Title: Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures
Author: Mary Baker Eddy
Release date: October 1, 2002 [eBook #3458]
Most recently updated: January 8, 2021
Language: English
This etext was produced by Dave Keyston <heal@christianscience.org>
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
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.
NOTE. - The author takes no patients, and declines medical consultation.
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./
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.
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."
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.
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."
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.
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/.
/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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Hospitality to health and good
234:9 We should become more familiar with good than with
evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we
bar our doors against the approach of thieves
234:12 and murderers. We should love our enemies
and help them on the basis of the Golden
Rule; but avoid casting pearls before those who trample
234:15 them under foot, thereby robbing both themselves and
others.
Cleansing the mind
If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind,
234:18 the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out.
We must begin with this so-called mind and
empty it of sin and sickness, or sin and sick-
234:21 ness will never cease. The present codes of human
systems disappoint the weary searcher after a divine
theology, adequate to the right education of human
234:24 thought.
Sin and disease must be thought before they can be
manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first
234:27 instance, or they will control you in the second. Jesus
declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was
to break a moral precept. He laid great stress on the
234:30 action of the human mind, unseen to the senses.
Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
235:1 malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
235:3 lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
Better suffer a doctor infected with smallpox to attend
you than to be treated mentally by one who does not obey
235:6 the requirements of divine Science.
Teachers' functions
The teachers of schools and the readers in churches
should be selected with as direct reference to their
235:9 morals as to their learning or their correct
reading. Nurseries of character should be
strongly garrisoned with virtue. School-examinations are
235:12 one-sided; it is not so much academic education, as a
moral and spiritual culture, which lifts one higher. The
pure and uplifting thoughts of the teacher, constantly
235:15 imparted to pupils, will reach higher than the heavens of
astronomy; while the debased and unscrupulous mind,
though adorned with gems of scholarly attainment, will
235:18 degrade the characters it should inform and elevate.
Physicians' privilege
Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,
should be models of virtue. They should be wise spir-
235:21 itual guides to health and hope. To the trem-
blers on the brink of death, who understand
not the divine Truth which is Life and perpetuates being,
235:24 physicians should be able to teach it. Then when the soul
is willing and the flesh weak, the patient's feet may be
planted on the rock Christ Jesus, the true idea of spiritual
235:27 power.
Clergymen's duty
Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,
should uplift the standard of Truth. They should so raise
235:30 their hearers spiritually, that their listeners
will love to grapple with a new, right idea
and broaden their concepts. Love of Christianity, rather
236:1 than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor
and progress. Truth should emanate from the pulpit,
236:3 but never be strangled there. A special privilege is vested
in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the
interests of humanity, not of sect.
236:6 Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather
than the dignity of God's laws, which many leaders seek?
Do not inferior motives induce the infuriated attacks on
236:9 individuals, who reiterate Christ's teachings in support
of his proof by example that the divine Mind heals sick-
ness as well as sin?
A mother's responsibility
236:12 A mother is the strongest educator, either for or
against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of an-
other mortal mind, and unconsciously mould
236:15 it, either after a model odious to herself or
through divine influence, "according to the pattern
showed to thee in the mount." Hence the importance
236:18 of Christian Science, from which we learn of the one
Mind and of the availability of good as the remedy for
every woe.
Children's tractability
236:21 Children should obey their parents; insubordination
is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government.
Parents should teach their children at the
236:24 earliest possible period the truths of health
and holiness. Children are more tractable than adults,
and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will
236:27 make them happy and good.
Jesus loved little children because of their freedom
from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While
236:30 age is halting between two opinions or battling with
false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards
Truth.
237:1 A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my ex-
planations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not
237:3 to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered
ingenuously, "There is no sensation in matter." Bound-
ing off with laughing eyes, she presently added, "Mamma,
237:6 my finger is not a bit sore."
Soil and seed
It might have been months or years before her parents
would have laid aside their drugs, or reached the mental
237:9 height their little daughter so naturally at-
tained. The more stubborn beliefs and theo-
ries of parents often choke the good seed in the minds of
237:12 themselves and their offspring. Superstition, like "the
fowls of the air," snatches away the good seed before it
has sprouted.
Teaching children
237:15 Children should be taught the Truth-cure, Christian
Science, among their first lessons, and kept from discuss-
ing or entertaining theories or thoughts about
237:18 sickness. To prevent the experience of error
and its sufferings, keep out of the minds of your children
either sinful or diseased thoughts. The latter should
237:21 be excluded on the same principle as the former. This
makes Christian Science early available.
Deluded invalids
Some invalids are unwilling to know the facts or to
237:24 hear about the fallacy of matter and its supposed laws.
They devote themselves a little longer to their
material gods, cling to a belief in the life and
237:27 intelligence of matter, and expect this error to do more
for them than they are willing to admit the only living and
true God can do. Impatient at your explanation, unwill-
237:30 ing to investigate the Science of Mind which would rid
them of their complaints, they hug false beliefs and suffer
the delusive consequences.
Patient waiting
238:1 Motives and acts are not rightly valued before they are
understood. It is well to wait till those whom you would
238:3 benefit are ready for the blessing, for Science
is working changes in personal character as
well as in the material universe.
238:6 To obey the Scriptural command, "Come out from
among them, and be ye separate," is to incur society's
frown; but this frown, more than flatteries, enables one
238:9 to be Christian. Losing her crucifix, the Roman Catholic
girl said, "I have nothing left but Christ." "If God be
for us, who can be against us?"
Unimproved opportunities
238:12 To fall away from Truth in times of persecution, shows
that we never understood Truth. From out the bridal
chamber of wisdom there will come the warn-
238:15 ing, "I know you not." Unimproved op-
portunities will rebuke us when we attempt to claim the
benefits of an experience we have not made our own, try
238:18 to reap the harvest we have not sown, and wish to enter
unlawfully into the labors of others. Truth often remains
unsought, until we seek this remedy for human woe be-
238:21 cause we suffer severely from error.
Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over
mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves
238:24 all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity.
Society and intolerance
Society is a foolish juror, listening only to one side of
the case. Justice often comes too late to secure a verdict.
238:27 People with mental work before them have
no time for gossip about false law or testimony.
To reconstruct timid justice and place the fact above the
238:30 falsehood, is the work of time.
The cross is the central emblem of history. It is the
lodestar in the demonstration of Christian healing, - the
239:1 demonstration by which sin and sickness are destroyed.
The sects, which endured the lash of their predecessors,
239:3 in their turn lay it upon those who are in advance of
creeds.
Right views of humanity
Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations,
239:6 which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we
get clearer views of Principle. Break up
cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth
239:9 be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views
of humanity.
The wicked man is not the ruler of his upright
239:12 neighbor. Let it be understood that success in error is
defeat in Truth. The watchword of Christian Science
is Scriptural: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
239:15 unrighteous man his thoughts."
Standpoint revealed
To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our
affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and
239:18 obey as God. If divine Love is becoming
nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is
then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and
239:21 the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show
what we are winning.
Antagonistic sources
Mortal mind is the acknowledged seat of human mo-
239:24 tives. It forms material concepts and produces every
discordant action of the body. If action pro-
ceeds from the divine Mind, action is harmo-
239:27 nious. If it comes from erring mortal mind, it is discord-
ant and ends in sin, sickness, death. Those two opposite
sources never mingle in fount or stream. The perfect
239:30 Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind. Imper-
fect mortal mind sends forth its own resemblances, of
which the wise man said, "All is vanity."
Some lessons from nature
240:1 Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love,
but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions,
240:3 sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds,
mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers,
and glorious heavens, - all point to Mind, the spiritual
240:6 intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hiero-
glyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons.
The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns nat-
240:9 urally towards the light.
Perpetual motions
In the order of Science, in which the Principle is above
what it reflects, all is one grand concord. Change this
240:12 statement, suppose Mind to be governed by
matter or Soul in body, and you lose the key-
note of being, and there is continual discord. Mind is
240:15 perpetual motion. Its symbol is the sphere. The rota-
tions and revolutions of the universe of Mind go on
eternally.
Progress demanded
240:18 Mortals move onward towards good or evil as time
glides on. If mortals are not progressive, past failures
will be repeated until all wrong work is ef-
240:21 faced or rectified. If at present satisfied with
wrong-doing, we must learn to loathe it. If at present
content with idleness, we must become dissatisfied with
240:24 it. Remember that mankind must sooner or later, either
by suffering or by Science, be convinced of the error that
is to be overcome.
240:27 In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay fully
and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is finally
brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method
240:30 of paying sin's wages involves unwinding one's snarls
and learning from experience how to divide between sense
and Soul.
241:1 "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." He, who
knows God's will or the demands of divine Science and
241:3 obeys them, incurs the hostility of envy; and he who
refuses obedience to God, is chastened by Love.
The doom of sin
Sensual treasures are laid up "where moth and rust
241:6 doth corrupt." Mortality is their doom. Sin breaks in
upon them, and carries off their fleeting joys.
The sensualist's affections are as imaginary,
241:9 whimsical, and unreal as his pleasures. Falsehood, envy,
hypocrisy, malice, hate, revenge, and so forth, steal away
the treasures of Truth. Stripped of its coverings, what
241:12 a mocking spectacle is sin!
Spirit transforms
The Bible teaches transformation of the body by the
renewal of Spirit. Take away the spiritual signification
241:15 of Scripture, and that compilation can do no
more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt
a river of ice. The error of the ages is preaching without
241:18 practice.
The substance of all devotion is the reflection and
demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and
241:21 destroying sin. Our Master said, "If ye love me, keep
my commandments."
One's aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the
241:24 footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness. We
should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is re-
vealed; and the corner-stone of all spiritual building is
241:27 purity. The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all
the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart
see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its
241:30 demonstration.
Spiritual baptism
It is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle," than for sinful beliefs to enter the kingdom of
242:1 heaven, eternal harmony. Through repentance, spiritual
baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material
242:3 beliefs and false individuality. It is only a
question of time when "they shall all know
Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest."
242:6 Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards
the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final
triumph over the body.
The one only way
242:9 There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ
in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no
other reality - to have no other conscious-
242:12 ness of life - than good, God and His reflec-
tion, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure
of the senses.
242:15 Self-love is more opaque than a solid body. In pa-
tient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dis-
solve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant
242:18 of error, - self-will, self-justification, and self-love, -
which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin
and death.
Divided vestments
242:21 The vesture of Life is Truth. According to the Bible,
the facts of being are commonly misconstrued, for it is
written: "They parted my raiment among
242:24 them, and for my vesture they did cast lots."
The divine Science of man is woven into one web of
consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or
242:27 superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture,
while inspiration restores every part of the Christly gar-
ment of righteousness.
242:30 The finger-posts of divine Science show the way our
Master trod, and require of Christians the proof which
he gave, instead of mere profession. We may hide
243:1 spiritual ignorance from the world, but we can never
succeed in the Science and demonstration of spiritual
243:3 good through ignorance or hypocrisy.
Ancient and modern miracles
The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous
viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from
243:6 the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion,
can heal the sick in every age and triumph
over sin and death. It crowned the demon-
243:9 strations of Jesus with unsurpassed power and love. But
the same "Mind . . . which was also in Christ Jesus"
must always accompany the letter of Science in order to
243:12 confirm and repeat the ancient demonstrations of prophets
and apostles. That those wonders are not more com-
monly repeated to-day, arises not so much from lack of
243:15 desire as from lack of spiritual growth.
Mental telegraphy
The clay cannot reply to the potter. The head, heart,
lungs, and limbs do not inform us that they are dizzy,
243:18 diseased, consumptive, or lame. If this in-
formation is conveyed, mortal mind conveys
it. Neither immortal and unerring Mind nor matter,
243:21 the inanimate substratum of mortal mind, can carry
on such telegraphy; for God is "of purer eyes than
to behold evil," and matter has neither intelligence nor
243:24 sensation.
Annihilation of error
Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no
sense of hatred. Life has no partnership
243:27 with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law
of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because
they declare nothing except God.
Deformity and perfection
243:30 Sickness, sin, and death are not the fruits of Life.
They are inharmonies which Truth destroys. Perfection
does not animate imperfection. Inasmuch as God is
244:1 good and the fount of all being, He does not produce
moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is
244:3 not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error.
Divine Science reveals these grand facts. On
their basis Jesus demonstrated Life, never
244:6 fearing nor obeying error in any form.
If we were to derive all our conceptions of man from
what is seen between the cradle and the grave, happi-
244:9 ness and goodness would have no abiding-place in man,
and the worms would rob him of the flesh; but Paul
writes: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
244:12 made me free from the law of sin and death."
Man never less than man
Man undergoing birth, maturity, and decay is like the
beasts and vegetables, - subject to laws of decay. If
244:15 man were dust in his earliest stage of exist-
ence, we might admit the hypothesis that he
returns eventually to his primitive condition;
244:18 but man was never more nor less than man.
If man flickers out in death or springs from matter into
being, there must be an instant when God is without His
244:21 entire manifestation, - when there is no full reflection
of the infinite Mind.
Man not evolved
Man in Science is neither young nor old. He has
244:24 neither birth nor death. He is not a beast, a vegetable,
nor a migratory mind. He does not pass from
matter to Mind, from the mortal to the im-
244:27 mortal, from evil to good, or from good to evil. Such
admissions cast us headlong into darkness and dogma.
Even Shakespeare's poetry pictures age as infancy, as
244:30 helplessness and decadence, instead of assigning to man
the everlasting grandeur and immortality of development,
power, and prestige.
245:1 The error of thinking that we are growing old, and the
benefits of destroying that illusion, are illustrated in a
245:3 sketch from the history of an English woman, published
in the London medical magazine called The Lancet.
Perpetual youth
Disappointed in love in her early years, she became
245:6 insane and lost all account of time. Believing that she
was still living in the same hour which parted
her from her lover, taking no note of years,
245:9 she stood daily before the window watching for her
lover's coming. In this mental state she remained young.
Having no consciousness of time, she literally grew no
245:12 older. Some American travellers saw her when she was
seventy-four, and supposed her to be a young woman.
She had no care-lined face, no wrinkles nor gray hair, but
245:15 youth sat gently on cheek and brow. Asked to guess her
age, those unacquainted with her history conjectured that
she must be under twenty.
245:18 This instance of youth preserved furnishes a useful
hint, upon which a Franklin might work with more cer-
tainty than when he coaxed the enamoured lightning
245:21 from the clouds. Years had not made her old, because
she had taken no cognizance of passing time nor thought
of herself as growing old. The bodily results of her belief
245:24 that she was young manifested the influence of such a be-
lief. She could not age while believing herself young, for
the mental state governed the physical.
245:27 Impossibilities never occur. One instance like the
foregoing proves it possible to be young at seventy-four;
and the primary of that illustration makes it plain that
245:30 decrepitude is not according to law, nor is it a necessity of
nature, but an illusion.
Man reflects God
The infinite never began nor will it ever end. Mind
246:1 and its formations can never be annihilated. Man is not
a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and
246:3 sorrow, sickness and health, life and death.
Life and its faculties are not measured by
calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal
246:6 likeness of their Maker. Man is by no means a material
germ rising from the imperfect and endeavoring to reach
Spirit above his origin. The stream rises no higher than
246:9 its source.
The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and
gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth
246:12 coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, un-
dimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and mate-
rial, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of
246:15 Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright
and imperishable glories.
Undesirable records
Never record ages. Chronological data are no part
246:18 of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are
so many conspiracies against manhood and
womanhood. Except for the error of meas-
246:21 uring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man
would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and
still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man,
246:24 governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and
grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty,
and holiness.
True life eternal
246:27 Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the
demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal.
Let us then shape our views of existence into
246:30 loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather
than into age and blight.
Acute and chronic beliefs reproduce their own types.
247:1 The acute belief of physical life comes on at a remote
period, and is not so disastrous as the chronic belief.
Eyes and teeth renewed
247:3 I have seen age regain two of the elements it had lost,
sight and teeth. A woman of eighty-five, whom I knew,
had a return of sight. Another woman at
247:6 ninety had new teeth, incisors, cuspids, bi-
cuspids, and one molar. One man at sixty
had retained his full set of upper and lower teeth without
247:9 a decaying cavity.
Eternal beauty
Beauty, as well as truth, is eternal; but the beauty
of material things passes away, fading and fleeting as
247:12 mortal belief. Custom, education, and fashion
form the transient standards of mortals. Im-
mortality, exempt from age or decay, has a glory of its
247:15 own, - the radiance of Soul. Immortal men and women
are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind
and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness
247:18 which transcend all material sense.
The divine loveliness
Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Be-
ing possesses its qualities before they are perceived hu-
247:21 manly. Beauty is a thing of life, which
dwells forever in the eternal Mind and re-
flects the charms of His goodness in expression, form,
247:24 outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal
with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches
the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with
247:27 starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.
The embellishments of the person are poor substitutes
for the charms of being, shining resplendent and eternal
247:30 over age and decay.
The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and
more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure
248:1 in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious free-
dom of spiritual harmony.
Love's endowment
248:3 Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon
its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less
than beautiful. Men and women of riper
248:6 years and larger lessons ought to ripen into
health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness
or gloom. Immortal Mind feeds the body with supernal
248:9 freshness and fairness, supplying it with beautiful images
of thought and destroying the woes of sense which each
day brings to a nearer tomb.
Mental sculpture
248:12 The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in
order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors,
working at various forms, moulding and chisel-
248:15 ing thought. What is the model before mortal
mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering?
Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you repro-
248:18 ducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious
sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all
mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding
248:21 it before your gaze continually. The result is that you
are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-
work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline
248:24 and deformity of matter models.
Perfect models
To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right
direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect
248:27 models in thought and look at them continually,
or we shall never carve them out in grand and
noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice,
248:30 health, holiness, love - the kingdom of heaven - reign
within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until
they finally disappear.
249:1 Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on
sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive
249:3 ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that
one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.
Renewed selfhood
Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear.
249:6 Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into
newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor
material power as able to destroy. Let us re-
249:9 joice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be."
Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of
Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.
249:12 Mind is not the author of matter, and the creator of
ideas is not the creator of illusions. Either there is no
omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power. God is
249:15 the infinite, and infinity never began, will never end, and
includes nothing unlike God. Whence then is soulless
matter?
Illusive dreams
249:18 Life is, like Christ, "the same yesterday, and to-day,
and forever." Organization and time have nothing to do
with Life. You say, "I dreamed last night."
249:21 What a mistake is that! The I is Spirit. God
never slumbers, and His likeness never dreams. Mortals
are the Adam dreamers.
249:24 Sleep and apath are phases of the dream that life, sub-
stance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night-
dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the
249:27 thoughts of mortals when awake. The night-dream has
less matter as its accompaniment. It throws off some
material fetters. It falls short of the skies, but makes its
249:30 mundane flights quite ethereal.
Philosophical blunders
Man is the reflection of Soul. He is the direct oppo-
site of material sensation, and there is but one Ego. We
250:1 run into error when we divide Soul into souls, multiply
Mind into minds and suppose error to be mind, then mind
250:3 to be in matter and matter to be a lawgiver,
unintelligence to act like intelligence, and mor-
tality to be the matrix of immortality.
Spirit the one Ego
250:6 Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no
real entity, but saith "It is I." Spirit is the Ego which
never dreams, but understands all things;
250:9 which never errs, and is ever conscious; which
never believes, but knows; which is never born and
never dies. Spiritual man is the likeness of this Ego.
250:12 Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from
the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God.
Mortal existence a dream
Mortal body and mind are one, and that one is called
250:15 man; but a mortal is not man, for man is immortal. A
mortal may be weary or pained, enjoy or suffer,
according to the dream he entertains in sleep.
250:18 When that dream vanishes, the mortal finds himself
experiencing none of these dream-sensations. To the
observer, the body lies listless, undisturbed, and sensa-
250:21 tionless, and the mind seems to be absent.
Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking
dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream?
250:24 There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal
man is a mortal dream. Take away the mortal mind,
and matter has no more sense as a man than it has as
250:27 a tree. But the spiritual, real man is immortal.
Upon this stage of existence goes on the dance of mortal
mind. Mortal thoughts chase one another like snowflakes,
250:30 and drift to the ground. Science reveals Life as not being
at the mercy of death, nor will Science admit that happi-
ness is ever the sport of circumstance.
Error self-destroyed
251:1 Error is not real, hence it is not more imperative
as it hastens towards self-destruction. The so-called
251:3 belief of mortal mind apparent as an abscess
should not grow more painful before it suppu-
rates neither should a fever become more severe before
251:6 it ends.
Illusion of death
Fright is so great at certain stages of mortal belief
as to drive belief into new paths. In the illusion of
251:9 death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two
facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that
they have but passed the portals of a new belief. Truth
251:12 works out the nothingness of error in just these ways.
Sickness, as well as sin, is an error that Christ, Truth,
alone can destroy.
Mortal mind's disappearance
251:15 We must learn how mankind govern the body, -
whether through faith in hygiene, in drugs, or in will-
power. We should learn whether they govern
251:18 the body through a belief in the necessity of
sickness and death, sin and pardon, or govern
it from the higher understanding that the divine Mind
251:21 makes perfect, acts upon the so-called human mind
through truth, leads the human mind to relinquish all
error, to find the divine Mind to be the only Mind,
251:24 and the healer of sin, disease, death. This process of
higher spiritual understanding improves mankind until
error disappears, and nothing is left which deserves to
251:27 perish or to be punished.
Spiritual ignorance
Ignorance, like intentional wrong, is not Science.
Ignorance must be seen and corrected before we can at-
251:30 tain harmony. Inharmonious beliefs, which
rob Mind, calling it matter, and deify their
own notions, imprison themselves in what they create.
252:1 They are at war with Science, and as our Master said,
"If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom
252:3 cannot stand."
Human ignorance of Mind and of the recuperative
energies of Truth occasions the only skepticism regard-
252:6 ing the pathology and theology of Christian Science.
Eternal man recognized
When false human beliefs learn even a little of their
own falsity, they begin to disappear. A knowledge of
252:9 error and of its operations must precede that
understanding of Truth which destroys error,
until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears,
252:12 and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit,
is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his
Maker.
