives
of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance,
inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin-
51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.
Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him
from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist
51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled
Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the
dead.
Master's business
52:1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi-
ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas-
52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He
served God; they served mammon. His affec-
tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in
52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their
senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi-
dence of sin, sickness, and death.
Purity's rebuke
52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present
rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's
hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the
52:12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would
give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's
graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace.
52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite
in putting to shame and death the best man that ever
trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again
52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.
Saviour's prediction
The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing-
ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-
52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were
the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or
Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-
52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human
ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his
disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:
52:27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."
Defamatory accusations
The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra-
52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb-
auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton
and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils
53:1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and
sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their
53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did
the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far
removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene.
53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because
he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.
Reputation and character
The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his
53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and
practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He
was at work in divine Science. His words
53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above
and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be-
lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine,
53:15 infinite Love.
Inspiring discontent
The world could not interpret aright the discomfort
which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which
53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science
shows the cause of the shock so often pro-
duced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from
53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth.
Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of
denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which
53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.
Bearing our sins
Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the
mortal errors which constitute the material body, and
53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time
when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not
conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma-
53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of
spiritual power.
Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would
54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the
magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine
54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de-
fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished
error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness,
54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified
example introduced.
Inspiration of sacrifice
Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All
54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true
idea of God. That he might liberally pour
his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-
54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus'
intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com-
mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and
54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over
death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest
proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers
54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They
would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor
follow his example.
Spiritual friendship
54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the
dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious
friends, whose religion was something more
54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en-
abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share
the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol-
54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con-
firmed the prediction.
Injustice to the Saviour
If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on
54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro-
fess to love him, reject him? Would they
not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter-
55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs?
The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the
55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and
usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but
this does not affect the invincible facts.
55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more
injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon
the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now
55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the
wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But
that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a
55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be
left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of
the synagogue.
55:15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries,
gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My
weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall
55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as
himself, - when he shall realize God's omnipotence and
the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done
55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful-
filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing
is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly
55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's
cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of
Christian healing.
55:27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you /forever/." This
Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.
CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. - JESUS.
56:1 WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism,
John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus
56:3 added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain
cases) to material methods were for the advancement of
56:6 spiritual good.
Marriage temporal
Marriage is the legal and moral provision for genera-
tion among human kind. Until the spiritual creation
56:9 is discerned intact, is apprehended and under-
stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision
of the Apocalypse, - where the corporeal sense of crea-
56:12 tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from
heaven, - marriage will continue, subject to such moral
regulations as will secure increasing virtue.
Fidelity required
56:15 Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge
of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
. . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
56:18 The commandment, "Thou shalt not com-
mit adultery," is no less imperative than the one, "Thou
shalt not kill."
57:1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it 57:3 one cannot attain the Science of Life.
Mental elements
Union of the masculine and feminine qualities consti-
tutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a
57:6 higher tone through certain elements of the
feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour-
age and strength through masculine qualities. These
57:9 different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and
their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes
should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac-
57:12 tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it
is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like
the returning spring.
Affection's demands
57:15 Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the
demands of the affections, and should never weigh
against the better claims of intellect, good-
57:18 ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual,
born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore
it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to
57:21 share it.
Help and discipline
Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even
though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, en-
57:24 larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry
blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec-
tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance
57:27 of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to
God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases
to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for
57:30 heaven.
Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap-
pointments it involves or the hopes it fulfils. To happify
58:1 existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to
elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of
58:3 spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping
wings trail in dust.
Chord and discord
Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the
58:6 human mind may be different, but they should be con-
cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish
ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, -
58:9 these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in-
dividually and collectively true happiness, strength, and
permanence.
Mutual freedom
58:12 There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the
horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of
all another's time and thoughts. With ad-
58:15 ditional joys, benevolence should grow more
diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would
confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will
58:18 not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love;
but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant
amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for
58:21 the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on
earth, and it should be the centre, though not the bound-
ary, of the affections.
A useful suggestion
58:24 Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more
together than they eat separately." This is a hint that
a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance
58:27 or stupid ease, because another supplies her
wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the
chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth-
58:30 ing can abolish the cares of marriage.
Differing duties
"She that is married careth . . . how she may please
her husband," says the Bible; and this is the pleasantest
59:1 thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into
without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on
59:3 both sides. There should be the most tender
solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu-
tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years
59:6 of married life.
Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact
which might otherwise become unbearable. Man should
59:9 not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex-
pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the
59:12 different demands of their united spheres, their sympa-
thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each
partner sustaining the other, - thus hallowing the union
59:15 of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace
and home.
Trysting renewed
Tender words and unselfish care in what promotes the
59:18 welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary
in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid
indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this
59:21 and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the
old trysting-times.
After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati-
59:24 bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should
exist before this union and continue ever after, for decep-
tion is fatal to happiness.
Permanent obligation
59:27 The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as
its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency
of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re-
59:30 lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal
mistakes are undermining its foundations. Separation
never should take place, and it never would, if both
60:1 husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists.
Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of
60:3 harmony and happiness.
Permanent affection
Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary
to the formation of a happy and permanent companion-
60:6 ship. The beautiful in character is also the
good, welding indissolubly the links of affec-
tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her
60:9 child, because the mother-love includes purity and con-
stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal
affection lives on under whatever difficulties.
60:12 From the logic of events we learn that selfishness
and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will
ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined
60:15 together.
Centre for affections
Marriage should improve the human species, becoming
a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to
60:18 man, and a centre for the affections. This,
however, in a majority of cases, is not its
present tendency, and why? Because the education of
60:21 the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations,
- passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment,
display, and pride, - occupy thought.
Spiritual concord
60:24 An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat-
ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true
happiness of being, places it on a false basis.
60:27 Science will correct the discord, and teach us
life's sweeter harmonies.
Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind,
60:30 and happiness would be more readily attained and would
be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher
enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal
61:1 man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the
limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real
61:3 enjoyment.
Ascendency of good
The good in human affections must have ascendency
over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi-
61:6 ness will never be won. The attainment of
this celestial condition would improve our
progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi-
61:9 tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every
mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway
of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring
61:12 of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better
balanced minds, and sounder constitutions.
Propensities inherited
If some fortuitous circumstance places promising chil-
61:15 dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful
children early droop and die, like tropical
flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance
61:18 they live to become parents in their turn, they may re-
produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits
of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble
61:21 ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities
that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath-
some wreck?
61:24 Is not the propagation of the human species a greater
responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of
your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks
61:27 and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be
transmitted to children.
The formation of mortals must greatly improve to
61:30 advance mankind. The scientific /morale/ of marriage is
spiritual unity. If the propagation of a higher human
species is requisite to reach this goal, then its material con-
62:1 ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener-
ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the
62:3 period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity.
The entire education of children should be such as to
form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law,
62:6 with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-
called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease.
Inheritance heeded
If parents create in their babes a desire for incessant
62:9 amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked
to, those parents should not, in after years,
complain of their children's fretfulness or fri-
62:12 volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned.
Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what
62:15 ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the
rising generation than you dream. Children should be
allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should
62:18 become men and women only through growth in the
understanding of man's higher nature.
The Mind creative
We must not attribute more and more intelligence
62:21 to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and
healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the
bud and blossom, will care for the human
62:24 body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter-
fere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of
erring, human concepts.
Superior law of Soul
62:27 The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower;
if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed.
Our false views of life hide eternal harmony,
62:30 and produce the ills of which we complain.
Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the
Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and
63:1 the superior law of Soul last. You would never think
that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease
63:3 than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science
of being.
Spiritual origin
In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti-
63:6 ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is
not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor
does he pass through material conditions prior
63:9 to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti-
mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the
law of his being.
The rights of woman
63:12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the
rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no
precedent for such injustice, and civilization
63:15 mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a
marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than
does either Christian Science or civilization.
Unfair discrimination
63:18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their
discrimination as to the person, property, and parental
claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran-
63:21 chise for women will remedy the evil with-
out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us
hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational
63:24 means of improvement at present is the elevation of
society in general and the achievement of a nobler
race for legislation, - a race having higher aims and
63:27 motives.
If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the
wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be
63:30 allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business
agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her
children free from interference.
64:1 Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the
selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers
64:3 exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle
James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and
64:6 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
from the world."
Benevolence hindered
Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to
64:9 be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris-
tianity. When a man lends a helping hand
to some noble woman, struggling alone with
64:12 adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to
interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is
sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from
64:15 giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would
afford.
Progressive development
Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Further-
64:18 more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he
declared that in the resurrection there should
be no more marrying nor giving in marriage,
64:21 but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re-
joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then
white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis-
64:24 dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per-
petual peace.
Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar-
64:27 riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard
of law which might lead to a worse state of society than
now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of
64:30 the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its
own, - all that really is, - and the voices of physical
sense will be forever hushed.
Blessing of Christ
65:1 Experience should be the school of virtue, and human
happiness should proceed from man's highest nature.
65:3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal
altar to turn the water into wine and to give to
human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and
65:6 eternal existence may be discerned.
Righteous foundations
If the foundations of human affection are consistent
with progress, they will be strong and enduring. Divorces
65:9 should warn the age of some fundamental error
in the marriage state. The union of the sexes
suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its
65:12 harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.
Powerless promises
The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day
show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of
65:15 the age, struggling against the advancing
spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of
Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home
65:18 happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher
affection.
Transition and reform
There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many
65:21 other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of
truth, and impurity and error are left among
the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is
65:24 not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never
desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once
a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot-
65:27 ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more
spiritual adherence.
The mental chemicalization, which has brought con-
65:30 jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off
this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum
is gone.
Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of
humanity:
66:3 Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
Salutary sorrow
66:6 Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, -
a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not
half remember this in the sunshine of joy
66:9 and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through
great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are
proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi-
66:12 nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes,
but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher
joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc-
66:15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine
goodness and love.
Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re-
66:18 member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal
infelicity, it is well to hope, pray, and wait patiently on
divine wisdom to point out the path.
Patience is wisdom
66:21 Husbands and wives should never separate if there
is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the
logic of events than for a wife precipitately
66:24 to leave her husband or for a husband to
leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must
always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good
66:27 company. Socrates considered patience salutary under
such circumstances, making his Xantippe a discipline for
his philosophy.
The gold and dross
66:30 Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us
where it found us. The furnace separates
the gold from the dross that the precious metal may
67:1 be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father
hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons
67:3 He teaches?
Weathering the storm
When the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds
lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds,
67:6 and the waves lift themselves into mountains.
We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your
course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He
67:9 answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not
sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the
Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under-
67:12 standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on
and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves
on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work-
67:15 ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible
propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens
the troubled sea.
Spiritual power
67:18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force
to character is too absurd for consideration, when we
remember that through spiritual ascendency
67:21 our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised
the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to
obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other
67:24 means and methods.
The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration
of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor
67:27 of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is
needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death
presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal.
Basis of true religion
67:30 Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains
and pleasures, but Jesus rebuked the suffering from any
such cause or effect. The epoch approaches when the
68:1 understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of
true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for
68:3 fear of being thought ridiculous. They are
slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some-
time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has
68:6 created men and women in Science. We ought to weary
of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which
hinders our highest selfhood.
68:9 Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of
mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers
of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not
68:12 in haste to take the vow "until death do us part."
Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela-
tions to your growth and to your influence on other
68:15 lives.
Insanity and agamogenesis
I never knew more than one individual who believed
in agamogenesis; she was unmarried, a lovely charac-
68:18 ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and
a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named
her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon
68:21 the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder
and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since
salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per-
68:24 petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is
evident, but I discredit the belief that agamogenesis
applies to the human species.
God's creation intact
68:27 Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion;
it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind,
but an impartation of the divine Mind to man
68:30 and the universe. Proportionately as human
generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, har-
monious being will be spiritually discerned; and man,
69:1 not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will
appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe
69:3 are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in
divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense
of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.
69:6 Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ-
ing that man is a creator. God's children already created
will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being.
69:9 Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion
as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry
or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con-
69:12 tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in-
finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but
one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip-
69:15 tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain,
and of man deathless and perfect and eternal.
If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring
69:18 spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not
conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some
day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First
69:21 Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or
is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates
man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach
69:24 that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that
Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques-
tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry,
69:27 and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac-
counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur-
rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
69:30 marriage."
CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM
And when they shall say unto you,
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
And unto wizards that peep and that mutter;
Should not a people seek unto their God? - ISAIAH.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we
know that thou hast a devil. - JOHN.
The infinite one Spirit
70:1 MORTAL existence is an enigma. Every day is a
mystery. The testimony of the corporeal senses
70:3 cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive, but
the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures
of Truth. Whatever is false or sinful can
70:6 never enter the atmosphere of Spirit. There
is but one Spirit. Man is never God, but spiritual man,
made in God's likeness, reflects God. In this scientific
70:9 reflection the Ego and the Father are inseparable. The
supposition that corporeal beings are spirits, or that there
are good and evil spirits, is a mistake.
Real and unreal identity
70:12 The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade
of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The
questions are: What are God's identities?
70:15 What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing
formed?
71:1 Nothing is real and eternal, - nothing is Spirit, - but
God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither
71:3 person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion
of material sense.
The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever;
71:6 but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not /in/ Spirit's
formations. Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the
creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form,
71:9 which forms only reflect.
Dream-lessons
Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a
flower, - that you touch and smell it. Thus you learn
71:12 that the flower is a product of the so-called
mind, a formation of thought rather than of
matter. Close your eyes again, and you may see land-
71:15 scapes, men, and women. Thus you learn that these
also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves
and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence. From
71:18 dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor
matter is the image or likeness of God, and that im-
mortal Mind is not in matter.
Found wanting
71:21 When the Science of Mind is understood, spiritualism
will be found mainly erroneous, having no scientific basis
nor origin, no proof nor power outside of
71:24 human testimony. It is the offspring of the
physical senses. There is no sensuality in Spirit. I never
could believe in spiritualism.
71:27 The basis and structure of spiritualism are alike ma-
terial and physical. Its spirits are so many corporealities,
limited and finite in character and quality. Spiritualism
71:30 therefore presupposes Spirit, which is ever infinite, to be
a corporeal being, a finite form, - a theory contrary to
Christian Science.
72:1 There is but one spiritual existence, - the Life of
which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The
72:3 divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense.
If a material body - in other words, mortal, material
sense - were permeated by Spirit, that body would
72:6 disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A con-
dition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of
spiritual life.
Spirits obsolete
72:9 So-called /spirits/ are but corporeal communicators. As
light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all
is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God,
72:12 is the only truth-giver to man. Truth de-
stroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal
belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth
72:15 (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which
are not united by progress, but separated.
Perfection is not expressed through imperfection.
72:18 Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the anti-
pode of Spirit. Error is not a convenient sieve through
which truth can be strained.
Scientific phenomena
72:21 God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine
logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never
present. In Science, individual good derived
72:24 from God, the infinite All-in-all, may flow
from the departed to mortals; but evil is neither com-
municable nor scientific. A sinning, earthly mortal is
72:27 not the reality of Life nor the medium through which
truth passes to earth. The joy of intercourse becomes
the jest of sin, when evil and suffering are communicable.
72:30 Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the com-
municator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and
humanity. As readily can you mingle fire and frost as
73:1 Spirit and matter. In either case, one does not support
the other.
73:3 Spiritualism calls one person, living in this world, /ma-
terial/, but another, who has died to-day a sinner and sup-
posedly will return to earth to-morrow, it terms a /spirit/.
73:6 The fact is that neither the one nor the other is infinite
Spirit, for Spirit is God, and man is His likeness.
One government
The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an-
73:9 other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and
the Science of man, for man is image. God
controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any
73:12 other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal
belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, - the repe-
tition of evil.
73:15 If Spirit, or God, communed with mortals or controlled
them through electricity or any other form of matter, the
divine order and the Science of omnipotent, omnipresent
73:18 Spirit would be destroyed.
Incorrect theories
The belief that material bodies return to dust, hereafter
to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and
73:21 desires, is incorrect. Equally incorrect is the
belief that spirit is confined in a finite, ma-
terial body, from which it is freed by death, and that, when
73:24 it is freed from the material body, spirit retains the sensa-
tions belonging to that body.
No me-diumship
It is a grave mistake to suppose that matter is any part
73:27 of the reality of intelligent existence, or that Spirit and
matter, intelligence and non-intelligence, can
commune together. This error Science will
73:30 destroy. The sensual cannot be made the mouthpiece of
the spiritual, nor can the finite become the channel of
the infinite. There is no communication between so-
74:1 called material existence and spiritual life which is not
subject to death.
Opposing conditions
74:3 To be on communicable terms with Spirit, persons must
be free from organic bodies; and their return to a mate-
rial condition, after having once left it, would
74:6 be as impossible as would be the restoration
to its original condition of the acorn, already absorbed
into a sprout which has risen above the soil. The seed
74:9 which has germinated has a new form and state of exist-
ence. When here or hereafter the belief of life in matter
is extinct, the error which has held the belief dissolves
74:12 with the belief, and never returns to the old condition.
No correspondence nor communion can exist between
persons in such opposite dreams as the belief of having
74:15 died and left a material body and the belief of still living
in an organic, material body.
Bridgeless division
The caterpillar, transformed into a beautiful insect,
74:18 is no longer a worm, nor does the insect return to
fraternize with or control the worm. Such
a backward transformation is impossible in
74:21 Science. Darkness and light, infancy and manhood,
sickness and health, are opposites, - different beliefs,
which never blend. Who will say that infancy can utter
74:24 the ideas of manhood, that darkness can represent light,
that we are in Europe when we are in the opposite hemi-
sphere? There is no bridge across the gulf which divides
74:27 two such opposite conditions as the spiritual, or incor-
poreal, and the physical, or corporeal.
In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step,
74:30 never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead
and living cannot commune together, for they are in
separate states of existence, or consciousness.
Unscientific investiture
75:1 This simple truth lays bare the mistaken assumption
that man dies as matter but comes to life as spirit. The
75:3 so-called dead, in order to reappear to those
still in the existence cognized by the physical
senses, would need to be tangible and material, - to have
75:6 a material investiture, - or the material senses could take
no cognizance of the so-called dead.
Spiritualism would transfer men from the spiritual sense
75:9 of existence back into its material sense. This gross mate-
rialism is scientifically impossible, since to infinite Spirit
there can be no matter.
Raising the dead
75:12 Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;
but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus
restored Lazarus by the understanding that
75:15 Lazarus had never died, not by an admis-
sion that his body had died and then lived again. Had
Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his
75:18 body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of
belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have
resuscitated it.
75:21 When you can waken yourself or others out of the belief
that all must die, you can then exercise Jesus' spiritual
power to reproduce the presence of those who have thought
75:24 they died, - but not otherwise.
Vision of the dying
There is one possible moment, when those living on the
earth and those called dead, can commune together, and
75:27 that is the moment previous to the transition,
- the moment when the link between their op-
posite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through
75:30 which we pass from one dream to another dream, or
when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities
of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those
76:1 who have gone before. The ones departing may whisper
this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the
76:3 hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes
open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes
aloud his rapture.
Real Life is God
76:6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as
neither material nor finite, but as infinite, - as God,
universal good; and the belief that life, or
76:9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in
evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that
Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never
76:12 raised from matter. When advanced to spiritual being
and the understanding of God, man can no longer com-
mune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more
76:15 than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem
to be corporeal, but he will be an individual conscious-
ness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter.
76:18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When
divine Science is universally understood, they will have
no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by
76:21 divine authority.
Immaterial pleasure
The sinless joy, - the perfect harmony and immortality
of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness
76:24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, -
constitutes the only veritable, indestructible
man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence
76:27 is scientific and intact, - a perfection discernible only
by those who have the final understanding of Christ in
divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of
76:30 existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to,
before immortality appears.
The recognition of Spirit and of infinity comes not
77:1 suddenly here or hereafter. The pious Polycarp said:
"I cannot turn at once from good to evil." Neither do
77:3 other mortals accomplish the change from error to truth
at a single bound.
Second death
Existence continues to be a belief of corporeal sense
77:6 until the Science of being is reached. Error brings its
own self-destruction both here and hereafter,
for mortal mind creates its own physical con-
77:9 ditions. Death will occur on the next plane of existence
as on this, until the spiritual understanding of Life is
reached. Then, and not until then, will it be demon-
77:12 strated that "the second death hath no power."
A dream vanishing
The period required for this dream of material life,
embracing its so-called pleasures and pains, to vanish
77:15 from consciousness, "knoweth no man . . .
neither the Son, but the Father." This period
will be of longer or shorter duration according to the
77:18 tenacity of error. Of what advantage, then, would it be
to us, or to the departed, to prolong the material state and
so prolong the illusion either of a soul inert or of a sinning,
77:21 suffering sense, - a so-called mind fettered to matter.
Progress and purgatory
Even if communications from spirits to mortal con-
sciousness were possible, such communications would
77:24 grow beautifully less with every advanced stage
of existence. The departed would gradually
rise above ignorance and materiality, and Spiritualists
77:27 would outgrow their beliefs in material spiritualism.
Spiritism consigns the so-called dead to a state resembling
that of blighted buds, - to a wretched purgatory, where
77:30 the chances of the departed for improvement narrow
into nothing and they return to their old standpoints of
matter.
Unnatural deflections
78:1 The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak,
the ferocious beast, - like the discords of disease, sin,
78:3 and death, - are unnatural. They are the fal-
sities of sense, the changing deflections of mor-
tal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind.
Absurd oracles
78:6 How unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing
out life and hastening to death, and that at the same
time we are communing with immortality!
78:9 If the departed are in rapport with mor-
tality, or matter, they are not spiritual, but must still
be mortal, sinning, suffering, and dying. Then why
78:12 look to them - even were communication possible - for
proofs of immortality, and accept them as oracles? Com-
munications gathered from ignorance are pernicious in
78:15 tendency.
Spiritualism with its material accompaniments would
destroy the supremacy of Spirit. If Spirit pervades all
78:18 space, it needs no material method for the transmission
of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order
to be omnipresent.