252:15 The false evidence of material sense contrasts strikingly with the testimony of Spirit. Material sense lifts its voice with the arrogance of reality and says:
Testimony of sense
252:18 I am wholly dishonest, and no man knoweth it. I can
cheat, lie, commit adultery, rob, murder, and I elude
detection by smooth-tongued villainy. Ani-
252:21 mal in propensity, deceitful in sentiment,
fraudulent in purpose, I mean to make my short span
of life one gala day. What a nice thing is sin! How
252:24 sin succeeds, where the good purpose waits! The world
is my kingdom. I am enthroned in the gorgeousness
of matter. But a touch, an accident, the law of God,
252:27 may at any moment annihilate my peace, for all my
fancied joys are fatal. Like bursting lava, I expand but
to my own despair, and shine with the resplendency of
252:30 consuming fire.
Testimony of Soul
Spirit, bearing opposite testimony, saith:
I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my
253:1 likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am
Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being,
253:3 imperishable glory, - all are Mine, for I am
God. I give immortality to man, for I am
Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love.
253:6 I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am
Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am
the substance of all, because I AM THAT I AM.
Heaven-bestowed prerogative
253:9 I hope, dear reader, I am leading you into the under-
standing of your divine rights, your heaven-bestowed har-
mony, - that, as you read, you see there is no
253:12 cause (outside of erring, mortal, material sense
which is not power) able to make you sick or
sinful; and I hope that you are conquering this false sense.
253:15 Knowing the falsity of so-called material sense, you can
assert your prerogative to overcome the belief in sin, dis-
ease, or death.
Right endeavor possible
253:18 If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you
can at once change your course and do right. Matter can
make no opposition to right endeavors against
253:21 sin or sickness, for matter is inert, mindless.
Also, if you believe yourself diseased, you can
alter this wrong belief and action without hindrance from
253:24 the body.
Do not believe in any supposed necessity for sin, dis-
ease, or death, knowing (as you ought to know) that God
253:27 never requires obedience to a so-called material law, for
no such law exists. The belief in sin and death is de-
stroyed by the law of God, which is the law of Life in-
253:30 stead of death, of harmony instead of discord, of Spirit
instead of the flesh.
Patience and final perfection
The divine demand, "Be ye therefore perfect," is sci-
254:1 entific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are
indispensable. Individuals are consistent who, watching
254:3 and praying, can "run, and not be weary; . . .
walk, and not faint," who gain good rapidly
and hold their position, or attain slowly and
254:6 yield not to discouragement. God requires perfection,
but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought
and the victory won. To stop eating, drinking, or being
254:9 clothed materially before the spiritual facts of existence
are gained step by step, is not legitimate. When we wait
patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs
254:12 our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spir-
itual perfection slowly; but to /begin/ aright and to con-
tinue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of
254:15 being, is doing much.
During the sensual ages, absolute Christian Science
may not be achieved prior to the change called death,
254:18 for we have not the power to demonstrate what we do
not understand. But the human self must be evangel-
ized. This task God demands us to accept lovingly
254:21 to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical the material,
and to work out the spiritual which determines the out-
ward and actual.
254:24 If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error's disguise?
The cross and crown
254:27 If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but
healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms.
Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the
254:30 cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it
you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home
is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.
Thy throne is established of old
Thou art from everlasting. - PSALMS.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. - PAUL.
Inadequate theories of creation
255:1 ETERNAL Truth is changing the universe. As mor-
tals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought
255:3 expands into expression. "Let there be light,"
is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love,
changing chaos into order and discord into the
255:6 music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of
creation, anciently classified as the higher criticism, sprang
from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they
255:9 afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by
the divine Mind.
Finite views of Deity
Mortal man has made a covenant with his eyes to be-
255:12 little Deity with human conceptions. In league
with material sense, mortals take limited views
of all things. That God is corporeal or material, no man
255:15 should affirm.
The human form, or physical finiteness, cannot be
made the basis of any true idea of the infinite Godhead.
255:18 Eye hath not seen Spirit, nor hath ear heard His voice.
No material creation
256:1 Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must
yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of ac-
256:3 tion, thought rises from the material sense to
the spiritual, from the scholastic to the in-
spirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All
256:6 things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the
creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and
Mother of the universe, including man.
Tritheism impossible
256:9 The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a per-
sonal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polythe-
ism, rather than the one ever-present I AM.
256:12 "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord."
No divine corporeality
The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed
within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can
256:15 He be understood aright through mortal con-
cepts. The precise form of God must be of
small importance in comparison with the sublime ques-
256:18 tion, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?
Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in
the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will
256:21 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him,
What doest Thou?"
256:24 No form nor physical combination is adequate to rep-
resent infinite Love. A finite and material sense of God
leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit of
256:27 Christianity.
Limitless Mind
A limitless Mind cannot proceed from physical limita-
tions. Finiteness cannot present the idea or the vast-
256:30 ness of infinity. A mind originating from a
finite or material source must be limited and
finite. Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the
257:1 infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind. If
Mind is within and without all things, then all is Mind;
257:3 and this definition is scientific.
Matter is not substance
If matter, so-called, is substance, then Spirit, matter's
unlikeness, must be shadow; and shadow cannot produce
257:6 substance. The theory that Spirit is not the
only substance and creator is pantheistic het-
erodoxy, which ultimates in sickness, sin, and death; it is
257:9 the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind, a soul
governed by the body and a mind in matter. This be-
lief is shallow pantheism.
257:12 Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the sub-
stance of an idea is very far from being the supposed sub-
stance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind
257:15 is not the father of matter. The material senses and
human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into
material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic
257:18 God, instead of infinite Principle, - in other words, divine
Love, - is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the
drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his sea-
257:21 son," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."
Inexhaustible divine Love
Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus
proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the
257:24 antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life
or love sufficient to meet the demands of human
want and woe, - to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira-
257:27 tions? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form,
or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible
Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.
Infinite physique impossible
257:30 It would require an infinite form to contain infinite
Mind. Indeed, the phrase /infinite form/ involves a con-
tradiction of terms. Finite man cannot be the image and
258:1 likeness of the infinite God. A mortal, corporeal, or
finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of
258:3 limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence
the unsatisfied human craving for something
better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a
258:6 material belief in a physical God and man. The insuffi-
ciency of this belief to supply the true idea proves the
falsity of material belief.
Infinity's reflection
258:9 Man is more than a material form with a mind inside,
which must escape from its environments in
order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity,
258:12 and this reflection is the true idea of God.
God expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop-
ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from
258:15 a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in
the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as
the true divine image and likeness, than we know of
258:18 God.
The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea
and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses
258:21 have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea. The
human capacities are enlarged and perfected in propor-
tion as humanity gains the true conception of man and
258:24 God.
Individual permanency
Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual
man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him
258:27 belongs eternal Life. Never born and
never dying, it were impossible for man, under
the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his
258:30 high estate.
God's man discerned
Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of
divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the
259:1 generic term /man. /Man is not absorbed in Deity, and
man cannot lose his individuality, for he re-
259:3 flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli-
tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all
substance.
259:6 In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The
divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who
threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted
259:9 their lives higher than their poor thought-models would
allow, - thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick,
sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of
259:12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin-
ciple and idea, - perfect God and perfect man, - as the
basis of thought and demonstration.
The divine image not lost
259:15 If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection,
then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image
of God. The /lost/ image is no image. The
259:18 true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection.
Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye there-
fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
259:21 perfect."
Immortal models
Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms
its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works
259:24 spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter
never formed a human concept. Vibration is
not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal
259:27 ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by
the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects
error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine
259:30 concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious
results.
Deducing one's conclusions as to man from imperfec-
260:1 tion instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the
true conception or understanding of man, and make him-
260:3 self like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from
an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form
and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character
260:6 of Judas.
Spiritual discovery
The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give
way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through
260:9 many generations human beliefs will be attain-
ing diviner conceptions, and the immortal and
perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as
260:12 the only true conception of being.
Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good,
and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already
260:15 done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness
desired and to bring out better and higher results, often
hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the
260:18 outset.
Requisite change of our ideals
Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve
their models. A sick body is evolved from
260:21 sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death
proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad
physical and moral conditions.
260:24 Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal
mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by
conversation about the body, and by the expectation of
260:27 perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education
is at the expense of spiritual growth. If we array
thought in mortal vestures, it must lose its immortal
260:30 nature.
Thoughts are things
If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for
Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit,
261:1 we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.
Look away from the body into Truth and Love,
261:3 the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and
immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur-
ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these
261:6 into your experience proportionably to their occupancy
of your thoughts.
Unreality of pain
The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is
261:9 seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such
absorbed interest as to forget it, the body
experiences no pain. Under the strong im-
261:12 pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was
accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and
sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively
261:15 as the youngest member of the company. This old man
was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and
sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, - a signal
261:18 which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if
he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos-
session of his so-called senses.
Immutable identity of man
261:21 Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only
a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning
of God, or good, and the nature of the immu-
261:24 table and immortal. Breaking away from the
mutations of time and sense, you will neither
lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own iden-
261:27 tity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will
rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird
which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a
261:30 skyward flight.
Forgetfulness of self
We should forget our bodies in remembering good and
the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in
262:1 which to work out the problem of being. Consecration
to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but
262:3 heightens it. Neither does consecration di-
minish man's obligations to God, but shows
the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian
262:6 Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it
ascribes to Him the entire glory. By putting "off the old
man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."
262:9 We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's
creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We
must reverse our feeble flutterings - our efforts to find
262:12 life and truth in matter - and rise above the testimony
of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal
idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God-
262:15 like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference
of his being.
The true sense
Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
262:18 ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo
Job's thought, when the supposed pain and
pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They
262:21 will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of
joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,
working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.
262:24 Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontane-
ously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Mind only the cause
262:27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of
man's origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every
concept which seems to begin with the brain
262:30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause
or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter,
in mortal mind, or in physical forms.
Human egotism
263:1 Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be
independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-
263:3 leged originators of something which Deity
would not or could not create. The creations
of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man
263:6 alone represents the truth of creation.
Mortal man a mis-creator
When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence
with the spiritual and works only as God works,
263:9 he will no longer grope in the dark and cling
to earth because he has not tasted heaven.
Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-
263:12 tary hypocrite, - producing evil when he would create
good, forming deformity when he would outline grace
and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He
263:15 becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a
semi-god. His "touch turns hope to dust, the dust we
all have trod." He might say in Bible language: "The
263:18 good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would
not, /that I do./"
No new creation
There can be but one creator, who has created all.
263:21 Whatever seems to be a new creation, is but the discovery
of some distant idea of Truth; else it is a
new multiplication or self-division of mor-
263:24 tal thought, as when some finite sense peers from its
cloister with amazement and attempts to pattern the
infinite.
263:27 The multiplication of a human and mortal sense of per-
sons and things is not creation. A sensual thought, like
an atom of dust thrown into the face of spiritual im-
263:30 mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal
consciousness of creation.
Mind's true camera
The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-
264:1 terial earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind.
They have their day before the permanent facts and their
264:3 perfection in Spirit appear. The crude crea-
tions of mortal thought must finally give place
to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the
264:6 camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spir-
itual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading,
finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.
264:9 Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm
of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we
must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we
264:12 have our being.
Self-completeness
As mortals gain more correct views of God and man,
multitudinous objects of creation, which before were
264:15 invisible, will become visible. When we
realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of
matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-
264:18 pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other
consciousness.
Spiritual proofs of existence
Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.
264:21 Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin
is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and
death were overcome by Jesus, who proved
264:24 them to be forms of error. Spiritual living
and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can
recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace
264:27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.
When we learn the way in Christian Science and rec-
ognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and under-
264:30 stand God's creation, - all the glories of earth and heaven
and man.
Godward gravitation
The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings,
265:1 and its government is divine Science. Man is the off-
spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of
265:3 Mind. Man understands spiritual existence
in proportion as his treasures of Truth and
Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward,
265:6 their affections and aims grow spiritual, - they must near
the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper
sense of the infinite, - in order that sin and mortality
265:9 may be put off.
This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for
Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity
265:12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en-
larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,
a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent
265:15 peace.
Mortal birth and death
The senses represent birth as untimely and death as
irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a
265:18 flower withered by the sun and nipped by
untimely frosts; but this is true only of a
mortal, not of a man in God's image and likeness. The
265:21 truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and
obsolete.
Blessings from pain
Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained
265:24 stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after
heavenly good comes even before we discover
what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss
265:27 of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending
path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform
us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is
265:30 spiritual.
Decapitation of error
The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away
false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections
266:1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,
"rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of
266:3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,
materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and
destiny.
Uses of adversity
266:6 Would existence without personal friends be to you
a blank? Then the time will come when you will be
solitary, left without sympathy; but this
266:9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine
Love. When this hour of development comes, even if
you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will
266:12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.
Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the
lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for "man's extremity
266:15 is God's opportunity." The author has experienced the
foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches
mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.
266:18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love
is the divine way in Christian Science.
The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the
266:21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite per-
secutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would
deceive the very elect.
Beatific presence
266:24 Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstra-
tions, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite
Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs
266:27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the
idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming
the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He
266:30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers
of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with
God and the universe.
The infinitude of God
267:1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but
the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal.
267:3 The offspring of God start not from matter
or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,
divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The
267:6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,
and specifically man means all men.
It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-
267:9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must
have had children prior to Adam. The great I AM made
all "that was made." Hence man and the spiritual uni-
267:12 verse coexist with God.
Christian Scientists understand that, in a religious
sense, they have the same authority for the appellative
267:15 mother, as for that of brother and sister. Jesus said:
"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and
267:18 mother."
Waymarks to eternal Truth
When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals
present more than is detected upon the surface, since
267:21 inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must
be counterfeits of Truth. Thought is bor-
rowed from a higher source than matter, and
267:24 by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind,
in which all error disappears in celestial Truth. The
robes of Spirit are "white and glistering," like the raiment
267:27 of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, "let thy gar-
ments be always white." "Blessed is the man that en-
dureth [overcometh] temptation: for when he is tried,
267:30 [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
(James i. 12.)
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, . . . That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. - JOHN, First Epistle.
Here I stand. I can do no otherwise; so help me God! Amen!
- MARTIN LUTHER.
Materialistic challenge
268:1 In the material world, thought has brought to light
with great rapidity many useful wonders. With
268:3 like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising
towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual
cause of those lower things which give im-
268:6 pulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from
which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding
to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from
268:9 matter to Mind as the cause of every effect. Material-
istic hypotheses challenge metaphysics to meet in final
combat. In this revolutionary period, like the shep-
268:12 herd-boy with his sling, woman goes forth to battle with
Goliath.
Confusion confounded
In this final struggle for supremacy, semi-metaphysi-
268:15 cal systems afford no substantial aid to scientific meta-
physics, for their arguments are based on
the false testimony of the material senses as
268:18 well as on the facts of Mind. These semi-metaphysical
269:1 systems are one and all pantheistic, and savor of Pan-
demonium, a house divided against itself.
269:3 From first to last the supposed coexistence of Mind
and matter and the mingling of good and evil have re-
sulted from the philosophy of the serpent. Jesus' demon-
269:6 strations sift the chaff from the wheat, and unfold the
unity and the reality of good, the unreality, the nothing-
ness, of evil.
Divine metaphysics
269:9 Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian
Science makes man Godlike. The first is error; the latter
is truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and
269:12 matter does not enter into metaphysical prem-
ises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest
on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves
269:15 things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense
for the ideas of Soul.
These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual
269:18 consciousness, and they have this, advantage over the ob-
jects and thoughts of material sense, - they are good and
eternal.
Biblical foundations
269:21 The testimony of the material senses is neither abso-
lute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly
on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of
269:24 the prophets, and on the testimony of the
Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none.
All other systems - systems based wholly or partly on
269:27 knowledge gained through the material senses - are reeds
shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.
Rejected theories
The theories I combat are these: (1) that all is matter;
269:30 (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as
real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life.
The first theory, that matter is everything, is quite as
270:1 reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter coexist
and cooperate. One only of the following statements can
270:3 be true: (1) that everything is matter; (2) that every-
thing is Mind. Which one is it?
Matter and Mind are opposites. One is contrary to
270:6 the other in its very nature and essence; hence both can-
not be real. If one is real, the other must be unreal. Only
by understanding that there is but one power, - not two
270:9 powers, matter and Mind, - are scientific and logical
conclusions reached. Few deny the hypothesis that in-
telligence, apart from man and matter, governs the uni-
270:12 verse; and it is generally admitted that this intelligence
is the eternal Mind or divine principle, Love.
Prophetic ignorance
The prophets of old looked for something higher than
270:15 the systems of their times; hence their fore-
sight of the new dispensation of Truth. But
they knew not what would be the precise nature of the
270:18 teaching and demonstration of God, divine Mind, in His
more infinite meanings, - the demonstration which was
to destroy sin, sickness, and death, establish the definition
270:21 of omnipotence, and maintain the Science of Spirit.
The pride of priesthood is the prince of this world. It
has nothing in Christ. Meekness and charity have divine
270:24 authority. Mortals think wickedly; consequently they
are wicked. They think sickly thoughts, and so become
sick. If sin makes sinners, Truth and Love alone can
270:27 unmake them. If a sense of disease produces suffering
and a sense of ease antidotes suffering, disease is mental,
not material. Hence the fact that the human mind alone
270:30 suffers, is sick, and that the divine Mind alone heals.
The life of Christ Jesus was not miraculous, but it was
indigenous to his spirituality, - the good soil wherein the
271:1 seed of Truth springs up and bears much fruit. Christ's
Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing
271:3 in all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with
the Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of
God. Neither emasculation, illusion, nor insubordination
271:6 exists in divine Science.
Jesus instructed his disciples whereby to heal the sick
through Mind instead of matter. He knew that the phi-
271:9 losophy, Science, and proof of Christianity were in Truth,
casting out all inharmony.
Studious disciples
In Latin the word rendered /disciple/ signifies student;
271:12 and the word indicates that the power of healing was not
a supernatural gift to those learners, but the
result of their cultivated spiritual understand-
271:15 ing of the divine Science, which their Master demonstrated
by healing the sick and sinning. Hence the universal ap-
plication of his saying: "Neither pray I for these alone,
271:18 but for them also which shall believe on me [understand
me] through their word."
New Testament basis
Our Master said, "But the Comforter . . . shall
271:21 teach you all things." When the Science of Christianity
appears, it will lead you into all truth. The
Sermon on the Mount is the essence of this
271:24 Science, and the eternal life, not the death of Jesus, is
its outcome.
Modern evangel
Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast
271:27 them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity
now, as aforetime, to learn and to practise
Christian healing. The Scriptures contain it.
271:30 The spiritual import of the Word imparts this power.
But, as Paul says, "How shall they hear without a
preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be
272:1 sent?" If sent, how shall they preach, convert, and heal
multitudes, except the people hear?
Spirituality of Scripture
272:3 The spiritual sense of truth must be gained before
Truth can be understood. This sense is assimilated only
as we are honest, unselfish, loving, and meek.
272:6 In the soil of an "honest and good heart" the
seed must be sown; else it beareth not much fruit, for the
swinish element in human nature uproots it. Jesus said:
272:9 "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." The spiritual
sense of the Scriptures brings out the scientific sense, and
is the new tongue referred to in the last chapter of Mark's
272:12 Gospel.
Jesus' parable of "the sower" shows the care our
Master took not to impart to dull ears and gross hearts
272:15 the spiritual teachings which dulness and grossness could
not accept. Reading the thoughts of the people, he said:
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast
272:18 ye your pearls before swine."
Unspiritual contrasts
It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization
of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce
272:21 of material existence; it is chastity and purity,
in contrast with the downward tendencies
and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity,
272:24 which really attest the divine origin and operation of Chris-
tian Science. The triumphs of Christian Science are re-
corded in the destruction of error and evil, from which are
272:27 propagated the dismal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death.
God the Principle of all
The divine Principle of the universe must interpret the
universe. God is the divine Principle of all that repre-
272:30 sents Him and of all that really exists. Chris-
tian Science, as demonstrated by Jesus, alone
reveals the natural, divine Principle of Science.
273:1 Matter and its claims of sin, sickness, and death are
contrary to God, and cannot emanate from Him. There
273:3 is no /material/ truth. The physical senses can take no
cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. Human belief
has sought out many inventions, but not one of them
273:6 can solve the problem of being without the divine Prin-
ciple of divine Science. Deductions from material hy-
potheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science
273:9 because they are not based on the divine law.
Science /versus/ sense
Divine Science reverses the false testimony of the ma-
terial senses, and thus tears away the foun-
273:12 dations of error. Hence the enmity between
Science and the senses, and the impossibility
of attaining perfect understanding till the errors of sense
273:15 are eliminated.
The so-called laws of matter and of medical science have
never made mortals whole, harmonious, and immortal.
273:18 Man is harmonious when governed by Soul. Hence the
importance of understanding the truth of being, which
reveals the laws of spiritual existence.
Spiritual law the only law
273:21 God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual
law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose
the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the
273:24 wisdom of the creator. Jesus walked on the
waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the
dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were
273:27 the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims
of material sense or law.
Material knowledge illusive
Science shows that material, conflicting mortal opin-
273:30 ions and beliefs emit the effects of error at all times, but
this atmosphere of mortal mind cannot be destructive to
morals and health when it is opposed promptly and per-
274:1 sistently by Christian Science. Truth and Love antidote
this mental miasma, and thus invigorate and sustain ex-
274:3 istence. Unnecessary knowledge gained from
the five senses is only temporal, - the concep-
tion of mortal mind, the offspring of sense, not
274:6 of Soul, Spirit, - and symbolizes all that is evil and
perishable. /Natural science/, as it is commonly called, is
not really natural nor scientific, because it is deduced from
274:9 the evidence of the material senses. Ideas, on the con-
trary, are born of Spirit, and are not mere inferences
drawn from material premises.
Five senses deceptive
274:12 The senses of Spirit abide in Love, and they demon-
strate Truth and Life. Hence Christianity and the Sci-
ence which expounds it are based on spiritual
274:15 understanding, and they supersede the so-
called laws of matter. Jesus demonstrated this great
verity. When what we erroneously term the five physical
274:18 senses are misdirected, they are simply the manifested
beliefs of mortal mind, which affirm that life, substance,
and intelligence are material, instead of spiritual. These
274:21 false beliefs and their products constitute the flesh, and
the flesh wars against Spirit.
Impossible partnership
Divine Science is absolute, and permits no half-way
274:24 position in learning its Principle and rule - establishing
it by demonstration. The conventional firm,
called matter and mind, God never formed.
274:27 Science and understanding, governed by the unerring and
eternal Mind, destroy the imaginary copartnership, matter
and mind, formed only to be destroyed in a manner and
274:30 at a period as yet unknown. This suppositional partner-
ship is already obsolete, for matter, examined in the light
of divine metaphysics, disappears.
Spirit the starting-point
275:1 Matter has no life to lose, and Spirit never dies. A
partnership of mind with matter would ignore omnipres-
275:3 ent and omnipotent Mind. This shows that
matter did not originate in God, Spirit, and is
not eternal. Therefore matter is neither substantial, living,
275:6 nor intelligent. The starting-point of divine Science is
that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other
might nor Mind, - that God is Love, and therefore He
275:9 is divine Principle.
Divine synonyms
To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science,
you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle
275:12 of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love,
combine as one, - and are the Scriptural names
for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im-
275:15 mortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are
His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite
divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His
275:18 wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life
but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.
The divine completeness
Divine metaphysics, as revealed to spiritual understand-
275:21 ing, shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is
God, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience,
- that is, all power, all presence, all Science.
275:24 Hence all is in reality the manifestation of Mind.
Our material human theories are destitute of Science.
The true understanding of God is spiritual. It robs the
275:27 grave of victory. It destroys the false evidence that mis-
leads thought and points to other gods, or other so-called
powers, such as matter, disease, sin, and death, superior
275:30 or contrary to the one Spirit.
Truth, spiritually discerned, is scientifically understood.
It casts out error and heals the sick.
Universal brotherhood
276:1 Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that
heals the sick, and fulfils these sayings of Scripture, "I
276:3 am the Lord that healeth thee," and "I have
found a ransom." When the divine precepts
are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship,
276:6 in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have
one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with
the Scriptural command: "Let this Mind be in you,
276:9 which was also in Christ Jesus." Man and his Maker
are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness
is cognizant only of the things of God.
276:12 The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings
objects and thoughts into human view in their true light,
and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony
276:15 in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is
unreal and mortal.
Perfection requisite
If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life,
276:18 there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.
When we learn in Science how to be perfect
even as our Father in heaven is perfect,
276:21 thought is turned into new and healthy channels, -
towards the contemplation of things immortal and away
from materiality to the Principle of the universe, includ-
276:24 ing harmonious man.
Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never
mingle. The latter destroys the former. Discord is the
276:27 /nothingness/ named error. Harmony is the /somethingness/
named Truth.
Like evolving like
Nature and revelation inform us that like produces
276:30 like. Divine Science does not gather grapes
from thorns nor figs from thistles. Intelli-
gence never produces non-intelligence; but matter is
277:1 ever non-intelligent and therefore cannot spring from
intelligence. To all that is unlike unerring and eternal
277:3 Mind, this Mind saith, "Thou shalt surely die;" and else-
where the Scripture says that dust returns to dust. The
non-intelligent relapses into its own unreality. Matter
277:6 never produces mind. The immortal never produces the
mortal. Good cannot result in evil. As God Himself is
good and is Spirit, goodness and spirituality must be im-
277:9 mortal. Their opposites, evil and matter, are mortal
error, and error has no creator. If goodness and spirit-
uality are real, evil and materiality are unreal and can-
277:12 not be the outcome of an infinite God, good.
Natural history presents vegetables and animals as preserving their original species, - like reproducing like. 277:15 A mineral is not produced by a vegetable nor the man by the brute. In reproduction, the order of genus and species is preserved throughout the entire round of nature. 277:18 This points to the spiritual truth and Science of being. Error relies upon a reversal of this order, asserts that Spirit produces matter and matter produces all the ills 277:21 of flesh, and therefore that good is the origin of evil. These suppositions contradict even the order of material so-called science.
Material error
277:24 The realm of the real is Spirit. The unlikeness of Spirit
is matter, and the opposite of the real is not divine, - it is
a human concept. Matter is an error of state-
277:27 ment. This error in the premise leads to errors
in the conclusion in every statement into which it enters.
Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immor-
277:30 tal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phe-
nomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always
erroneous.
Substance /versus/ supposition
278:1 Is Spirit the source or creator of matter? Science re-
veals nothing in Spirit out of which to create matter.
278:3 Divine metaphysics explains away matter.
Spirit is the only substance and consciousness
recognized by divine Science. The material
278:6 senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for
matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even
as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is
278:9 a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-
matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite,
all. Spirit can have no opposite.
One cause supreme
278:12 That matter is substantial or has life and sensation, is
one of the false beliefs of mortals, and exists only in a
supposititious mortal consciousness. Hence,
278:15 as we approach Spirit and Truth, we lose the
consciousness of matter. The admission that there can
be material substance requires another admission, -
278:18 namely, that Spirit is not infinite and that matter is self-
creative, self-existent, and eternal. From this it would
follow that there are two eternal causes, warring forever
278:21 with each other; and yet we say that Spirit is supreme
and all-presence.
The belief of the eternity of matter contradicts the
278:24 demonstration of life as Spirit, and leads to the conclu-
sion that if man is material, he originated in matter and
must return to dust, - logic which would prove his an-
278:27 nihilation.
Substance is Spirit
All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal
belief. We define matter as error, because it is the oppo-
278:30 site of life, substance, and intelligence. Mat-
ter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial
if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to
279:1 be substance to us, - the erring, changing, and dying,
the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable,
279:3 and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly de-
scribes faith, a quality of mind, as "the /substance/ of things
hoped for."
Material mortality
279:6 The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that
matter, slime, or protoplasm never originated
in the immortal Mind, and is therefore not
279:9 eternal. Matter is neither created by Mind nor for the
manifestation and support of Mind.
Spiritual tangibility
Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness,
279:12 and they have the advantage of being eternal.
Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor co-
operate, and one can no more create the other than
279:15 Truth can create error, or /vice versa/.
In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in-
telligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of
279:18 being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is
in God. Spirit is reached only through the understand-
ing and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and
279:21 Love.
Pantheistic tendencies
Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and
medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic
279:24 belief that there is mind in matter; but this
belief contradicts alike revelation and right
reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached
279:27 only through the knowledge that there are not two
bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, -
Mind.
279:30 Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God, seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and intelligence in matter.
The things of God are beautiful
280:1 In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.
Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod-
280:3 ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal /All/.
From Love and from the light and harmony
which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections
280:6 of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are
ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and
the product must be mental.
280:9 Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc-
tion. Finite belief limits all things, and would compress
Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull bone. Such be-
280:12 lief can neither apprehend nor worship the infinite; and
to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul
and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into per-
280:15 sons and souls.
Belief in many gods
Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods
many and lords many." Moses declared as Jehovah's
280:18 first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have
no other gods before me!" But behold the
zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many
280:21 minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye
shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief
that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is
280:24 in finite forms.
Sensationless body
Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient
material form, man has a sensationless body; and God,
280:27 the Soul of man and of all existence, being
perpetual in His own individuality, harmony,
and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities
280:30 in man, - through Mind, not matter. The only excuse
for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science
of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, - ignorance
281:1 which yields only to the understanding of divine Science,
the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom
281:3 of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and
supreme. Spirit and matter no more commingle than
light and darkness. When one appears, the other dis-
281:6 appears.
God and His image
Error presupposes man to be both mind and matter.
Divine Science contradicts the corporeal senses, rebukes
281:9 mortal belief, and asks: What is the Ego,
whence its origin and what its destiny? The
Ego-man is the reflection of the Ego-God; the Ego-man
281:12 is the image and likeness of perfect Mind, Spirit, divine
Principle.
The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is
281:15 infinite individuality, which supplies all form and come-
liness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual
spiritual man and things.
281:18 The mind supposed to exist in matter or beneath a
skull bone is a myth, a misconceived sense and false
conception as to man and Mind. When we put off the
281:21 false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality
have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn
that sin and mortality are without actual origin or right-
281:24 ful existence. They are native nothingness, out of which
error would simulate creation through a man formed from
dust.
The true new idea
281:27 Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles,
Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our
false views of matter perish as we grasp
281:30 the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be
cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the in-
spiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be
282:1 lost. Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals
the sick.
Figures of being
282:3 The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called
material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical
symbols, a circle or sphere and a straight
282:6 line. The circle represents the infinite with-
out beginning or end; the straight line represents the
finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere
282:9 represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality
or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in
a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal
282:12 Mind and temporary material existence never unite in
figure or in fact.
Opposite symbols
A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a
282:15 curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Similarly,
matter has no place in Spirit, and Spirit has
no place in matter. Truth has no home in
282:18 error, and error has no foothold in Truth. Mind cannot
pass into non-intelligence and matter, nor can non-intel-
ligence become Soul. At no point can these opposites
282:21 mingle or unite. Even though they seem to touch, one
is still a curve and the other a straight line.
There is no inherent power in matter; for all that is
282:24 material is a material, human, mortal thought, always
governing itself erroneously.
Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind. Error is
282:27 the so-called intelligence of mortal mind.
Truth is not inverted
Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of
God or God's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither
282:30 Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the
Father. The rule of inversion infers from
error its opposite, Truth; but Truth is the light which
283:1 dispels error. As mortals begin to understand Spirit,
they give up the belief that there is any true existence
283:3 apart from God.
Source of all life and action
Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no
inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious
283:6 action. Mind is the same Life, Love, and wis-
dom "yesterday, and to-day, and forever."
Matter and its effects - sin, sickness, and
283:9 death - are states of mortal mind which act, react, and
then come to a stop. They are not facts of Mind. They
are not ideas, but illusions. Principle is absolute. It
283:12 admits of no error, but rests upon understanding.
But what say prevalent theories? They insist that
Life, or God, is one and the same with material life so-
283:15 called. They speak of both Truth and error as /mind/,
and of good and evil as /spirit/. They claim that to be
life which is but the objective state of material sense, -
283:18 such as the structural life of the tree and of material
man, - and deem this the manifestation of the one Life,
God.
Spiritual structure
283:21 This false belief as to what really constitutes life so
detracts from God's character and nature, that the true
sense of His power is lost to all who cling to
283:24 this falsity. The divine Principle, or Life, can-
not be practically demonstrated in length of days, as it
was by the patriarchs, unless its Science be accurately
283:27 stated. We must receive the divine Principle in the under-
standing, and live it in daily life; and unless we so do, we
can no more demonstrate Science, than we can teach and
283:30 illustrate geometry by calling a curve a straight line or a
straight line a sphere.
Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in
284:1 matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite,
but dwells in finiteness, - in matter, - or that matter is
284:3 infinite and the medium of Mind.
Mind never limited
If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite
could be circumscribed within the finite, God would be
284:6 corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem
to spring from a limited body; but this is an
impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point,
284:9 and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds,
nor be fully manifested through corporeality.
Material recognition impossible
Is God's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin,
284:12 sickness, and death? Can matter recognize Mind?
Can infinite Mind recognize matter? Can the
infinite dwell in the finite or know aught un-
284:15 like the infinite? Can Deity be known through
the material senses? Can the material senses, which re-
ceive no direct evidence of Spirit, give correct testimony
284:18 as to spiritual life, truth, and love?
The answer to all these questions must forever be in
the negative.
Our physical insensibility to Spirit
284:21 The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. They
can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through
the ear, nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit.
284:24 Even the more subtile and misnamed ma-
terial elements are beyond the cognizance
of these senses, and are known only by the effects com-
284:27 monly attributed to them.
According to Christian Science, the only real senses
of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind.
284:30 Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation
nor report goes from material body to Mind. The in-
tercommunication is always from God to His idea, man.
285:1 Matter is not sentient and cannot be cognizant of good
or of evil, of pleasure or of pain. Man's individu-
285:3 ality is not material. This Science of being obtains not
alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here
and now; it is the great fact of being for time and
285:6 eternity.
The human counterfeit
What, then, is the material personality which suffers,
sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness
285:9 of God, but man's counterfeit, the inverted
likeness, the /unlikeness/ called sin, sickness,
and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is
285:12 the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite na-
tures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is
intelligence while the other is non-intelligence.
Material misconceptions
285:15 Is God a physical personality? Spirit is not physical.
The belief that a material body is man is a false con-
ception of man. The time has come for a
285:18 finite conception of the infinite and of a ma-
terial body as the seat of Mind to give place
to a diviner sense of intelligence and its manifestations,
285:21 to the better understanding that Science gives of the
Supreme Being, or divine Principle, and idea.
Salvation is through reform
By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as
285:24 the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue
to seek salvation through pardon and not
through reform, and resort to matter instead
285:27 of Spirit for the cure of the sick. As mortals
reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher
sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from
285:30 the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ,
Truth, as the healing and saving power.
It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what
286:1 relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek
Truth through belief in a human doctrine is not to un-
286:3 derstand the infinite. We must not seek the immutable
and immortal through the finite, mutable, and mortal,
and so depend upon belief instead of demonstration, for
286:6 this is fatal to a knowledge of Science. The understand-
ing of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual un-
derstanding is better than all burnt offerings.
286:9 The Master said, "No man cometh unto the Father
[the divine Principle of being] but by me," Christ,
Life, Truth, Love; for Christ says, "I am the way."
286:12 Physical causation was put aside from first to
last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the
divine. Principle, Love, creates and governs all that
286:15 is real.
Goodness a portion of God
In the Saxon and twenty other tongues /good/ is the term
for God. The Scriptures declare all that He
286:18 made to be good, like Himself, - good in
Principle and in idea. Therefore the spiritual
universe is good, and reflects God as He is.
Spiritual thoughts
286:21 God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance
and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human,
involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the
286:24 only cause, they lack a divine cause. The
temporal and material are not then creations of Spirit.
They are but counterfeits of the spiritual and eternal.
286:27 Transitory thoughts are the antipodes of everlasting
Truth, though (by the supposition of opposite qualities)
error must also say, "I am true." But by this saying
286:30 error, the lie, destroys itself.
Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human ma-
terial belief, and belong not to the divine Mind. They
287:1 are without a real origin or existence. They have neither
Principle nor permanence, but belong, with all that is
287:3 material and temporal, to the nothingness of error, which
simulates the creations of Truth. All creations of Spirit
are eternal; but creations of matter must return to dust.
287:6 Error supposes man to be both mental and material.
Divine Science contradicts this postulate and maintains
man's spiritual identity.
Divine allness
287:9 We call the absence of Truth, /error/. Truth and error
are unlike. In Science, Truth is divine, and the /infinite/
God can have no unlikeness. Did God, Truth,
287:12 create error? No! "Doth a fountain send
forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" God
being everywhere and all-inclusive, how can He be absent
287:15 or suggest the absence of omnipresence and omnipotence?
How can there be more than /all/?
Neither understanding nor truth accompanies error,
287:18 nor is error the offshoot of Mind. Evil calls itself some-
thing, when it is nothing. It saith, "I am man, but I am
not the image and likeness of God;" whereas the Scrip-
287:21 tures declare that man was made in God's likeness.
Error unveiled
Error is false, mortal belief; it is illusion, without spir-
itual identity or foundation, and it has no real existence.
287:24 The supposition that life, substance, and in-
telligence are /in/ matter, or /of/ it, is an error.
Matter is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the
287:27 objective supposition of Spirit's opposite. The five mate-
rial senses testify to truth and error as united in a mind
both good and evil. Their false evidence will finally
287:30 yield to Truth, - to the recognition of Spirit and of the
spiritual creation.
Truth cannot be contaminated by error. The state-
288:1 ment that /Truth is real/ necessarily includes the correlated
statement, that /error, Truth's unlikeness, is unreal/.
The great conflict
288:3 The suppositional warfare between truth and error is
only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spir-
itual senses and the testimony of the material
288:6 senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and
flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the un-
derstanding of divine Love.
288:9 Superstition and understanding can never combine.
When the final physical and moral effects of Christian
Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth
288:12 and error, understanding and belief, Science and material
sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated
by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The
288:15 lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash
till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the
distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the
288:18 earth. As St. Paul says: "There remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God" (of Spirit).
The chief stones in the temple
The chief stones in the temple of Christian Science are
288:21 to be found in the following postulates: that Life is God,
good, and not evil; that Soul is sinless, not
to be found in the body; that Spirit is not, and
288:24 cannot be, materialized; that Life is not subject
to death; that the spiritual real man has no birth, no ma-
terial life, and no death.
The Christ-element
288:27 Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal
man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses.
The Christ-element in the Messiah made him
288:30 the Way-shower, Truth and Life.
The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have
learned from error, and man's real existence as a child
289:1 of God comes to light. Truth demonstrated is eternal
life. Mortal man can never rise from the temporal /debris/
289:3 of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns
that God is the only Life. The belief that life and sensa-
tion are in the body should be overcome by the under-
289:6 standing of what constitutes man as the image of God.
Then Spirit will have overcome the flesh.
Wickedness is not man
A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little
289:9 else than the expression of error. To suppose that sin,
lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life
abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. Life
289:12 and life's idea, Truth and Truth's idea, never make men
sick, sinful, or mortal.
Death but an illusion
The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still
289:15 overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but
a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys
with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this
289:18 shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a
mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe
there is no death-process.
289:21 The belief that matter has life results, by the universal
law of mortal mind, in a belief in death. So man, tree,
and flower are supposed to die; but the fact remains,
289:24 that God's universe is spiritual and immortal.
Spiritual offspring
The spiritual fact and the material belief of things are
contradictions; but the spiritual is true, and therefore the
289:27 material must be untrue. Life is not in matter.
Therefore it cannot be said to pass out of mat-
ter. Matter and death are mortal illusions. Spirit and
289:30 all things spiritual are the real and eternal.
Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit, - of
Life, not of matter. Because Life is God, Life must be
290:1 eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Be-
ing who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.
Death no advantage
290:3 If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of man's being
are not in the least understood before what is termed death
overtakes mortals, they will rise no higher spir-
290:6 itually in the scale of existence on account of
that single experience, but will remain as material as be-
fore the transition, still seeking happiness through a ma-
290:9 terial, instead of through a spiritual sense of life, and from
selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite
and physical or is manifested through brain and nerves,
290:12 is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
its effects, - sickness, sin, and death. To the spiritual
class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second death
290:15 hath no power."
Future purification
If the change called /death/ destroyed the belief in sin,
sickness, and death, happiness would be won at the mo-
290:18 ment of dissolution, and be forever permanent;
but this is not so. Perfection is gained only
by perfection. They who are unrighteous shall be un-
290:21 righteous still, until in divine Science Christ, Truth, re-
moves all ignorance and sin.
Sin is punished
The sin and error which possess us at the instant of
290:24 death do not cease at that moment, but endure until the
death of these errors. To be wholly spiritual,
man must be sinless, and he becomes thus only
290:27 when he reaches perfection. The murderer, though slain
in the act, does not thereby forsake sin. He is no more
spiritual for believing that his body died and learning that
290:30 his cruel mind died not. His thoughts are no purer until
evil is disarmed by good. His body is as material as his
mind, and /vice versa/.
291:1 The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unfor-
saken, that happiness can be genuine in the midst of
291:3 sin, that the so-called death of the body frees from sin,
and that God's pardon is aught but the destruction of
sin, - these are grave mistakes. We know that all will
291:6 be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," when the last
trump shall sound; but this last call of wisdom cannot
come till mortals have already yielded to each lesser call
291:9 in the growth of Christian character. Mortals need not
fancy that belief in the experience of death will awaken
them to glorified being.
Salvation and probation
291:12 Universal salvation rests on progression and probation,
and is unattainable without them. Heaven is not a local-
ity, but a divine state of Mind in which all the
291:15 manifestations of Mind are harmonious and
immortal, because sin is not there and man is
found having no righteousness of his own, but in posses-
291:18 sion of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
"In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be." So we read in Ecclesiastes. This text has been
291:21 transformed into the popular proverb, "As the tree
falls, so it must lie." As man falleth asleep, so shall he
awake. As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be
291:24 after death, until probation and growth shall effect the
needed change. Mind never becomes dust. No resur-
rection from the grave awaits Mind or Life, for the grave
291:27 has no power over either.
Day of judgment
No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-
day of wisdom comes hourly and continually,
291:30 even the judgment by which mortal man is di-
vested of all material error. As for spiritual error there
is none.
292:1 When the last mortal fault is destroyed, then the final
trump will sound which will end the battle of Truth with
292:3 error and mortality; "but of that day and hour, knoweth
no man." Here prophecy pauses. Divine Science alone
can compass the heights and depths of being and reveal
292:6 the infinite.
Primitive error
Truth will be to us "the resurrection and the life" only
as it destroys all error and the belief that Mind, the only
292:9 immortality of man, can be fettered by the
body, and Life be controlled by death. A sin-
ful, sick, and dying mortal is not the likeness of God, the
292:12 perfect and eternal.
Matter is the primitive belief of mortal mind, because
this so-called mind has no cognizance of Spirit. To
292:15 mortal mind, matter is substantial, and evil is
real. The so-called senses of mortals are material.
Hence the so-called life of mortals is dependent on
292:18 matter.
Explaining the origin of material man and mortal mind,
Jesus said: "Why do ye not understand my speech?
292:21 Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your
father, the devil [evil], and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
292:24 not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it."
Immortal man
292:27 This carnal material mentality, misnamed /mind/, is
mortal. Therefore man would be annihilated, were it
not for the spiritual real man's indissoluble
292:30 connection with his God, which Jesus brought
to light. In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus showed
that a mortal man is not the real essence of manhood, and
293:1 that this unreal material mortality disappears in presence
of the reality.
Elementary electricity
293:3 Electricity is not a vital fluid, but the least material
form of illusive consciousness, - the material mindless-
ness, which forms no link between matter and
293:6 Mind, and which destroys itself. Matter and
mortal mind are but different strata of human belief. The
grosser substratum is named matter or body; the more
293:9 ethereal is called mind. This so-called mind and body
is the illusion called a mortal, a mind in matter. In reality
and in Science, both strata, mortal mind and mortal body,
293:12 are false representatives of man.
The material so-called gases and forces are counter-
feits of the spiritual forces of divine Mind, whose potency
293:15 is Truth, whose attraction is Love, whose adhesion and
cohesion are Life, perpetuating the eternal facts of being.
Electricity is the sharp surplus of materiality which coun-
293:18 terfeits the true essence of spirituality or truth, - the
great difference being that electricity is not intelligent,
while spiritual truth is Mind.
The counterfeit forces
293:21 There is no vapid fury of mortal mind - expressed in
earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity
- and this so-called mind is self-destroyed.
293:24 The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit
divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, "The anger
of the Lord." In reality, they show the self-destruction
293:27 of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the
strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science
brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal har-
293:30 mony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness
of evil.