Spirit intangible
78:21 Spirit is not materially tangible. How then can it
communicate with man through electric, material effects?
How can the majesty and omnipotence of
78:24 Spirit be lost? God is not in the medley
where matter cares for matter, where spiritism makes
many gods, and hypnotism and electricity are claimed
78:27 to be the agents of God's government.
Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence
it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are
78:30 comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the
effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling
in eternal Science.
Thought regarding death
79:1 The act of describing disease - its symptoms, locality,
and fatality - is not scientific. Warning people against
79:3 death is an error that tends to frighten into
death those who are ignorant of Life as God.
Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored
79:6 by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death.
Fallacious hypotheses
A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the
use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma-
79:9 nent health. Science must go over the whole
ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow-
ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy-
79:12 potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and
hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for
Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma-
79:15 terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro-
duces the harmony of being.
Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle
79:18 Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ.
Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de-
79:21 scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels,
but he healed disease.
Mistaken methods
The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your
79:24 brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is
weak, and it must be strengthened. You have
nervous prostration, and must be treated for it."
79:27 Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in-
telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.
Divine strength
Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary
79:30 in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing
good. Giving does not impoverish us in the
service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.
80:1 We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of
the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving
80:3 utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal
of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for
the support of bodily endurance.
A denial of immortality
80:6 A communication purporting to come from the late
Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was,
and there never will be, an immortal spirit."
80:9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen-
tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica-
tions are our only proofs of immortality.
Mysticism unscientific
80:12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy
of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their
views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual-
80:15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and
explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never
removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the
80:18 realm of mysticism.
Physical falsities
It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the
aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know
80:21 that it is mind-power which moves both table
and hand. Even planchette - the French toy
which years ago pleased so many people - attested the con-
80:24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.
It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.
These movements arise from the volition of human belief,
80:27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind
produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and
believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec-
80:30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that
mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly,
hence that matter is intelligent.
Poor post-mortem evidence
81:1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni-
cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there
81:3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has
sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by
the Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the
81:6 Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish.
No proof of immortality
At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism
can only prove that certain individuals have a continued
81:9 existence after death and maintain their affili-
ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords
no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that
81:12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op-
posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor-
tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits
81:15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof
of immortality.
Mind's manifestations immortal
Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can-
81:18 not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to
wither and the flower to fade, they reappear.
Erase the figures which express number, silence
81:21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body
called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine
Principle lives on, - in the case of man as truly as in
81:24 the case of numbers and of music, - despite the so-called
laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though
the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the
81:27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine
Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de-
pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary
81:30 consequence of the immortality of good.
Reading thoughts
That somebody, somewhere, must have known the
deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is
82:1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.
We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one
82:3 present. It is no more difficult to read the
absent mind than it is to read the present.
Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought
82:6 in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of
the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist-
ence we may be in doubt?
Impossible intercommunion
82:9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they
cannot return to material existence, because different
states of consciousness are involved, and one
82:12 person cannot exist in two different states of
consciousness at the same time. In sleep we
do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite
82:15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un-
conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ-
ent mazes of consciousness.
82:18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed
friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of
existence as before the change we call death, that their
82:21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We
are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm
in which we dwell. Communion between them and
82:24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The
mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as
impossible as it would be between a mole and a human
82:27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be-
token a differing consciousness. When wandering in
Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their
82:30 snow huts?
In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to
83:1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine
Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of
83:3 Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet
artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the
work of wisdom.
83:6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil
elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find
refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter
83:9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science
than a blind belief without understanding, for such a
belief hides Truth and builds on error.
Natural wonders
83:12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science
takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani-
festation of power is from the divine nature
83:15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an
explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in-
cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but
83:18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, - this be-
lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the
precedence over Spirit.
Conflicting standpoints
83:21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life
is either material or organically spiritual. Between
Christian Science and all forms of superstition
83:24 a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be-
tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading
and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation
83:27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by
which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of
all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-
83:30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which
cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading
mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs.
84:1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the
premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs.
Scientific foreseeing
84:3 The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a
spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing
evil and mistaking fact for fiction, - predict-
84:6 ing the future from a groundwork of corpo-
reality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced
in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men
84:9 become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not
by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.
It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and
84:12 of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know
the past, the present, and the future.
Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to
84:15 commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee
and foretell events which concern the universal welfare,
to be divinely inspired, - yea, to reach the range of fetter-
84:18 less Mind.
The Mind unbounded
To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by
corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for
84:21 sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones
for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind-
science by which we discern man's nature and existence.
84:24 This true conception of being destroys the belief of spirit-
ualism at its very inception, for without the concession of
material personalities called spirits, spiritualism has no
84:27 basis upon which to build.
Scientific foreknowing
All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine
Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian
84:30 Science. If this Science has been thoroughly
learned and properly digested, we can know
the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read
85:1 the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading
is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of
85:3 the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the ca-
pacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense
comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the
85:6 divine Mind.
Value of intuition
Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and per-
petuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not
85:9 evil. You will reach the perfect Science of
healing when you are able to read the human
mind after this manner and discern the error you would
85:12 destroy. The Samaritan woman said: "Come, see a
man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this
the Christ?"
85:15 It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his
students, "knew their thoughts," - read them scientifi-
cally. In like manner he discerned disease and healed
85:18 the sick. After the same method, events of great mo-
ment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets. Our
Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said:
85:21 "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky;
but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
Hypocrisy condemned
Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal
85:24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the
generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek-
ing the material more than the spiritual. His
85:27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never
spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation.. He said:
"These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
85:30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and
effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never
imparts error.
Mental contact
86:1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing
this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone,
86:3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng
thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that
it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called
86:6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the
faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this
mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples'
86:9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus
possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples.
Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce
86:12 unlike results.
Images of thought
Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear
to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste-
86:15 rious only because it is unusual to see
thoughts, though we can always feel their
influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual
86:18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances
either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and
sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing
86:21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then
why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one?
Education alone determines the difference. In reality
86:24 there is none.
Phenomena explained
Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman-
ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences,
86:27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and
memory as readily as from objects cognizable
by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as
86:30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and
sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed
before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it
87:1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive
these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce
87:3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind
in which they are discoverable.
Mental environment
It is needless for the thought or for the person hold-
87:6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con-
sciously present. Though individuals have
passed away, their mental environment re-
87:9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though
bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten,
their associations float in the general atmosphere of human
87:12 mind.
Second sight
The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when
really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents
87:15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables
one to read the human mind, but not as a
clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but
87:18 not as a mesmerist.
Buried secrets
The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its
rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns,
87:21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships
that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which
lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not
87:24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do
not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The
strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend-
87:27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind-
readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions.
Recollected friends
Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We
87:30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise
before us, which are thousands of miles away
or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and
88:1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can
recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the
88:3 heart's desire, -
the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still.
88:6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent salutes the nostrils.
Illusions not ideas
88:9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il-
lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are
emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts,
88:12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are
offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be-
liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs
88:15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one
time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another
are called spirits.
88:18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea;
but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood
through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven-
88:21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests
profound adoration. Excite the opposite development,
and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro-
88:24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena,
for both arise from mortal belief.
Trance speaking illusion
Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love.
88:27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows
the possibilities derived from divine Mind,
though it is said to be a gift whose endowment
88:30 is obtained from books or received from the
impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds
from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who
89:1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know-
ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the
89:3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno-
rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through
her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav-
89:6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing
that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she
talks freely.
89:9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence
disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She
says, " I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un-
89:12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip-
tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart,
so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with-
89:15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds
to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before
was eloquent.
Scientific improvisation
89:18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational
processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry,
and the power of expressing them. Spirit,
89:21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We
are all capable of more than we do. The influence or
action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe-
89:24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.
Divine origination
Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is
not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of
89:27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain
very naturally concluded that if life was in the
body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away.
89:30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was
"a murderer from the beginning."
If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to
90:1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another,
how then can we account for their primal origin? How
90:3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of
Galilee, - and that, too, without meal or monad from
which loaf or fish could come?
Mind is substance
90:6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the
equator are not substance. The earth's motion and
position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest
90:9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub-
stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now
possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally
90:12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized
as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now
some insist that death is the necessary prelude to
90:15 immortality.
Mortal delusions
In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend.
The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed
90:18 inhabitant of that body carries it through
the air and over the ocean. This shows the
possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men-
90:21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay
in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and
knowledge are.
Scientific finalities
90:24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like-
ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con-
viction shuts the door on death, and opens it
90:27 wide towards immortality. The understanding
and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may
as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being
90:30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present
we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know
this when man reflects God.
91:1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a
new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and
91:3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme
wisdom?
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated
91:6 from God, and obey only the divine principle, Life and
Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true
spiritual growth.
Man's genuine being
91:9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science,
because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner
error is reduced to its native nothingness, the
91:12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his
genuine being will be understood. The destruction of
error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but
91:15 is the acknowledgment of them.
Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect
but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of
91:18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit-
ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous
knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed
91:21 the material senses.
Erroneous postulates
Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered
in order that the spiritual facts may be better
91:24 apprehended.
The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance,
life, and intelligence are something apart from God.
91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both
mental and material.
The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil
91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the
medium of evil, for Mind is God.
The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in-
92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part
of himself.
92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in
itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not
only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also
92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion
implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of
mortal bodies in what is termed death.
92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power
of sinning now and forever.
Knowledge of good and evil
In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around
92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve.
This represents the serpent in the act of
commending to our first parents the knowl-
92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter,
or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still
graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor-
92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth
of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of
material sense.
Opposing power
92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until
the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness -
appears, the moral demand will not be met,
92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will
be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is
only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support
two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
the superiority of error.
The age's privilege
Do you say the time has not yet come in which to
93:1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the
body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries
93:3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said,
"He that believeth on me, the works that I
do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour
93:6 cometh, and /now is/, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold,
/now/ is the accepted time; behold, /now/ is the day of sal-
93:9 vation," said Paul.
Logic and revelation
Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe
otherwise, we may be sure that either our
93:12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted
revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught
that can cause evil.
93:15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing
evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of
creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in-
93:18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the
divine /Esse/, though human faith may clothe it with angelic
vestments, is without foundation.
Derivatives of spirit
93:21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has
darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a
proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being.
93:24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex-
clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word
/spirit/ refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual.
93:27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men
would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal,
and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi-
93:30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to
becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and
of the reign of harmony in the Science of being.
Scientific man
94:1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man
in the image and likeness of Himself, - of Spirit, not of
94:3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and
Love. The nature of man, thus understood,
includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and
94:6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian
and scientific statement of personality and of the relation
of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa-
94:9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him,
crucify him . . . by our law he ought to die, because he
made himself the Son of God."
94:12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov-
ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent.
Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found,
94:15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the
pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.
Ingratitude and denial
The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our
94:18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing-
power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be-
trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten
94:21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God
thanks, - that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle
which had healed him.
Spiritual insight
94:24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and
this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts
aright; but what would be said at this period of an in-
94:27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in-
cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind
on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind.
94:30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual
growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one
Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading.
95:1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save,
and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal
95:3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra-
duced by the sinners of that period, as they
would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul
95:6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach
God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel-
ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all
95:9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the
sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.
Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.
95:12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good-
ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The
greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern
95:15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit-
uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance,
but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the
95:18 special characteristics thereof.
Christ's reappearance
We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end
of error, because even human invention must have its
95:21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded
by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid-
night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid
95:24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship
of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he
beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn
95:27 and describes its effulgence?
Spiritual awakening
Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep
in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.
95:30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of
existence; but spiritual sense lifts human
consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances
96:1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding;
unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen-
96:3 dom with chains.
The darkest hours of all
Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir-
itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error
96:6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup-
tions of the general material routine. Earth
will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter,
96:9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will
continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of
all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."
Arena of contest
96:12 This material world is even now becoming the arena
for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord
and dismay; on the other side there will be
96:15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-
rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want
and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new
96:18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-
ances will continue until the end of error, when all
discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
96:21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization.
This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue
until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is
96:24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.
Millennial glory
As this consummation draws nearer, he who has
shaped his course in accordance with divine Science
96:27 will endure to the end. As material knowl-
edge diminishes and spiritual understanding
increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally
96:30 instead of materially.
During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor
to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but
97:1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in
check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They
97:3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the
certainty of ultimate perfection.
Dangerous resemblances
In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and
97:6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the
more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac-
cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce
97:9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science
the flight of one and the blow of the other will become
harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the
97:12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches
its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The
nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing
97:15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine
Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes
for destruction. The more material the belief, the more
97:18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do-
main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like-
ness of Spirit, his original being.
97:21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against
themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It
requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth
97:24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in-
articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.
"He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip-
97:27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the
supremacy of Spirit.
Christianity still rejected
Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is
97:30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos-
tolic work of casting out error and healing the
sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which
98:1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom-
pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex-
98:3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.
Spiritual foreshadowings
The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon
the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris-
98:6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error,
and no other sign shall be given. Body can-
not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris-
98:9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the
healing influence of Spirit (not /spirits/) which the material
senses cannot comprehend, which can only be spiritu-
98:12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses
do not express Christian Science; much less can they
demonstrate it.
Revelation of Science
98:15 Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the
loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian
Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical
98:18 Science. It is imperious throughout all ages
as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which
remains inviolate for every man to understand and to
98:21 practise.
Science as foreign to all religion
For centuries - yea, always - natural science has not
been considered a part of any religion, Christianity not
98:24 excepted. Even now multitudes consider that
which they call /science/ has no proper con-
nection with faith and piety. Mystery does
98:27 not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theo-
retical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and
being practical and complete, they are not deprived of
98:30 their essential vitality.
Key to the kingdom
The way through which immortality and life are learned
is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine,
99:1 not physical but metaphysical, not material but scien-
tifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and super-
99:3 stition afford no demonstrable divine Principle
by which mortals can escape from sin; yet
to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work
99:6 out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says
the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
99:9 pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished
the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Sci-
ence has opened the door of the human understanding.
99:12 None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door.
The ordinary teachings are material and not spiritual.
Christian Science teaches only that which is spiritual and
99:15 divine, and not human. Christian Science is unerring
and Divine; the human sense of things errs because it
is human.
99:18 Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism,
or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others
who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is
99:21 not with the individual, but with the false system. I
love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure.
The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the
99:24 manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-
immolation, must deepen human experience, until the
beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposi-
99:27 tion, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place
to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to
God's spiritual, perfect man.
CHAPTER V - ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.
- JESUS.
Earliest investigations
100:1 MESMERISM or animal magnetism was first brought
into notice by Mesmer in Germany in 1775. Ac-
100:3 cording to the American Cyclopaedia, he regarded this
so-called force, which he said could be ex-
erted by one living organism over another, as
100:6 a means of alleviating disease. His propositions were
as follows:
"There exists a mutual influence between the celestial
100:9 bodies, the earth, and animated things. Animal bodies
are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminat-
ing itself through the substance of the nerves."
100:12 In 1784, the French government ordered the medical
faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory and to
report upon it. Under this order a commission was
100:15 appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the com-
missioners. This commission reported to the govern-
ment as follows:
100:18 "In regard to the existence and utility of animal mag-
netism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that
there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic
101:1 fluid; that the violent effects, which are observed in
the public practice of magnetism, are due to manipula-
101:3 tions, or to the excitement of the imagination and the
impressions made upon the senses; and that there is one
more fact to be recorded in the history of the errors of
101:6 the human mind, and an important experiment upon
the power of the imagination."
Clairvoyance, magnetism
In 1837, a committee of nine persons was appointed,
101:9 among whom were Roux, Bouillaud, and Clo-
quet, which tested during several sessions the
phenomena exhibited by a reputed clairvoyant. Their
101:12 report stated the results as follows:
"The facts which had been promised by Monsieur
Berna [the magnetizer] as conclusive, and as adapted to
101:15 throw light on physiological and therapeutical questions,
are certainly not conclusive in favor of the doctrine of
animal magnetism, and have nothing in common with
101:18 either physiology or therapeutics."
This report was adopted by the Royal Academy of
Medicine in Paris.
Personal conclusions
101:21 The author's own observations of the workings of
animal magnetism convince her that it is not
a remedial agent, and that its effects upon
101:24 those who practise it, and upon their subjects who do
not resist it, lead to moral and to physical death.
If animal magnetism seems to alleviate or to cure dis-
101:27 ease, this appearance is deceptive, since error cannot
remove the effects of error. Discomfort under error is
preferable to comfort. In no instance is the effect of
101:30 animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other
than the effect of illusion. Any seeming benefit derived
from it is proportional to one's faith in esoteric magic.
Mere negation
102:1 Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation, for
God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and
102:3 His power is neither animal nor human. Its
basis being a belief and this belief animal, in
Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism is
102:6 a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power,
nor reality, and in sense it is an unreal concept of the so-
called mortal mind.
102:9 There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all- embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind.
102:12 The planets have no more power over man than over
his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man,
reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth
102:15 and its hosts.
Hidden agents
The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappear-
ing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front.
102:18 The looms of crime, hidden in the dark re-
cesses of mortal thought, are every hour weav-
ing webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the
102:21 present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare
the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on
the subject which the criminal desires. The following
102:24 is an extract from the Boston Herald:
"Mesmerism is a problem not lending itself to an easy
explanation and development. It implies the exercise
102:27 of despotic control, and is much more likely to be abused
by its possessor, than otherwise employed, for the in-
dividual or society."
Mental despotism
102:30 Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-
called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian
Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently
103:1 promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore
in the community. The Apostle Paul refers to the
103:3 personification of evil as "the god of this
world," and further defines it as dishonesty
and craftiness. Sin was the Assyrian moon-god.
Liberation of mental powers
103:6 The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through
Science, by which man can escape from sin
and mortality, blesses the whole human fam-
103:9 ily. As in the beginning, however, this libera-
tion does not scientifically show itself in a knowledge of
both good and evil, for the latter is unreal.
103:12 On the other hand, Mind-science is wholly separate
from any half-way impertinent knowledge, because Mind-
science is of God and demonstrates the divine Principle,
103:15 working out the purposes of good only. The maximum
of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all.
Evil is a suppositional lie.
The genus of error
103:18 As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or
hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind.
It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and
103:21 is both evil and good; that evil is as real as
good and more powerful. This belief has not one qual-
ity of Truth. It is either ignorant or malicious. The
103:24 malicious form of hypnotism ultimates in moral idiocy.
The truths of immortal Mind sustain man, and they anni-
hilate the fables of mortal mind, whose flimsy and gaudy
103:27 pretensions, like silly moths, singe their own wings and
fall into dust.
Thought-transference
In reality there is no /mortal/ mind, and conse-
103:30 quently no transference of mortal thought
and will-power. Life and being are of
God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for
104:1 scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God
to man.
104:3 When Christian Science and animal magnetism are
both comprehended, as they will be at no distant date,
it will be seen why the author of this book has been
104:6 so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep's
clothing.
Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has
104:9 wisely said: "Every great scientific truth goes through
three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.
Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly,
104:12 they say they have always believed it."
Perfection of divine government
Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action,
and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of
104:15 all divine action, as the emanation of divine
Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the
opposite so-called action, - evil, occultism,
104:18 necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism.
Adulteration of Truth
The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty,
sensuality, falsehood, revenge, malice, are animal pro-
104:21 pensities and by no means the mental quali-
ties which heal the sick. The hypnotizer
employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sick-
104:24 ness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the
sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the
lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground,
104:27 leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the
stronger error.
Motives considered
Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as
104:30 well as the commission of a crime. Is it not
clear that the human mind must move the
body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the mur-
105:1 derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them,
could not commit a murder.
Mental crimes
105:3 Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order
to restrain crime, to prevent deeds of violence or to punish
them. To say that these tribunals have no
105:6 jurisdiction over the carnal or mortal mind,
would be to contradict precedent and to admit that the
power of human law is restricted to matter, while mortal
105:9 mind, evil, which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is
recommended to mercy. Can matter commit a crime?
Can matter be punished? Can you separate the men-
105:12 tality from the body over which courts hold jurisdiction?
Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case;
and human law rightly estimates crime, and courts rea-
105:15 sonably pass sentence, according to the motive.
Important decision
When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental
crime and no longer apply legal rulings wholly to physical
105:18 offences, these words of Judge Parmenter of
Boston will become historic: "I see no reason
why metaphysics is not as important to medicine as to
105:21 mechanics or mathematics."
Evil let loose
Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es-
caped felon to commit fresh atrocities as opportunity oc-
105:24 curs is never safe. God will arrest him. Di-
vine justice will manacle him. His sins will
be millstones about his neck, weighing him down to the
105:27 depths of ignominy and death. The aggravation of er-
ror foretells its doom, and confirms the ancient axiom:
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."
The misuse of mental power
105:30 The distance from ordinary medical prac-
tice to Christian Science is full many a league
in the line of light; but to go in healing from the use of
106:1 inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will-
power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood
106:3 into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free
course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against
the current running heavenward.
Proper self-government
106:6 Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration
of Independence. God has endowed man with inalien-
able rights, among which are self-government,
106:9 reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-
governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by
his Maker, divine Truth and Love.
106:12 Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in- terfered with, and the mental trespasser incurs the divine penalty due this crime.
Right methods
106:15 Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian
Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable
in Truth and known by their fruit, and classify
106:18 all 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
106:21 these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, /witchcraft/, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
106:24 revellings 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
106:27 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law."
CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. - PAUL.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - JESUS.
Christian Science discovered
107:1 In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or
divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and
107:3 named my discovery Christian Science. God
had been graciously preparing me during many
years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab-
107:6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
Mission of Christian Science
This apodictical Principle points to the revelation of
Immanuel, "God with us," - the sovereign ever-pres-
107:9 ence, delivering the children of men from
every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through
Christian Science, religion and medicine are
107:12 inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions
are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac-
quaint themselves intelligently with God.