Instruments of error
The five physical senses are the avenues and instru-
294:1 ments of human error, and they correspond with error.
These senses indicate the common human belief, that life,
294:3 substance, and intelligence are a unison of
matter with Spirit. This is pantheism, and
carries within itself the seeds of all error.
294:6 If man is both mind and matter, the loss of one finger would take away some quality and quantity of the man, for matter and man would be one.
Mortal verdict
294:9 The belief that matter thinks, sees, or feels is not more
real than the belief that matter enjoys and suffers. This
mortal belief, misnamed /man/, is error, saying:
294:12 "Matter has intelligence and sensation. Nerves
feel. Brain thinks and sins. The stomach can make a
man cross. Injury can cripple and matter can kill man."
294:15 This verdict of the so-called material senses victimizes
mortals, taught, as they are by physiology and pathology,
to revere false testimony, even the errors that are destroyed
294:18 by Truth through spiritual sense and Science.
Mythical pleasure
The lines of demarcation between immortal man, repre-
senting Spirit, and mortal man, representing the error that
294:21 life and intelligence are in matter, show the
pleasures and pains of matter to be myths, and
human belief in them to be the father of mythology, in
294:24 which matter is represented as divided into intelligent gods.
Man's genuine selfhood is recognizable only in what is
good and true. Man is neither self-made nor made by
294:27 mortals. God created man.
Severed members
The inebriate believes that there is pleasure in intoxica-
tion. The thief believes that he gains something by steal-
294:30 ing, and the hypocrite that he is hiding himself. The
Science of Mind corrects such mistakes, for Truth demon-
strates the falsity of error.
Severed members
295:1 The belief that a severed limb is aching in the old loca-
tion, the sensation seeming to be in nerves which
295:3 are no longer there, is an added proof of the un-
reliability of physical testimony.
Mortals unlike immortals
God creates and governs the universe, including man.
295:6 The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He
evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind
that makes them. Mortal mind would trans-
295:9 form the spiritual into the material, and then
recover man's original self in order to escape from the
mortality of this error. Mortals are not like immortals,
295:12 created in God's own image; but infinite Spirit being all,
mortal consciousness will at last yield to the scientific fact
and disappear, and the real sense of being, perfect and
295:15 forever intact, will appear.
Goodness transparent
The manifestation of God through mortals is as light
passing through the window-pane. The light and the
295:18 glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass
is less opaque than the walls. The mortal
mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that
295:21 one which has lost much materiality - much error - in
order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then,
like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides
295:24 the sun.
Brainology a myth
All that is called mortal thought is made up of error.
The theoretical mind is matter, named /brain/, or /mate/-
295:27 /rial consciousness/, the exact opposite of real
Mind, or Spirit. Brainology teaches that
mortals are created to suffer and die. It further
295:30 teaches that when man is dead, his immortal soul is
resurrected from death and mortality. Thus error the-
orizes that spirit is born of matter and returns to mat-
296:1 ter, and that man has a resurrection from dust; whereas
Science unfolds the eternal verity, that man is the spiritual,
296:3 eternal reflection of God.
Scientific purgation
Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of
mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for
296:6 the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suf-
fering or Science must destroy all illusions
regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense
296:9 and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off.
Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a
false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic
296:12 matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real,
and eternal.
The so-called pleasures and pains of matter perish,
296:15 and they must go out under the blaze of Truth, spiritual
sense, and the actuality of being. Mortal belief must lose
all satisfaction in error and sin in order to part with
296:18 them.
Whether mortals will learn this sooner or later, and
how long they will suffer the pangs of destruction, de-
296:21 pends upon the tenacity of error.
Mixed testimony
The knowledge obtained from the corporeal senses
leads to sin and death. When the evidence of Spirit
296:24 and matter, Truth and error, seems to com-
mingle, it rests upon foundations which time
is wearing away. Mortal mind judges by the testimony
296:27 of the material senses, until Science obliterates this false
testimony. An improved belief is one step out of error,
and aids in taking the next step and in understanding
296:30 the situation in Christian Science.
Belief an autocrat
Mortal belief is a liar from the beginning, not deserving
power. It says to mortals, "You are wretched!" and they
297:1 think they are so; and nothing can change this state, until
the belief changes. Mortal belief says, "You are happy!"
297:3 and mortals are so; and no circumstance can
alter the situation, until the belief on this sub-
ject changes. Human belief says to mortals, "You are
297:6 sick!" and this testimony manifests itself on the body as
sickness. It is as necessary for a health-illusion, as for
an illusion of sickness, to be instructed out of itself into
297:9 the understanding of what constitutes health; for a change
in either a health-belief or a belief in sickness affects the
physical condition.
Self-improvement
297:12 Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the
evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real
to this false belief, and the human conscious-
297:15 ness rises higher. Thus the reality of being
is attained and man found to be immortal. The only
fact concerning any material concept is, that it is neither
297:18 scientific nor eternal, but subject to change and dis-
solution.
Faith higher than belief
Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is
297:21 a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual
evidence, contradicting the testimony of mate-
rial sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the
297:24 ever-present, is becoming understood. Human thoughts
have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are
better than others. A belief in Truth is better than a
297:27 belief in error, but no mortal testimony is founded on the
divine rock. Mortal testimony can be shaken. Until
belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual under-
297:30 standing, human thought has little relation to the actual
or divine.
A mortal belief fulfils its own conditions. Sickness,
298:1 sin, and death are the vague realities of human conclu-
sions. Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine
298:3 Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in
spiritual understanding. As a cloud hides the sun it
cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the
298:6 voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot de-
stroy Science armed with faith, hope, and fruition.
Truth's witness
What is termed material sense can report only a mor-
298:9 tal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can
bear witness only to Truth. To material sense,
the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected
298:12 by Christian Science.
Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in-
volves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, real-
298:15 ity. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in
matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense
of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never
298:18 reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal.
When the real is attained, which is announced by Science,
joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat. Spirit-
298:21 ual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle,
and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead
up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense
298:24 of being.
Thought-angels
Angels are not etherealized human beings, evolving
animal qualities in their wings; but they are celestial
298:27 visitants, flying on spiritual, not material,
pinions. Angels are pure thoughts from God,
winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their indi-
298:30 vidualism may be. Human conjecture confers upon angels
its own forms of thought, marked with superstitious out-
lines, making them human creatures with suggestive
299:1 feathers; but this is only fancy. It has behind it no more
reality than has the sculptor's thought when he carves
299:3 his "Statue of Liberty," which embodies his concep-
tion of an unseen quality or condition, but which has
no physical antecedent reality save in the artist's own ob-
299:6 servation and "chambers of imagery."
Our Angelic messengers
My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door
of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried
299:9 its fondest earthly hopes. With white fin-
gers they point upward to a new and glo-
rified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels
299:12 are God's representatives. These upward-soaring beings
never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to
the divine Principle of all good, whither every real indi-
299:15 viduality, image, or likeness of God, gathers. By giving
earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us,
and we entertain "angels unawares."
Knowledge and Truth
299:18 Knowledge gained from material sense is figuratively
represented in Scripture as a tree, bearing the fruits of
sin, sickness, and death. Ought we not then
299:21 to judge the knowledge thus obtained to be
untrue and dangerous, since "the tree is known by his
fruit"?
299:24 Truth never destroys God's idea. Truth is spiritual,
eternal substance, which cannot destroy the right reflec-
tion. Corporeal sense, or error, may seem to hide Truth,
299:27 health, harmony, and Science, as the mist obscures the
sun or the mountain; but Science, the sunshine of Truth,
will melt away the shadow and reveal the celestial
299:30 peaks.
Old and new man
If man were solely a creature of the material senses,
he would have no eternal Principle and would be mutable
300:1 and mortal. Human logic is awry when it attempts
to draw correct spiritual conclusions regarding life from
300:3 matter. Finite sense has no true apprecia-
tion of infinite Principle, God, or of His infi-
nite image or reflection, man. The mirage, which makes
300:6 trees and cities seem to be where they are not, illustrates
the illusion of material man, who cannot be the image
of God.
300:9 So far as the scientific statement as to man is under-
stood, it can be proved and will bring to light the true
reflection of God - the real man, or the /new/ man (as
300:12 St. Paul has it).
The tares and wheat
The temporal and unreal never touch the eternal and
real. The mutable and imperfect never touch the im-
300:15 mutable and perfect. The inharmonious and
self-destructive never touch the harmonious
and self-existent. These opposite qualities are the tares
300:18 and wheat, which never really mingle, though (to mortal
sight) they grow side by side until the harvest; then, Sci-
ence separates the wheat from the tares, through the real-
300:21 ization of God as ever present and of man as reflecting
the divine likeness.
The divine reflection
Spirit is God, Soul; therefore Soul is not in matter. If
300:24 Spirit were in matter, God would have no representative,
and matter would be identical with God.
The theory that soul, spirit, intelligence, in-
300:27 habits matter is taught by the schools. This theory is
unscientific. The universe reflects and expresses the di-
vine substance or Mind; therefore God is seen only in the
300:30 spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in
the ray of light which goes out from it. God is re-
vealed only in that which reflects Life, Truth, Love, -
301:1 yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror, repeats
301:3 the color, form, and action of the person in front of the
mirror.
Few persons comprehend what Christian Science
301:6 means by the word /reflection. /To himself, mortal and
material man seems to be substance, but his sense of
substance involves error and therefore is material,
301:9 temporal.
On the other hand, the immortal, spiritual man is really
substantial, and reflects the eternal substance, or Spirit,
301:12 which mortals hope for. He reflects the divine, which
constitutes the only real and eternal entity. This reflection
seems to mortal sense transcendental, because the spiritual
301:15 man's substantiality transcends mortal vision and is re-
vealed only through divine Science.
Inverted images and ideas
As God is substance and man is the divine image and
301:18 likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only
the substance of good, the substance of Spirit,
not matter. The belief that man has any other
301:21 substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks
the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one
Mind. Mortal man seems to himself to be material sub-
301:24 stance, while man is "image" (idea). Delusion, sin, dis-
ease, and death arise from the false testimony of material
sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the
301:27 focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image
of Mind and substance with everything turned upside
down.
301:30 This falsity presupposes soul to be an unsubstantial
dweller in material forms, and man to be material instead
of spiritual. Immortality is not bounded by mortality.
302:1 Soul is not compassed by finiteness. Principle is not to
be found in fragmentary ideas.
Identity not lost
302:3 The material body and mind are temporal, but the
real man is spiritual and eternal. The identity of the
real man is not lost, but found through this
302:6 explanation; for the conscious infinitude of
existence and of all identity is thereby discerned and re-
mains unchanged. It is impossible that man should lose
302:9 aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his. The
notion that mind is in matter, and that the so-called pleas-
ures and pains, the birth, sin, sickness, and death of
302:12 matter, are real, is a mortal belief; and this belief is all
that will ever be lost.
Definition of man
Continuing our definition of/ man/, let us remember that
302:15 harmonious and immortal man has existed forever, and
is always beyond and above the mortal illu-
sion of any life, substance and intelligence
302:18 as existent in matter. This statement is based on fact,
not fable. The Science of being reveals man as perfect,
even as the Father is perfect, because the Soul, or Mind,
302:21 of the spiritual man is God, the divine Principle of all
being, and because this real man is governed by Soul
instead of sense, by the law of Spirit, not by the so-called
302:24 laws of matter.
God is Love. He is therefore the divine, infinite Prin-
ciple, called Person or God. Man's true consciousness
302:27 is in the mental, not in any bodily or personal likeness
to Spirit. Indeed, the body presents no proper likeness
of divinity, though mortal sense would fain have us so
302:30 believe.
Mental propagation
Even in Christian Science, reproduction by Spirit's
individual ideas is but the reflection of the creative power
303:1 of the divine Principle of those ideas. The reflection,
through mental manifestation, of the multitudinous
303:3 forms of Mind which people the realm of
the real is controlled by Mind, the Principle
governing the reflection. Multiplication of God's chil-
303:6 dren comes from no power of propagation in matter, it
is the reflection of Spirit.
The minutiae of lesser individualities reflect the one di-
303:9 vine individuality and are comprehended in and formed
by Spirit, not by material sensation. Whatever reflects
Mind, Life, Truth, and Love, is spiritually conceived and
303:12 brought forth; but the statement that man is conceived
and evolved both spiritually and materially, or by both
God and man, contradicts this eternal truth. All the
303:15 vanity of the ages can never make both these contraries
true. Divine Science lays the axe at the root of the illu-
sion that life, or mind, is formed by or is in the material
303:18 body, and Science will eventually destroy this illusion
through the self-destruction of all error and the beatified
understanding of the Science of Life.
Error defined
303:21 The belief that pain and pleasure, life and death, holi-
ness and unholiness, mingle in man, - that
mortal, material man is the likeness of God
303:24 and is himself a creator, - is a fatal error.
Man's entity spiritual
God, without the image and likeness of Himself, would
be a nonentity, or Mind unexpressed. He would be
303:27 without a witness or proof of His own na-
ture. Spiritual man is the image or idea of
God, an idea which cannot be lost nor sep-
303:30 arated from its divine Principle. When the evidence
before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the
apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from
304:1 God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and
Truth.
Man inseparable from Love
304:3 It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material
sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and good-
ness. Understanding this, Paul said: "Nei-
304:6 ther death, nor life, . . . nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
304:9 the love of God." This is the doctrine of Christian
Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its
manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into
304:12 sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can
never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind
nor life result in death. The perfect man - governed
304:15 by God, his perfect Principle - is sinless and eternal.
Harmony natural
Harmony is produced by its Principle, is controlled by it and abides with it. Divine Principle is the Life 304:18 of man. Man's happiness is not, therefore, at the disposal of physical sense. Truth is not contaminated by error. Harmony in man is as beautiful 304:21 as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal.
The science of music governs tones. If mortals caught
harmony through material sense, they would lose har-
304:24 mony, if time or accident robbed them of material sense.
To be master of chords and discords, the science of
music must be understood. Left to the decisions
304:27 of material sense, music is liable to be misappre-
hended and lost in confusion. Controlled by belief,
instead of understanding, music is, must be, imper-
304:30 fectly expressed. So man, not understanding the Sci-
ence of being, - thrusting aside his divine Principle as
incomprehensible, - is abandoned to conjectures, left in
305:1 the hands of ignorance, placed at the disposal of illusions,
subjected to material sense which is discord. A discon-
305:3 tented, discordant mortal is no more a /man/ than discord
is music.
Human reflection
A picture in the camera or a face reflected in the mirror
305:6 is not the original, though resembling it. Man, in the
likeness of his Maker, reflects the central light
of being, the invisible God. As there is no cor-
305:9 poreality in the mirrored form, which is but a reflection,
so man, like all things real, reflects God, his divine Prin-
ciple, not in a mortal body.
305:12 Gender also is a quality, not of God, but a character-
istic of mortal mind. The verity that God's image is not
a creator, though he reflects the creation of Mind, God,
305:15 constitutes the underlying reality of reflection. "Then
answered Jesus and said unto them: Verily, verily I say
unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
305:18 seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise."
Inverted images
The inverted images presented by the senses, the de-
305:21 flections of matter as opposed to the Science of spirit-
ual reflection, are all unlike Spirit, God. In
the illusion of life that is here to-day and
305:24 gone to-morrow, man would be wholly mortal, were
it not that Love, the divine Principle that obtains in
divine Science, destroys all error and brings immor-
305:27 tality to light. Because man is the reflection of his
Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, de-
cay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not
305:30 divine.
Jewish traditions
The Sadducees reasoned falsely about the resurrec-
tion, but not so blindly as the Pharisees, who believed
306:1 error to be as immortal as Truth. The Pharisees thought
that they could raise the spiritual from the material. They
306:3 would first make life result in death, and then
resort to death to reproduce spiritual life.
Jesus taught them how death was to be overcome by
306:6 spiritual Life, and demonstrated this beyond cavil.
Divinity not childless
Life demonstrates Life. The immortality of Soul makes
man immortal. If God, who is Life, were parted for a
306:9 moment from His reflection, man, during that
moment there would be no divinity reflected.
The Ego would be unexpressed, and the Father would be
306:12 childless, - no Father.
If Life or Soul and its representative, man, unite for
a period and then are separated as by a law of divorce to
306:15 be brought together again at some uncertain future time
and in a manner unknown, - and this is the general
religious opinion of mankind, - we are left without a
306:18 rational proof of immortality. But man cannot be sep-
arated for an instant from God, if man reflects God.
Thus Science proves man's existence to be intact.
Thought-forms
306:21 The myriad forms of mortal thought, made manifest
as matter, are not more distinct nor real to the mate-
rial senses than are the Soul-created forms
306:24 to spiritual sense, which cognizes Life as per-
manent. Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the
material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding
306:27 to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,
- is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and
eternal.
306:30 God's man, spiritually created, is not material and mortal.
The serpent's whisper
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream,
307:1 the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life
and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.
307:3 This pantheistic error, or so-called /serpent/, in-
sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying,
"Ye shall be as gods;" that is, I will make error as real
307:6 and eternal as Truth.
Evil still affirms itself to be mind, and declares that
there is more than one intelligence or God. It says:
307:9 "There shall be lords and gods many. I declare that God
makes evil minds and evil spirits, and that I aid Him.
Truth shall change sides and be unlike Spirit. I will
307:12 put spirit into what I call matter, and matter shall seem
to have life as much as God, Spirit, who /is/ the only life."
Bad results from error
This error has proved itself to be error. Its life is found
307:15 to be not Life, but only a transient, false sense of an ex-
istence which ends in death. Error charges
its lie to Truth and says: "The Lord knows
307:18 it. He has made man immortal and material, out of mat-
ter instead of Spirit." Thus error partakes of its own
nature and utters its own falsities. If we regard matter
307:21 as intelligent, and Mind as both good and evil, every sin
or supposed material pain and pleasure seems normal,
a part of God's creation, and so weighs against our course
307:24 Spiritward.
Higher statutes
Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul
of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man
307:27 was not created from a material basis, nor
bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never
made; his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher
307:30 law of Mind.
The great question
Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the voice
of Truth still calls: "Adam, where art thou? Conscious-
308:1 ness, where art thou? Art thou dwelling in the belief
that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art thou
308:3 in the living faith that there is and can be but
one God, and keeping His commandment?"
Until the lesson is learned that God is the only Mind gov-
308:6 erning man, mortal belief will be afraid as it was in the
beginning, and will hide from the demand, "Where art
thou?" This awful demand, "Adam, where art thou?"
308:9 is met by the admission from the head, heart, stomach,
blood, nerves, etc.: "Lo, here I am, looking for happiness
and life in the body, but finding only an illusion, a blend-
308:12 ing of false claims, false pleasure, pain, sin, sickness, and
death."
The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth,
308:15 and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man.
Wrestling of Jacob
Jacob was /alone/, wrestling with error, - struggling
with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence
308:18 as existent in matter with its false pleasures
and pains, - when an angel, a message from
Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew,
308:21 or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality; and
Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual
strength in this Peniel of divine Science. Then said
308:24 the spiritual evangel: "Let me go, for the day breaketh;"
that is, the light of Truth and Love dawns upon thee.
But the patriarch, perceiving his error and his need
308:27 of help, did not loosen his hold upon this glorious light
until his nature was transformed. When Jacob was
asked, "What is thy name?" he straightway answered;
308:30 and then his name was changed to Israel, for "as a prince"
had he prevailed and had "power with God and with
men." Then Jacob questioned his deliverer, "Tell me,
309:1 I pray thee, /thy/ name;" but this appellation was withheld,
for the messenger was not a corporeal being, but a name-
309:3 less, incorporeal impartation of divine Love to man, which,
to use the word of the Psalmist, /restored /his Soul, - gave
him the spiritual sense of being and rebuked his material
309:6 sense.
Israel the new name
The result of Jacob's struggle thus appeared. He had
conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit
309:9 and of spiritual power. This changed the man.
He was no longer called Jacob, but Israel, -
a prince of God, or a soldier of God, who had fought
309:12 a good fight. He was to become the father of those, who
through earnest striving followed his demonstration of the
power of Spirit over the material senses; and the children
309:15 of earth who followed his example were to be called the
children of Israel, until the Messiah should rename them.
If these children should go astray, and forget that Life
309:18 is God, good, and that good is not in elements which are
not spiritual, - thus losing the divine power which heals
the sick and sinning, - they were to be brought back
309:21 through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian
Science and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter,
even as the gospel teaches.
Life never structural
309:24 The Science of being shows it to be impossible for in-
finite Spirit or Soul to be in a finite body or for man to
have an intelligence separate from his Maker.
309:27 It is a self-evident error to suppose that there
can be such a reality as organic animal or vegetable life,
when such so-called life always ends in death. Life is
309:30 never for a moment extinct. Therefore it is never struc-
tural nor organic, and is never absorbed nor limited by its
own formations.
Thought seen as substance
310:1 The artist is not in his painting. The picture is the
artist's thought objectified. The human belief fancies
310:3 that it delineates thought on matter, but what
is matter? Did it exist prior to thought?
Matter is made up of supposititious mortal mind-force;
310:6 but all might is divine Mind. Thought will finally be
understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but
without material accompaniments. The potter is not in
310:9 the clay; else the clay would have power over the potter.
God is His own infinite Mind, and expresses all.
The central intelligence
Day may decline and shadows fall, but darkness flees
310:12 when the earth has again turned upon its axis. The sun
is not affected by the revolution of the earth.
So Science reveals Soul as God, untouched
310:15 by sin and death, - as the central life and intelligence
around which circle harmoniously all things in the sys-
tems of Mind.
Soul imperishable
310:18 Soul changeth not. We are commonly taught that there
is a human soul which sins and is spiritually lost, - that
soul may be lost, and yet be immortal. If
310:21 Soul could sin, Spirit, Soul, would be flesh in-
stead of Spirit. It is the belief of the flesh and of mate-
rial sense which sins. If Soul sinned, Soul would die.
310:24 Sin is the element of self-destruction, and spiritual death
is oblivion. If there was sin in Soul, the annihilation of
Spirit would be inevitable. The only Life is Spirit, and
310:27 if Spirit should lose Life as God, good, then Spirit, which
has no other existence, would be annihilated.
Mind is God, and God is not seen by material sense,
310:30 because Mind is Spirit, which material sense cannot dis-
cern. There is neither growth, maturity, nor decay in
Soul. These changes are the mutations of material sense,
311:1 the varying clouds of mortal belief, which hide the truth
of being.
311:3 What we term mortal mind or carnal mind, dependent
on matter for manifestation, is not Mind. God is Mind:
all that Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He
311:6 made all. Hence evil is not made and is not real.
Sin only of the flesh
Soul is immortal because it is Spirit, which has no ele-
ment of self-destruction. is man lost spiritually? No,
311:9 he can only lose a sense material. All sin is
of the flesh. It cannot be spiritual. Sin exists
here or hereafter only so long as the illusion of mind in
311:12 matter remains. It is a sense of sin, and not a sinful soul,
which is lost. Evil is destroyed by the sense of good.
Soul impeccable
Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense
311:15 and of mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a
sense of temporary loss or absence of soul, spir-
itual truth. This state of error is the mortal
311:18 dream of life and substance as existent in matter, and is
directly opposite to the immortal reality of being. So long
as we believe that soul can sin or that immortal Soul is in
311:21 mortal body, we can never understand the Science of be-
ing. When humanity does understand this Science, it
will become the law of Life to man, - even the higher law
311:24 of Soul, which prevails over material sense through har-
mony and immortality.
The objects cognized by the physical senses have not
311:27 the reality of substance. They are only what mortal
belief calls them. Matter, sin, and mortality lose all
supposed consciousness or claim to life or existence, as
311:30 mortals lay off a false sense of life, substance, and intelli-
gence. but the spiritual, eternal man is not touched by
these phases of mortality.
Sense-dreams
312:1 How true it is that whatever is learned through material
sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge is
312:3 reversed by the spiritual facts of being in
Science. That which material sense calls
intangible, is found to be substance. What to material
312:6 sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense-
dream vanishes and reality appears.
The senses regard a corpse, not as man, but simply as
312:9 matter. People say, "Man is dead;" but this death is
the departure of a mortal's mind, not of matter. The
matter is still there. The belief of that mortal that he
312:12 must die occasioned his departure; yet you say that
matter has caused his death.
Vain ecstasies
People go into ecstasies over the sense of a corporeal
312:15 Jehovah, though with scarcely a spark of love in their
hearts; yet God /is/ love, and without Love,
God, immortality cannot appear. Mortals try
312:18 to believe without understanding Truth; yet God /is/
Truth. Mortals claim that death is inevitable; but man's
eternal Principle is ever-present life. Mortals believe in
312:21 a finite personal God; while God is infinite Love, which
must be unlimited.
Man-made theories
Our theories are based on finite premises, which can-
312:24 not penetrate beyond matter. A personal sense of God
and of man's capabilities necessarily limits
faith and hinders spiritual understanding. It
312:27 divides faith and understanding between matter and Spirit,
the finite and the infinite, and so turns away from the
intelligent and divine healing Principle to the inanimate
312:30 drug.
The one anointed
Jesus' spiritual origin and his demonstration of divine
Principle richly endowed him and entitled him to sonship
313:1 in Science. He was the son of a virgin. The term
Christ Jesus, or Jesus the Christ (to give the full and
313:3 proper translation of the Greek), may be ren-
dered "Jesus the anointed," Jesus the God-
crowned or the divinely royal man, as it is said of him in
313:6 the first chapter of Hebrews: -
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
313:9 With this agrees another passage in the same chapter,
which refers to the Son as "the brightness of His [God's]
glory, and the express [expressed] image of His person
313:12 [infinite Mind]." It is noteworthy that the phrase "ex-
press image" in the Common Version is, in the Greek
Testament, /character/. Using this word in its higher mean-
313:15 ing, we may assume that the author of this remarkable
epistle regarded Christ as the Son of God, the royal
reflection of the infinite; and the cause given for the ex-
313:18 altation of Jesus, Mary's son, was that he "loved right-
eousness and hated iniquity." The passage is made
even clearer in the translation of the late George R.
313:21 Noyes, D.D.: "Who, being a brightness from His glory,
and an image of His being."
Jesus the Scientist
Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that
313:24 ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material
surface of things, and found the spiritual
cause. To accommodate himself to imma-
313:27 ture ideas of spiritual power, - for spirituality was pos
sessed only in a limited degree even by his disciples, -
Jesus called the body, which by spiritual power he
313:30 raised from the grave, "flesh and bones." To show
that the substance of himself was Spirit and the body
314:1 no more perfect because of death and no less material
until the ascension (his further spiritual exaltation),
314:3 Jesus waited until the mortal or fleshly sense had re-
linquished the belief of substance-matter, and spiritual
sense had quenched all earthly yearnings. Thus he found
314:6 the eternal Ego, and proved that he and the Father were
inseparable as God and His reflection or spiritual man.
Our Master gained the solution of being, demonstrating
314:9 the existence of but one Mind without a second or equal.
The bodily resurrection
The Jews, who sought to kill this man of God, showed
plainly that their material views were the parents of their
314:12 wicked deeds. When Jesus spoke of repro-
ducing his body, - knowing, as he did, that
Mind was the builder, - and said, "Destroy this temple,
314:15 and in three days I will raise it up," they thought that he
meant their material temple instead of his body. To such
materialists, the real man seemed a spectre, unseen and
314:18 unfamiliar, and the body, which they laid in a sepulchre,
seemed to be substance. This materialism lost sight of
the true Jesus; but the faithful Mary saw him, and he
314:21 presented to her, more than ever before, the true idea of
Life and substance.
Opposition of materialists
Because of mortals' material and sinful belief, the
314:24 spiritual Jesus was imperceptible to them. The higher
his demonstration of divine Science carried
the problem of being, and the more dis-
314:27 tinctly he uttered the demands of its divine Principle,
Truth and Love, the more odious he became to sinners
and to those who, depending on doctrines and material
314:30 laws to save them from sin and sickness, were submis-
sive to death as being in supposed accord with the
inevitable law of life. Jesus proved them wrong by
315:1 his resurrection, and said: "Whosoever liveth and be-
lieveth in me shall never die."
Hebrew theology
315:3 That saying of our Master, "I and my Father are one,"
separated him from the scholastic theology of the rabbis.
His better understanding of God was a rebuke
315:6 to them. He knew of but one Mind and laid
no claim to any other. He knew that the Ego was Mind
instead of body and that matter, sin, and evil were not
315:9 Mind; and his understanding of this divine Science
brought upon him the anathemas of the age.
The true sonship
The opposite and false views of the people hid from
315:12 their sense Christ's sonship with God. They could not
discern his spiritual existence. Their carnal
minds were at enmity with it. Their thoughts
315:15 were filled with mortal error, instead of with God's spirit-
ual idea as presented by Christ Jesus. The likeness of
God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spir-
315:18 itual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only
when we subdue sin and prove man's heritage, the liberty
of the sons of God.
Immaculate conception
315:21 Jesus' spiritual origin and understanding enabled him
to demonstrate the facts of being, - to prove irrefutably
how spiritual Truth destroys material error,
315:24 heals sickness, and overcomes death. The
divine conception of Jesus pointed to this truth and pre-
sented an illustration of creation. The history of Jesus
315:27 shows him to have been more spiritual than all other
earthly personalities.
Jesus as mediator
Wearing in part a human form (that is, as it seemed
315:30 to mortal view), being conceived by a human mother,
Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh,
between Truth and error. Explaining and demonstrat-
316:1 ing the way of divine Science, he became the way of
salvation to all who accepted his word. From him mor-
316:3 tals may learn how to escape from evil. The
real man being linked by Science to his Maker,
mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal
316:6 selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to
God, and to recognize the divine sonship. Christ, Truth,
was demonstrated through Jesus to prove the power of
316:9 Spirit over the flesh, - to show that Truth is made
manifest by its effects upon the human mind and body,
healing sickness and destroying sin.
Spiritual government
316:12 Jesus represented Christ, the true idea of God. Hence
the warfare between this spiritual idea and perfunctory
religion, between spiritual clear-sightedness
316:15 and the blindness of popular belief, which led
to the conclusion that the spiritual idea could be killed
by crucifying the flesh. The Christ-idea, or the Christ-
316:18 man, rose higher to human view because of the crucifixion,
and thus proved that truth was the master of death.
Christ presents the indestructible man, whom Spirit cre-
316:21 ates, constitutes, and governs. Christ illustrates that
blending with God, his divine Principle, which gives man
dominion over all the earth.
Deadness in sin
316:24 The spiritual idea of God, as presented by Jesus, was
scourged in person, and its Principle was rejected. That
man was accounted a criminal who could
316:27 prove God's divine power by healing the
sick, casting out evils, spiritualizing materialistic beliefs,
and raising the dead, - those dead in trespasses and
316:30 sins, satisfied with the flesh, resting on the basis of mat-
ter, blind to the possibilities of Spirit and its correla-
tive truth.
317:1 Jesus uttered things which had been "secret from the
foundation of the world," - since material knowledge
317:3 usurped the throne of the creative divine Principle, insisted
on the might of matter, the force of falsity, the insignifi-
cance of spirit, and proclaimed an anthropomorphic God.
The cup of Jesus
317:6 Whosoever lives most the life of Jesus in this age
and declares best the power of Christian Science, will
drink of his Master's cup. Resistance to
317:9 Truth will haunt his steps, and he will in-
cur the hatred of sinners, till "wisdom is justified of
her children." These blessed benedictions rest upon
317:12 Jesus' followers: "If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you;" "Lo, I am with you
alway," - that is, not only in all time, but in /all ways/
317:15 and conditions.
The individuality of man is no less tangible because
it is spiritual and because his life is not at the mercy of
317:18 matter. The understanding of his spiritual individuality
makes man more real, more formidable in truth, and en-
ables him to conquer sin, disease, and death. Our Lord
317:21 and Master presented himself to his disciples after his
resurrection from the grave, as the self-same Jesus whom
they had loved before the tragedy on Calvary.
Material skepticism
317:24 To the materialistic Thomas, looking for the ideal
Saviour in matter instead of in Spirit and to the testi-
mony of the material senses and the body,
317:27 more than to Soul, for an earnest of immor-
tality, - to him Jesus furnished the proof that he was
unchanged by the crucifixion. To this dull and doubt-
317:30 ing disciple Jesus remained a fleshly reality, so long as
the Master remained an inhabitant of the earth. Noth-
ing but a display of matter could make existence real
318:1 to Thomas. For him to believe in matter was no task,
but for him to conceive of the substantiality of Spirit -
318:3 to know that nothing can efface Mind and immortality, in
which Spirit reigns - was more difficult.
What the senses originate
Corporeal senses define diseases as realities; but the
318:6 Scriptures declare that God made all, even while the cor-
poreal senses are saying that matter causes
disease and the divine Mind cannot or will
318:9 not heal it. The material senses originate and
support all that is material, untrue, selfish, or debased.
They would put soul into soil, life into limbo, and doom
318:12 all things to decay. We must silence this lie of material
sense with the truth of spiritual sense. We must cause
the error to cease that brought the belief of sin and death
318:15 and would efface the pure sense of omnipotence.
Sickness as discord
Is the sick man sinful above all others? No! but
so far as he is discordant, he is not the image of God.
318:18 Weary of their material beliefs, from which
comes so much suffering, invalids grow more
spiritual, as the error - or belief that life is in matter -
318:21 yields to the reality of spiritual Life.
The Science of Mind denies the error of sensation in
matter, and heals with Truth. Medical science treats
318:24 disease as though disease were real, therefore right, and
attempts to heal it with matter. If disease is right it is
wrong to heal it. Material methods are temporary, and
318:27 are not adapted to elevate mankind.
The governor is not subjected to the governed. In
Science man is governed by God, divine Principle, as
318:30 numbers are controlled and proved by His laws. Intelli-
gence does not originate in numbers, but is manifested
through them. The body does not include soul, but man-
319:1 ifests mortality, a false sense of soul. The delusion that
there is life in matter has no kinship with the Life supernal.
Unscientific introspection
319:3 Science depicts disease as error, as matter /versus/
Mind, and error reversed as subserving the facts of
health. To calculate one's life-prospects
319:6 from a material basis, would infringe upon
spiritual law and misguide human hope. Having faith
in the divine Principle of Health and spiritually under-
319:9 standing God, sustains man under all circumstances;
whereas the lower appeal to the general faith in material
means (commonly called nature) must yield to the all-
319:12 might of infinite Spirit.
Throughout the infinite cycles of eternal existence,
Spirit and matter neither concur in man nor in the universe.
God the only Mind
319:15 The varied doctrines and theories which presuppose
life and intelligence to exist in matter are so many ancient
and modern mythologies. Mystery, miracle,
319:18 sin, and death will disappear when it becomes
fairly understood that the divine Mind controls man and
man has no Mind but God.
Scriptures misinterpreted
319:21 The divine Science taught in the original language
of the Bible came through inspiration, and needs inspi-
ration to be understood. Hence the misappre-
319:24 hension of the spiritual meaning of the Bible,
and the misinterpretation of the Word in
some instances by uninspired writers, who only wrote
319:27 down what an inspired teacher had said. A misplaced
word changes the sense and misstates the Science of
the Scriptures, as, for instance, to name Love as merely
319:30 an attribute of God; but we can by special and proper
capitalization speak of the love of Love, meaning by that
what the beloved disciple meant in one of his epistles,
320:1 when he said, "God is love." Likewise we can speak of
the truth of Truth and of the life of Life, for Christ plainly
320:3 declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Interior meaning
Metaphors abound in the Bible, and names are often
expressive of spiritual ideas. The most distinguished
320:6 theologians in Europe and America agree that
the Scriptures have both a spiritual and lit-
eral meaning. In Smith's Bible Dictionary it is said:
320:9 "The spiritual interpretation of Scripture must rest
upon both the literal and moral;" and in the learned
article on Noah in the same work, the familiar text,
320:12 Genesis vi. 3, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not
always strive with man, for that he also is flesh," is quoted
as follows, from the original Hebrew: "And Jehovah
320:15 said, My spirit shall not forever rule [or be humbled] in
men, seeing that they are [or, in their error they are]
but flesh." Here the original text declares plainly the
320:18 spiritual fact of being, even man's eternal and harmo-
nious existence as image, idea, instead of matter (how-
ever transcendental such a thought appears), and avers
320:21 that this fact is not forever to be humbled by the belief
that man is flesh and matter, for according to that error
man is mortal.
Job, on the resurrection
320:24 The one important interpretation of Scripture is the
spiritual. For example, the text, "In my flesh shall I
see God," gives a profound idea of the di-
320:27 vine power to heal the ills of the flesh, and
encourages mortals to hope in Him who healeth all our
diseases; whereas this passage is continually quoted
320:30 as if Job intended to declare that even if disease and
worms destroyed his body, yet in the latter days he should
stand in celestial perfection before Elohim, still clad
321:1 in material flesh, - an interpretation which is just the op-
posite of the true, as may be seen by studying the book
321:3 of Job. As Paul says, in his first epistle to the Corin-
thians, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God."
Fear of the serpent overcome
321:6 The Hebrew Lawgiver, slow of speech, despaired of
making the people understand what should be revealed
to him. When, led by wisdom to cast down his
321:9 rod, he saw it become a serpent, Moses fled be-
fore it; but wisdom bade him come back and
handle the serpent, and then Moses' fear departed. In
321:12 this incident was seen the actuality of Science. Matter
was shown to be a belief only. The serpent, evil, under
wisdom's bidding, was destroyed through understanding
321:15 divine Science, and this proof was a staff upon which to
lean. The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him,
when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really
321:18 but a phase of mortal belief.
Leprosy healed
It was scientifically demonstrated that leprosy was a
creation of mortal mind and not a condition of matter,
321:21 when Moses first put his hand into his bosom
and drew it forth white as snow with the dread
disease, and presently restored his hand to its natural con-
321:24 dition by the same simple process. God had lessened
Moses' fear by this proof in divine Science, and the in-
ward voice became to him the voice of God, which said:
321:27 "It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither
hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe
the voice of the latter sign." And so it was in the coming
321:30 centuries, when the Science of being was demonstrated
by Jesus, who showed his students the power of Mind by
changing water into wine, and taught them how to handle
322:1 serpents unharmed, to heal the sick and cast out evils in
proof of the supremacy of Mind.
Standpoints changed
322:3 When understanding changes the standpoints of life and
intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall
gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over
322:6 sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or
Truth, in its divine Principle. This must be the climax
before harmonious and immortal man is obtained and his
322:9 capabilities revealed. It is highly important - in view
of the immense work to be accomplished before this recog-
nition of divine Science can come - to turn our thoughts
322:12 towards divine Principle, that finite belief may be pre-
pared to relinquish its error.
Saving the inebriate
Man's wisdom finds no satisfaction in sin, since God
322:15 has sentenced sin to suffer. The necromancy of yester-
day foreshadowed the mesmerism and hypno-
tism of to-day. The drunkard thinks he enjoys
322:18 drunkenness, and you cannot make the inebriate leave
his besottedness, until his physical sense of pleasure yields
to a higher sense. Then he turns from his cups, as
322:21 the startled dreamer who wakens from an incubus in-
curred through the pains of distorted sense. A man who
likes to do wrong - finding pleasure in it and refraining
322:24 from it only through fear of consequences - is neither
a temperate man nor a reliable religionist.
Uses of suffering
The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life
322:27 of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless
woes, turn us like tired children to the arms
of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life
322:30 in divine Science. Without this process of weaning,
"Canst thou by searching find out God?" It is easier
to desire Truth than to rid one's self of error. Mortals
323:1 may seek the understanding of Christian Science, but they
will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts
323:3 of being without striving for them. This strife consists
in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to pos-
sess no other consciousness but good.
A bright outlook
323:6 Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we
are helped onward in the march towards righteousness,
peace, and purity, which are the landmarks
323:9 of Science. Beholding the infinite tasks of
truth, we pause, - wait on God. Then we push onward,
until boundless thought walks enraptured, and concep-
323:12 tion unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory.
Need and supply
In order to apprehend more, we must put into prac-
tice what we already know. We must recollect that
323:15 Truth is demonstrable when understood, and
that good is not understood until demonstrated.
If "faithful over a few things," we shall be made rulers
323:18 over many; but the one unused talent decays and is lost.
When the sick or the sinning awake to realize their need
of what they have not, they will be receptive of divine
323:21 Science, which gravitates towards Soul and away from
material sense, removes thought from the body, and ele-
vates even mortal mind to the contemplation of some-
323:24 thing better than disease or sin. The true idea of God
gives the true understanding of Life and Love, robs the
grave of victory, takes away all sin and the delusion that
323:27 there are other minds, and destroys mortality.
Childlike receptivity
The effects of Christian Science are not so much seen
as felt. It is the "still, small voice" of Truth
323:30 uttering itself. We are either turning away
from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going
up higher. Willingness to become as a little child and
324:1 to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of
the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks
324:3 and joy to see them disappear, - this disposition helps
to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification
of sense and self is a proof of progress. "Blessed are the
324:6 pure in heart: for they shall see God."
Narrow pathway
Unless the harmony and immortality of man are be-
coming more apparent, we are not gaining the true idea
324:9 of God; and the body will reflect what gov-
erns it, whether it be Truth or error,
understanding or belief, Spirit or matter. Therefore
324:12 "acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace."
Be watchful, sober, and vigilant. The way is straight
and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God
324:15 is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which
we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here
or hereafter, - certainly before we can reach the goal
324:18 of Spirit, or life in God.
Paul's enlightenment
Paul was not at first a disciple of Jesus but a perse-
cutor of Jesus' followers. When the truth first appeared
324:21 to him in Science, Paul was made blind,
and his blindness was felt; but spiritual
light soon enabled him to follow the example and teach-
324:24 ings of Jesus, healing the sick and preaching Christian-
ity throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and even in imperial
Rome.
324:27 Paul writes, "If Christ [Truth] be not risen, then is
our preaching vain." That is, if the idea of the suprem-
acy of Spirit, which is the true conception of being,
324:30 come not to your thought, you cannot be benefited by
what I say.
Abiding in Life
Jesus said substantially, "He that believeth in me
325:1 shall not see death." That is, he who perceives the
true idea of Life loses his belief in death. He who has
325:3 the true idea of good loses all sense of evil,
and by reason of this is being ushered into the
undying realities of Spirit. Such a one abideth in Life, -
325:6 life obtained not of the body incapable of supporting life,
but of Truth, unfolding its own immortal idea. Jesus
gave the true idea of being, which results in infinite bless-
325:9 ings to mortals.
Indestructible being
In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: "When Christ, who
is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also
325:12 appear [be manifested] with him in glory."
When spiritual being is understood in all its
perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found
325:15 in God's image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic
words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness,
perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, "hid with
325:18 Christ in God," - with Truth in divine Love, where
human sense hath not seen man.
Consecration required
Paul had a clear sense of the demands of Truth upon
325:21 mortals physically and spiritually, when he said: "Pre-
sent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac-
ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
325:24 service." But he, who is begotten of the beliefs of the
flesh and serves them, can never reach in this world the
divine heights of our Lord. The time cometh when
325:27 the spiritual origin of man, the divine Science which
ushered Jesus into human presence, will be understood
and demonstrated.
325:30 When first spoken in any age, Truth, like the light,
"shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not." A false sense of life, substance, and mind
326:1 hides the divine possibilities, and conceals scientific
demonstration.
Loving God supremely
326:3 If we wish to follow Christ, Truth, it must be in the
way of God's appointing. Jesus said, "He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also."
326:6 He, who would reach the source and find the
divine remedy for every ill, must not try to climb the hill
of Science by some other road. All nature teaches God's
326:9 love to man, but man cannot love God supremely and set
his whole affections on spiritual things, while loving the
material or trusting in it more than in the spiritual.
326:12 We must forsake the foundation of material systems,
however time-honored, if we would gain the Christ as
our only Saviour. Not partially, but fully, the great
326:15 healer of mortal mind is the healer of the body.
The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained
now. This point won, you have started as you should.
326:18 You have begun at the numeration-table of Christian
Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your
advancement. Working and praying with true motives,
326:21 your Father will open the way. "Who did hinder you,
that ye should not obey the truth?"
Conversion of Saul
Saul of Tarsus beheld the way - the Christ, or Truth
326:24 - only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a
spiritual sense, which is always right. Then
the man was changed. Thought assumed a
326:27 nobler outlook, and his life became more spiritual. He
learned the wrong that he had done in persecuting Chris-
tians, whose religion he had not understood, and in hu-
326:30 mility he took the new name of Paul. He beheld for the
first time the true idea of Love, and learned a lesson in
divine Science.