Discontent with life
107:15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life
inheres in the body, yet remembering that in
reality God is our Life, we may well tremble
107:18 in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I
have no pleasure in them."
108:1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, - a con-
viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses?
108:3 According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me
108:6 the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-
sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity
of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the
108:9 price of learning love," establish the truism that the
only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot
suffer.
Demonstrable evidence
108:12 My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence
of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty
and the lesser demonstration to prove the
108:15 greater, as the product of three multiplied by
three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times
three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, - not
108:18 a fraction more, not a unit less.
Light shining in darkness
When apparently near the confines of mortal existence,
standing already within the shadow of the death-valley,
108:21 I learned these truths in divine Science: that
all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and
that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-
108:24 present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin,
sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false
material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense
108:27 evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which
this same so-called mind names /matter/ thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit.
New lines of thought
108:30 My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed
/mind/ produces all the organism and action of
the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels,
109:1 and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that
Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in
109:3 Mind-science.
Scientific evidence
Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind
is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind
109:6 and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen
to be supported by sensible evidence, until its
divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and
109:9 thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen,
no other conclusion can be reached.
Solitary research
For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu-
109:12 tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip-
tures and read little else, kept aloof from so-
ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis-
109:15 covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and
buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew
the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God,
109:18 and that cures were produced in primitive Christian
healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the
Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute
109:21 conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem-
onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand-
ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine
109:24 power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the
prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled:
"Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be
109:27 called Wonderful."
Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not
mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will,
109:30 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.)
God's allness learned
The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni-
110:1 presence, omniscience, - Spirit possessing all power,
filling all space, constituting all Science, - contradict
110:3 forever the belief that matter can be actual.
These eternal verities reveal primeval exist-
ence as the radiant reality of God's creation,
110:6 in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis-
dom good.
Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful
110:9 unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought
to light another glorious proposition, - man's perfecti-
bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on
110:12 earth.
Scriptural foundations
In following these leadings of scientific revelation,
the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were
110:15 illumined; reason and revelation were recon-
ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian
Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue
110:18 taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE
AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can over-
throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti-
110:21 cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas
may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the
Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis-
110:24 cerned and demonstrated.
The demonstration lost and found
Jesus demonstrated the power of Christian Science to
heal mortal minds and bodies. But this power was lost
110:27 sight of, and must again be spiritually dis-
cerned, taught, and demonstrated according
to Christ's command, with "signs following."
110:30 Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe
on Christ and spiritually understand Truth.
Mystical antagonists
No analogy exists between the vague hypotheses of
111:1 agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or
millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris-
111:3 tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous
reason of the human mind, to be opposed to
the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science.
Optical illustration of Science
111:6 Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The
Science of God and man is no more supernatural than
is the science of numbers, though departing
111:9 from the realm of the physical, as the Science
of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to
the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics
111:12 is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza-
tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon-
strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted
111:15 and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex-
planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted
image and shows what this inverted image is meant to
111:18 represent.
Pertinent proposal
A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni-
versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science,
111:21 - an essay calculated to offset the tendency of
the age to attribute physical effects to physical
causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, - is one of
111:24 many incidents which show that Christian Science meets
a yearning of the human race for spirituality.
Confirmatory tests
After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its
111:27 demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi-
dent to me, - that Mind governs the body,
not partially but wholly. I submitted my
111:30 metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad-
est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually
gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien-
112:1 tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent
in medical practice.
One school of Truth
112:3 Is there more than one school of Christian Science?
Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there-
fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de-
112:6 part from this method forfeit their claims to
belong to its school, and they become adher-
ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some
112:9 other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad-
here to some particular system of human opinions. Al-
though these opinions may have occasional gleams of
112:12 divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which
eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain
wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not
112:15 scientifically Christian.
Unchanging Principle
From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one
Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude
112:18 come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon-
stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the
same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are
112:21 the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac-
terized in the epistle to the Hebrews.
On sandy foundations
Any theory of Christian Science, which departs from
112:24 what has already been stated and proved to be true, af-
fords no foundation upon which to establish
a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any
112:27 so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and
yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that
author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it
112:30 inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the
Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal."
Principle and practice
God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there
113:1 is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of
all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-
113:3 stration of this divine Principle. The letter
of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day,
but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part,
113:6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-
out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, -
pulseless, cold, inanimate.
Reversible propositions
113:9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics
are summarized in the four following, to me, /self-evident/
propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi-
113:12 tions will be found to agree in statement and
proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to
Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to
113:15 stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.
1. God is All-in-all.
2. God is good. Good is Mind.
113:18 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin,
disease. - Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo-
113:21 tent God, Life.
Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both
are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture,
113:24 I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a
liar."
Metaphysical inversions
The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the
113:27 method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion.
For example: There is no pain in Truth, and
no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no
113:30 mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat-
ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter
in good, and no good in matter.
Definition of mortal mind
114:1 Usage classes both evil and good together as /mind/;
therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin-
114:3 ful humanity /mortal mind/, - meaning by this
term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human
mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or
114:6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition
of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses,
which makes minds many and calls /mind/ both human and
114:9 divine.
In Science, Mind is /one/, including noumenon and phe-
nomena, God and His thoughts.
Imperfect terminology
114:12 Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an
improper use of the word /mind/. As Mind is immortal,
the phrase /mortal mind/ implies something un-
114:15 true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase
is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to
designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if
114:18 a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would
be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must
sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new
114:21 wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of
the letter.
Causation mental
Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men-
114:24 tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and
body. It shows the scientific relation of man
to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities
114:27 of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine
Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni-
ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed /mat-
114:30 ter/ is but the subjective state of what is termed by the
author /mortal mind/.
Philological inadequacy
Apart from the usual opposition to everything new,
115:1 the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual-
ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science
115:3 comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for
metaphysical statements, and the consequent
difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make
115:6 them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person-
ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in
my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the
115:9 mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the
right impression, when translating material terms back
into the original spiritual tongue.
115:12 SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF IMMORTAL MIND
Divine synonyms
GOD: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love,
Soul, Spirit, Mind.
Divine image
115:15 MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per- fect, eternal.
Divine reflection
IDEA: An image in Mind; the immediate 115:18 object of understanding. - /Webster/.
SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF MORTAL MIND
/First Degree:/ Depravity.
Unreality
115:21 PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear,
depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de-
ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease,
115:24 death.
/Second Degree:/ Evil beliefs disappearing.
Transitional qualities
MORAL. Humanity, honesty, affection, com-
passion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance.
116:1 /Third Degree:/ Understanding.
Reality
SPIRITUAL. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, 116:3 spiritual power, love, health, holiness.
Spiritual universe
In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as
God's image appears. Science so reverses the evidence
116:6 before the corporeal human senses, as to make
this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts,
"The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God
116:9 and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and
must of necessity be, - all-inclusive.
Aim of Science
A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta-
116:12 tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen.
Works on metaphysics leave the grand point
untouched. They never crown the power of
116:15 Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against
physical enemies, - even to the extinction of all belief in
matter, evil, disease, and death, - nor insist upon the fact
116:18 that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an
image in mortal mind.
Divine personality
Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that
116:21 God is not /corporeal/, but /incorporeal/, - that is,
bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is
incorporeal.
116:24 As the words /person/ and /personal/ are commonly and
ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to
Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity
116:27 and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality,
as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is
infinite /Person/, - in the sense of infinite personality, but
116:30 not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form
is an absolute impossibility.
117:1 The term /individuality/ is also open to objections, be-
cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many,
117:3 as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God
is /One/, - not one of a series, but one alone and without
an equal.
Spiritual language
117:6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must
be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi-
cal nature and significance to the Supreme
117:9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do
this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last
chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir-
117:12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs
following."
The miracles of Jesus
Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-
117:15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-
tudes and parables. As a divine student he
unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-
117:18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over
the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to
interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles
117:21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,
crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the
flesh.
Opacity of the senses
117:24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates
solely to human reason; and because of opaci-
ty to the true light, human reason dimly re-
117:27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth
is a revelation.
Leaven of Truth
Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the
117:30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-
fined as human doctrines. His parable of the
"leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures
118:1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ
118:3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above
the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the
illustration.
118:6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the
Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-
118:9 ble world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally
118:12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom.
The divine and human contrasted
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-
118:15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
finite power and grace. The parable may
import that these spiritual laws, perverted by
118:18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-
sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modes
of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust
118:21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and
modes of material motion are honored with the name of
/laws/. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes
118:24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical
properties of meal.
Certain contradictions
The definitions of material law, as given by natural
118:27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against
itself, because these definitions portray law as
physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-
118:30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in
which nature and God are one and the natural order of
heaven comes down to earth.
Unescapable dilemma
119:1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,
that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we
119:3 cannot really endow matter with what it does
not and cannot possess, - we disown the Al-
mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They
119:6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product
of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-
119:9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-
ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other
horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of
119:12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-
ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their
source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-
119:15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural
law.
God and nature
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-
119:18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law-
giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
119:21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-
sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
119:24 of Spirit, God.
The sun and Soul
In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth
119:27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
omy reverses the human perception of the
movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-
119:30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it
120:1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under-
stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in
120:3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.
Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and
man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's
120:6 image.
Reversal of testimony
Science reverses the false testimony of the physical
senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-
120:9 mental facts of being. Then the question in-
evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material
senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter
120:12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the
senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which
health is normal and disease is abnormal.
Health and the senses
120:15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor
can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub-
ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing
120:18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind
to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There-
fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi-
120:21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously
existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and
thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows
120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.
Any conclusion /pro/ or /con/, deduced from supposed sen-
sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness
120:27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of
the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate
and so leads to disease.
Historic illustrations
120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the
globe, ignorance and superstition chained the
limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-
121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-
121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields
121:6 were incorrectly explored.
Perennial beauty
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher
121:9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven
were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's
121:12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So
we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but
man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained
121:15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate
star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."
Astronomic unfoldings
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical
121:18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead
of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked
by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this
121:21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-
duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often
to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple
121:24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the
central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,
and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides
121:27 turning daily on its own axis.
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-
121:30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and
is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting
government of the universe.
Opposing testimony
122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, -
122:3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and
death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-
derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false
122:6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual
reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-
versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-
122:9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;
yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary
to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such
122:12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,
from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status
of happiness or misery.
Testimony of the senses
122:15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops
apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet
122:18 and mingle. The barometer, - that little
prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of
the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky
122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances
of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for
himself.
Spiritual sense of life
122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
existence.
Ptolemaic and psychical error
Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul
122:30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.
They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-
tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the
123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and
Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as
123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and
Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole-
maic blunder could not affect the harmony of
123:6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which
reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the
power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes
123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in
the universe.
Seeming and being
The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that
123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,
rising above physical theories, excludes matter,
resolves /things/ into /thoughts/, and replaces the objects of
123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas.
The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by
the author to designate the scientific system of divine
123:18 healing.
The revelation consists of two parts:
1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-
123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and
through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by
the Master.
123:24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-
called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a
dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an
123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this
Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order
and continuity of being.
Scientific basis
123:30 Christian Science differs from material sci-
ence, but not on that account is it less scien-
tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi-
124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of
all science.
Physical science a blind belief
124:3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a
law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his
strength. When this human belief lacks organ-
124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.
Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,
nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect
124:9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter,
thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.
In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material
124:12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which
immortal Spirit silences forever.
Right interpretation
The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science
124:15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under-
stood; but when explained on the basis of
physical sense and represented as subject to
124:18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,
and must continue to be, an enigma.
All force mental
Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of
124:21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support
the equipoise of that thought-force, which
launched the earth in its orbit and said to the
124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."
Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all
things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and
124:27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them
forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they
belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this
124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and
classification.
Corporeal changes
The elements and functions of the physical body and
125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes
its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition
125:3 for organic and functional health in the human
body may no longer be found indispensable
to health. Moral conditions will be found always har-
125:6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction
nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will
be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought,
125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than
he was in the prior states which human belief created and
sanctioned.
125:12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-
other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and
joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand-
125:15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-
erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's
government, man is self-governed. When subordinate
125:18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or
death, thus proving our material theories about laws of
health to be valueless.
The time and tide
125:21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and
tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-
culturist will find that these changes cannot
125:24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou
change them and they shall be changed." The mariner
will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great
125:27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.
The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, -
he will look out from them upon the universe; and the
125:30 florist will find his flower before its seed.
Mortal nothingness
Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more
than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man
126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-
ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The
126:3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will
be solved, and mortal mind will be without
form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds
126:6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection
in a glass.
A lack of originality
All Science is divine. Human thought never pro-
126:9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief
has sought and interpreted in its own way
the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have
126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human
mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive
sound.
Antagonistic questions
126:15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the
one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall
Science explain cause and effect as being
126:18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that
is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called
supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative
126:21 hypotheses?
Biblical basis
I have set forth Christian Science and its application
to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.
126:24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects
of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals
of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern
126:27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings
and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of
prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au-
126:30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and
narrow way" of Truth.
Science and Christianity
If Christendom resists the author's application of the
127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the
word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-
127:3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon
her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of
the spiritual universe, including man, then everything
127:6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be
comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for
there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.
Scientific terms
127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ
Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-
ploys interchangeably, according to the re-
127:12 quirements of the context. These synony-
mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in-
finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however,
127:15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to
Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re-
veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death,
127:18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt
from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not
the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs,
127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor
sensation.
No physical science
There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth
127:24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not
human, and is not a law of matter, for matter
is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of
127:27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright.
It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine
utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.
127:30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science,
in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter
is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con-
128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of
divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not
128:3 miraculous to itself.
Practical Science
The term Science, properly understood, refers only to
the laws of God and to His government of the universe,
128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that
business men and cultured scholars have found
that Christian Science enhances their endurance and
128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,
gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an
ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human
128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes
more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes
somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-
128:15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities
and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of
thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher
128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight
and perspicacity.
An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-
128:21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would
not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from
128:24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which
banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi-
mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter.
Mathematics and scientific logic
128:27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed
Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation.
The addition of two sums in mathematics must
128:30 always bring the same result. So is it with
logic. If both the major and the minor propo-
sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly
129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there
are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as
129:3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl-
logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.
Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in
129:6 premise or conclusion.
Truth by inversion
If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis-
cover it by reversing the material fable, be the
129:9 fable /pro/ or /con/, - be it in accord with your
preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.
Antagonistic theories
Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli-
129:12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.
In those days there will be "great tribulation
such as was not since the beginning of the
129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]
come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal
magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-
129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true
being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some
other systems.
Ontology needed
129:21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol-
ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep
into realism instead of accepting only the out-
129:24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches
from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of
being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading
129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its
reformatory mission among mortals. The very name,
illusion, points to nothingness.
Reluctant guests
129:30 The generous liver may object to the author's small
estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees,
in the system taught in this book, that the demands of
130:1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-
stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-
130:3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-
cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,
130:6 and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance
It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which
destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate
130:9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,
- if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will
130:12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om-
nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and
its sweet concords have all-power.
Children and adults
130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-
abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war
against spiritual facts; and these material
130:18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make
place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a
vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's
130:21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, -
an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-
monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's
130:24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as
they belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural
If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
130:27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
130:30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should
131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem
131:3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our
lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.
The error of carnality
131:6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-
dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the
opposition of sensuous man to the Science of
131:9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of
the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.
131:12 THEOLOGY
Churchly neglect
Must Christian Science come through the Christian
churches as some persons insist? This Science has come
131:15 already, after the manner of God's appoint-
ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-
ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came
131:18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once
said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
131:21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-
time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-
131:24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the
hearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-
131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural
demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-
tions which were not understood. Jesus' works
131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In
reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"
132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works
instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
132:3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-
swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see: the
132:6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
132:9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In
other words, he gave his benediction to any one who
should not deny that such effects, coming from divine
132:12 Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principle
which brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected
The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the
132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained
their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'
system of healing received no aid nor approval
132:18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines
of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-
ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the
132:21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the
door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-
ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal
132:24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the
true idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi-
cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man
132:27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John's misgivings
Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing
power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-
132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher
once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the
Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned
133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry
to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"
Faith according to works
133:3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
There was also a certain centurion of whose
133:6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel."
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
133:9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
133:12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
133:15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
133:18 in kings' palaces.
Judaism antipathetic
Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because
Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or
133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material
system, carried out in special theories concern-
ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.
133:24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the
Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity
on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-
133:27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-
gence, nor substance outside of God.
Priestly learning
The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,
133:30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
given place to the true knowledge of God.
Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of
134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-
peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth
134:3 is still opposed with sword and spear.
Testimony of martyrs
The word /martyr/, from the Greek, means /witness/; but
those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted
134:6 unto death, that at length the word /martyr/
was narrowed in its significance and so has
come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.
134:9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred
of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of
Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;
134:12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
by the gallows and the cross.
Absence of Christ-power
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed
134:15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ
or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-
134:18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very
element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and
unequalled success in the first century.
Basis of miracles
134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not
because this Science is supernatural or pre-
134:24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
134:27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
134:30 spiritual power over material resistance.
Lawful wonders
A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that
law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than
135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed
thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,
135:3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,
that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,
like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
135:6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle
introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,
establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of
divine power.
Fear and sickness identical
The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.
135:12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals
the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth
casts out the evil called disease, it heals the
135:15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of
dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating
135:18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel
and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"
What cannot God do?
The unity of Science and Christianity
135:21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be
Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the
other is false and useless; but neither is unim-
135:24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
stration. This proves the one to be identical
with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not
135:27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift
from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration
of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,
135:30 not merely in the /name/ of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-
stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of
divine light.
The Christ-mission
136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
136:3 his followers that his religion had a divine
Principle, which would cast out error and heal
both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-
136:6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the
persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine
power to save men both bodily and spiritually.
Ancient spiritualism
136:9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the
sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.
He appealed to his students: "Whom do
136:12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting
out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some
136:15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets
were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that
136:18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,
controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.
This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.
136:21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have
no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work
of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such
136:24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully
understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-
trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-
136:27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No
wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.
Doubting disciples
The disciples apprehended their Master better than
136:30 did others; but they did not comprehend all
that he said and did, or they would not have
questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in
137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-
dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,
137:3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work
was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the
crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before
137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and
the grave.
Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,
137:9 "But whom say /ye/ that I am?" This renewed inquiry
meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so
mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the
137:12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,
it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow
opinion implied in their citation of the common report
137:15 about him.
A divine response
With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his
brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou
137:18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-
clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and
137:21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from
Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
137:24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath
shown thee the way of Life!
The true and living rock
Before this the impetuous disciple had been called
137:27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of
Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir-
itual name in these words: "And I say also
137:30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the
meaning of the Greek word /petros/, or /stone/] I will build
my church; and the gates of hell [/hades/, the /under/-
138:1 /world/, or the /grave/] shall not prevail against it." In
other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not
138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-
power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true
Messiah.
Sublime summary
138:6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and
Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the
sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm
138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to
outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither
138:12 by corporeality, by /materia medica/, nor by hygiene, but by
the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which
138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion
of Love.
New era in Jesus
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for
138:18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
under as direct orders now, as they were then,
to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to
138:21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as
the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-
ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with
138:24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-
ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as
readily is it was proved centuries ago.
Healthful theology
138:27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . .
Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as
138:30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which
healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this
book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which
139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-
139:3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.
Marvels and reformations
From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of
accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.
139:6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men
called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and
Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and
139:9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been
brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-
139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely
to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows
inward.
Science obscured
139:15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what
should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-
ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
139:18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old
Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,
- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole
139:21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some
extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither
wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen
139:24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of
Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw
that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-
139:27 come "the head of the corner."
Opponents benefited
Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are
opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-
139:30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-
tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-
140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most
cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the
140:3 treatment of moral ailments.
God invisible to the senses
That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.
The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not
140:6 see My face; for there shall no man see Me
and live." Not materially but spiritually we
know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We
140:9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the
divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no
more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence
140:12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of
the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-
scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and
140:15 swallowing camels.
The true worship
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship
materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-
140:18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals
are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true
140:21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth."
Anthropomorphism
The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,
140:24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
The Christian Science God is universal, eter-
nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-
140:27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully
true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-
ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-
140:30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own
human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
magnified?
More than profession required
141:1 This indicates the distance between the theological and
ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by
141:3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for
Christian demonstration. Few understand or
adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and
141:6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-
ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
- that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs
141:9 and practices, to leave all for Christ.
No ecclesiastical monopoly
All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come
from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-
141:12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a
royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,
Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect
141:15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle and
of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical
141:18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The
Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and
141:21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and
do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-
fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.
141:24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
understood.
A change demanded
141:27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-
ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our
pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let
141:30 it have fair representation by the press. Give
to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-
pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will
142:1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-
142:3 lishment and propagation.
Two claims omitted
Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured
Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;
142:6 but modern religions generally omit all but one
of these powers, - the power over sin. We
must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our
142:9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can
furnish us with absolute evidence.
Selfishness and loss
If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-
142:12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with
beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the
gate, they at the same time shut the door on
142:15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their
story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right
hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.
Temple cleansed
142:18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to
be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-
ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of
142:21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their
vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet
142:24 dwelling-places for the Most High.
MEDICINE
Question of precedence
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was
142:27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have
been the first medicine. God being All-in-
all, He made medicine; but that medicine was
142:30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs
from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth
143:1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-
stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,
143:3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the
sick.
Methods rejected
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,
143:6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have
recommended and employed them in his heal-
ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than
143:9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and
the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter
/medicine/, and matter required a material and human be-
143:12 lief before it could be considered as medicine.
Error not curative
Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-
cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,
143:15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from starva-
tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You
143:18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but
you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,
etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by
143:21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on
the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-
prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.
143:24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative
mind.
Impossible coalescence
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power
143:27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was
first chronologically, is first potentially, and
must be first eternally, then give to Mind the
143:30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its
holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will
144:1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make
them do so, since no good can come of it?
144:3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,
which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if
these so-called powers are real.
144:6 Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;
Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.
Soul and sense
The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-
144:9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,
and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.
The more material a belief, the more obstinately
144:12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of
the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.
Will-power detrimental
Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs
144:15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-
demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the
metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but
144:18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-
fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,
and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and
144:21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to
disease, "Peace, be still."
Conservative antagonism
Because divine Science wars with so-called physical
144:24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools
still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice
closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped.
144:27 When the Science of being is universally understood,
every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be
the universal panacea.
Ancient healers
144:30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired
healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or
145:1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural
musician catches the tones of harmony, without being
145:3 able to explain them. So divinely imbued
were they with the spirit of Science, that the
lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that
145:6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their
practice.
The struggle and victory
The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not
145:9 between material methods, but between mortal minds
and immortal Mind. The victory will be on
the patient's side only as immortal Mind
145:12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in
disease. It matters not what material method one may
adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance
145:15 on some other minor curative.
Mystery of godliness
Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-
ods, - that in it Truth controls error. From this fact
145:18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects
are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery
145:21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness
always presents to the ungodly, - the mystery always
arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-
145:24 ing Mind.
Matter /versus/ matter
Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of
145:27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
145:30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost
The theology of Christian Science includes healing
the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded
146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
146:3 has this element of Christianity been lost?
Because our systems of religion are governed
more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
146:6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
146:9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
146:12 Christlike.
Drugs and divinity
Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.
146:15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
146:18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
146:21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
146:24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
146:27 must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
146:30 all space.
Reduction to system
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of
147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the
learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
disease.
147:6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine
rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the
broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-
147:9 plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-
manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost
none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-
147:12 turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules
on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.
Perusal and practice
Although this volume contains the complete Science of
147:15 Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole
meaning of the Science by a simple /perusal/
of this book. The book needs to be /studied/,
147:18 and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing
will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of
Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the
147:21 perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en-
ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto
unattained and seemingly dim.
A definite rule discovered
147:24 Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal-
ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to
his students; but he left no definite rule for
147:27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and
preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered
in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good-
147:30 ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of
goodness and demonstrates its rules.
Jesus' own practice
Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult
148:1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they
had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen-
148:3 eration," implying that the requisite power
to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs,
urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct
148:6 disobedience to them.
The man of anatomy and of theology
Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man
as created by Spirit, - as God's man. The former ex-
148:9 plains the men of /men/, or the "children of
men," as created corporeally instead of spir-
itually and as emerging from the lowest, in-
148:12 stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both
anatomy and theology define man as both physical and
mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every
148:15 function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes
up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the
true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the-
148:18 ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo-
nious man, and deal - the one wholly, the other primarily
- with matter, calling that /man/ which is not the counter-
148:21 part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology
tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, - how
from this basis of division and discord to produce the con-
148:24 cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.
Physiology deficient
Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims
to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When
148:27 physiology fails to give health or life by this
process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable
or unwilling to render help in time of physical need.
148:30 When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them
to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be
the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great
149:1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness
as well as from sin.
Blunders and blunderers
149:3 Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as
in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine
Science in every case. Is /materia medica/ a
149:6 science or a bundle of speculative human
theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in-
stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different
149:9 mental states of the patient. These states are not com-
prehended and they are left without explanation except
in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera-
149:12 tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any
case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of
Christ, Truth, more in your own life, - because you have
149:15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine
Science.
Old-school physician
A physician of the old school remarked with great
149:18 gravity: "We know that mind affects the body some-
what, and advise our patients to be hopeful
and cheerful and to take as little medicine as
149:21 possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties."
The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author
has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she
149:24 has cured purely functional disease, and with no power
but the divine Mind.
Tests in our day
Since God, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but
149:27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.
Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits
mind and body. We need to understand the
149:30 affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and
demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there
is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to
150:1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue
and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian
150:3 system of healing disease.
The main purpose
To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-
strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a
150:6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the
coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace,
good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised
150:9 by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian
Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration,
150:12 is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then,
signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-
ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-
150:15 strate its divine origin, - to attest the reality of the higher
mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the
world.
Exploded doctrine
150:18 The science (so-called) of physics would have one be-
lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease,
and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro-
150:21 test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.
This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and
it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to
150:24 all others at some future day, as the practically rejected
doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or
salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov-
150:27 erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that
he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of
matter, - even the doctrine of the superiority of matter
150:30 over Mind, - is fading out.
Disease mental
The hosts of AEsculapius are flooding the world with
diseases, because they are ignorant that the human mind
151:1 and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat
the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but
151:3 this one factor they represent to be body, not
mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create
a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind
151:6 has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its
redemption and healing.
Intentions respected
Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of
151:9 the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un-
derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were
in possession of the enlarged power it confers
151:12 to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would
rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would
ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres-
151:15 sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which
multitudes would gladly escape.
Man governed by Mind
Mortal belief says that death has been occasioned by
151:18 fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The
blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing
to do with Life, God. Every function of the
151:21 real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human
mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no com-
trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man
151:24 maintain His own image and likeness. The human
mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul
declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and
151:27 its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found har-
monious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to
see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and
151:30 follow the leadings of truth.
Mortal mind dethroned
That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the
mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-
152:1 called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield
to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but
152:3 it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind
takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and
saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored
152:6 to make this book the AEsculapius of mind as well as of
body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them,
although they know not how the work is done. Truth
152:9 has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.
All activity from thought
Anatomy describes muscular action as produced by mind in one instance and not in another. Such errors 152:12 beset every material theory, in which one statement contradicts another over and over again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap- 152:15 parently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body; 152:18 but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. Such a fact illustrates our theories.
The author's experiments in medicine
152:21 The author's medical researches and experiments had
prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian
Science. Every material dependence had
152:24 failed her in her search for truth; and she can
now understand why, and can see the means
by which mortals are divinely driven to a spiritual source
152:27 for health and happiness.
Homoeopathic attenuations
Her experiments in homoeopathy had made her skep-
tical as to material curative methods. Jahr, from
152:30 /Aconitum/ to /Zincum oxydatum/, enumerates
the general symptoms, the characteristic
signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug
153:1 is frequently attenuated to such a degree that not a ves-
tige of it remains. Thus we learn that it is not the drug
153:3 which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms
of disease.
Only salt and water
The author has attenuated /Natrum muriaticum/ (com-
153:6 mon table-salt) until there was not a single saline property
left. The salt had "lost his savour;" and yet,
with one drop of that attenuation in a goblet of
153:9 water, and a teaspoonful of the water administered at in-
tervals of three hours, she has cured a patient sinking in
the last stage of typhoid fever. The highest attenuation
153:12 of homoeopathy and the most potent rises above matter into
mind. This discovery leads to more light. From it may
be learned that either human faith or the divine Mind is
153:15 the healer and that there is no efficacy in a drug.
Origin of pain
You say a boil is painful; but that is impossible, for
matter without mind is not painful. The boil simply
153:18 manifests, through inflammation and swell-
ing, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a
boil. Now administer mentally to your patient a high
153:21 attenuation of truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The
fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind
to feel it is a proof that this so-called mind makes its
153:24 own pain - that is, its own /belief/ in pain.
Source of contagion
We weep because others weep, we yawn because they
yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but
153:27 mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries
the infection. When this mental contagion is
understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con-
153:30 ditions and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about
disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither
sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish
154:1 error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
advocate.
154:3 Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-
sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain
diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-
154:6 tains credit through association, - calling up the fear that
creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-
tation in the body.
Imaginary cholera
154:9 This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a
bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-
154:12 diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught
the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient
154:15 had been in that bed.
Children's ailments
If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
mother is frightened and says, "My child will be sick."
154:18 The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
ern her child more than the child's mind gov-
erns itself, and they produce the very results which might
154:21 have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought
the mischief.
154:24 That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You
look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You
154:27 need medicine."
Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
hurt her face by falling on the carpet, and says, moaning
154:30 more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are
hurt." The better and more successful method for any
mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not
155:1 hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
all about the accident, and is at play.
Drug-power mental
155:3 When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law
of a general belief, culminating in individual faith, which
heals; and according to this faith will the effect
155:6 be. Even when you take away the individual
confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug
from the general faith. The chemist, the botanist, the
155:9 druggist, the doctor, and the nurse equip the medicine
with their faith, and the beliefs which are in the majority
rule. When the general belief endorses the inanimate
155:12 drug as doing this or that, individual dissent or faith, un-
less it rests on Science, is but a belief held by a minority,
and such a belief is governed by the majority.
Belief in physics
155:15 The universal belief in physics weighs against the high
and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone-
ous general belief, which sustains medicine and
155:18 produces all medical results, works against
Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the
side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of
155:21 popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The
human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords
of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less
155:24 weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight
into the spiritual scale. Homoeopathy diminishes the
drug, but the potency of the medicine increases as the
155:27 drug disappears.
Nature of drugs
Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have
diminished drugging; but if drugs are an antidote to
155:30 disease, why lessen the antidote? If drugs
are good things, is it safe to say that the
less in quantity you have of them the better? If drugs
156:1 possess intrinsic virtues or intelligent curative qualities,
these qualities must be mental. Who named drugs, and
156:3 what made them good or bad for mortals, beneficial or
injurious?
Dropsy cured without drugs
A case of dropsy, given up by the faculty, fell into 156:6 my hands. It was a terrible case. Tapping had been employed, and yet, as she lay in her bed, the patient looked like a barrel. I prescribed 156:9 the fourth attenuation of /Argentum nitratum/ with occa- sional doses of a high attenuation of /Sulphuris/. She im- proved perceptibly. Believing then somewhat in the 156:12 ordinary theories of medical practice, and learning that her former physician had prescribed these remedies, I began to fear an aggravation of symptoms from their 156:15 prolonged use, and told the patient so; but she was unwilling to give up the medicine while she was re- covering. It then occurred to me to give her un- 156:18 medicated pellets and watch the result. I did so, and she continued to gain. Finally she said that she would give up her medicine for one day, and risk the 156:21 effects. After trying this, she informed me that she could get along two days without globules; but on the third day she again suffered, and was relieved by 156:24 taking them. She went on in this way, taking the unmedicated pellets, - and receiving occasional visits from me, - but employing no other means, and she was 156:27 cured.
A stately advance
Metaphysics, as taught in Christian Science, is the
next stately step beyond homoeopathy. In metaphysics,
156:30 matter disappears from the remedy entirely,
and Mind takes its rightful and supreme
place. Homoeopathy takes mental symptoms largely
157:1 into consideration in its diagnosis of disease. Christian
Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and
157:3 destroying disease. It succeeds where homoeopathy fails,
solely because its one recognized Principle of healing is
Mind, and the whole force of the mental element is em-
157:6 ployed through the Science of Mind, which never shares
its rights with inanimate matter.
The modus of homoeopathy
Christian Science exterminates the drug, and rests on
157:9 Mind alone as the curative Principle, acknowledging that
the divine Mind has all power. Homoeopathy
mentalizes a drug with such repetition of
157:12 thought-attenuations, that the drug becomes
more like the human mind than the substratum of this so-
called mind, which we call matter; and the drug's power
157:15 of action is proportionately increased.
Drugging unchristian
If drugs are part of God's creation, which (according
to the narrative in Genesis) He pronounced/ good/, then
157:18 drugs cannot be poisonous. If He could cre-
ate drugs intrinsically bad, then they should
never be used. If He creates drugs at all and designs
157:21 them for medical use, why did Jesus not employ them
and recommend them for the treatment of disease?
Matter is not self-creative, for it is unintelligent. Erring
157:24 mortal mind confers the power which the drug seems to
possess.
Narcotics quiet mortal mind, and so relieve the body;
157:27 but they leave both mind and body worse for this sub-
mission. Christian Science impresses the entire corpore-
ality, - namely, mind and body, - and brings out the
157:30 proof that Life is continuous and harmonious. Science
both neutralizes error and destroys it. Mankind is the
better for this spiritual and profound pathology.
Mythology and materia medica
158:1 It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated
in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to
158:3 heal the sick and designated Apollo as "the god
of medicine." He was supposed to have dic-
tated the first prescription, according to the
158:6 "History of Four Thousand Years of Medicine." It is
here noticeable that Apollo was also regarded as the sender
of disease, "the god of pestilence." Hippocrates turned
158:9 from image-gods to vegetable and mineral drugs for heal-
ing. This was deemed progress in medicine; but
what we need is the truth which heals both mind and
158:12 body. The future history of material medicine may
correspond with that of its material god, Apollo, who was
banished from heaven and endured great sufferings
158:15 upon earth.
Footsteps to intemperance
Drugs, cataplasms, and whiskey are stupid substitutes
for the dignity and potency of divine Mind and its effi-
158:18 cacy to heal. It is pitiful to lead men into
temptation through the byways of this wil-
derness world, - to victimize the race with intoxicating
158:21 prescriptions for the sick, until mortal mind acquires an
educated appetite for strong drink, and men and women
become loathsome sots.
Advancing degrees
158:24 Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us
on every hand. Drug-systems are quitting their hold on
matter and so letting in matter's higher stra-
158:27 tum, mortal mind. Homoeopathy, a step in
advance of allopathy, is doing this. Matter is going out
of medicine; and mortal mind, of a higher attenuation
158:30 than the drug, is governing the pellet.
Effects of fear
A woman in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts, was
etherized and died in consequence, although her physi-
159:1 cians insisted that it would be unsafe to perform a needed
surgical operation without the ether. After the autopsy,
159:3 her sister testified that the deceased protested
against inhaling the ether and said it would kill
her, but that she was compelled by her physicians to take
159:6 it. Her hands were held, and she was forced into sub-
mission. The case was brought to trial. The evidence
was found to be conclusive, and a verdict was returned that
159:9 death was occasioned, not by the ether, but by fear of
inhaling it.
Mental conditions to be heeded
Is it skilful or scientific surgery to take no heed of men-
159:12 tal conditions and to treat the patient as if she were so
much mindless matter, and as if matter were
the only factor to be consulted? Had these
159:15 unscientific surgeons understood metaphysics,
they would have considered the woman's state of mind,
and not have risked such treatment. They would either
159:18 have allayed her fear or would have performed the opera-
tion without ether.
The sequel proved that this Lynn woman died from 159:21 effects produced by mortal mind, and not from the disease or the operation.
False source of knowledge
The medical schools would learn the state of man
159:24 from matter instead of from Mind. They examine the
lungs, tongue, and pulse to ascertain how
much harmony, or health, matter is permit-
159:27 ting to matter, - how much pain or pleasure, action or
stagnation, one form of matter is allowing another form
of matter.
159:30 Ignorant of the fact that a man's belief produces dis-
ease and all its symptoms, the ordinary physician is
liable to increase disease with his own mind, when he
160:1 should address himself to the work of destroying it through
the power of the divine Mind.
160:3 The systems of physics act against metaphysics, and
/vice versa/. When mortals forsake the material for the
spiritual basis of action, drugs lose their healing force,
160:6 for they have no innate power. Unsupported by the
faith reposed in it, the inanimate drug becomes
powerless.
Obedient muscles
160:9 The motion of the arm is no more dependent upon the
direction of mortal mind, than are the organic action and
secretion of the viscera. When this so-called
160:12 mind quits the body, the heart becomes as tor-
pid as the hand.
Anatomy and mind
Anatomy finds a necessity for nerves to convey the man-
160:15 date of mind to muscle and so cause action; but what does
anatomy say when the cords contract and be-
come immovable? Has mortal mind ceased
160:18 speaking to them, or has it bidden them to be impotent?
Can muscles, bones, blood, and nerves rebel against mind
in one instance and not in another, and become cramped
160:21 despite the mental protest?
Unless muscles are self-acting at all times, they are
never so, - never capable of acting contrary to mental
160:24 direction. If muscles can cease to act and become rigid
of their own preference, - be deformed or symmetrical,
as they please or as disease directs, - they must be self-
160:27 directing. Why then consult anatomy to learn how mor-
tal mind governs muscle, if we are only to learn from
anatomy that muscle is not so governed?
Mind over matter
160:30 Is man a material fungus without Mind
to help him? Is a stiff joint or a contracted
muscle as much a result of law as the supple and
161:1 elastic condition of the healthy limb, and is God the
lawgiver?
161:3 You say, "/I/ have burned my finger." This is an
exact statement, more exact than you suppose; for mor-
tal mind, and not matter, burns it. Holy inspiration
161:6 has created states of mind which have been able to nullify
the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three
young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace;
161:9 while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous
combustion.
Restrictive regulations
In 1880, Massachusetts put her foot on a proposed
161:12 tyrannical law, restricting the practice of medicine. If
her sister States follow this example in har-
mony with our Constitution and Bill of Rights,
161:15 they will do less violence to that immortal sentiment of the
Declaration, "Man is endowed by his Maker with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the
161:18 pursuit of happiness."
The oppressive state statutes touching medicine re-
mind one of the words of the famous Madame Roland,
161:21 as she knelt before a statue of Liberty, erected near the
guillotine: "Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy
name!"
Metaphysics challenges physics
161:24 The ordinary practitioner, examining bodily symptoms,
telling the patient that he is sick, and treating the case ac-
cording to his physical diagnosis, would natu-
161:27 rally induce the very disease he is trying to cure,
even if it were not already determined by mor-
tal mind. Such unconscious mistakes would not occur, if
161:30 this old class of philanthropists looked as deeply for cause
and effect into mind as into matter. The physician agrees
with his "adversary quickly," but upon different terms
162:1 than does the metaphysician; for the matter-physician
agrees with the disease, while the metaphysician agrees
162:3 only with health and challenges disease.
Truth an alterative
Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of
Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science
162:6 acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with
Truth. It changes the secretions, expels hu-
mors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores
162:9 carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is
to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it
may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.
Practical success
162:12 Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs
the body, not in one instance, but in every instance. The
indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without
162:15 the conditions of matter and also without the
false beliefs of a so-called material existence. Working
out the rules of Science in practice, the author has re-
162:18 stored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in
their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the
structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been
162:21 elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and
carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions. I
have restored what is called the lost substance of lungs, and
162:24 healthy organizations have been established where disease
was organic. Christian Science heals organic disease as
surely as it heals what is called functional, for it requires
162:27 only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of
Christian Science to demonstrate the higher rule.
Testimony of medical teachers
With due respect for the faculty, I kindly
162:30 quote from Dr. Benjamin Rush, the famous
Philadelphia teacher of medical practice. He
declared that "it is impossible to calculate the mischief
163:1 which Hippocrates has done, by first marking Nature
with his name, and afterward letting her loose upon sick
163:3 people."
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Professor in Harvard Uni-
versity, declared himself "sick of learned quackery."
163:6 Dr. James Johnson, Surgeon to William IV, King Of
England, said:
"I declare my conscientious opinion, founded on long
163:9 observation and reflection, that if there were not a single
physician, surgeon, apothecary, man-midwife, chemist,
druggist, or drug on the face of the earth, there would be
163:12 less sickness and less mortality."
Dr. Mason Good, a learned Professor in London,
said:
163:15 "The effects of medicine on the human system are in
the highest degree uncertain; except, indeed, that it has
already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence, and
163:18 famine, all combined."
Dr. Chapman, Professor of the Institutes and Practice
of Physic in the University of Pennsylvania, in a published
163:21 essay said:
"Consulting the records of our science, we cannot
help being disgusted with the multitude of hypotheses
163:24 obtruded upon us at different times. Nowhere is the
imagination displayed to a greater extent; and perhaps
so ample an exhibition of human invention might gratify
163:27 our vanity, if it were not more than compensated by the
humiliating view of so much absurdity, contradiction,
and falsehood. To harmonize the contrarieties of med-
163:30 ical doctrines is indeed a task as impractible as to
arrange the fleeting vapors around us, or to reconcile the
fixed and repulsive antipathies of nature. Dark and
164:1 perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of
Homer's Cyclops around his cave."
164:3 Sir John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians, London, said:
"No systematic or theoretical classification of diseases
164:6 or of therapeutic agents, ever yet promulgated, is true, or
anything like the truth, and none can be adopted as a safe
guidance in practice."
164:9 It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medi-
cal practitioners are grand men and women, therefore
they are more scientific than are false claimants to Chris-
164:12 tian Science. But all human systems based on material
premises are minus the unction of divine Science. Much
yet remains to be said and done before all mankind is
164:15 saved and all the mental microbes of sin and all diseased
thought-germs are exterminated.
If you or I should appear to die, we should not be 164:18 dead. The seeming decease, caused by a majority of human beliefs that man must die, or produced by mental assassins, does not in the least disprove Christian Science; 164:21 rather does it evidence the truth of its basic proposition that mortal thoughts in belief rule the materiality mis- called life in the body or in matter. But the forever fact 164:24 remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from sin, disease, and death. "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on 164:27 immortality [divine Science], then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (St. Paul).
CHAPTER VII - PHYSIOLOGY
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? - JESUS.
He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their
destructions. - PSALMS.
165:1 PHYSIOLOGY is one of the apples from "the tree
of knowledge." Evil declared that eating this fruit
165:3 would open man's eyes and make him as a god. Instead
of so doing, it closed the eyes of mortals to man's God-
given dominion over the earth.
Man not structural
165:6 To measure intellectual capacity by the size of the
brain and strength by the exercise of muscle, is to
subjugate intelligence, to make mind mor-
165:9 tal, and to place this so-called mind at the
mercy of material organization and non-intelligent
matter.
165:12 Obedience to the so-called physical laws of health has
not checked sickness. Diseases have multiplied, since
man-made material theories took the place of spiritual
165:15 truth.
Causes of sickness
You say that indigestion, fatigue, sleeplessness, cause
distressed stomachs and aching heads. Then
165:18 you consult your brain in order to remember
what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting
166:1 the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own,
and the human mind is all that can produce pain.
166:3 As a man thinketh, so is he. Mind is all that feels,
acts, or impedes action. Ignorant of this, or shrinking
from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made
166:6 on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the
body is lost.
Delusions pagan and medical
The Mohammedan believes in a pilgrimage to Mecca
166:9 for the salvation of his soul. The popular doctor believes
in his prescription, and the pharmacist believes
in the power of his drugs to save a man's
166:12 life. The Mohammedan's belief is a religious
delusion; the doctor's and pharmacist's is a medical
mistake.