327:1 Reform comes by understanding that there is no abid-
ing pleasure in evil, and also by gaining an affection for
327:3 good according to Science, which reveals the immortal
fact that neither pleasure nor pain, appetite nor passion,
can exist in or of matter, while divine Mind can and does
327:6 destroy the false beliefs of pleasure, pain, or fear and all
the sinful appetites of the human mind.
Image of the beast
What a pitiful sight is malice, finding pleasure in re-
327:9 venge! Evil is sometimes a man's highest conception
of right, until his grasp on good grows stronger.
Then he loses pleasure in wickedness, and it
327:12 becomes his torment. The way to escape the misery of
sin is to cease sinning. There is no other way. Sin is
the image of the beast to be effaced by the sweat of agony.
327:15 It is a moral madness which rushes forth to clamor with
midnight and tempest.
Peremptory demands
To the physical senses, the strict demands of Christian
327:18 Science seem peremptory; but mortals are has-
tening to learn that Life is God, good, and that
evil has in reality neither place nor power in the human or
327:21 the divine economy.
Moral courage
Fear of punishment never made man truly honest.
Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to
327:24 proclaim the right. But how shall we re-
form the man who has more animal than
moral courage, and who has not the true idea of good?
327:27 Through human consciousness, convince the mortal of
his mistake in seeking material means for gaining hap-
piness. Reason is the most active human faculty. Let
327:30 that inform the sentiments and awaken the man's dor-
mant sense of moral obligation, and by degrees he will
learn the nothingness of the pleasures of human sense
328:1 and the grandeur and bliss of a spiritual sense, which
silences the material or corporeal. Then he not only will
328:3 be saved, but /is/ saved.
Final destruction of error
Mortals suppose that they can live without goodness,
when God is good and the only real Life. What is the
328:6 result? Understanding little about the divine
Principle which saves and heals, mortals get
rid of sin, sickness, and death only in belief. These errors
328:9 are not thus really destroyed, and must therefore cling
to mortals until, here or hereafter, they gain the true un-
derstanding of God in the Science which destroys human
328:12 delusions about Him and reveals the grand realities of
His allness.
Promise perpetual
This understanding of man's power, when he is
328:15 equipped by God, has sadly disappeared from Christian
history. For centuries it has been dormant, a
lost element of Christianity. Our missionaries
328:18 carry the Bible to India, but can it be said that they
explain it practically, as Jesus did, when hundreds of
persons die there annually from serpent-bites? Under-
328:21 standing spiritual law and knowing that there is no mate-
rial law, Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that
believe, . . . they shall take up serpents, and if they
328:24 drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." It
were well had Christendom believed and obeyed this
328:27 sacred saying.
Jesus' promise is perpetual. Had it been given only
to his immediate disciples, the Scriptural passage would
328:30 read you, not /they/. The purpose of his great life-work
extends through time and includes universal humanity.
Its Principle is infinite, reaching beyond the pale of a
329:1 single period or of a limited following. As time moves
on, the healing elements of pure Christianity will be fairly
329:3 dealt with; they will be sought and taught, and will glow
in all the grandeur of universal goodness.
Imitation of Jesus
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little under-
329:6 standing of Christian Science proves the truth of all that
I say of it. Because you cannot walk on the
water and raise the dead, you have no right to
329:9 question the great might of divine Science in these direc-
tions. Be thankful that Jesus, who was the true demon-
strator of Science, did these things, and left his example for
329:12 us. In Science we can use only what we understand. We
must prove our faith by demonstration.
One should not tarry in the storm if the body is freez-
329:15 ing, nor should he remain in the devouring flames. Un-
til one is able to prevent bad results, he should avoid their
occasion. To be discouraged, is to resemble a pupil in
329:18 addition, who attempts to solve a problem of Euclid, and
denies the rule of the problem because he fails in his first
effort.
Error destroyed, not pardoned
329:21 There is no hypocrisy in Science. Principle is impera-
tive. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a
divine demand, not a human. Always right,
329:24 its divine Principle never repents, but main-
tains the claim of Truth by quenching error.
The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error. If
329:27 men understood their real spiritual source to be all bless-
edness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual
and be at peace; but the deeper the error into which mor-
329:30 tal mind is plunged, the more intense the opposition to
spirituality, till error yields to Truth.
The hopeful outlook
Human resistance to divine Science weakens in pro-
330:1 portion as mortals give up error for Truth and the un-
derstanding of being supersedes mere belief. Until the
330:3 author of this book learned the vastness of
Christian Science, the fixedness of mortal illu-
sions, and the human hatred of Truth, she cherished
330:6 sanguine hopes that Christian Science would meet with
immiediate and universal acceptance.
When the following platform is understood and the
330:9 letter and the spirit bear witness, the infallibility of divine
metaphysics will be demonstrated.
The deific supremacy
I. God is infinite, the only Life, substance, Spirit, or
330:12 Soul, the only intelligence of the universe, including man.
Eye hath neither seen God nor His image and
likeness. Neither God nor the perfect man
330:15 can be discerned by the material senses. The individ-
uality of Spirit, or the infinite, is unknown, and thus a
knowledge of it is left either to human conjecture or to the
330:18 revelation of divine Science.
The deific definitions
II. God is what the Scriptures declare Him to be, -
Life, Truth, Love. Spirit is divine Principle, and divine
330:21 Principle is Love, and Love is Mind, and
Mind is not both good and bad, for God is
Mind; therefore there is in reality one Mind only, be-
330:24 cause there is one God.
Evil obsolete
III. The notion that both evil and good are real is a
delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates.
330:27 Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power.
As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie,
nothing claiming to be something, - for lust, dishonesty,
330:30 selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery,
murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all
the etceteras that word includes.
Life the creator
331:1 IV. God is divine Life, and Life is no more confined
to the forms which reflect it than substance is in its
331:3 shadow. If life were in mortal man or mate-
rial things, it would be subject to their limi-
tations and would end in death. Life is Mind, the creator
331:6 reflected in His creations. If He dwelt within what He
creates, God would not be reflected but absorbed, and the
Science of being would be forever lost through a mortal
331:9 sense, which falsely testifies to a beginning and an
end.
Allness of Spirit
V. The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From
331:12 this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence
except the divine Mind and His ideas. The
Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit.
331:15 Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no
discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything
in God's universe expresses Him.
The universal cause
331:18 VI. God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Prin-
ciple, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and
there is no other self-existence. He is all-
331:21 inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real
and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and
it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and in-
331:24 dividuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all
is Spirit and spiritual.
Divine trinity
VII. Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person
331:27 called God, - that is, the triply divine Principle, Love.
They represent a trinity in unity, three in
one, - the same in essence, though multi-
331:30 form in office: God the Father-Mother; Christ the spirit-
ual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter.
These three express in divine Science the threefold, essen-
332:1 tial nature of the infinite. They also indicate the divine
Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of God
332:3 to man and the universe.
Father-Mother
VIII. Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which in-
dicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation.
332:6 As the apostle expressed it in words which he
quoted with approbation from a classic poet:
"For we are also His offspring."
The Son of God
332:9 IX. Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea
voicing good, the divine message from God to men speak-
ing to the human consciousness. The Christ
332:12 is incorporeal, spiritual, - yea, the divine
image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses;
the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and
332:15 casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As
Paul says: "There is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." The corporeal
332:18 man Jesus was human.
Holy Ghost or Comforter
X. Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ
is the divine idea of God - the Holy Ghost,
332:21 or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle,
Love, and leading into all truth.
Christ Jesus
XI. Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed
332:24 to speak God's word and to appear to mortals in such
a form of humanity as they could understand
as well as perceive. Mary's conception of
332:27 him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth
and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and
pure Christ Jesus. He expressed the highest type of
332:30 divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age.
Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot
enter. Thus it is that Christ illustrates the coincidence,
333:1 or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His
image.
Messiah or Christ
333:3 XII. The word /Christ/ is not properly a synonym for
Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human
name, which belonged to him in common with
333:6 other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical
with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On
the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine
333:9 title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal
nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al-
ludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and
333:12 demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the
embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the
Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig-
333:15 nifies the Godlike.
The divine Principle and idea
XIII. The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the
first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is
333:18 without beginning of years or end of days.
Throughout all generations both before and
after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit-
333:21 ual idea, - the reflection of God, - has come with some
measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive
Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets
333:24 caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which
baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of
Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and
333:27 ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.
Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual identity thus:
"Before Abraham was, I am;" "I and my Father are
333:30 one;" "My Father is greater than I." The one Spirit
includes all identities.
Spiritual oneness
XIV. By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu-
334:1 man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or
Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham;
334:3 not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the
Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ,
dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, God, from
334:6 which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father
is greater than Spirit, which is God, but greater, infinitely
greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was
334:9 brief.
The Son's duality
XV. The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the
so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a
334:12 bodily existence. This dual personality of the
unseen and the seen, the spiritual and mate-
rial, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest
334:15 in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when
the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared,
while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in
334:18 the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins
of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before
the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes.
Eternity of the Christ
334:21 XVI. This was "the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world," - slain, that is, according to the testi-
mony of the corporeal senses, but undying in
334:24 the deific Mind. The Revelator represents the
Son of man as saying (Revelation i. 17, 18): "I am the
first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead
334:27 [not understood]; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
[Science has explained me]." This is a mystical state-
ment of the eternity of the Christ, and is also a reference
334:30 to the human sense of Jesus crucified.
Infinite Spirit
XVII. Spirit being God, there is but one Spirit, for
there can be but one infinite and therefore one God.
335:1 There are neither spirits many nor gods many. There
is no evil in Spirit, because God is Spirit. The theory,
335:3 that Spirit is distinct from matter but must
pass through it, or into it, to be individualized,
would reduce God to dependency on matter, and establish
335:6 a basis for pantheism.
The only substance
XVIII. Spirit, God, has created all in and of Him-
self. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in
335:9 Spirit out of which matter could be made,
for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos,
the AEon or Word of God, "was not anything made
335:12 that was made." Spirit is the only substance, the in-
visible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and
eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal
335:15 are insubstantial.
Soul and Spirit one
XIX. Soul and Spirit being one, God and Soul are
one, and this one never included in a limited mind or a
335:18 limited body. Spirit is eternal, divine. Noth-
ing but Spirit, Soul, can evolve Life, for Spirit
is more than all else. Because Soul is immortal, it does
335:21 not exist in mortality. Soul must be incorporeal to be
Spirit, for Spirit is not finite. Only by losing the false
sense of Soul can we gain the eternal unfolding of Life as
335:24 immortality brought to light.
The one divine Mind
XX. Mind is the divine Principle, Love, and can pro-
duce nothing unlike the eternal Father-Mother, God.
335:27 Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable,
immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspirit-
ual can be real, harmonious, or eternal. Sin, sickness,
335:30 and mortality are the suppositional antipodes of Spirit,
and must be contradictions of reality.
The divine Ego
XXI. The Ego is deathless and limitless, for limits
336:1 would imply and impose ignorance. Mind is the I AM,
or infinity. Mind never enters the finite. Intelligence
336:3 never passes into non-intelligence, or matter.
Good never enters into evil the unlimited into
the limited, the eternal into the temporal, nor the im-
336:6 mortal into mortality. The divine Ego, or individuality,
is reflected in all spiritual individuality from the infini-
tesimal to the infinite.
The real manhood
336:9 XXII. Immortal man was and is God's image or idea,
even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor-
tal man is coexistent and coeternal with that
336:12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal
Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but
is reflected by man. The spiritual man's consciousness
336:15 and individuality are reflections of God. They are the
emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Im-
mortal man is not and never was material, but always
336:18 spiritual and eternal.
Indivisibility of the infinite
XXIII. God is indivisible. A portion of God could
not enter man; neither could God's fulness be reflected
336:21 by a single man, else God would be manifestly
finite, lose the deific character, and become
less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and
336:24 nothing less can express God.
God the parent Mind
XXIV. God, the divine Principle of man, and man in
God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal.
336:27 The Science of being furnishes the rule of per-
fection, and brings immortality to light. God
and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci-
336:30 ence, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the
parent Mind, and man is God's spiritual offspring.
Man reflects the perfect God
XXV. God is individual and personal in a scientific
337:1 sense, but not in any anthropomorphic sense. Therefore
man, reflecting God, cannot lose his individuality; but as
337:3 material sensation, or a soul in the body, blind
mortals do lose sight of spiritual individuality.
Material personality is not realism; it is not
337:6 the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect God. Sen-
sualism is not bliss, but bondage. For true happiness,
man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the
337:9 Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with
Christ. According to divine Science, man is in a degree
as perfect as the Mind that forms him. The truth of be-
337:12 ing makes man harmonious and immortal, while error is
mortal and discordant.
Purity the path to perfection
XXVI. Christian Science demonstrates that none but
337:15 the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel
teaches. In proportion to his purity is man
perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial
337:18 being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual
ideal.
True idea of man
XXVII. The true idea of man, as the reflection of the
337:21 invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses
as is man's infinite Principle. The visible uni-
verse and material man are the poor counter-
337:24 feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal
things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the
spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the
337:27 thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the oppo-
site of the real or the spiritual and eternal.
Truth demonstrated
XXVIII. Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule
337:30 of health and holiness in Christian Science,
and you ascertain that this Science is demon-
strably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no
338:1 other system can. Christian Science, rightly under-
stood, leads to eternal harmony. It brings to light the
338:3 only living and true God and man as made in His like-
ness; whereas the opposite belief - that man originates
in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both
338:6 soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and
material - terminates in discord and mortality, in the
error which must be destroyed by Truth. The mortality
338:9 of material man proves that error has been ingrafted
into the premises and conclusions of material and mortal
humanity.
Adam not ideal man
338:12 XXIX. The word /Adam /is from the Hebrew /adamah/,
signifying the /red color of the ground, dust, nothingness/.
Divide the name Adam into two syllables,
338:15 and it reads, /a dam/, or obstruction. This
suggests the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind
in solution. It further suggests the thought of that
338:18 " darkness . . . upon the face of the deep," when mat-
ter or dust was deemed the agent of Deity in creating
man, - when matter, as that which is accursed, stood
338:21 opposed to Spirit. Here /a dam/ is not a mere play upon
words; it stands for obstruction, error, even the sup-
posed separation of man from God, and the obstacle
338:24 which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and
his creator. The dissection and definition of words,
aside from their metaphysical derivation, is not scien-
338:27 tific. Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and
from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwith-
standing God had blessed the earth "for man's sake."
338:30 From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man
for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was
revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.
Divine pardon
339:1 XXX. The destruction of sin is the divine method of
pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys
339:3 error, and Love destroys hate. Being de-
stroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
Does not God's pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy
339:6 and involve the final destruction of all sin?
Evil not produced by God
XXXI. Since God is All, there is no room for His
unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it
339:9 good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good,
is unreal, and cannot be the product of God.
A sinner can receive no encouragement from the fact that
339:12 Science demonstrates the unreality of evil, for the sinner
would make a reality of sin, - would make that real
which is unreal, and thus heap up "wrath against the
339:15 day of wrath." He is joining in a conspiracy against
himself, - against his own awakening to the awful un-
reality by which he has been deceived. Only those, who
339:18 repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand
the unreality of evil.
Basis of health and immortality
XXXII. As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded
339:21 to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material
theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite
gives place to the infinite, sickness to health,
339:24 sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in
earth, as it is in heaven." The basis of all health, sin-
lessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is
339:27 the only Mind; and this Mind must be not merely be-
lieved, but it must be understood. To get rid of sin
through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind
339:30 or reality, and never to admit that sin can have intelli-
gence or power, pain or pleasure. You conquer error by
denying its verity. Our various theories will never lose
340:1 their imaginary power for good or evil, until we lose our
faith in them and make life its own proof of harmony
340:3 and God.
This text in the book of Ecclesiastes conveys the
Christian Science thought, especially when the word
340:6 /duty/, which is not in the original, is omitted: "Let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,
and keep His commandments: for this is the whole
340:9 duty of man." In other words: Let us hear the con-
clusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His
commandments: for this is the whole of man in His
340:12 image and likeness. Divine Love is infinite. Therefore
all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His
love.
340:15 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus
xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text.
It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-
340:18 unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall
have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and
that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle
340:21 of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by
which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal.
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; con-
340:24 stitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the
Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates
pagan and Christian idolatry, - whatever is wrong in
340:27 social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes;
equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves
nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? - JESUS.
But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you. - PAUL.
341:1 THE strictures on this volume would condemn to
oblivion the truth, which is raising up thousands
341:3 from helplessness to strength and elevating them from
a theoretical to a practical Christianity. These criticisms
are generally based on detached sentences or clauses sep-
341:6 arated from their context. Even the Scriptures, which
grow in beauty and consistency from one grand root, ap-
pear contradictory when subjected to such usage. Jesus
341:9 said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God" [Truth].
Supported by facts
In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless. Proof
341:12 is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers at
the application of the word/ Science /to Chris-
tianity cannot prevent that from being scien-
341:15 tific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated ac-
cording to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof.
The facts are so absolute and numerous in support of
341:18 Christian Science, that misrepresentation and denuncia-
342:1 tion cannot overthrow it. Paul alludes to "doubtful dis-
putations." The hour has struck when proof and demon-
342:3 stration, instead of opinion and dogma, are summoned to
the support of Christianity, "making wise the simple."
Commands of Jesus
In the result of some unqualified condemnations of
342:6 scientific Mind-healing, one may see with sorrow the sad
effects on the sick of denying Truth. He that
decries this Science does it presumptuously,
342:9 in the face of Bible history and in defiance of the direct
command of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel," to which command was added the promise
342:12 that his students should cast out evils and heal the sick.
He bade the seventy disciples, as well as the twelve,
heal the sick in any town where they should be hospitably
342:15 received.
Christianity scientific
If Christianity is not scientific, and Science is not of
God, then there is no invariable law, and truth becomes
342:18 an accident. Shall it be denied that a system
which works according to the Scriptures has
Scriptural authority?
Argument of good works
342:21 Christian Science awakens the sinner, reclaims the
infidel, and raises from the couch of pain the helpless
invalid. It speaks to the dumb the words of
342:24 Truth, and they answer with rejoicing. It
causes the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the blind
to see. Who would be the first to disown the Christli-
342:27 ness of good works, when our Master says, "By their
fruits ye shall know them"?
If Christian Scientists were teaching or practising
342:30 pharmacy or obstetrics according to the common theo-
ries, no denunciations would follow them, even if their
treatment resulted in the death of a patient. The people
343:1 are taught in such cases to say, Amen. Shall I then be
smitten for healing and for teaching Truth as the Prin-
343:3 ciple of healing, and for proving my word by my deed?
James said: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and
I will show thee my faith by my works."
Personal experience
343:6 Is not finite mind ignorant of God's method? This
makes it doubly unfair to impugn and misrepresent the
facts, although, without this cross-bearing,
343:9 one might not be able to say with the apostle,
"None of these things move me." The sick, the halt,
and the blind look up to Christian Science with blessings,
343:12 and Truth will not be forever hidden by unjust parody
from the quickened sense of the people.
Proof from miracles
Jesus strips all disguise from error, when his teachings
343:15 are fully understood. By parable and argument he ex-
plains the impossibility of good producing evil;
and he also scientifically demonstrates this great
343:18 fact, proving by what are wrongly called miracles, that
sin, sickness, and death are beliefs - illusive errors -
which he could and did destroy.
343:21 It would sometimes seem as if truth were rejected be-
cause meekness and spirituality are the conditions of its
acceptance, while Christendom generally demands so
343:24 much less.
Example of the disciples
Anciently those apostles who were Jesus' students,
as well as Paul who was not one of his students, healed
343:27 the sick and reformed the sinner by their
religion. Hence the mistake which allows
words, rather than works, to follow such examples!
343:30 Whoever is the first meekly and conscientiously to press
along the line of gospel-healing, is often accounted a
heretic.
Strong position
344:1 It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God
as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be His
344:3 idea, - that is, His image. It should be
added that this is claimed to represent the
normal, healthful, and sinless condition of man in divine
344:6 Science, and that this claim is made because the Scrip-
tures say that God has created man in His own image
and after His likeness. Is it sacrilegious to assume that
344:9 God's likeness is not found in matter, sin, sickness, and
death?
Efficacy may be attested
Were it more fully understood that Truth heals and
344:12 that error causes disease, the opponents of a demonstrable
Science would perhaps mercifully withhold
their misrepresentations, which harm the sick;
344:15 and until the enemies of Christian Science test its efficacy
according to the rules which disclose its merits or de-
merits, it would be just to observe the Scriptural precept,
344:18 "Judge not."
The one divine method
There are various methods of treating disease, which
are not included in the commonly accepted systems; but
344:21 there is only one which should be presented
to the whole world, and that is the Christian
Science which Jesus preached and practised and left to us
344:24 as his rich legacy.
Why should one refuse to investigate this method
of treating disease? Why support the popular systems
344:27 of medicine, when the physician may perchance be an
infidel and may lose ninety-and-nine patients, while
Christian Science cures its hundred? Is it because
344:30 allopathy and homoeopathy are more fashionable and
less spiritual?
Omnipotence set forth
In the Bible the word /Spirit /is so commonly applied
345:1 to Deity, that Spirit and God are often regarded as syn-
onymous terms; and it is thus they are uniformly used
345:3 and understood in Christian Science. As it
is evident that the likeness of Spirit cannot be
material, does it not follow that God cannot be in His
345:6 unlikeness and work through drugs to heal the sick?
When the omnipotence of God is preached and His ab-
soluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the
345:9 sick.
Contradictions not found
It is sometimes said, in criticising Christian Science,
that the mind which contradicts itself neither knows
345:12 itself nor what it is saying. It is indeed no
small matter to know one's self; but in this
volume of mine there are no contradictory
345:15 statements, - at least none which are apparent to those
who understand its propositions well enough to pass
judgment upon them. One who understands Christian
345:18 Science can heal the sick on the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science, and this practical proof is the only feasible
evidence that one does understand this Science.
345:21 Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity be-
tween God's idea and poor humanity, ought to be able
to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science)
345:24 between God's man, made in His image, and the sinning
race of Adam.
The apostle says: "For if a man think himself to be
345:27 something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
This thought of human, material nothingness, which
Science inculcates, enrages the carnal mind and is the
345:30 main cause of the carnal mind's antagonism.