Health from reliance on spirituality
166:15 The erring human mind is inharmonious in itself.
From it arises the inharmonious body. To ignore
God as of little use in sickness is a mistake.
166:18 Instead of thrusting Him aside in times of
bodily trouble, and waiting for the hour of
strength in which to acknowledge Him, we should learn
166:21 that He can do all things for us in sickness as in
health.
Failing to recover health through adherence to physi-
166:24 ology and hygiene, the despairing invalid often drops
them, and in his extremity and only as a last resort, turns
to God. The invalid's faith in the divine Mind is less
166:27 than in drugs, air, and exercise, or he would have resorted
to Mind first. The balance of power is conceded to be
with matter by most of the medical systems; but when
166:30 Mind at last asserts its mastery over sin, disease, and
death, then is man found to be harmonious and
immortal.
167:1 Should we implore a corporeal God to heal the sick
out of His personal volition, or should we understand the
167:3 infinite divine Principle which heals? If we rise no higher
than blind faith, the Science of healing is not attained, and
Soul-existence, in the place of sense-existence, is not com-
167:6 prehended. We apprehend Life in divine Science only
as we live above corporeal sense and correct it. Our pro-
portionate admission of the claims of good or of evil de-
167:9 termines the harmony of our existence, - our health, our
longevity, and our Christianity.
The two masters
We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Sci-
167:12 ence with the material senses. Drugs and hygiene cannot
successfully usurp the place and power of the
divine source of all health and perfection. If
167:15 God made man both good and evil, man must remain
thus. What can improve God's work? Again, an error
in the premise must appear in the conclusion. To have
167:18 one God and avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you
must love God supremely.
Half-way success
The "flesh lusteth against the Spirit." The flesh and
167:21 Spirit can no more unite in action, than good can coin-
cide with evil. It is not wise to take a halt-
ing and half-way position or to expect to work
167:24 equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error. There,
is but one way - namely, God and His idea - which
leads to spiritual being. The scientific government of the
167:27 body must be attained through the divine Mind. It is im-
possible to gain control over the body in any other way.
On this fundamental point, timid conservatism is abso-
167:30 lutely inadmissible. Only through radical reliance on
Truth can scientific healing power be realized.
Substituting good words for a good life, fair seeming
168:1 for straightforward character, is a poor shift for the weak
and worldly, who think the standard of Christian Science
168:3 too high for them.
Belief on the wrong side
If the scales are evenly adjusted, the removal of a single
weight from either scale gives preponderance to the oppo-
168:6 site. Whatever influence you cast on the side
of matter, you take away from Mind, which
would otherwise outweigh all else. Your belief militates
168:9 against your health, when it ought to be enlisted on the
side of health. When sick (according to belief) you rush
after drugs, search out the material so-called laws of
168:12 health, and depend upon them to heal you, though you
have already brought yourself into the slough of disease
through just this false belief.
The divine authority
168:15 Because man-made systems insist that man becomes
sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with
the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are
168:18 we to believe an authority which denies God's
spiritual command relating to perfection, - an authority
which Jesus proved to be false? He did the will of the
168:21 Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called
material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law
of Mind.
Disease foreseen
168:24 I have discerned disease in the human mind, and rec-
ognized the patient's fear of it, months before the so-called
disease made its appearance in the body. Dis-
168:27 ease being a belief, a latent illusion of mortal
mind, the sensation would not appear if the error of belief
was met and destroyed by truth.
Changed mentality
168:30 Here let a word be noticed which will be
better understood hereafter, - /chemicalization/.
By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal
169:1 mind and body undergo in the change of belief from a
material to a spiritual basis.
Scientific foresight
169:3 Whenever an aggravation of symptoms has occurred
through mental chemicalization, I have seen the mental
signs, assuring me that danger was over, before
169:6 the patient felt the change; and I have said
to the patient, "You are healed," - sometimes to his dis-
comfiture, when he was incredulous. But it always came
169:9 about as I had foretold.
I name these facts to show that disease has a mental,
mortal origin, - that faith in rules of health or in drugs
169:12 begets and fosters disease by attracting the mind to the
subject of sickness, by exciting fear of disease, and by dos-
ing the body in order to avoid it. The faith reposed in
169:15 these things should find stronger supports and a higher
home. If we understood the control of Mind over body,
we should put no faith in material means.
Mind the only healer
169:18 Science not only reveals the origin of all disease as
mental, but it also declares that all disease is cured by
divine Mind. There can be no healing ex-
169:21 cept by this Mind, however much we trust
a drug or any other means towards which human faith
or endeavor is directed. It is mortal mind, not mat-
169:24 ter, which brings to the sick whatever good they may
seem to receive from materiality. But the sick are never
really healed except by means of the divine power.
169:27 Only the action of Truth, Life, and Love can give
harmony.
Modes of matter
Whatever teaches man to have other laws and to
169:30 acknowledge other powers than the divine
Mind, is anti-Christian. The good that a
poisonous drug seems to do is evil, for it robs man of
170:1 reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to be-
lief, poisons the human system. Truth is not the basis of
170:3 theogony. Modes of matter form neither a moral nor a
spiritual system. The discord which calls for material
methods is the result of the exercise of faith in material
170:6 modes, - faith in matter instead of in Spirit.
Physiology unscientific
Did Jesus understand the economy of man less than
Graham or Cutter? Christian ideas certainly present
170:9 what human theories exclude - the Principle
of man's harmony. The text, "Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die," not only con-
170:12 tradicts human systems, but points to the self-sustaining
and eternal Truth.
The demands of Truth are spiritual, and reach the
170:15 body through Mind. The best interpreter of man's needs
said: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat,
or what ye shall drink."
170:18 If there are material laws which prevent disease, what
then causes it? Not divine law, for Jesus healed the
sick and cast out error, always in opposition, never in
170:21 obedience, to physics.
Causation considered
Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered,
for more than all others spiritual causation relates to
170:24 human progress. The age seems ready to
approach this subject, to ponder somewhat
the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem
170:27 of Truth's garment.
The description of man as purely physical, or as both
material and spiritual, - but in either case dependent
170:30 upon his physical organization, - is the Pandora box,
from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair.
Matter, which takes divine power into its own hands and
171:1 claims to be a creator, is a fiction, in which paganism and
lust are so sanctioned by society that mankind has caught
171:3 their moral contagion.
Paradise regained
Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of ma-
teriality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will
171:6 reopen with the key of divine Science the gates
of Paradise which human beliefs have closed,
and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free,
171:9 not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either
of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brain-
ology to learn how much of a man he is.
A closed question
171:12 Mind's control over the universe, including man, is
no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science.
Jesus illustrated the divine Principle and the
171:15 power of immortal Mind by healing sickness
and sin and destroying the foundations of death.
Matter /versus/ Spirit
Mistaking his origin and nature, man believes himself to
171:18 be combined matter and Spirit. He believes that Spirit
is sifted through matter, carried on a nerve, ex-
posed to ejection by the operation of matter.
171:21 The intellectual, the moral, the spiritual, - yea, the image
of infinite Mind, - subject to non-intelligence!
No more sympathy exists between the flesh and Spirit
171:24 than between Belial and Christ.
The so-called laws of matter are nothing but false be-
liefs that intelligence and life are present where Mind
171:27 is not. These false beliefs are the procuring cause of all
sin and disease. The opposite truth, that intelligence and
life are spiritual, never material, destroys sin, sickness,
171:30 and death.
The fundamental error lies in the supposition that man
is a material outgrowth and that the cognizance of good
172:1 or evil, which he has through the bodily senses, con-
stitutes his happiness or misery.
Godless Evolution
172:3 Theorizing about man's development from mushrooms
to monkeys and from monkeys into men
amounts to nothing in the right direction and
172:6 very much in the wrong.
Materialism grades the human species as rising from
matter upward. How then is the material species main-
172:9 tained, if man passes through what we call death and
death is the Rubicon of spirituality? Spirit can form
no real link in this supposed chain of material being.
172:12 But divine Science reveals the eternal chain of existence
as uninterrupted and wholly spiritual; yet this can be
realized only as the false sense of being disappears.
Degrees of development
172:15 If man was first a material being, he must have passed
through all the forms of matter in order to become man.
If the material body is man, he is a portion of
172:18 matter, or dust. On the contrary, man is the
image and likeness of Spirit; and the belief that there is
Soul in sense or Life in matter obtains in mortals, /alias/
172:21 mortal mind, to which the apostle refers when he says
that we must "put off the old man."
Identity not lost
What is man? Brain, heart, blood, bones, etc., the
172:24 material structure? If the real man is in the material
body, you take away a portion of the man when
you amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys
172:27 manhood, and worms annihilate it. But the loss of a limb
or injury to a tissue is sometimes the quickener of manli-
ness; and the unfortunate cripple may present more no-
172:30 bility than the statuesque athlete, - teaching us by his
very deprivations, that "a man's a man, for a' that."
When man is man
When we admit that matter (heart, blood, brain, acting
173:1 through the five physical senses) constitutes man, we fail
to see how anatomy can distinguish between
173:3 humanity and the brute, or determine when
man is really /man/ and has progressed farther than his
animal progenitors.
Individualization
173:6 When the supposition, that Spirit is within what it
creates and the potter is subject to the clay,
is individualized, Truth is reduced to the level
173:9 of error, and the sensible is required to be made manifest
through the insensible.
What is termed matter manifests nothing but a material
173:12 mentality. Neither the substance nor the manifestation
of Spirit is obtainable through matter. Spirit is positive.
Matter is Spirit's contrary, the absence of Spirit. For
173:15 positive Spirit to pass through a negative condition
would be Spirit's destruction.
Man not structural
Anatomy declares man to be structural. Physiology
173:18 continues this explanation, measuring human
strength by bones and sinews, and human life
by material law. Man is spiritual, individual, and eter-
173:21 nal; material structure is mortal.
Phrenology makes man knavish or honest according to
the development of the cranium; but anatomy, physiology,
173:24 phrenology, do not define the image of God, the real im-
mortal man.
Human reason and religion come slowly to the recogni-
173:27 tion of spiritual facts, and so continue to call upon
matter to remove the error which the human mind alone
has created.
173:30 The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health
and longevity than are the idols of barbarism. The idols
of civilization call into action less faith than Buddhism
174:1 in a supreme governing intelligence. The Esquimaux
restore health by incantations as consciously as do civi-
174:3 lized practitioners by their more studied methods.
Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that
man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to
174:6 baths, diet, exercise, and air? Nothing save divine
power is capable of doing so much for man as he can
do for himself.
Rise of thought
174:9 The footsteps of thought, rising above material stand-
points, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller;
but the angels of His presence - the spiritual
174:12 intuitions that tell us when "the night is far
spent, the day is at hand" - are our guardians in the
gloom. Whoever opens the way in Christian Science is
174:15 a pilgrim and stranger, marking out the path for gen-
erations yet unborn.
The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount
174:18 are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in
their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of
heaven on earth. Truth is revealed. It needs only to
174:21 be practised.
Medical errors
Mortal belief is all that enables a drug to cure mortal
ailments. Anatomy admits that mind is somewhere in
174:24 man, though out of sight. Then, if an indi-
vidual is sick, why treat the body alone and
administer a dose of despair to the mind? Why declare
174:27 that the body is diseased, and picture this disease to the
mind, rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel and
holding it before the thought of both physician and pa-
174:30 tient? We should understand that the cause of disease
obtains in the mortal human mind, and its cure comes
from the immortal divine Mind. We should prevent the
175:1 images of disease from taking form in thought, and we
should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in
175:3 the minds of mortals.
Novel Diseases
When there are fewer prescriptions, and less thought is
given to sanitary subjects, there will be better
175:6 constitutions and less disease. In old times
who ever heard of dyspepsia, cerebro-spinal meningitis,
hay-fever, and rose-cold?
175:9 What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose,
the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its
presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the
175:12 thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever. It is
profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath
of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation,
175:15 sneezing, and nasal pangs.
No ancestral dyspepsia
If a random thought, calling itself dyspepsia, had
tried to tyrannize over our forefathers, it would have
175:18 been routed by their independence and in-
dustry. Then people had less time for self-
ishness, coddling, and sickly after-dinner talk. The ex-
175:21 act amount of food the stomach could digest was not
discussed according to Cutter nor referred to sanitary
laws. A man's belief in those days was not so severe
175:24 upon the gastric juices. Beaumont's "Medical Experi-
ments" did not govern the digestion.
Pulmonary misbeliefs
Damp atmosphere and freezing snow empurpled the
175:27 plump cheeks of our ancestors, but they never indulged
in the refinement of inflamed bronchial tubes.
They were as innocent as Adam, before he ate
175:30 the fruit of false knowledge, of the existence of tubercles
and troches, lungs and lozenges.
Our modern Eves
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," says
176:1 the English poet, and there is truth in his sentiment. The
action of mortal mind on the body was not so injurious
176:3 before inquisitive modern Eves took up the
study of medical works and unmanly Adams
attributed their own downfall and the fate of their off-
176:6 spring to the weakness of their wives.
The primitive custom of taking no thought about
food left the stomach and bowels free to act in obedi-
176:9 ence to nature, and gave the gospel a chance to be seen
in its glorious effects upon the body. A ghastly array of
diseases was not paraded before the imagination. There
176:12 were fewer books on digestion and more "sermons in
stones, and good in everything." When the mechanism
of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, self-
176:15 ishness and sin, disease and death, will lose their
foothold.
Human fear of miasma would load with disease the
176:18 air of Eden, and weigh down mankind with superimposed
and conjectural evils. Mortal mind is the worst foe of
the body, while divine Mind is its best friend.
Diseases not to be classified
176:21 Should all cases of organic disease be treated by a
regular practitioner, and the Christian Scientist try
truth only in cases of hysteria, hypochon-
176:24 dria, and hallucination? One disease is no
more real than another. All disease is the
result of education, and disease can carry its ill-effects
176:27 no farther than mortal mind maps out the way. The
human mind, not matter, is supposed to feel, suffer, en-
joy. Hence decided types of acute disease are quite as
176:30 ready to yield to Truth as the less distinct type and chronic
form of disease. Truth handles the most malignant con-
tagion with perfect assurance.
One basis for all sickness
177:1 Human mind produces what is termed organic dis-
ease as certainly as it produces hysteria, and it must re-
177:3 linquish all its errors, sicknesses, and sins.
I have demonstrated this beyond all cavil.
The evidence of divine Mind's healing power and abso-
177:6 lute control is to me as certain as the evidence of my own
existence.
Mental and physical oneness
Mortal mind and body are one. Neither exists without
177:9 the other, and both must be destroyed by immortal Mind.
Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mor-
tal mind. This so-called mind builds its own
177:12 superstructure, of which the material body is
the grosser portion; but from first to last, the body is a
sensuous, human concept.
The effect of names
177:15 In the Scriptural allegory of the material creation,
Adam or error, which represents the erroneous theory
of life and intelligence in matter, had the
177:18 naming of all that was material. These names
indicated matter's properties, qualities, and forms. But
a lie, the opposite of Truth, cannot name the qualities and
177:21 effects of what is termed matter, and create the so-called
laws of the flesh, nor can a lie hold the preponderance
of power in any direction against God, Spirit and
177:24 Truth.
Poison defined mentally
If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and
the patient dies even though physician and
177:27 patient are expecting favorable results, does
human belief, you ask, cause this death? Even
so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally
177:30 taken.
In such cases a few persons believe the potion swal-
lowed by the patient to be harmless, but the vast ma-
178:1 jority of mankind, though they know nothing of this par-
ticular case and this special person, believe the arsenic,
178:3 the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poi-
sonous, for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind.
Consequently, the result is controlled by the majority of
178:6 opinions, not by the infinitesimal minority of opinions in
the sick-chamber.
Heredity is not a law. The remote cause or belief
178:9 of disease is not dangerous because of its priority and
the connection of past mortal thoughts with present.
The predisposing cause and the exciting cause are
178:12 mental.
Perhaps an adult has a deformity produced prior to his
birth by the fright of his mother. When wrested from
178:15 human belief and based on Science or the divine Mind, to
which all things are possible, that chronic case is not
difficult to cure.
Animal magnetism destroyed
178:18 Mortal mind, acting from the basis of sensation in
matter, is animal magnetism; but this so-called mind,
from which comes all evil, contradicts itself,
178:21 and must finally yield to the eternal Truth, or
the divine Mind, expressed in Science. In pro-
portion to our understanding of Christian Science, we are
178:24 freed from the belief of heredity, of mind in matter or ani-
mal magnetism; and we disarm sin of its imaginary power
in proportion to our spiritual understanding of the status
178:27 of immortal being.
Ignorant of the methods and the basis of metaphysical
healing, you may attempt to unite with it hypnotism,
178:30 spiritualism, electricity; but none of these methods can
be mingled with metaphysical healing.
Whoever reaches the understanding of Christian Science
179:1 in its proper signification will perform the sudden cures
of which it is capable; but this can be done only by
179:3 taking up the cross and following Christ in the daily
life.
Absent patients
Science can heal the sick, who are absent from their
179:6 healers, as well as those present, since space is no ob-
stacle to Mind. Immortal Mind heals what eye
hath not seen; but the spiritual capacity to ap-
179:9 prehend thought and to heal by the Truth-power, is won
only as man is found, not in self-righteousness, but re-
flecting the divine nature.
Horses mistaught
179:12 Every medical method has its advocates. The prefer-
ence of mortal mind for a certain method creates a demand
for that method, and the body then seems to re-
179:15 quire such treatment. You can even educate a
healthy horse so far in physiology that he will take cold
without his blanket, whereas the wild animal, left to his
179:18 instincts, sniffs the wind with delight. The epizootic is
a humanly evolved ailment, which a wild horse might
never have.
Medical works objectionable
179:21 Treatises on anatomy, physiology, and health, sustained
by what is termed material law, are the pro-
moters of sickness and disease. It should not
179:24 be proverbial, that so long as you read medical works you
will be sick.
The sedulous matron - studying her Jahr with homoe-
179:27 opathic pellet and powder in hand, ready to put you
into a sweat, to move the bowels, or to produce sleep -
is unwittingly sowing the seeds of reliance on matter,
179:30 and her household may erelong reap the effect of this
mistake.
Descriptions of disease given by physicians and adver-
180:1 tisements of quackery are both prolific sources of sickness.
As mortal mind is the husbandman of error, it should be
180:3 taught to do the body no harm and to uproot its false
sowing.
The invalid's outlook
The patient sufferer tries to be satisfied when he sees
180:6 his would-be healers busy, and his faith in their efforts is
somewhat helpful to them and to himself; but
in Science one must understand the resusci-
180:9 tating law of Life. This is the seed within itself bearing
fruit after its kind, spoken of in Genesis.
Physicians should not deport themselves as if Mind
180:12 were non-existent, nor take the ground that all causation
is matter, instead of Mind. Ignorant that the human
mind governs the body, its phenomenon, the invalid may
180:15 unwittingly add more fear to the mental reservoir already
overflowing with that emotion.
Wrong and right way
Doctors should not implant disease in the thoughts of
180:18 their patients, as they so frequently do, by declaring dis-
ease to be a fixed fact, even before they go to
work to eradicate the disease through the ma-
180:21 terial faith which they inspire. Instead of furnishing
thought with fear, they should try to correct this turbulent
element of mortal mind by the influence of divine Love
180:24 which casteth out fear.
When man is governed by God, the ever-present
Mind who understands all things, man knows that with
180:27 God all things are possible. The only way to this
living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science
of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ
180:30 Jesus.
The important decision
To reduce inflammation, dissolve a tumor, or cure or-
ganic disease, I have found divine Truth more potent than
181:1 all lower remedies. And why not, since Mind, God, is
the source and condition of all existence? Before decid-
181:3 ing that the body, matter, is disordered, one
should ask, "Who art thou that repliest to
Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or does
181:6 it hold the issues of life?" Matter, which can neither
suffer nor enjoy, has no partnership with pain and pleas-
ure, but mortal belief has such a partnership.
Manipulation unscientific
181:9 When you manipulate patients, you trust in electricity
and magnetism more than in Truth; and for
that reason, you employ matter rather than
181:12 Mind. You weaken or destroy your power when you re-
sort to any except spiritual means.
It is foolish to declare that you manipulate patients but
181:15 that you lay no stress on manipulation. If this be so, why
manipulate? In reality you manipulate because you are
ignorant of the baneful effects of magnetism, or are not
181:18 sufficiently spiritual to depend on Spirit. In either case
you must improve your mental condition till you finally
attain the understanding of Christian Science.
Not words but deeds
181:21 If you are too material to love the Science of Mind and
are satisfied with good words instead of effects, if you
adhere to error and are afraid to trust Truth,
181:24 the question then recurs, "Adam, where art
thou?" It is unnecessary to resort to aught besides
Mind in order to satisfy the sick that you are doing some-
181:27 thing for them, for if they are cured, they generally know
it and are satisfied.
"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
181:30 If you have more faith in drugs than in Truth, this faith
will incline you to the side of matter and error. Any
hypnotic power you may exercise will diminish your
182:1 ability to become a Scientist, and /vice versa./ The act
of healing the sick through divine Mind alone, of casting
182:3 out error with Truth, shows your position as a Christian
Scientist.
Physiology or Spirit
The demands of God appeal to thought only; but the
182:6 claims of mortality, and what are termed laws of nature,
appertain to matter. Which, then, are we to
accept as legitimate and capable of producing
182:9 the highest human good? We cannot obey both physi-
ology and Spirit, for one absolutely destroys the other,
and one or the other must be supreme in the affections.
182:12 It is impossible to work from two standpoints. If we
attempt it, we shall presently "hold to the one,
and despise the other."
182:15 The hypotheses of mortals are antagonistic to Science and cannot mix with it. This is clear to those, who heal the sick on the basis of Science.
No material law
182:18 Mind's government of the body must supersede the so-
called laws of matter. Obedience to material law pre-
vents full obedience to spiritual law, - the law
182:21 which overcomes material conditions and puts
matter under the feet of Mind. Mortals entreat the di-
vine Mind to heal the sick, and forthwith shut out the aid
182:24 of Mind by using material means, thus working against
themselves and their prayers and denying man's God-
given ability to demonstrate Mind's sacred power. Pleas
182:27 for drugs and laws of health come from some sad incident,
or else from ignorance of Christian Science and its tran-
scendent power.
182:30 To admit that sickness is a condition over which God
has no control, is to presuppose that omnipotent power
is powerless on some occasions. The law of Christ, or
183:1 Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so-
called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and
183:3 demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing
from the basis of one God, one lawmaker. To suppose
that God constitutes laws of inharmony is a mistake; dis-
183:6 cords have no support from nature or divine law, however
much is said to the contrary.
Can the agriculturist, according to belief, produce a
183:9 crop without sowing the seed and awaiting its germina-
tion according to the laws of nature? The answer is no,
and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first
183:12 caused the condemnation of man to till the ground, and
indicate that obedience to God will remove this necessity.
Truth never made error necessary, nor devised a law to
183:15 perpetuate error.
Laws of nature spiritual
The supposed laws which result in weariness and dis-
ease are not His laws, for the legitimate and only possible
183:18 action of Truth is the production of harmony.
Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but mortals
commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of
183:21 Spirit. Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obe-
dience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made
for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man
183:24 power and strength. Submission to error superinduces
loss of power.
Belief and understanding
Truth casts out all evils and materialistic methods
183:27 with the actual spiritual law, - the law which gives
sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, voice
to the dumb, feet to the lame. If Christian
183:30 Science dishonors human belief, it honors spir-
itual understanding; and the one Mind only is entitled to
honor.
184:1 The so-called laws of health are simply laws of mortal
belief. The premises being erroneous, the conclusions
184:3 are wrong. Truth makes no laws to regulate sickness,
sin, and death, for these are unknown to Truth and should
not be recognized as reality.
184:6 Belief produces the results of belief, and the penal-
ties it affixes last so long as the belief and are insepara-
ble from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble
184:9 to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the
error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never
honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yield-
184:12 ing obedience to it. Truth, Life, and Love are the only
legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are
spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine
184:15 statutes.
Laws of human belief
Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmoni-
ous and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief
184:18 is discordant and mortal. We say man suffers
from the effects of cold, heat, fatigue. This
is human belief, not the truth of being, for matter cannot
184:21 suffer. Mortal mind alone suffers, - not because a law
of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this
so-called mind has been disobeyed. I have demonstrated
184:24 this as a rule of divine Science by destroying the delusion
of suffering from what is termed a fatally broken physical
law.
184:27 A woman, whom I cured of consumption, always
breathed with great difficulty when the wind was from
the east. I sat silently by her side a few moments. Her
184:30 breath came gently. The inspirations were deep and nat-
ural. I then requested her to look at the weather-vane.
She looked and saw that it pointed due east. The wind
185:1 had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her diffi-
culty in breathing had gone. The wind had not produced
185:3 the difficulty. My metaphysical treatment changed the
action of her belief on the lungs, and she never suffered
again from east winds, but was restored to health.
A so-called mind-cure
185:6 No system of hygiene but Christian Science is purely
mental. Before this book was published, other books
were in circulation, which discussed "mental
185:9 medicine" and "mind-cure," operating through
the power of the earth's magnetic currents to regulate life
and health. Such theories and such systems of so-called
185:12 mind-cure, which have sprung up, are as material as the
prevailing systems of medicine. They have their birth
in mortal mind, which puts forth a human conception
185:15 in the name of Science to match the divine Science of im-
mortal Mind, even as the necromancers of Egypt strove
to emulate the wonders wrought by Moses. Such theories
185:18 have no relationship to Christian Science, which rests on
the conception of God as the only Life, substance, and
intelligence, and excludes the human mind as a spiritual
185:21 factor in the healing work.
Jesus and hypnotism
Jesus cast out evil and healed the sick, not only with-
out drugs, but without hypnotism, which is
185:24 the reverse of ethical and pathological Truth-
power.
Erroneous mental practice may seem for a time to bene-
185:27 fit the sick, but the recovery is not permanent. This is
because erroneous methods act on and through the ma-
terial stratum of the human mind, called brain, which is
185:30 but a mortal consolidation of material mentality and its
suppositional activities.
False stimulus
A patient under the influence of mortal mind is healed
186:1 only by removing the influence on him of this mind, by
emptying his thought of the false stimulus
186:3 and reaction of will-power and filling it with
the divine energies of Truth.
Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the
186:6 understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work
determines health. Erring human mind-forces can work
only evil under whatever name or pretence they are em-
186:9 ployed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and
darkness, cannot mingle.
Evil negative and self-destructive
Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth.
186:12 It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It
is unreal, because it presupposes the absence
of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent.
186:15 Every mortal must learn that there is neither
power nor reality in evil.
Evil is self-assertive. It says: "I am a real entity, over-
186:18 mastering good." This falsehood should strip evil of all
pretensions. The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It
can never destroy one iota of good. Every attempt of evil
186:21 to destroy good is a failure, and only aids in peremptorily
punishing the evil-doer. If we concede the same reality to
discord as to harmony, discord has as lasting a claim upon
186:24 us as has harmony. If evil is as real as good, evil is also as
immortal. If death is as real as Life, immortality is a myth.
If pain is as real as the absence of pain, both must be im-
186:27 mortal; and if so, harmony cannot be the law of being.
Ignorant idolatry
Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be
self-deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it
186:30 would be better. Since it must believe in some-
thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity.
The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning,
187:1 having other gods and believing in more than the one
Mind.
187:3 As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence, how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and of His creations.
187:6 Here you may see how so-called material sense creates
its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and
then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness,
187:9 it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability
beyond itself. The beliefs of the human mind rob and
enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive
187:12 personification, named Satan.
Action of mortal mind
The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the pas-
sage of the blood, obey the mandate of mor-
187:15 tal mind as directly as does the hand, ad-
mittedly moved by the will. Anatomy allows the mental
cause of the latter action, but not of the former.
187:18 We say, "My hand hath done it." What is this /my/ but
mortal mind, the cause of all materialistic action? All
voluntary, as well as miscalled /involuntary/, action of the
187:21 mortal body is governed by this so-called mind, not by
matter. There is no involuntary action. The divine Mind
includes all action and volition, and man in Science is gov-
187:24 erned by this Mind. The human mind tries to classify
action as voluntary and involuntary, and suffers from the
attempt.
Death and the body
187:27 If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material
body loses all appearance of life or action, and this so-
called mind then calls itself dead; but the hu-
187:30 man mind still holds in belief a body, through
which it acts and which appears to the human mind to
live, - a body like the one it had before death. This body
188:1 is put off only as the mortal, erring mind yields to God,
immortal Mind, and man is found in His image.
Embryonic sinful thoughts
188:3 What is termed disease does not exist. It is neither
mind nor matter. The belief of sin, which has grown
terrible in strength and influence, is an uncon-
188:6 scious error in the beginning, - an embryonic
thought without motive; but afterwards it
governs the so-called man. Passion, depraved appetites,
188:9 dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into action, only to
pass from shame and woe to their final punishment.
Disease a dream
Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in
188:12 matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like
the dream we have in sleep, in which every one
recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of
188:15 mind. In both the waking, and the sleeping dream, the
dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering
is in that body.
188:18 The smile of the sleeper indicates the sensation pro-
duced physically by the pleasure of a dream. In the
same way pain and pleasure, sickness and care, are
188:21 traced upon mortals by unmistakable signs.
Sickness is a growth of error, springing from mortal
ignorance or fear. Error rehearses error. What causes
188:24 disease cannot cure it. The soil of disease is mortal
mind, and you have an abundant or scanty crop of disease,
according to the seedlings of fear. Sin and the fear of
188:27 disease must be uprooted and cast out.
Sense yields to understanding
When darkness comes over the earth, the physical
senses have no immediate evidence of a sun.
188:30 The human eye knows not where the orb of
day is, nor if it exists. Astronomy gives the
desired information regarding the sun. The human or
189:1 material senses yield to the authority of this science, and
they are willing to leave with astronomy the explanation of
189:3 the sun's influence over the earth. If the eyes see no sun
for a week, we still believe that there is solar light and
heat. Science (in this instance named natural) raises
189:6 the human thought above the cruder theories of the
human mind, and casts out a fear.
In like manner mortals should no more deny the power
189:9 of Christian Science to establish harmony and to explain
the effect of mortal mind on the body, though the cause
be unseen, than they should deny the existence of the sun-
189:12 light when the orb of day disappears, or doubt that the sun
will reappear. The sins of others should not make good
men suffer.
Ascending the scale
189:15 We call the body material; but it is as truly mortal
mind, according to its degree, as is the material brain
which is supposed to furnish the evidence
189:18 of all mortal thought or things. The human
mortal mind, by an inevitable perversion, makes all
things start from the lowest instead of from the highest
189:21 mortal thought. The reverse is the case with all the
formations of the immortal divine Mind. They proceed
from the divine source; and so, in tracing them, we con-
189:24 stantly ascend in infinite being.
Human reproduction
From mortal mind comes the reproduction of the
species, - first the belief of inanimate, and then of ani-
189:27 mate matter. According to mortal thought,
the development of embryonic mortal mind
commences in the lower, basal portion of the brain, and
189:30 goes on in an ascending scale by evolution, keeping always
in the direct line of matter, for matter is the subjective
condition of mortal mind.
190:1 Next we have the formation of so-called embryonic
mortal mind, afterwards mortal men or mortals, - all this
190:3 while matter is a belief, ignorant of itself, ignorant of what
it is supposed to produce. The mortal says that an inani-
mate unconscious seedling is producing mortals, both body
190:6 and mind; and yet neither a mortal mind nor the immortal
Mind is found in brain or elsewhere in matter or in mortals.
Human stature
This embryonic and materialistic human belief called
190:9 mortal man in turn fills itself with thoughts
of pain and pleasure, of life and death, and
arranges itself into five so-called senses, which presently
190:12 measure mind by the size of a brain and the bulk of a
body, called man.
Human frailty
Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the
190:15 grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades,
afterwards to wither and return to its native
nothingness. This mortal seeming is temporal;
190:18 it never merges into immortal being, but finally disap-
pears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found
to be the real man.
190:21 The Hebrew bard, swayed by mortal thoughts, thus
swept his lyre with saddening strains on human existence:
As for man, his days are as grass:
190:24 As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
And the place thereof shall know it no more.
190:27 When hope rose higher in the human heart, he sang:
As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness:
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.
. . . . .
190:30 For with Thee is the fountain of life;
In Thy light shall we see light.
191:1 The brain can give no idea of God's man. It can take no cognizance of Mind. Matter is not the organ of infi- 191:3 nite Mind.
As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than
one Mind, more than one God, man in God's likeness will
191:6 appear, and this eternal man will include in that likeness
no material element.
The immortal birth
As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a
191:9 misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine
Principle of man dawns upon human thought,
and leads it to "where the young child was,"
191:12 - even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual
sense of being and of what Life includes. This the whole
earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light,
191:15 chasing away the darkness of error.
Spiritual freedom
The human thought must free itself from self-imposed
materiality and bondage. It should no longer
191:18 ask of the head, heart, or lungs: What are
man's prospects for life? Mind is not helpless. Intelli-
gence is not mute before non-intelligence.
191:21 By its own volition, not a blade of grass springs up, not a spray buds within the vale, not a leaf unfolds its fair outlines, not a flower starts from its cloistered cell.
191:24 The Science of being reveals man and immortality as
based on Spirit. Physical sense defines mortal man as
based on matter, and from this premise infers the mor-
191:27 tality of the body.
No physical affinity
The illusive senses may fancy affinities with their op-
posites; but in Christian Science, Truth never mingles
191:30 with error. Mind has no affinity with matter,
and therefore Truth is able to cast out the ills
of the flesh. Mind, God, sends forth the aroma of Spirit,
192:1 the atmosphere of intelligence. The belief that a pulpy
substance under the skull is mind is a mockery of intelli-
192:3 gence, a mimicry of Mind.
We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance
upon that which is false and grasp the true. We are not
192:6 Christian Scientists until we leave all for Christ. Human
opinions are not spiritual. They come from the hearing
of the ear, from corporeality instead of from Principle,
192:9 and from the mortal instead of from the immortal. Spirit
is not separate from God. Spirit /is/ God.
Human power a blind force
Erring power is a material belief, a blind miscalled force,
192:12 the offspring of will and not of wisdom, of the mortal mind
and not of the immortal. It is the headlong
cataract, the devouring flame, the tempest's
192:15 breath. It is lightning and hurricane, all that is selfish,
wicked, dishonest, and impure.
The one real power
Moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who holds
192:18 the "wind in His fists;" and this teaching accords with
Science and harmony. In Science, you can
have no power opposed to God, and the physi-
192:21 cal senses must give up their false testimony. Your in-
fluence for good depends upon the weight you throw into
the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you
192:24 the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a
mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness
and falls, never to rise.
192:27 We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by follow-
ing the example of our Master in the understanding of
divine metaphysics. Christianity is the basis of true heal-
192:30 ing. Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed
love, receives directly the divine power.
Mind cures hip-disease
I was called to visit Mr. Clark in Lynn, who had been
193:1 confined to his bed six months with hip-disease, caused by
a fall upon a wooden spike when quite a boy. On enter-
193:3 ing the house I met his physician, who said that
the patient was dying. The physician had just
probed the ulcer on the hip, and said the bone was carious
193:6 for several inches. He even showed me the probe, which
had on it the evidence of this condition of the bone. The
doctor went out. Mr. Clark lay with his eyes fixed and
193:9 sightless. The dew of death was on his brow. I went to
his bedside. In a few moments his face changed; its
death-pallor gave place to a natural hue. The eyelids
193:12 closed gently and the breathing became natural; he was
asleep. In about ten minutes he opened his eyes and
said: "I feel like a new man. My suffering is all gone."
193:15 It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon
when this took place.
I told him to rise, dress himself, and take supper with
193:18 his family. He did so. The next day I saw him in the
yard. Since then I have not seen him, but am informed
that he went to work in two weeks. The discharge from
193:21 the sore stopped, and the sore was healed. The diseased
condition had continued there ever since the injury was
received in boyhood.
193:24 Since his recovery I have been informed that his physi-
cian claims to have cured him, and that his mother has
been threatened with incarceration in an insane asylum
193:27 for saying: "It was none other than God and that woman
who healed him." I cannot attest the truth of that
report, but what I saw and did for that man, and what
193:30 his physician said of the case, occurred just as I have
narrated.
It has been demonstrated to me that Life is God
194:1 and that the might of omnipotent Spirit shares not its
strength with matter or with human will. Review-
194:3 ing this brief experience, I cannot fail to discern the
coincidence of the spiritual idea of man with the divine
Mind.
Change of belief
194:6 A change in human belief changes all the physical symp-
toms, and determines a case for better or for
worse. When one's false belief is corrected
194:9 Truth sends a report of health over the body.
Destruction of the auditory nerve and paralysis of the
optic nerve are not necessary to ensure deafness and blind-
194:12 ness; for if mortal mind says, "I am deaf and blind," it
will be so without an injured nerve. Every theory op-
posed to this fact (as I learned in metaphysics) would
194:15 presuppose man, who is immortal in spiritual under-
standing, a mortal in material belief.
Power of habit
The authentic history of Kaspar Hauser is a useful hint
194:18 as to the frailty and inadequacy of mortal mind. It
proves beyond a doubt that education consti-
tutes this so-called mind, and that, in turn,
194:21 mortal mind manifests itself in the body by the false
sense it imparts. Incarcerated in a dungeon, where
neither sight nor sound could reach him, at the age of
194:24 seventeen Kaspar was still a mental infant, crying and
chattering with no more intelligence than a babe, and
realizing Tennyson's description:
194:27 An infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.
194:30 His case proves material sense to be but a belief formed
by education alone. The light which affords us joy gave
195:1 him a belief of intense pain. His eyes were inflamed by
the light. After the babbling boy had been taught to
195:3 speak a few words, he asked to be taken back to his dun-
geon, and said that he should never be happy elsewhere.
Outside of dismal darkness and cold silence he found no
195:6 peace. Every sound convulsed him with anguish. All
that he ate, except his black crust, produced violent
retchings. All that gives pleasure to our educated senses
195:9 gave him pain through those very senses, trained in an
opposite direction.
Useful knowledge
The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal
195:12 mind or immortal Mind that is causative. We
should forsake the basis of matter for meta-
physical Science and its divine Principle.
195:15 Whatever furnishes the semblance of an idea governed
by its Principle, furnishes food for thought. Through as-
tronomy, natural history, chemistry, music, mathematics,
195:18 thought passes naturally from effect back to cause.
Academics of the right sort are requisite. Observa-
tion, invention, study, and original thought are expansive
195:21 and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of it-
self, out of all that is mortal.
It is the tangled barbarisms of learning which we
195:24 deplore, - the mere dogma, the speculative theory, the
nauseous fiction. Novels, remarkable only for their
exaggerated pictures, impossible ideals, and specimens
195:27 of depravity, fill our young readers with wrong tastes
and sentiments. Literary commercialism is lowering the
intellectual standard to accommodate the purse and to
195:30 meet a frivolous demand for amusement instead of for
improvement. Incorrect views lower the standard of
truth.
196:1 If materialistic knowledge is power, it is not wisdom.
It is but a blind force. Man has "sought out many inven-
196:3 tions," but he has not yet found it true that knowledge can
save him from the dire effects of knowledge. The power
of mortal mind over its own body is little understood.
Sin destroyed through suffering
196:6 Better the suffering which awakens mortal mind from
its fleshly dream, than the false pleasures
which tend to perpetuate this dream. Sin
196:9 alone brings death, for sin is the only element
of destruction.
"Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body
196:12 in hell," said Jesus. A careful study of this text allows
that here the word soul means a false sense or material
consciousness. The command was a warning to beware,
196:15 not of Rome, Satan, nor of God, but of sin. Sickness,
sin, and death are not concomitants of Life or Truth.
No law supports them. They have no relation to God
196:18 wherewith to establish their power. Sin makes its own
hell, and goodness its own heaven.
Dangerous shoals avoided
Such books as will rule disease out of mortal mind, -
196:21 and so efface the images and thoughts of dis-
ease, instead of impressing them with forcible
descriptions and medical details, - will help
196:24 to abate sickness and to destroy it.
Many a hopeless case of disease is induced by a single
/post mortem/ examination, - not from infection nor from
196:27 contact with material virus, but from the fear of the
disease and from the image brought before the mind; it
is a mental state, which is afterwards outlined on the
196:30 body.
Pangs caused by the press
The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and
diseases among the human family. It does this by giv-
197:1 ing names to diseases and by printing long descriptions
which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A
197:3 new name for an ailment affects people like a
Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one
hastens to get it. A minutely described dis-
197:6 ease costs many a man his earthly days of comfort. What
a price for human knowledge! But the price does not ex-
ceed the original cost. God said of the tree of knowledge,
197:9 which bears the fruit of sin, disease, and death, "In the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Higher standard for mortals
The less that is said of physical structure and laws, and
197:12 the more that is thought and said about moral
and spiritual law, the higher will be the stand-
ard of living and the farther mortals will be re-
197:15 moved from imbecility or disease.
We should master fear, instead of cultivating it. It
was the ignorance of our forefathers in the departments
197:18 of knowledge now broadcast in the earth, that made them
hardier than our trained physiologists, more honest than
our sleek politicians.
Diet and dyspepsia
197:21 We are told that the simple food our forefathers ate
helped to make them healthy, but that is a mistake.
Their diet would not cure dyspepsia at this
197:24 period. With rules of health in the head
and the most digestible food in the stomach, there would
still be dyspeptics. Many of the effeminate constitutions
197:27 of our time will never grow robust until individual opin-
ions improve and immortal belief loses some portion of its
error.
Harm done by physicians
197:30 The doctor's mind reaches that of his patient. The
doctor should suppress his fear of disease, else his belief
in its reality and fatality will harm his patients even more
198:1 than his calomel and morphine, for the higher stratum of
mortal mind has in belief more power to harm man than
198:3 the substratum, matter. A patient hears the
doctor's verdict as a criminal hears his death-
sentence. The patient may seem calm under it, but he is
198:6 not. His fortitude may sustain him, but his fear, which
has already developed the disease that is gaining the
mastery, is increased by the physician's words.
Disease depicted
198:9 The materialistic doctor, though humane, is an art-
ist who outlines his thought relative to disease, and then
fills in his delineations with sketches from text-
198:12 books. It is better to prevent disease from
forming in mortal mind afterwards to appear on the
body; but to do this requires attention. The thought of
198:15 disease is formed before one sees a doctor and before
the doctor undertakes to dispel it by a counter-irritant,
- perhaps by a blister, by the application of caustic or
198:18 croton oil, or by a surgical operation. Again, giving an-
other direction to faith, the physician prescribes drugs,
until the elasticity of mortal thought haply causes a
198:21 vigorous reaction upon itself, and reproduces a picture
of healthy and harmonious formations.
A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed
198:24 by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor
says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his
patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the
198:27 weaker. Hence the importance that doctors be Christian
Scientists.
Mind over matter
Because the muscles of the blacksmith's arm are
198:30 strongly developed, it does not follow that
exercise has produced this result or that a
less used arm must be weak. If matter were the cause
199:1 of action, and if muscles, without volition of mortal
mind, could lift the hammer and strike the anvil, it
199:3 might be thought true that hammering would enlarge
the muscles. The trip-hammer is not increased in size
by exercise. Why not, since muscles are as material as
199:6 wood and iron? Because nobody believes that mind is
producing such a result on the hammer.
Muscles are not self-acting. If mind does not move
199:9 them, they are motionless. Hence the great fact that
Mind alone enlarges and empowers man through its
mandate, - by reason of its demand for and supply of
199:12 power. Not because of muscular exercise, but by rea-
son of the blacksmith's faith in exercise, his arm becomes
stronger.
Latent fear subdued
199:15 Mortals develop their own bodies or make them sick,
according as they influence them through mortal mind.