God's idea the ideal man
It is not the purpose of Christian Science to "educate
the idea of God, or treat it for disease," as is alleged
346:1 by one critic. I regret that such criticism confounds /man/
with Adam. When man is spoken of as made in God's
346:3 image, it is not sinful and sickly mortal man
who is referred to, but the ideal man, reflecting
God's likeness.
Nothingness of error
346:6 It is sometimes said that Christian Science teaches the
nothingness of sin, sickness, and death, and then teaches
how this nothingness is to be saved and healed.
346:9 The nothingness of nothing is plain; but we
need to understand that error is nothing, and that its
nothingness is not saved, but must be demonstrated in
346:12 order to prove the somethingness - yea, the allness -
of Truth. It is self-evident that we are harmonious only
as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer
346:15 from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error,
and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are no
vacuums. How then can this demonstration be "fraught
346:18 with falsities painful to behold"?
Truth antidotes error
We treat error through the understanding of Truth,
because Truth is error's antidote. If a dream ceases, it
346:21 is self-destroyed, and the terror is over. When
a sufferer is convinced that there is no reality
in his belief of pain, - because matter has no sensation,
346:24 hence pain in matter is a false belief, - how can he suffer
longer? Do you feel the pain of tooth-pulling, when you
believe that nitrous-oxide gas has made you unconscious?
346:27 Yet, in your concept, the tooth, the operation, and the
forceps are unchanged.
Serving two masters
Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for
346:30 spiritual understanding. We cannot serve both
God and mammon at the same time; but is
not this what frail mortals are trying to do? Paul says:
347:1 "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh." Who is ready to admit this?
347:3 It is said by one critic, that to verify this wonderful
philosophy Christian Science declares that whatever is
mortal or discordant has no origin, existence, nor real-
347:6 ness. Nothing really has Life but God, who is infinite
Life; hence all is Life, and death has no dominion. This
writer infers that if anything needs to be doctored, it
347:9 must be the one God, or Mind. Had he stated his syllo-
gism correctly, the conclusion would be that there is noth-
ing left to be doctored.
Essential element of Christianity
347:12 Critics should consider that the so-called mortal man
is not the reality of man. Then they would behold the
signs of Christ's coming. Christ, as the spir-
347:15 itual or true idea of God, comes now as of
old, preaching the gospel to the poor, heal-
ing the sick, and casting out evils. Is it error which
347:18 is restoring an essential element of Christianity, -
namely, apostolic, divine healing? No; it is the Science
of Christianity which is restoring it, and is the light
347:21 shining in darkness, which the darkness comprehends
not.
If Christian Science takes away the popular gods, -
347:24 sin, sickness, and death, - it is Christ, Truth, who de-
stroys these evils, and so proves their nothingness.
The dream that matter and error are something
347:27 must yield to reason and revelation. Then mortals
will behold the nothingness of sickness and sin, and
sin and sickness will disappear from consciousness.
347:30 The harmonious will appear real, and the inharmo-
nious unreal. These critics will then see that error
is indeed the nothingness, which they chide us for
348:1 naming nothing and which we desire neither to honor
nor to fear.
348:3 Medical theories virtually admit the nothingness of
hallucinations, even while treating them as disease; and
who objects to this? Ought we not, then, to approve
348:6 any cure, which is effected by making the disease appear
to be - what it really is - an illusion?
All disease a delusion
Here is the difficulty: it is not generally understood how
348:9 one disease can be just as much a delusion as another. It
is a pity that the medical faculty and clergy
have not learned this, for Jesus established
348:12 this foundational fact, when devils, delusions, were cast
out and the dumb spake.
Elimination of sickness
Are we irreverent towards sin, or imputing too much
348:15 power to God, when we ascribe to Him almighty Life
and Love? I deny His cooperation with evil,
because I desire to have no faith in evil or in
348:18 any power but God, good. Is it not well to eliminate from
so-called mortal mind that which, so long as it remains in
mortal mind, will show itself in forms of sin, sickness, and
348:21 death? Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed
rights of disease, while complaining of the suffering, dis-
ease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defence,
348:24 especially when by so doing our own condition can be im-
proved and that of other persons as well?
Full fruitage yet to come
I have never supposed the world would immediately
348:27 witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin,
disease, and death would not be believed for
an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that,
348:30 as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and
temperance have received all impulse, health has been
restored, and longevity increased. If such are the pres-
349:1 ent fruits, what will the harvest be, when this Science is
more generally understood?
Law and gospel
349:3 As Paul asked of the unfaithful in ancient days, so
the rabbis of the present day ask concerning our heal-
ing and teaching, "Through breaking the law,
349:6 dishonorest thou God?" We have the gospel,
however, and our Master annulled material law by heal-
ing contrary to it. We propose to follow the Master's
349:9 example. We should subordinate material law to spirit-
ual law. Two essential points of Christian Science are,
that neither Life nor man dies, and that God is not the
349:12 author of sickness.
Language inadequate
The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine
Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like
349:15 all other languages, English is inadequate to
the expression of spiritual conceptions and
propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms
349:18 in dealing with spiritual ideas. The elucidation of Chris-
tian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must
be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of
349:21 this Science. Out of this condition grew the prophecy
concerning the Christian apostles, "They shall speak with
new tongues."
349:24 Speaking of the things of Spirit while dwelling on
a material plane, material terms must be generally em-
ployed. Mortal thought does not at once catch the
349:27 higher meaning, and can do so only as thought is edu-
cated up to spiritual apprehension. To a certain extent
this is equally true of all learning, even that which is
349:30 wholly material.
Substance spiritual
In Christian Science, substance is understood to be
Spirit, while the opponents of Christian Science believe
350:1 substance to be matter. They think of matter as some-
thing and almost the only thing, and of the things which
350:3 pertain to Spirit as next to nothing, or as very
far removed from daily experience. Christian
Science takes exactly the opposite view.
Both words and works
350:6 To understand all our Master's sayings as recorded
in the New Testament, sayings infinitely important,
his followers must grow into that stature of
350:9 manhood in Christ Jesus which enables them
to interpret his spiritual meaning. Then they know
how Truth casts out error and heals the sick. His
350:12 words were the offspring of his deeds, both of which
must be understood. Unless the works are com-
prehended which his words explained, the words are
350:15 blind.
The Master often refused to explain his words, because
it was difficult in a material age to apprehend spiritual
350:18 Truth. He said: "This people's heart is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
350:21 eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
heal them."
The divine life-link
350:24 "The Word was made flesh." Divine Truth must be
known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind,
before the Science of being can be demon-
350:27 strated. Hence its embodiment in the incar-
nate Jesus, - that life-link forming the connection through
which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and
350:30 Truth destroys error.
Truth a present help
In Jewish worship the Word was materially explained,
and the spiritual sense was scarcely perceived. The
351:1 religion which sprang from half-hidden Israelitish history
was pedantic and void of healing power. When we lose
351:3 faith in God's power to heal, we distrust the
divine Principle which demonstrates Christian
Science, and then we cannot heal the sick. Neither can
351:6 we heal through the help of Spirit, if we plant ourselves
on a material basis.
The author became a member of the orthodox Con-
351:9 gregational Church in early years. Later she learned
that her own prayers failed to heal her as did the prayers
of her devout parents and the church; but when the
351:12 spiritual sense of the creed was discerned in the Science
of Christianity, this spiritual sense was a/ present help/. It
was the living, palpitating presence of Christ, Truth, which
351:15 healed the sick.
Fatal premises
We cannot bring out the practical proof of Christianity,
which Jesus required, while error seems as potent and
351:18 real to us as Truth, and while we make a per-
sonal devil and an anthropomorphic God our
starting-points, - especially if we consider Satan as a
351:21 being coequal in power with Deity, if not superior to Him.
Because such starting-points are neither spiritual nor
scientific, they cannot work out the Spirit-rule of Christian
351:24 healing, which proves the nothingness of error, discord,
by demonstrating the all-inclusiveness of harmonious
Truth.
Fruitless worship
351:27 The Israelites centred their thoughts on the material
in their attempted worship of the spiritual. To them
matter was substance, and Spirit was shadow.
351:30 They thought to worship Spirit from a ma-
terial standpoint, but this was impossible. They might
appeal to Jehovah, but their prayer brought down no
352:1 proof that it was heard, because they did not sufficiently
understand God to be able to demonstrate His power
352:3 to heal, - to make harmony the reality and discord the
unreality.
Spirit the tangible
Our Master declared that his material body was not
352:6 spirit, evidently considering it a mortal and material be-
lief of flesh and bones, whereas the Jews took
a diametrically opposite view. To Jesus, not
352:9 materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man's ex-
istence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangi-
ble and uncertain, if not the unreal.
Ghosts not realities
352:12 Would a mother say to her child, who is frightened at
imaginary ghosts and sick in consequence of the fear:
"I know that ghosts are real. They exist,
352:15 and are to be feared; but you must not be
afraid of them"?
Children, like adults, /ought/ to fear a reality which
352:18 can harm them and which they do not understand, for
at any moment they may become its helpless victims;
but instead of increasing children's fears by declaring
352:21 ghosts to be real, merciless, and powerful, thus water-
ing the very roots of childish timidity, children should
be assured that their fears are groundless, that ghosts
352:24 are not realities, but traditional beliefs, erroneous and
man-made.
In short, children should be told not to believe in ghosts,
352:27 because there are no such things. If belief in their reality
is destroyed, terror of ghosts will depart and health be re-
stored. The objects of alarm will then vanish into noth-
352:30 ingness, no longer seeming worthy of fear or honor. To
accomplish a good result, it is certainly not irrational to
tell the truth about ghosts.
The real and the unreal
353:1 The Christianly scientific real is the sensuous unreal.
Sin, disease, whatever seems real to material sense, is un-
353:3 real in divine Science. The physical senses
and Science have ever been antagonistic, and
they will so continue, till the testimony of the physical
353:6 senses yields entirely to Christian Science.
How can a Christian, having the stronger evidence of
Truth which contradicts the evidence of error, think of
353:9 the latter as real or true, either in the form of sickness or
of sin? All must admit that Christ is "the way, the
truth, and the life," and that omnipotent Truth certainly
353:12 does destroy error.
Superstition obsolete
The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly
beliefs. It still holds them more or less. Time has not
353:15 yet reached eternity, immortality, complete
reality. All the real is eternal. Perfection
underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly
353:18 real. All things will continue to disappear, until per-
fection appears and reality is reached. We must give up
the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit
353:21 the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up
all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error
is not real, we shall be ready for progress, "forgetting
353:24 those things which are behind."
The grave does not banish the ghost of materiality.
So long as there are supposed limits to Mind, and those
353:27 limits are human, so long will ghosts seem to continue.
Mind is limitless. It never was material. The true idea
of being is spiritual and immortal, and from this it follows
353:30 that whatever is laid off is the ghost, some unreal belief.
Mortal beliefs can neither demonstrate Christianity nor
apprehend the reality of Life.
Christian warfare
354:1 Are the protests of Christian Science against the notion
that there can be material life, substance, or mind "utter
354:3 falsities and absurdities," as some aver? Why
then do Christians try to obey the Scriptures
and war against "the world, the flesh, and the devil"?
354:6 Why do they invoke the divine aid to enable them to leave
all for Christ, Truth? Why do they use this phraseology,
and yet deny Christian Science, when it teaches precisely
354:9 this thought? The words of divine Science find their
immortality in deeds, for their Principle heals the sick
and spiritualizes humanity.
Healing omitted
354:12 On the other hand, the Christian opponents of Chris-
tian Science neither give nor offer any proofs that their
Master's religion can heal the sick. Surely
354:15 it is not enough to cleave to barren and desul-
tory dogmas, derived from the traditions of the elders who
thereunto have set their seals.
Scientific consistency
354:18 Consistency is seen in example more than in precept.
Inconsistency is shown by words without deeds, which
are like clouds without rain. If our words
354:21 fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that
weakness, and out of the mouth of babes He will perfect
praise. The night of materiality is far spent, and with
354:24 the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and
to speak the new tongue.
Sin should become unreal to every one. It is in itself
354:27 inconsistent, a divided kingdom. Its supposed realism
has no divine authority, and I rejoice in the apprehension
of this grand verity.
Spiritual meaning
354:30 The opponents of divine Science must be
charitable, if they would be Christian. If the
letter of Christian Science appears inconsistent, they should
355:1 gain the spiritual meaning of Christian Science, and then
the ambiguity will vanish.
Practical arguments
355:3 The charge of inconsistency in Christianly scientific
methods of dealing with sin and disease is met by some-
thing practical, - namely, the proof of the
355:6 utility of these methods; and proofs are better
than mere verbal arguments or prayers which evince no
spiritual power to heal.
355:9 As for sin and disease, Christian Science says, in the
language of the Master, "Follow me; and let the dead
bury their dead." Let discord of every name and nature
355:12 be heard no more, and let the harmonious and true sense
of Life and being take possession of human consciousness.
What is the relative value of the two conflicting the-
355:15 ories regarding Christian healing? One, according to
the commands of our Master, heals the sick. The other,
popular religion, declines to admit that Christ's religion
355:18 has exercised any systematic healing power since the first
century.
Conditions of criticism
The statement that the teachings of Christian Sci-
355:21 ence in this work are "absolutely false, and the most
egregious fallacies ever offered for accept-
ance," is an opinion wholly due to a misap-
355:24 prehension both of the divine Principle and practice of
Christian Science and to a consequent inability to demon-
strate this Science. Without this understanding, no one
355:27 is capable of impartial or correct criticism, because demon-
stration and spiritual understanding are God's immortal
keynotes, proved to be such by our Master and evidenced
355:30 by the sick who are cured and by the sinners who are
reformed.
Weakness of material theories
Strangely enough, we ask for material theories in sup-
356:1 port of spiritual and eternal truths, when the two are so
antagonistic that the material thought must become spir-
356:3 itualized before the spiritual fact is attained.
So-called material existence affords no evidence
theories of spiritual existence and immortality. Sin,
356:6 sickness, and death do not prove man's entity or immor-
tality. Discord can never establish the facts of harmony.
Matter is not the vestibule of Spirit.
Irreconciliable differences
356:9 Jesus reasoned on this subject practically, and con-
trolled sickness, sin, and death on the basis of his spir-
ituality. Understanding the nothingness of
356:12 material things, he spoke of flesh and Spirit
as the two opposites, - as error and Truth, not contrib-
uting in any way to each other's happiness and existence.
356:15 Jesus knew, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing."
Copartnership impossible
There is neither a present nor an eternal copartner-
356:18 ship between error and Truth, between flesh and Spirit.
God is as incapable of producing sin, sick-
ness, and death as He is of experiencing these
356:21 errors. How then is it possible for Him to create man
subject to this triad of errors, - man who is made in the
divine likeness?
356:24 Does God create a material man out of Himself, Spirit?
Does evil proceed from good? Does divine Love com-
mit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin,
356:27 and then punishing him for it? Would any one call it
wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its
derivative?
Two infinite creators absurd
356:30 Does subsequent follow its antecedent? It does.
Was there original self-creative sin? Then there must
have been more than one creator, more than one God.
357:1 In common justice, we must admit that God will not
punish man for doing what He created man
357:3 capable of doing, and knew from the outset
that man would do. God is "of purer eyes
than to behold evil." We sustain Truth, not by accept-
357:6 ing, but by rejecting a lie.
Jesus said of personified evil, that it was "a liar, and
the father of it." Truth creates neither a lie, a capacity
357:9 to lie, nor a liar. If mankind would relinquish the belief
that God makes sickness, sin, and death, or makes man
capable of suffering on account of this malevolent triad,
357:12 the foundations of error would be sapped and error's de-
struction ensured; but if we theoretically endow mortals
with the creativeness and authority of Deity, how dare we
357:15 attempt to destroy what He hath made, or even to deny
that God made man evil and made evil good?
Anthropomorphism
History teaches that the popular and false notions
357:18 about the Divine Being and character have originated
in the human mind. As there is in reality but
one God, one Mind, wrong notions about God
357:21 must have originated in a false supposition, not in im-
mortal Truth, and they are fading out. They are false
claims, which will eventually disappear, according to the
357:24 vision of St. John in the Apocalypse.
One supremacy
If what opposes God is real, there must be two
powers, and God is not supreme and infinite. Can
357:27 Deity be almighty, if another mighty and
self-creative cause exists and sways man-
kind? Has the Father "Life in Himself," as the Scrip-
357:30 tures say, and, if so, can Life, or God, dwell in evil and
create it? Can matter drive Life, Spirit, hence, and so
defeat omnipotence?
Matter impotent
358:1 Is the woodman's axe, which destroys a tree's so-called
life, superior to omnipotence? Can a leaden bullet de-
358:3 prive a man of Life, - that is, of God, who is
man's Life? If God is at the mercy of matter,
then matter is omnipotent. Such doctrines are "confu-
358:6 sion worse confounded." If two statements directly con-
tradict each other and one is true, the other must be false.
Is Science thus contradictory?
Scientific and Biblical facts
358:9 Christian Science, understood, coincides with the
Scriptures, and sustains logically and demonstratively
every point it presents. Otherwise it would
358:12 not be Science, and could not present its
proofs. Christian Science is neither made up of contra-
dictory aphorisms nor of the inventions of those who scoff
358:15 at God. It presents the calm and clear verdict of Truth
against error, uttered and illustrated by the prophets,
by Jesus, by his apostles, as is recorded throughout the
358:18 Scriptures.
Why are the words of Jesus more frequently cited
for our instruction than are his remarkable works? Is
358:21 it not because there are few who have gained a true
knowledge of the great import to Christianity of those
works?
Personal confidence
358:24 Sometimes it is said; "Rest assured that whatever
effect Christian Scientists may have on the sick, comes
through rousing within the sick a belief
358:27 that in the removal of disease these healers
have wonderful power, derived from the Holy Ghost."
Is it likely that church-members have more faith in
358:30 some Christian Scientist, whom they have perhaps
never seen and against whom they have been warned,
than they have in their own accredited and orthodox
359:1 pastors, whom they have seen and have been taught
to love and to trust?
359:3 Let any clergyman try to cure his friends by their
faith in him. Will that faith heal them? Yet Scien-
tists will take the same cases, and cures will follow.
359:6 Is this because the patients have more faith in the Scien-
tist than in their pastor? I have healed infidels whose
only objection to this method was, that I as a Chris-
359:9 tian Scientist believed in the Holy Spirit, while they, the
patients, did not.
Even though you aver that the material senses are
359:12 indispensable to man's existence or entity, you must
change the human concept of life, and must at length
know yourself spiritually and scientifically. The evi-
359:15 dence of the existence of Spirit, Soul, is palpable only to
spiritual sense, and is not apparent to the material senses,
which cognize only that which is the opposite of Spirit.
359:18 True Christianity is to be honored wherever found,
but when shall we arrive at the goal which that word
implies? From Puritan parents, the discov-
359:21 erer of Christian Science early received her
religious education. In childhood, she often listened
with joy to these words, falling from the lips of her
359:24 saintly mother, "God is able to raise you up from sick-
ness;" and she pondered the meaning of that Scripture
she so often quotes: "And these signs shall follow them
359:27 that believe; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover."
Two different artists
A Christian Scientist and an opponent are like two
359:30 artists. One says: "I have spiritual ideals,
indestructible and glorious. When others see
them as I do, in their true light and loveliness, - and
360:1 know that these ideals are real and eternal because drawn
from Truth, - they will find that nothing is lost, and all
360:3 is won, by a right estimate of what is real."
The other artist replies: "You wrong my experience.
I have no mind-ideals except those which are both mental
360:6 and material. It is true that materiality renders these
ideals imperfect and destructible; yet I would not ex-
change mine for thine, for mine give me such personal
360:9 pleasure, and they are not so shockingly transcendental.
They require less self-abnegation, and keep Soul well out
of sight. Moreover, I have no notion of losing my old
360:12 doctrines or human opinions."
Choose ye to-day
Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought
shall be real to you, - the material or the spiritual?
360:15 Both you cannot have. You are bringing out
your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal
or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you
360:18 try to have two models, then you practically have none.
Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and
forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the
360:21 real and the unreal.
Hear the wisdom of Job, as given in the excellent trans-
lation of the late Rev. George R. Noyes, D.D.: -
360:24 Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall man be more pure than his Maker?
Behold, He putteth no trust in His ministering spirits,
360:27 And His angels He chargeth with frailty.
Of old, the Jews put to death the Galilean Prophet,
the best Christian on earth, for the truth he spoke and
360:30 demonstrated, while to-day, Jew and Christian can unite
in doctrine and denomination on the very basis of Jesus'
words and works. The Jew believes that the Messiah or
361:1 Christ has not yet come; the Christian believes that
Christ is God. Here Christian Science intervenes, ex-
361:3 plains these doctrinal points, cancels the disagreement,
and settles the question. Christ, as the true spiritual idea,
is the ideal of God now and forever, here and everywhere.
361:6 The Jew who believes in the First Commandment is a
monotheist; he has one omnipresent God. Thus the Jew
unites with the Christian's doctrine that God is come and
is present now and forever. The Christian who believes
in the First Commandment is a monotheist. This he
virtually unites with the Jew's belief in one God, and
361:12 recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself
declared, but is the Son of God. This declaration of
Jesus, understood, conflicts not at all with another of his
361:15 sayings: "I and my Father are one," - that is, one in
quality, not in quantity. As a drop of water is one with
the ocean, a ray of light one with the, sun, even so God
361:18 and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scrip-
ture reads: "For in Him we live, and move, and have
our being."
361:21 I have revised /Science and Health/ only to give a
clearer and fuller expression of its original meaning. Spir-
itual ideas unfold as we advance. A human perception of
361:24 divine Science, however limited, must be correct in order
to be Science and subject to demonstration. A germ of in-
finite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven is the
361:27 higher hope on earth, but it will be rejected and reviled
until God prepares the soil for the seed. That which
when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches mankind only
361:30 when it is understood, - hence the many readings given
the Scriptures, and the requisite revisions of /Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures/.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul [sense]?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him,
Who is the health of my countenance and my God. - PSALMS.
And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - JESUS.
A gospel narrative
362:1 IT is related in the seventh chapter of Luke's Gospel
that Jesus was once the honored guest of a certain
362:3 Pharisee, by name Simon, though he was quite unlike
Simon the disciple. While they were at meat, an unusual
incident occurred, as if to interrupt the scene
362:6 of Oriental festivity. A "strange woman"
came in. Heedless of the fact that she was debarred from
such a place and such society, especially under the stern
362:9 rules of rabbinical law, as positively as if she were a Hin-
doo pariah intruding upon the household of a high-caste
Brahman, this woman (Mary Magdalene, as she has
362:12 since been called) approached Jesus. According to the
custom of those days, he reclined on a couch with his
head towards the table and his bare feet away from it.