To know whether this development is produced
199:18 consciously or unconsciously, is of less impor-
tance than a knowledge of the fact. The feats of the gym-
nast prove that latent mental fears are subdued by him.
199:21 The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes
the achievement possible. Exceptions only confirm this
rule, proving that failure is occasioned by a too feeble
199:24 faith.
Had Blondin believed it impossible to walk the rope
over Niagara's abyss of waters, he could never have
199:27 done it. His belief that he could do it gave his thought-
forces, called muscles, their flexibility and power which
the unscientific might attribute to a lubricating oil. His
199:30 fear must have disappeared before his power of putting
resolve into action could appear.
Homer and Moses
When Homer sang of the Grecian gods, Olympus was
200:1 dark, but through his verse the gods became alive in a
nation's belief. Pagan worship began with muscularity,
200:3 but the law of Sinai lifted thought into the
song of David. Moses advanced a nation to
the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and il-
200:6 lustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed
by immortal Mind.
A mortal not man
Whoever is incompetent to explain Soul would be wise
200:9 not to undertake the explanation of body. Life is, always
has been, and ever will be independent of
matter; for life is God, and man is the idea
200:12 of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not
subject to decay and dust. The Psalmist said: "Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy
200:15 hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet."
The great truth in the Science of being, that the real
man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible;
200:18 for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither
inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.
The suppositional antipode of divine infinite Spirit
200:21 is the so-called human soul or spirit, in other words
the five senses, - the flesh that warreth against Spirit.
These so called material senses must yield to the infinite
200:24 Spirit, named God.
St. Paul said: "For I determined not to know any-
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
200:27 (I Cor. ii. 2.) Christian Science says: I am determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and
him glorified.
CHAPTER VIII - FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH
Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine anointed. - PSALMS.
Practical preaching
201:1 THE best sermon ever preached is Truth practised
and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness,
201:3 and death. Knowing this and knowing too
that one affection would be supreme in us and
take the lead in our lives, Jesus said, "No man can serve
201:6 two masters."
We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth
makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away
201:9 and "all things are become new." Passions, selfishness,
false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirit-
uality, and the superabundance of being is on the side
201:12 of God, good.
The uses of truth
We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be
emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when
201:15 the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our
tatters close about us.
The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour
201:18 in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfec-
tion is won on no other basis.
Grafting holiness upon unholiness, supposing that sin
202:1 can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as
straining out gnats and swallowing camels.
202:3 The scientific unity which exists between God and man
must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must
be universally done.
Divine study
202:6 If men would bring to bear upon the study of the
Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so-
called pains and pleasures of material sense,
202:9 they would not go on from bad to worse,
until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but
the whole human family would be redeemed through
202:12 the merits of Christ, - through the perception and ac-
ceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian
Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding.
Harmonious life-work
202:15 Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal
man, in accord with the divine Principle of His being,
God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days
202:18 of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di-
minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the
true way leads to life instead of to death, and earthly
202:21 experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite
capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion
over all the earth.
Belief and practice
202:24 Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict the practice growing out of them. Error abounds where Truth should "much more abound." We
202:27 admit that God has almighty power, is "a
very present help in trouble;" and yet we rely on a drug
or hypnotism to heal disease, as if senseless matter or err-
202:30 ing mortal mind had more power than omnipotent Spirit.
Sure reward of righteousness
Common opinion admits that a man may take cold in
the act of doing good, and that this cold may produce
203:1 fatal pulmonary disease; as though evil could overbear
the law of Love, and check the reward for do-
203:3 ing good. In the Science of Christianity, Mind
- omnipotence - has all-power, assigns sure
rewards to righteousness, and shows that matter can
203:6 neither heal nor make sick, create nor destroy.
Our belief and understanding
If God were understood instead of being merely be-
lieved, this understanding would establish health. The
203:9 accusation of the rabbis, "He made himself
the Son of God," was really the justification
of Jesus, for to the Christian the only true
203:12 spirit is Godlike. This thought incites to a more exalted
worship and self-abnegation. Spiritual perception brings
out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught
203:15 but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in
deed and in truth.
Suicide and sin
We are prone to believe either in more than one Su-
203:18 preme Ruler or in some power less than God. We im-
agine that Mind can be imprisoned in a sensuous body.
When the material body has gone to ruin, when evil has
203:21 overtaxed the belief of life in matter and destroyed it,
then mortals believe that the deathless Principle, or
Soul, escapes from matter and lives on; but this is not
203:24 true. Death is not a stepping-stone to life, immortality,
and bliss. The so-called sinner is a suicide.
Sin kills the sinner and will continue to kill
203:27 him so long as he sins. The foam and fury of illegiti-
mate living and of fearful and doleful dying should
disappear on the shore of time; then the waves of sin,
203:30 sorrow, and death beat in vain.
God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give
him eternal Life, for God alone is man's life. God is at
204:1 once the centre and circumference of being. It is evil
that dies; good dies not.
Spirit the only intelligence and substance
204:3 All forms of error support the false conclusions that
there is more than one Life; that material history is as
real and living as spiritual history; that mortal
204:6 error is as conclusively mental as immortal
Truth; and that there are two separate, an-
tagonistic entities and beings, two powers, - namely,
204:9 Spirit and matter, - resulting in a third person (mortal
man) who carries out the delusions of sin, sickness, and
death.
204:12 The first power is admitted to be good, an intelligence or
Mind called God. The so-called second power, evil, is the
unlikeness of good. It cannot therefore be mind, though
204:15 so called. The third power, mortal man, is a supposed
mixture of the first and second antagonistic powers, in-
telligence and non-intelligence, of Spirit and matter.
Unscientific theories
204:18 Such theories are evidently erroneous. They can never
stand the test of Science. Judging them by their fruits,
they are corrupt. When will the ages under-
204:21 stand the Ego, and realize only one God, one
Mind or intelligence?
False and self-assertive theories have given sinners the
204:24 notion that they can create what God cannot, - namely,
sinful mortals in God's image, thus usurping the name
without the nature of the image or reflection of divine
204:27 Mind; but in Science it can never be said that man
has a mind of his own, distinct from God, the /all/
Mind.
204:30 The belief that God lives in matter is pantheistic. The
error, which says that Soul is in body, Mind is in matter,
and good is in evil, must unsay it and cease from such
205:1 utterances; else God will continue to be hidden from hu-
manity, and mortals will sin without knowing that they
205:3 are sinning, will lean on matter instead of Spirit, stumble
with lameness, drop with drunkenness, consume with dis-
case, - all because of their blindness, their false sense
205:6 concerning God and man.
Creation perfect
When will the error of believing that there is life in
matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of
205:9 God, be unmasked? When will it be under-
stood that matter has neither intelligence, life,
nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific
205:12 source of all suffering? God created all through Mind,
and made all perfect and eternal. Where then is the
necessity for recreation or procreation?
Perceiving the divine image
205:15 Befogged in error (the error of believing that matter
can be intelligent for good or evil), we can catch clear
glimpses of God only as the mists disperse,
205:18 or as they melt into such thinness that we per-
ceive the divine image in some word or deed
which indicates the true idea, - the supremacy and real-
205:21 ity of good, the nothingness and unreality of evil.
Redemption from selfishness
When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law
of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded;
205:24 whereas a belief in many ruling minds hinders
man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one
God, and leads human thought into opposite channels
205:27 where selfishness reigns.
Selfishness tips the beam of human existence towards
the side of error, not towards Truth. Denial of the one-
205:30 ness of Mind throws our weight into the scale, not of
Spirit, God, good, but of matter.
When we fully understand our relation to the Divine,
206:1 we can have no other Mind but His, - no other Love,
wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no con-
206:3 sciousness of the existence of matter or error.
Will-power unrighteous
The power of the human will should be exercised only
in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judg-
206:6 ment and free the lower propensities. It is the
province of spiritual sense to govern man.
Material, erring, human thought acts injuriously both
206:9 upon the body and through it.
Will-power is capable of all evil. It can never heal
the sick, for it is the prayer of the unrighteous; while
206:12 the exercise of the sentiments - hope, faith, love - is the
prayer of the righteous. This prayer, governed by Science
instead of the senses, heals the sick.
206:15 In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that
whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with
the loaves and the fishes, - Spirit, not matter, being the
206:18 source of supply.
Birth and death unreal
Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child
for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away
206:21 by death? Is God creating anew what He
has already created? The Scriptures are defi-
nite on this point, declaring that His work was/ finished/,
206:24 nothing is new to God, and that it was /good/.
Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual
image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending
206:27 sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light
immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all
and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes
206:30 and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man
to sin, to be sick, or to die.
No evil in Spirit
There are evil beliefs, often called evil spirits; but
207:1 these evils are not Spirit, for there is no evil in Spirit.
Because God is Spirit, evil becomes more apparent and
207:3 obnoxious proportionately as we advance spir-
itually, until it disappears from our lives.
This fact proves our position, for every scientific state-
207:6 ment in Christianity has its proof. Error of statement
leads to error in action.
Subordination of evil
God is not the creator of an evil mind. Indeed, evil
207:9 is not Mind. We must learn that evil is the awful decep-
tion and unreality of existence. Evil is not
supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the
207:12 so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit
secondary. Without this lesson, we lose sight of the per-
fect Father, or the divine Principle of man.
Evident impossibilities
207:15 Body is not first and Soul last, nor is evil mightier than
good. The Science of being repudiates self-
evident impossibilities, such as the amalgama-
207:18 tion of Truth and error in cause or effect. Science sepa-
rates the tares and wheat in time of harvest.
One primal cause
There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can
207:21 be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no
reality in aught which does not proceed from
this great and only cause. Sin, sickness, dis-
207:24 ease, and death belong not to the Science of being. They
are the errors, which presuppose the absence of Truth,
Life, or Love.
207:27 The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things.
The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the
whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth.
207:30 Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord,
which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real.
The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from
208:1 suppositional error, which affords no proof of God,
Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense de-
208:3 fines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the
infinite.
Seemingly independent authority
The Scriptures say, "In Him we live, and move, and
208:6 have our being." What then is this seeming power, in-
dependent of God, which causes disease and
cures it? What is it but an error of belief, -
208:9 a law of mortal mind, wrong in every sense,
embracing sin, sickness, and death? It is the very anti-
pode of immortal Mind, of Truth, and of spiritual law.
208:12 It is not in accordance with the goodness of God's char-
acter that He should make man sick, then leave man to
heal himself; it is absurd to suppose that matter can both
208:15 cause and cure disease, or that Spirit, God, produces
disease and leaves the remedy to matter.
John Young of Edinburgh writes: "God is the father
208:18 of mind, and of nothing else." Such an utterance is
"the voice of one crying in the wilderness" of human
beliefs and preparing the way of Science. Let us learn
208:21 of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of
Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, - the reign and rule of
universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain
208:24 forever unseen.
Sickness as only thought
Mind, not matter, is causation. A material body
only expresses a material and mortal mind. A mortal
208:27 man possesses this body, and he makes it
harmonious or discordant according to the
images of thought impressed upon it. You embrace
208:30 your body in your thought, and you should delineate
upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness. You should
banish all thoughts of disease and sin and of other beliefs
209:1 included in matter. Man, being immortal, has a perfect
indestructible life. It is the mortal belief which makes
209:3 the body discordant and diseased in proportion as igno-
rance, /fear/, or human will governs mortals.
Allness of Truth
Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing
209:6 them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas,
the life and light of all its own vast creation;
and man is tributary to divine Mind. The
209:9 material and mortal body or mind is not the man.
The world would collapse without Mind, without the in-
telligence which holds the winds in its grasp. Neither
209:12 philosophy nor skepticism can hinder the march of the
Science which reveals the supremacy of Mind. The im-
manent sense of Mind-power enhances the glory of Mind.
209:15 Nearness, not distance, lends enchantment to this view.
Spiritual translation
The compounded minerals or aggregated substances
composing the earth, the relations which constituent
209:18 masses hold to each other, the magnitudes,
distances, and revolutions of the celestial
bodies, are of no real importance, when we remember
209:21 that they all must give place to the spiritual fact by the
translation of man and the universe back into Spirit. In
proportion as this is done, man and the universe will be
209:24 found harmonious and eternal.
Material substances or mundane formations, astro-
nomical calculations, and all the paraphernalia of specu-
209:27 lative theories, based on the hypothesis of material law
or life and intelligence resident in matter, will ulti-
mately vanish, swallowed up in the infinite calculus of
209:30 Spirit.
Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to un-
derstand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works
210:1 over faith in words. Its ideas are expressed only in "new
tongues;" and these are interpreted by the translation of
210:3 the spiritual original into the language which human
thought can comprehend.
Jesus' disregard of matter
The Principle and proof of Christianity are discerned
210:6 by spiritual sense. They are set forth in Jesus' demon-
strations, which show - by his healing the
sick, casting out evils, and destroying death,
210:9 "the last enemy that shall be destroyed," -
his disregard of matter and its so-called laws.
Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever
manifested through man, the Master healed the sick,
gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the
lame, thus bringing to light the scientific action of the
210:15 divine Mind on human minds and bodies and giving
a better understanding of Soul and salvation. Jesus
healed sickness and sin by one and the same metaphysical
210:18 process.
Mind not mortal
The expression /mortal mind/ is really a solecism, for
Mind is immortal, and Truth pierces the error of mortality
210:21 as a sunbeam penetrates the cloud. Because,
in obedience to the immutable law of Spirit,
this so-called mind is self-destructive, I name it mortal.
210:24 Error soweth the wind and reapeth the whirlwind.
Matter mindless
What is termed matter, being unintelligent, cannot say,
"I suffer, I die, I am sick, or I am well." It is the so-
210:27 called mortal mind which voices this and ap-
pears to itself to make good its claim. To
mortal sense, sin and suffering are real, but immortal
210:30 sense includes no evil nor pestilence. Because immortal
sense has no error of sense, it has no sense of error; there
fore it is without a destructive element.
211:1 If brain, nerves, stomach, are intelligent, - if they talk
to us, tell us their condition, and report how they feel, -
211:3 then Spirit and matter, Truth and error, commingle
and produce sickness and health, good and evil, life and
death; and who shall say whether Truth or error is the
211:6 greater?
Matter sensationless
The sensations of the body must either be the sensa-
tions of a so-called mortal mind or of matter. Nerves
211:9 are not mind. Is it not provable that Mind is
not /mortal/ and that matter has no sensation?
Is it not equally true that matter does not appear in the
211:12 spiritual understanding of being?
The sensation of sickness and the impulse to sin seem
to obtain in mortal mind. When a tear starts, does not
211:15 this so-called mind produce the effect seen in the lachry-
mal gland? Without mortal mind, the tear could not
appear; and this action shows the nature of all so-called
211:18 material cause and effect.
It should no longer be said in Israel that "the fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set
211:21 on edge." Sympathy with error should disappear. The
transfer of the thoughts of one erring mind to another,
Science renders impossible.
Nerves painless
211:24 If it is true that nerves have sensation, that matter has
intelligence, that the material organism causes the eyes to
see and the ears to hear, then, when the body
211:27 is dematerialized, these faculties must be lost,
for their immortality is not in Spirit; whereas the fact
is that only through dematerialization and spiritualiza-
211:30 tion of thought can these faculties be conceived of as
immortal.
Nerves are not the source of pain or pleasure. We
212:1 suffer or enjoy in our dreams, but this pain or pleasure
is not communicated through a nerve. A tooth which has
212:3 been extracted sometimes aches again in belief, and the
pain seems to be in its old place. A limb which has been
amputated has continued in belief to pain the owner. If
212:6 the sensation of pain in the limb can return, can be pro-
longed, why cannot the limb reappear?
Why need pain, rather than pleasure, come to this mor-
212:9 tal sense? Because the memory of pain is more vivid
than the memory of pleasure. I have seen an unwitting
attempt to scratch the end of a finger which had been cut
212:12 off for months. When the nerve is gone, which we say
was the occasion of pain, and the pain still remains, it
proves sensation to be in the mortal mind, not in matter.
212:15 Reverse the process; take away this so-called mind instead
of a piece of the flesh, and the nerves have no sensation.
Human falsities
Mortals have a modus of their own, undirected and un-
212:18 sustained by God. They produce a rose through seed and
soil, and bring the rose into contact with the
olfactory nerves that they may smell it. In
212:21 legerdemain and credulous frenzy, mortals believe that
unseen spirits produce the flowers. God alone makes
and clothes the lilies of the field, and this He does by
212:24 means of Mind, not matter.
No miracles in Mind-methods
Because all the methods of Mind are not understood,
we say the lips or hands must move in order to convey
212:27 thought, that the undulations of the air convey
sound, and possibly that other methods involve
so-called miracles. The realities of being, its
212:30 normal action, and the origin of all things are unseen to
mortal sense; whereas the unreal and imitative move-
ments of mortal belief, which would reverse the immortal
213:1 modus and action, are styled the real. Whoever con-
tradicts this mortal mind supposition of reality is called
213:3 a deceiver, or is said to be deceived. Of a man it has
been said, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he;" hence
as a man spiritually /understandeth/, so is he in truth.
Good indefinable
213:6 Mortal mind conceives of something as either liquid
or solid, and then classifies it materially. Immortal and
spiritual facts exist apart from this mortal and
213:9 material conception. God, good, is self-exist-
ent and self-expressed, though indefinable as a whole.
Every step towards goodness is a departure from materi-
213:12 ality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit. Material
theories partially paralyze this attraction towards infinite
and eternal good by an opposite attraction towards the
213:15 finite, temporary, and discordant.
Sound is a mental impression made on mortal belief.
The ear does not really hear. Divine Science reveals
213:18 sound as communicated through the senses of Soul -
through spiritual understanding.
Music, rhythm of head and heart
Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The
213:21 rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He
was a musician beyond what the world knew.
This was even more strikingly true of Beet-
213:24 hoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Men-
tal melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede con-
scious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart.
213:27 Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing
either discord or harmony according as the hand, which
sweeps over it, is human or divine.
213:30 Before human knowledge dipped to its depths into a
false sense of things, - into belief in material origins
which discard the one Mind and true source of being, -
214:1 it is possible that the impressions from Truth were as
distinct as sound, and that they came as sound to the
214:3 primitive prophets. If the medium of hearing is wholly
spiritual, it is normal and indestructible.
If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence
214:6 before his material senses, he could never have "walked
with God," nor been guided into the demonstration of
life eternal.
Adam and the senses
214:9 Adam, represented in the Scriptures as formed from
dust, is an object-lesson for the human mind. The mate-
rial senses, like Adam, originate in matter and
214:12 return to dust, - are proved non-intelligent.
They go out as they came in, for they are still the error,
not the truth of being. When it is learned that the spirit-
214:15 ual sense, and not the material, conveys the impressions
of Mind to man, then being will be understood and found
to be harmonious.
Idolatrous illusions
214:18 We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts
of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to
fear and to obey what they consider a material
214:21 body more than they do a spiritual God. All
material knowledge, like the original "tree of knowledge,"
multiplies their pains, for mortal illusions would rob God,
214:24 slay man, and meanwhile would spread their table with
cannibal tidbits and give thanks.
The senses of Soul
How transient a sense is mortal sight, when a wound on
214:27 the retina may end the power of light and lens! But the
real sight or sense is not lost. Neither age nor
accident can interfere with the senses of Soul,
214:30 and there are no other real senses. It is evident that the
body as matter has no sensation of its own, and there is no
oblivion for Soul and its faculties. Spirit's senses are with-
215:1 out pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide
from them the harmony of all things and the might and
215:3 permanence of Truth.
Real being never lost
If Spirit, Soul, could sin or be lost, then being and im-
mortality would be lost, together with all the faculties of
215:6 Mind; but being cannot be lost while God ex-
ists. Soul and matter are at variance from the
very necessity of their opposite natures. Mortals are
215:9 unacquainted with the reality of existence, because matter
and mortality do not reflect the facts of Spirit.
Spiritual vision is not subordinate to geometric alti-
215:12 tudes. Whatever is governed by God, is never for an
instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence
and Life.
Light and darkness
215:15 We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real
as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal
sense of the absence of light, at the coming of
215:18 which darkness loses the appearance of reality.
So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional
absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before
215:21 truth and love.
With its divine proof, Science reverses the evidence of
material sense. Every quality and condition of mortality
215:24 is lost, swallowed up in immortality. Mortal man is the
antipode of immortal man in origin, in existence, and in his
relation to God.
Faith of Socrates
215:27 Because he understood the superiority and immor-
tality of good, Socrates feared not the hemlock poison.
Even the faith of his philosophy spurned phys-
215:30 ical timidity. Having sought man's spiritual
state, he recognized the immortality of man. The igno-
rance and malice of the age would have killed the vener-
216:1 able philosopher because of his faith in Soul and his in-
difference to the body.
The serpent of error
216:3 Who shall say that man is alive to-day, but may be dead
to-morrow? What has touched Life, God, to such
strange issues? Here theories cease, and Sci-
216:6 ence unveils the mystery and solves the prob-
lem of man. Error bites the heel of truth, but cannot kill
truth. Truth bruises the head of error - destroys error.
216:9 Spirituality lays open siege to materialism. On which
side are we fighting?
Servants and masters
The understanding that the Ego is Mind, and that
216:12 there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to
destroy the errors of mortal sense and to supply
the truth of immortal sense. This understand-
216:15 ing makes the body harmonious; it makes the nerves,
bones, brain, etc., servants, instead of masters. If man
is governed by the law of divine Mind, his body is in sub-
216:18 mission to everlasting Life and Truth and Love. The
great mistake of mortals is to suppose that man, God's
image and likeness, is both matter and Spirit, both good
216:21 and evil.
If the decision were left to the corporeal senses, evil
would appear to be the master of good, and sickness to
216:24 be the rule of existence, while health would seem the
exception, death the inevitable, and life a paradox. Paul
asked: "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor-
216:27 inthians vi. 15.)
Personal identity
When you say, "Man's body is material," I say with
Paul: Be "willing rather to be absent from the body,
216:30 and to be present with the Lord." Give up
your material belief of mind in matter, and
have but one Mind, even God; for this Mind forms its
217:1 own likeness. The loss of man's identity through the
understanding which Science confers is impossible; and
217:3 the notion of such a possibility is more absurd than to
conclude that individual musical tones are lost in the
origin of harmony.
Paul's experience
217:6 Medical schools may inform us that the healing work
of Christian Science and Paul's peculiar Christian con-
version and experience, - which prove Mind
217:9 to be scientifically distinct from matter, - are
indications of unnatural mental and bodily conditions,
even of catalepsy and hysteria; yet if we turn to the Scrip-
217:12 tures, what do we read? Why, this: "If a man keep my
saying, he shall never see death!" and "Henceforth know
we no man after the flesh!"
Fatigue is mental
217:15 That scientific methods are superior to others, is
seen by their effects. When you have once conquered
a diseased condition of the body through
217:18 Mind, that condition never recurs, and you
have won a point in Science. When mentality gives
rest to the body, the next toil will fatigue you less, for
217:21 you are working out the problem of being in divine meta-
physics; and in proportion as you understand the con-
trol which Mind has over so-called matter, you will be
217:24 able to demonstrate this control. The scientific and
permanent remedy for fatigue is to learn the power of
Mind over the body or any illusion of physical weariness,
217:27 and so destroy this illusion, for matter cannot be weary
and heavy-laden.
You say, "Toil fatigues me." But what is this /me/!
217:30 Is it muscle or mind? Which is tired and so speaks?
Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the
muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non-
218:1 intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that
which affirms weariness, made that weariness.
Mind never weary
218:3 You do not say a wheel is fatigued; and yet the body
is as material as the wheel. If it were not for what the
human mind says of the body, the body, like
218:6 the inanimate wheel, would never be weary.
The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of
repose in unconsciousness.
Coalition of sin and sickness
218:9 The body is supposed to say, "I am ill." The reports
of sickness may form a coalition with the reports of sin,
and say, "I am malice, lust, appetite, envy,
218:12 hate." What renders both sin and sickness
difficult of cure is, that the human mind is the
sinner, disinclined to self-correction, and believing that
218:15 the body can be sick independently of mortal mind and
that the divine Mind has no jurisdiction over the body.
Sickness akin to sin
Why pray for the recovery of the sick, if you are with-
218:18 out faith in God's willingness and ability to heal them?
If you do believe in God, why do you sub-
stitute drugs for the Almighty's power, and
218:21 employ means which lead only into material ways of
obtaining help, instead of turning in time of need to
God, divine Love, who is an ever-present help?
218:24 Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as intelligent, as having sensation or power.
218:27 The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon the Lord
. . . shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
and not faint." The meaning of that passage is not
218:30 perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue,
for the moral and physical are as one in their results.
When we wake to the truth of being, all disease,
219:1 pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be
unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease. My
219:3 method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments,
since Mind should be, and is, supreme, absolute, and
final.
Affirmation and result
219:6 In mathematics, we do not multiply when we should
subtract, and then say the product is correct. No more
can we say in Science that muscles give strength,
219:9 that nerves give pain or pleasure, or that matter
governs, and then expect that the result will be harmony.
Not muscles, nerves, nor bones, but mortal mind makes
219:12 the whole body "sick, and the whole heart faint;" whereas
divine Mind heals.
When this is understood, we shall never affirm concern-
219:15 ing the body what we do not wish to have manifested. We
shall not call the body weak, if we would have it strong;
for the belief in feebleness must obtain in the human
219:18 mind before it can be made manifest on the body, and
the destruction of the belief will be the removal of its
effects. Science includes no rule of discord, but governs
219:21 harmoniously. "The wish," says the poet, "is ever father
to the thought."
Scientific beginning
We may hear a sweet melody, and yet misunderstand
219:24 the science that governs it. Those who are healed
through metaphysical Science, not compre-
hending the Principle of the cure, may misun-
219:27 derstand it, and impute their recovery to change of air or
diet, not rendering to God the honor due to Him alone.
Entire immunity from the belief in sin, suffering, and
219:30 death may not be reached at this period, but we may look
for an abatement of these evils; and this scientific begin-
ning is in the right direction.
Hygiene ineffectual
220:1 We hear it said: " I exercise daily in the open air. I
take cold baths, in order to overcome a predisposition to
220:3 take cold; and yet I have continual colds,
catarrh, and cough." Such admissions ought
to open people's eyes to the inefficacy of material hygiene,
220:6 and induce sufferers to look in other directions for cause
and cure.
Instinct is better than misguided reason, as even na-
220:9 ture declares. The violet lifts her blue eye to greet the
early spring. The leaves clap their hands as nature's
untired worshippers. The snowbird sings and soars
220:12 amid the blasts; he has no catarrh from wet feet, and
procures a summer residence with more ease than a na-
bob. The atmosphere of the earth, kinder than the at-
220:15 mosphere of mortal mind, leaves catarrh to the latter.
Colds, coughs, and contagion are engendered solely by
human theories.
The reflex phenomena
220:18 Mortal mind produces its own phenomena, and then
charges them to something else, - like a kitten
glancing into the mirror at itself and thinking
220:21 it sees another kitten.
A clergyman once adopted a diet of bread and water
to increase his spirituality. Finding his health failing,
220:24 he gave up his abstinence, and advised others never to
try dietetics for growth in grace.
Volition far-reaching
The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men
220:27 better morally or physically is one of the fruits of "the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil," con-
cerning which God said, "Thou shalt not eat
220:30 of it." Mortal mind forms all conditions of the mortal
body, and controls the stomach, bones, lungs, heart, blood,
etc., as directly as the volition or will moves the mind.
Starvation and dyspepsia
221:1 I knew a person who when quite a child adopted the
Graham system to cure dyspepsia. For many years, he
221:3 ate only bread and vegetables, and drank noth-
ing but water. His dyspepsia increasing, he
decided that his diet should be more rigid, and
221:6 thereafter he partook of but one meal in twenty-four
hours, this meal consisting of only a thin slice of bread
without water. His physician also recommended that
221:9 he should not wet his parched throat until three hours
after eating. He passed many weary years in hunger
and weakness, almost in starvation, and finally made up
221:12 his mind to die, having exhausted the skill of the doctors,
who kindly informed him that death was indeed his only
alternative. At this point Christian Science saved him,
221:15 and he is now in perfect health without a vestige of the
old complaint.
He learned that suffering and disease were the self-
221:18 imposed beliefs of mortals, and not the facts of being;
that God never decreed disease, - never ordained a law
that fasting should be a means of health. Hence semi-
221:21 starvation is not acceptable to wisdom, and it is equally
far from Science, in which being is sustained by God, Mind.
These truths, opening his eyes, relieved his stomach, and
221:24 he ate without suffering, "giving God thanks;" but he
never enjoyed his food as he had imagined he would
when, still the slave of matter, he thought of the flesh-
221:27 pots of Egypt, feeling childhood's hunger and undisci-
plined by self-denial and divine Science.
Mind and stomach
This new-born understanding, that neither food nor
221:30 the stomach, without the consent of mortal
mind, can make one suffer, brings with it an-
other lesson, - that gluttony is a sensual illusion, and
222:1 that this phantasm of mortal mind disappears as we better
apprehend our spiritual existence and ascend the ladder
222:3 of life.
This person learned that food affects the body only
as mortal mind has its material methods of working, one
222:6 of which is to believe that proper food supplies nutriment
and strength to the human system. He learned also that
mortal mind makes a mortal body, whereas Truth re-
222:9 generates this fleshly mind and feeds thought with the
bread of Life.
Food had less power to help or to hurt him after he
222:12 had availed himself of the fact that Mind governs man,
and he also had less faith in the so-called pleasures and
pains of matter. Taking less thought about what he
222:15 should eat or drink, consulting the stomach less about
the economy of living and God more, he recovered
strength and flesh rapidly. For many years he had
222:18 been kept alive, as was believed, only by the strictest ad-
herence to hygiene and drugs, and yet he continued ill
all the while. Now he dropped drugs and material
222:21 hygiene, and was well.
He learned that a dyspeptic was very far from being
the image and likeness of God, - far from having "do-
222:24 minion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle," if eating a bit of animal flesh
could overpower him. He finally concluded that God
222:27 never made a dyspeptic, while fear, hygiene, physiology,
and physics had made him one, contrary to His commands.
Life only in Spirit
In seeking a cure for dyspepsia consult matter not at
222:30 all, and eat what is set before you, "asking
no question for conscience sake." We must
destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in
223:1 matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and per-
fect. Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
223:3 fulfil the lust of the flesh." Sooner or later we shall learn
that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the
illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter
223:6 instead of in Spirit.
Soul greater than body
Matter does not express Spirit. God is infinite omni-
present Spirit. If Spirit is /all/ and is everywhere, what
223:9 and where is matter? Remember that truth
is greater than error, and we cannot put the
greater into the less. Soul is Spirit, and Spirit is greater
223:12 than body. If Spirit were once within the body, Spirit
would be finite, and therefore could not be Spirit.
The question of the ages
The question, "What is Truth," convulses the world.
223:15 Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance
which comes of understanding; but more are
blinded by their old illusions, and try to "give
223:18 it pause." "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch."
The efforts of error to answer this question by some
223:21 /ology/ are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought ac-
company approaching Science, and cannot be put down.
They will emancipate humanity, and supplant unscientific
223:24 means and so-called laws.
Heralds of Science
Peals that should startle the slumbering thought from
its erroneous dream are partially unheeded; but the last
223:27 trump has not sounded, or this would not be
so. Marvels, calamities, and sin will much
more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted
223:30 claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and
foreshadows the triumph of truth. God will over-
turn, until "He come whose right it is." Longevity
224:1 is increasing and the power of sin diminishing, for the,
world feels the alterative effect of truth through every
224:3 pore.
As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the
dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand
224:6 the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant
our feet on firmer ground. Every sensuous pleasure or
pain is self-destroyed through suffering. There should
224:9 be painless progress, attended by life and peace instead
of discord and death.
Sectarianism and opposition
In the record of nineteen centuries, there are sects
224:12 many but not enough Christianity. Centuries ago re-
ligionists were ready to hail an anthropomor-
phic God, and array His vicegerent with pomp
224:15 and splendor; but this was not the manner
of truth's appearing. Of old the cross was truth's cen-
tral sign, and it is to-day. The modern lash is less
224:18 material than the Roman scourge, but it is equally as
cutting. Cold disdain, stubborn resistance, opposition
from church, state laws, and the press, are still the har-
224:21 bingers of truth's full-orbed appearing.
A higher and more practical Christianity, demonstrat-
ing justice and meeting the needs of mortals in sickness
224:24 and in health, stands at the door of this age, knocking
for admission. Will you open or close the door upon this
angel visitant, who cometh in the quiet of meekness, as he
224:27 came of old to the patriarch at noonday?
Mental emancipation
Truth brings the elements of liberty. On its banner
is the Soul-inspired motto, "Slavery is abolished." The
224:30 power of God brings deliverance to the cap-
tive. No power can withstand divine Love.
What is this supposed power, which opposes itself to God?
225:1 Whence cometh it? What is it that binds man with iron
shackles to sin, sickness, and death? Whatever enslaves
225:3 man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes
man free.
Truth's ordeal
You may know when first Truth leads by the few-
225:6 ness and faithfulness of its followers. Thus it is that
the march of time bears onward freedom's
banner. The powers of this world will fight,
225:9 and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass
the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science,
heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is
225:12 always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth's
standard.
Immortal sentences
The history of our country, like all history, illustrates
225:15 the might of Mind, and shows human power to be propor-
tionate to its embodiment of right thinking. A
few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipo-
225:18 tence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic
fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market;
but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the
225:21 breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth. Love
is the liberator.
Slavery abolished
Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United
225:24 States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is
a more difficult task. The despotic tenden-
cies, inherent in mortal mind and always ger-
225:27 minating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out
through the action of the divine Mind.
Men and women of all climes and races are still in
225:30 bondage to material sense, ignorant how to obtain their
freedom. The rights of man were vindicated in a single
section and on the lowest plane of human life, when Afri-
226:1 can slavery was abolished in our land. That was only
prophetic of further steps towards the banishment of a
226:3 world-wide slavery, found on higher planes of existence
and under more subtle and depraving forms.
Liberty's crusade
The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was
226:6 still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of
this new crusade sounded the keynote of uni-
versal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledg-
226:9 ment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding
that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken
from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not
226:12 through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but
through Christ's divine Science.
Cramping systems
God has built a higher platform of human rights, and
226:15 He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not
made through code or creed, but in demonstra-
tion of "on earth peace, good-will toward men."
226:18 Human codes, scholastic theology, material medicine and
hygiene, fetter faith and spiritual understanding. Divine
Science rends asunder these fetters, and man's birthright
226:21 of sole allegiance to his Maker asserts itself.
I saw before me the sick, wearing out years of servi-
tude to an unreal master in the belief that the body gov-
226:24 erned them, rather than Mind.
House of bondage
The lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the sick, the
sensual, the sinner, I wished to save from the slavery of
226:27 their own beliefs and from the educational
systems of the Pharaohs, who to-day, as of
yore, hold the children of Israel in bondage. I saw be-
226:30 fore me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilder-
ness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting
Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land
227:1 of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of
man are fully known and acknowledged.
Higher law ends bondage
227:3 I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error,
and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mor-
tals are taught their right to freedom, so the
227:6 claims of the enslaving senses must be de-
nied and superseded. The law of the divine Mind must
end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware
227:9 of man's inalienable rights and in subjection to hope-
less slavery, because some public teachers permit
an ignorance of divine power, - an ignorance that
227:12 is the foundation of continued bondage and of human
suffering.
Native freedom
Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to fore-
227:15 see the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legiti-
mate state of man. God made man free.
Paul said, "I was free born." All men should
227:18 be free. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib-
erty." Love and Truth make free, but evil and error
lead into captivity.
Standard of liberty
227:21 Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and
cries: "Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sick-
ness, sin, and death!" Jesus marked out the
227:24 way. Citizens of the world, accept the "glori-
ous liberty of the children of God," and be free! This
is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not
227:27 divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs,
crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and de-
faced the tablet of your being.
227:30 If God had instituted material laws to govern man,
disobedience to which would have made man ill, Jesus
would not have disregarded those laws by healing in
228:1 direct opposition to them and in defiance of all material
conditions.
No fleshly heredity
228:3 The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncra-
sies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact
of being were learned, - namely, that nothing
228:6 inharmonious can enter being, for Life /is/ God.
Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin the-
ories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the
228:9 right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly
ills will disappear.
God-given dominion
The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will
228:12 cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his
God-given dominion over the material senses.
Mortals will some day assert their freedom in
228:15 the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their
own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.
Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize har-
228:18 mony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material
unreality.
If we follow the command of our Master, "Take no
228:21 thought for your life," we shall never depend on bodily
conditions, structure, or economy, but we shall be masters
of the body, dictate its terms, and form and control it with
228:24 Truth.
Priestly pride humbled
There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has
all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dis-
228:27 honor God. The humble Nazarene overthrew
the supposition that sin, sickness, and death
have power. He proved them powerless. It should have
228:30 humbled the pride of the priests, when they saw the dem-
onstration of Christianity excel the influence of their dead
faith and ceremonies.
229:1 If Mind is not the master of sin, sickness, and death,
they are immortal, for it is already proved that mat-
229:3 ter has not destroyed them, but is their basis and
support.
No union of opposites
We should hesitate to say that Jehovah sins or suffers;
229:6 but if sin and suffering are realities of being, whence did
they emanate? God made all that was made,
and Mind signifies God, - infinity, not finity.
229:9 Not far removed from infidelity is the belief which
unites such opposites as sickness and health, holiness
and unholiness, calls both the offspring of spirit, and
229:12 at the same time admits that Spirit is God, - vir-
tually declaring Him good in one instance and evil in
another.
Self-constituted law
229:15 By universal consent, mortal belief has constituted
itself a law to bind mortals to sickness, sin, and death.
This customary belief is misnamed material
229:18 law, and the individual who upholds it is mis-
taken in theory and in practice. The so-called law of
mortal mind, conjectural and speculative, is made void
229:21 by the law of immortal Mind, and false law should be
trampled under foot.
Sickness from mortal mind
If God causes man to be sick, sickness must be good,
229:24 and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He
makes is good and will stand forever. If the
transgression of God's law produces sickness, it
229:27 is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should
not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom. It is the
transgression of a belief of mortal mind, not of a law of
229:30 matter nor of divine Mind, which causes the belief of sick-
ness. The remedy is Truth, not matter, - the truth that
disease is /unreal/.
230:1 If sickness is real, it belongs to immortality; if true,
it is a part of Truth. Would you attempt with drugs,
230:3 or without, to destroy a quality or condition of Truth?
But if sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from
this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health,
230:6 holiness, and immortality. This awakening is the for-
ever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth,
which casts out error and heals the sick. This is the sal-
230:9 vation which comes through God, the divine Principle,
Love, as demonstrated by Jesus.
God never inconsistent
It would be contrary to our highest ideas of God to
230:12 suppose Him capable of first arranging law and causation
so as to bring about certain evil results, and
then punishing the helpless victims of His vo-
230:15 lition for doing what they could not avoid doing. Good
is not, cannot be, the author of experimental sins. God,
good, can no more produce sickness than goodness can
230:18 cause evil and health occasion disease.
Mental narcotics
Does wisdom make blunders which must afterwards
be rectified by man? Does a law of God produce sick-
230:21 ness, and can man put that law under his feet
by healing sickness? According to Holy Writ,
the sick are never really healed by drugs, hygiene, or any
230:24 material method. These merely evade the question.
They are soothing syrups to put children to sleep, satisfy
mortal belief, and quiet fear.
The true healing
230:27 We think that we are healed when a disease disap-
pears, though it is liable to reappear; but we are never
thoroughly healed until the liability to be
230:30 ill is removed. So-called mortal mind or the
mind of mortals being the remote, predisposing, and
the exciting cause of all suffering, the cause of disease
231:1 must be obliterated through Christ in divine Science, or
the so-called physical senses will get the victory.
Destruction of all evil
231:3 Unless an ill is rightly met and fairly overcome by
Truth, the ill is never conquered. If God destroys not
sin, sickness, and death, they are not de-
231:6 stroyed in the mind of mortals, but seem to
this so-called mind to be immortal. What God cannot
do, man need not attempt. If God heals not the sick,
231:9 they are not healed, for no lesser power equals the infinite
All-power; but God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the
sick through the prayer of the righteous.
231:12 If God makes sin, if good produces evil, if truth results
in error, then Science and Christianity are helpless; but
there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or
231:15 material, creating and governing man through perpetual
warfare. God is not the author of mortal discords.
Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have
231:18 only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine
Truth and Love destroy.
Superiority to sickness and sin
To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made
231:21 you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To
fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love
and the divine Science of being in man's rela-
231:24 tion to God, - to doubt His government and
distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior
to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance
231:27 with divine Science. To fear them is impossible, when
you fully apprehend God and know that they are no part
of His creation.
231:30 Man, governed by his Maker, having no other Mind, -
planted on the Evangelist's statement that "all things
were made by Him [the Word of God]; and without
232:1 Him was not anything made that was made," - can
triumph over sin, sickness, and death.
Denials of divine power
232:3 Many theories relative to God and man neither make
man harmonious nor God lovable. The beliefs we com-
monly entertain about happiness and life
232:6 afford no scatheless and permanent evidence
of either. Security for the claims of harmonious and
eternal being is found only in divine Science.
232:9 Scripture informs us that "with God all things are
possible," - all good is possible to Spirit; but our prev-
alent theories practically deny this, and make healing
232:12 possible only through matter. These theories must be
untrue, for the Scripture is true. Christianity is not
false, but religions which contradict its Principle are
232:15 false.
In our age Christianity is again demonstrating the
power of divine Principle, as it did over nineteen hun-
232:18 dred years ago, by healing the sick and triumphing over
death. Jesus never taught that drugs, food, air, and ex-
ercise could make a man healthy, or that they could de-
232:21 stroy human life; nor did he illustrate these errors by his
practice. He referred man's harmony to Mind, not to
matter, and never tried to make of none effect the sen-
232:24 tence of God, which sealed God's condemnation of sin,
sickness, and death.
Signs following
In the sacred sanctuary of Truth are voices of sol-
232:27 emn import, but we heed them not. It is only when the
so-called pleasures and pains of sense pass
away in our lives, that we find unquestion-
232:30 able signs of the burial of error and the resurrection to
spiritual life.
Profession and proof
There is neither place nor opportunity in Science for error
233:1 of any sort. Every day makes its demands upon us for
higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power.
233:3 These proofs consist solely in the destruction
of sin, sickness, and death by the power of
Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of
233:6 progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law de-
mands of us only what we can certainly fulfil.
Perfection gained slowly
In the midst of imperfection, perfection is seen and
233:9 acknowledged only by degrees. The ages must slowly
work up to perfection. How long it must be
before we arrive at the demonstration of scien-
233:12 tific being, no man knoweth, - not even "the
Son but the Father;" but the false claim of error con-
tinues its delusions until the goal of goodness is assidu-
233:15 ously earned and won.
Christ's mission
Already the shadow of His right hand rests upon the
hour. Ye who can discern the face of the sky, - the
233:18 sign material, - how much more should ye
discern the sign mental, and compass the de-
struction of sin and sickness by overcoming the thoughts
233:21 which produce them, and by understanding the spiritual
idea which corrects and destroys them. To reveal this
truth was our Master's mission to all mankind, including
233:24 the hearts which rejected him.
Efficacy of truth
When numbers have been divided according to a fixed
rule, the quotient is not more unquestionable than the
233:27 scientific tests I have made of the effects of
truth upon the sick. The counter fact rela-
tive to any disease is required to cure it. The utterance
233:30 of truth is designed to rebuke and destroy error. Why
should truth not be efficient in sickness, which is solely
the result of inharmony?
234:1 Spiritual draughts heal, while material lotions interfere with truth, even as ritualism and creed hamper spirit- 234:3 uality. If we trust matter, we distrust Spirit.
Crumbs of comfort
Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love - be
it song, sermon, or Science - blesses the human family
234:6 with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table
feeding the hungry and giving living waters to
the thirsty.