362:15 It was therefore easy for the Magdalen to come behind
363:1 the couch and reach his feet. She bore an alabaster jar
containing costly and fragrant oil, - sandal oil perhaps,
363:3 which is in such common use in the East. Breaking
the sealed jar, she perfumed Jesus' feet with the oil,
wiping them with her long hair, which hung loosely
363:6 about her shoulders, as was customary with women of her
grade.
Parable of the creditor
Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adora-
363:9 tion? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was
this all. Knowing what those around him
were saying in their hearts, especially his host,
363:12 - that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the
exalted guest did not at once detect the woman's immoral
status and bid her depart, - knowing this, Jesus rebuked
363:15 them with a short story or parable. He described two
debtors, one for a large sum and one for a smaller, who
were released from their obligations by their common
363:18 creditor. "Which of them will love him most?" was the
Master's question to Simon the Pharisee; and Simon re-
plied, "He to whom he forgave most." Jesus approved
363:21 the answer, and so brought home the lesson to all, follow-
ing it with that remarkable declaration to the woman,
"Thy sins are forgiven."
Divine insight
363:24 Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love?
Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight
detect this unspoken moral uprising? She
363:27 bathed his feet with her tears before she
anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other
proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the
363:30 expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth
in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the
mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man
364:1 of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been
rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this
364:3 planet. Her reverence was unfeigned, and it was mani-
fested towards one who was soon, though they knew it
not, to lay down his mortal existence in behalf of all
364:6 sinners, that through his word and works they might be
redeemed from sensuality and sin.
Penitence or hospitality
Which was the higher tribute to such ineffable affec-
364:9 tion, the hospitality of the Pharisee or the contrition of
the Magdalen? This query Jesus answered
by rebuking self-righteousness and declaring
364:12 the absolution of the penitent. He even said that this
poor woman had done what his rich entertainer had neg-
lected to do, - wash and anoint his guest's feet, a special
364:15 sign of Oriental courtesy.
Here is suggested a solemn question, a question indi-
cated by one of the needs of this age. Do Christian
364:18 Scientists seek Truth as Simon sought the Saviour, through
material conservatism and for personal homage? Jesus
told Simon that such seekers as he gave small reward
364:21 in return for the spiritual purgation which came through
the Messiah. If Christian Scientists are like Simon,
then it must be said of them also that they /love/
364:24 little.
Genuine repentance
On the other hand, do they show their regard for
Truth, or Christ, by their genuine repentance, by their
364:27 broken hearts, expressed by meekness and
human affection, as did this woman? If
so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus said of the
364:30 unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because
much is forgiven them.
Compassion requisite
Did the careless doctor, the nurse, the cook, and the
365:1 brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns
they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly
365:3 homesick looking away from earth, - Oh, did
they know! - this knowledge would do much
more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers
365:6 for the "midnight call," than all cries of "Lord, Lord!"
The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such
words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal
365:9 the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed
necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring;
but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common
365:12 sense and common humanity are disregarded, what men-
tal quality remains, with which to evoke healing from
the outstretched arm of righteousness?
Speedy healing
365:15 If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine
Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one
visit, and the disease will vanish into its native
365:18 nothingness like dew before the morning sun-
shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to
win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag-
365:21 dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to
practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas-
sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual
365:24 intent.
Truth desecrated
If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice finds its
way into the chambers of disease through the would-be
365:27 healer, it would, if it were possible, convert
into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy
Ghost, - the patient's spiritual power to resuscitate him-
365:30 self. The unchristian practitioner is not giving to mind
or body the joy and strength of Truth. The poor suf-
fering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace,
366:1 patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear
Father's loving-kindness.
Moral evils to be cast out
366:3 In order to cure his patient, the metaphysician
must first cast moral evils out of himself and thus
attain the spiritual freedom which will en-
366:6 able him to cast physical evils out of his
patient; but heal he cannot, while his own spiritual
barrenness debars him from giving drink to the thirsty
366:9 and hinders him from reaching his patient's thought, -
yea, while mental penury chills his faith and under-
standing.
The true physician
366:12 The physician who lacks sympathy for his fellow-
being is deficient in human affection, and we have the
apostolic warrant for asking: "He that loveth
366:15 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen?" Not having this
spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine
366:18 Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which
alone confers the healing power. Such so-called Scien-
tists will strain out gnats, while they swallow the camels
366:21 of bigoted pedantry.
Source of calmness
The physician must also watch, lest he be over-
whelmed by a sense of the odiousness of sin and by the
366:24 unveiling of sin in his own thoughts. The
sick are terrified by their sick beliefs, and
sinners should be affrighted by their sinful beliefs; but
366:27 the Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of
both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is
God and God is All.
Genuine healing
366:30 If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we
must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we
would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent
367:1 of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor
bury the /morale /of Christian Science in the grave-clothes
367:3 of its letter. The tender word and Christian
encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience
with his fears and the removal of them, are better than
367:6 hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed
speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so
many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame
367:9 with divine Love.
Gratitude and humility
This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not
"for the loaves and fishes," nor, like the Pharisee, with
367:12 the arrogance of rank and display of scholar-
ship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the sum-
mit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and
367:15 the perfume of /gratitude/, with tears of repentance and
with those hairs all numbered by the Father.
The salt of the earth
A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period
367:18 of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: "Ye
are the salt of the earth." "Ye are the light
of the world. A city that is set on an hill can-
367:21 not be hid." Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt
lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but
radiate and glow into noontide glory.
367:24 The infinite Truth of the Christ-cure has come to this
age through a "still, small voice," through silent utter-
ances and divine anointing which quicken and increase
367:27 the beneficial effects of Christianity. I long to see the
consummation of my hope, namely, the student's higher
attainments in this line of light.
Real and counterfeit
367:30 Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as
nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness,
error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the
368:1 counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is
but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The
368:3 confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact
that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error
is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that
368:6 time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come
nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals,
and truth will become still clearer as error is self-
368:9 destroyed.
Results of faith in Truth
Against the fatal beliefs that error is as real as Truth,
that evil is equal in power to good if not superior, and that
368:12 discord is as normal as harmony, even the hope
of freedom from the bondage of sickness and
sin has little inspiration to nerve endeavor. When we
368:15 come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have
in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith
in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man,
368:18 then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing
the sick and destroying error.
Life independent of matter
That Life is not contingent on bodily conditions is
368:21 proved, when we learn that life and man survive this
body. Neither evil, disease, nor death can be
spiritual, and the material belief in them dis-
368:24 appears in the ratio of one's spiritual growth. Because
matter has no consciousness or Ego, it cannot act; its
conditions are illusions, and these false conditions are the
368:27 source of all seeming sickness. Admit the existence of
matter, and you admit that mortality (and therefore dis-
ease) has a foundation in fact. Deny the existence of
matter, and you can destroy the belief in material con-
ditions. When fear disappears, the foundation of disease
is gone. Once let the mental physician believe in the
369:1 reality of matter, and he is liable to admit also the reality
of all discordant conditions, and this hinders his de-
369:3 stroying them. Thus he is unfitted for the successful
treatment of disease.
Man's entity
In proportion as matter loses to human sense all en-
369:6 tity as man, in that proportion does man become its
master. He enters into a diviner sense of the
facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus
369:9 as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead,
and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested
Jesus' control over the belief that matter is substance,
369:12 that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any
form of existence.
The Christ treatment
We never read that Luke or Paul made a reality of
369:15 disease in order to discover some means of healing it.
Jesus never asked if disease were acute or
chronic, and he never recommended atten-
369:18 tion to laws of health, never give drugs, never prayed
to know if God were willing that a man should live. He
understood man, whose life is God, to be immortal, and
369:21 knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and
the other to be made indestructible.
Matter not medicine
The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the prevent-
369:24 ive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian
Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology,
or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood.
369:27 Unscientific methods are finding their dead level. Lim-
ited to matter by their own law, what have they of the
advantages of Mind and immortality?
No healing in sin
369:30 No man is physically healed in wilful error or by it,
any more than he is morally saved in or by sin. It is
error even to murmur or to be angry over sin. To be
370:1 every whit whole, man must be better spiritually as well
as physically. To be immortal, we must forsake the
370:3 mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false
belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being
from the divine Mind. The body improves under the
370:6 same regimen which spiritualizes the thought; and if
health is not made manifest under this regimen, this
proves that fear is governing the body. This is the law
370:9 of cause and effect, or like producing like.
Like curing like
Homoeopathy furnishes the evidence to the senses, that symptoms, which might be produced by a certain drug, 370:12 are removed by using the same drug which might cause the symptoms. This confirms my theory that faith in the drug is the sole factor in the 370:15 cure. The effect, which mortal mind produces through one belief, it removes through an opposite belief, but it uses the same medicine in both cases. 370:18 The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on the body. A physical diagnosis of disease - since mor- 370:21 tal mind must be the cause of disease - tends to induce disease.
Transient potency of drugs
According to both medical testimony and individual
370:24 experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power
and do no more for the patient. Hygienic
treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery
370:27 likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity
of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These les-
sons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely
370:30 change our basis from sensation to Christian Science,
from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.
Diagnosis of matter
Physicians examine the pulse, tongue, lungs, to dis-
371:1 cover the condition of matter, when in fact all is
Mind. The body is the substratum of mortal mind,
371:3 and this so-called mind must finally yield
to the mandate of immortal Mind.
Ghost-stories inducing fear
Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar
371:6 to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in
the dark. By those uninstructed in Christian
Science, nothing is really understood of material
371:9 existence. Mortals are believed to be here without their
consent and to be removed as involuntarily, not knowing
why nor when. As frightened children look everywhere
371:12 for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in
every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the
right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult, in bond-
371:15 age to his beliefs, no more comprehends his real being
than does the child; and the adult must be taken out of
his darkness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffer-
371:18 ings which throng the gloaming. The way in divine
Science is the only way out of this condition.
Mind imparts purity, health, and beauty
I would not transform the infant at once into a
371:21 man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong babe.
No impossible thing do I ask when urging
the claims of Christian Science; but because
371:24 this teaching is in advance of the age, we
should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment.
Mankind will improve through Science and Christi-
371:27 anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to
the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart
purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak-
371:30 ness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an altera-
tive in the entire system, and can make it "every whit
whole."
Brain not intelligent
372:1 Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick,
and Mind is immortal. The mortal body is only an erro-
372:3 neous mortal belief of mind in matter. What
you call matter was originally error in solu-
tion, elementary mortal mind, - likened by Milton to
372:6 "chaos and old night." One theory about this mortal
mind is, that its sensations can reproduce man, can form
blood, flesh, and bones. The Science of being, in which
372:9 all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer
in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium
of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought,
372:12 bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds
material and name them divine law.
Veritable success
When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely,
372:15 he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject
to matter, nor disobey the law of God. There-
fore he will be as the angels in heaven. Chris-
372:18 tian Science and Christianity are one. How, then, in
Christianity any more than in Christian Science, can we
believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error,
372:21 Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries?
Matter is not self-sustaining. Its false supports fail one
after another. Matter succeeds for a period only by
372:24 falsely parading in the vestments of law.
Recognition of benefits
"Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven." In Chris-
372:27 tian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while
a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what
it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, super-
372:30 stition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of
benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery
of the sick and the success of the student.
Disease far more docile than iniquity
373:1 If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in
darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian-
373:3 ity includes, then we must have more faith
in God on this subject and be more alive to
His promises. It is easier to cure the most
373:6 malignant disease than it is to cure sin. The author has
raised up the dying, partly because they were willing to
be restored, while she has struggled long, and perhaps in
373:9 vain, to lift a student out of a chronic sin. Under all
modes of pathological treatment, the sick recover more
rapidly from disease than does the sinner from his sin.
373:12 Healing is easier than teaching, if the teaching is faithfully
done.
Love frees from fear
The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources
373:15 of man's enslavement. "The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom," but the Scriptures
also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that
373:18 "perfect Love casteth out fear."
The fear occasioned by ignorance can be cured; but to remove the effects of fear produced by sin, you must 373:21 rise above both fear and sin. Disease is expressed not so much by the lips as in the functions of the body. Es- tablish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the 373:24 oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its healthy functions.
Mind circulates blood
373:27 When the blood rushes madly through the veins or
languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these
conditions disease. This is a misconception.
373:30 Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the
languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means
the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard
374:1 which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for
health. Anodynes, counter-irritants, and depletion never
374:3 reduce inflammation scientifically, but the truth of being,
whispered into the ear of mortal mind, will bring relief.
Mind can destroy all ills
Hatred and its effects on the body are removed by
374:6 Love. Because mortal mind seems to be conscious, the
sick say: "How can my mind cause a disease
I never thought of and knew nothing about,
374:9 until it appeared on my body?" The author has an-
swered this question in her explanation of disease as origi-
nating in human belief before it is consciously apparent
374:12 on the body, which is in fact the objective state of mortal
mind, though it is called matter. This mortal blindness
and its sharp consequences show our need of divine meta-
374:15 physics. Through immortal Mind, or Truth, we can
destroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind.
Ignorance of the cause or approach of disease is no
374:18 argument against the mental origin of disease. You con-
fess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve
your own existence, and this belief helps rather than
374:21 hinders disease. Such a state of mind induces sickness.
It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice.
You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps
374:24 are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental
cause and effect.
Temperature is mental
Heat and cold are products of mortal mind. The body,
374:27 when bereft of mortal mind, at first cools, and after-
wards it is resolved into its primitive mortal
elements. Nothing that lives ever dies, and
374:30 /vice versa/. Mortal mind produces animal heat, and then
expels it through the abandonment of a belief, or in-
creases it to the point of self-destruction. Hence it is
375:1 mortal mind, not matter, which says, "I die." Heat
would pass from the body as painlessly as gas dissipates
375:3 into the air when it evaporates but for the belief that in-
flammation and pain must accompany the separation of
heat from the body.
Science /versus /hypnotism
375:6 Chills and heat are often the form in which fever mani-
fests itself. Change the mental state, and the chills and
fever disappear. The old-school physician
375:9 proves this when his patient says, " I am better,"
but the patient believes that matter, not mind,
has helped him. The Christian Scientist demonstrates
375:12 that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses
the patient of his individuality in order to control him.
No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any
375:15 mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental
practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be under-
stood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian
375:18 Scientist is adding to his patient's mental and moral power,
and is increasing his patient's spirituality while restoring
him physically through divine Love.
Cure for palsy
375:21 Palsy is a belief that matter governs mortals, and can
paralyze the body, making certain portions of
it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal
375:24 mind that muscles have no power to be lost, for Mind is
supreme, and you cure the palsy.
Latent fear diagnosed
Consumptive patients always show great hopeful-
375:27 ness and courage, even when they are supposed to be in
hopeless danger. This state of mind seems
anomalous except to the expert in Christian
375:30 Science. This mental state is not understood, simply
because it is a stage of fear so excessive that it amounts
to fortitude. The belief in consumption presents to mor-
376:1 tal thought a hopeless state, an image more terrifying than
that of most other diseases. The patient turns involun-
376:3 tarily from the contemplation of it, but though unacknowl-
edged, the latent fear and the despair of recovery remain
in thought.
Insidious concepts
376:6 Just so is it with the greatest sin. It is the most subtle,
and does its work almost self-deceived. The diseases
deemed dangerous sometimes come from the
376:9 most hidden, undefined, and insidious beliefs.
The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away
with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood
376:12 never gave life and can never take it away, - that Life is
Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one
good motive and act, than in all the blood which ever
376:15 flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal
sense of life.
Remedy for fever
If the body is material, it cannot, for that very reason,
376:18 suffer with a fever. Because the so-called material body
is a mental concept and governed by mortal
mind, it manifests only what that so-called
376:21 mind expresses. Therefore the efficient remedy is to
destroy the patient's false belief by both silently and au-
dibly arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious
376:24 being, - representing man as healthy instead of diseased,
and showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to
feel pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear,
376:27 and you end fever. Some people, mistaught as to Mind-
science, inquire when it will be safe to check a fever.
Know that in Science you cannot check a fever after ad-
376:30 mitting that it must have its course. To fear and admit
the power of disease, is to paralyze mental and scientific
demonstration.
377:1 If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con-
vince him that matter cannot take cold, and that thought
377:3 governs this liability. If grief causes suffering, convince
the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and
that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love.
Climate harmless
377:6 Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their
lives, but they come back no better than when they went
away. Then is the time to cure them through
377:9 Christian Science, and prove that they can
be healthy in all climates, when their fear of climate is
exterminated.
Mind governs body
377:12 Through different states of mind, the body becomes
suddenly weak or abnormally strong, showing mortal
mind to be the producer of strength or weak-
377:15 ness. A sudden joy or grief has caused what
is termed instantaneous death. Because a belief origi-
nates unseen, the mental state should be continually
377:18 watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects.
The author never knew a patient who did not recover
when the belief of the disease had gone. Remove the
377:21 leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind,
and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the mor-
bid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in
377:24 this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as
functional difficulties.
The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal
377:27 fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and
power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to
defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. With-
377:30 out this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of it-
self powerless to produce suffering. It is latent belief in
disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sick-
378:1 ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro-
378:3 duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in-
telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer.
The understanding of this will enable you to commute this
378:6 self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth.
Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.
Latent power
Without the so-called human mind, there can be no
378:9 inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove
the error, and you destroy its effects. By
looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles
378:12 Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani-
mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and
both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened
378:15 fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to
retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the
power of Truth over error, - the might of intelligence
378:18 exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas
hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted
to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous
378:21 bases.
Disease powerless
Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into
378:24 its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given,
nor a self-constituted material power, which
copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God
378:27 never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to
chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.
Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon-
378:30 ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed,
it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis-
played in human governments.
Jurisdiction of Mind
379:1 If disease can attack and control the body without
the consent of mortals, sin can do the same, for both
379:3 are errors, announced as partners in the be-
ginning. The Christian Scientist finds only
effects, where the ordinary physician looks for causes.
379:6 The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling
every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in
divine Mind.
Power of imagination
379:9 A felon, on whom certain English students experi-
mented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died be-
cause of that belief, when only a stream of
379:12 warm water was trickling over his arm. Had
he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would
have risen above the false belief. Let the despairing in-
379:15 valid, inspecting the hue of her blood on a cambric hand-
kerchief, think of the experiment of those Oxford boys,
who caused the death of a man, when not a drop of his
379:18 blood was shed. Then let her learn the opposite state-
ment of life as taught in Christian Science, and she will
understand that she is not dying on account of the state of
379:21 her blood, but is suffering from her belief that blood is
destroying her life. The so-called vital current does not
affect the invalid's health, but her belief produces the
379:24 very results she dreads.
Fevers the effect of fear
Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened
pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain in the
379:27 head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the
body by a mortal mind. The images, held in
this disturbed mind, frighten conscious thought. Unless
379:30 the fever-picture, drawn by millions of mortals and im-
aged on the body through the belief that mind is in matter
and discord is as real as harmony, is destroyed through
380:1 Science, it may rest at length on some receptive thought,
and become a fever case, which ends in a belief called
380:3 death, which belief must be finally conquered by eternal
Life. Truth is always the victor. Sickness and sin fall
by their own weight. Truth is the rock of ages, the head-
380:6 stone of the corner, "but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder."
Misdirected contention
Contending for the evidence or indulging the demands
380:9 of sin, disease, or death, we virtually contend against
the control of Mind over body, and deny the
power of Mind to heal. This false method
380:12 is as though the defendant should argue for the plaintiff
in favor of a decision which the defendant knows will
be turned against himself.
Benefits of metaphysics
380:15 The physical effects of fear illustrate its illusion. Gaz- ing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not terrify a man. The body is affected only with 380:18 the belief of disease produced by a so-called mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease. Noth- ing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of 380:21 error, and prove man's dominion over error.
A higher discovery
Many years ago the author made a spiritual discov-
ery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to
380:24 prove that the divine Mind produces in man
health, harmony, and immortality. Gradu-
ally this evidence will gather momentum and clearness,
380:27 until it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and
proof. Nothing is more disheartening than to believe
that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that
380:30 God endows this opposing power with strength to be used
against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.
Ignorance of our rights
Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern
381:1 man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.
Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust
381:3 decrees, and the bias of education enforces
this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the
illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop-
381:6 ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp-
tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.
No laws of matter
When infringing some supposed law, you say that
381:9 there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the
physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer
from breaking anything except a moral or
381:12 spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are
destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal,
and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods,
381:15 and types of disease, with which mortals die. God is the
lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes.
In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor
381:18 death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and
have our being in the infinite God.
God-given dominion
Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you
381:21 will sooner grasp man's God-given dominion. You must
understand your way out of human theories
relating to health, or you will never believe
381:24 that you are quite free from some ailment. The har-
mony and immortality of man will never be reached
without the understanding that Mind is not in matter.
381:27 Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the
rule of perpetual harmony, - God's law. It is man's
moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never
381:30 inflicted by divine authority.
Begin rightly
Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose
penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of
382:1 health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed
to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine au-
382:3 thority and having only human approval for
their sanction.
Hygiene excessive
If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the
382:6 study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of
thought, this alone would usher in the millen-
inium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter
382:9 the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from
the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept,
"Take no thought . . . for the body." We must beware
382:12 of making clean merely the outside of the platter.
Blissful ignorance
He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is
more receptive of spiritual power and of faith in one
382:15 God, than is the devotee of supposed hygienic
law, who comes to teach the so-called igno-
rant one. Must we not then consider the so-called law
382:18 of matter a canon "more honored in the breach than
the observance"? A patient thoroughly booked in medi-
cal theories is more difficult to heal through Mind than
382:21 one who is not. This verifies the saying of our Master:
"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, shall in no wise enter therein."
382:24 One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion,
in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I
should have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach,
382:27 - supporting the power of Mind over the body and show-
ing me the nothingness of the so-called pleasures and pains
of sense. The treatises I had read and the medicines I
382:30 had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering
and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal
mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily,
383:1 but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
Christian Science."
A clean mind and body
383:3 We need a clean body and a clean mind, - a body
rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water.
One says: "I take good care of my body."
383:6 To do this, the pure and exalting influence of
the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian
Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves
383:9 it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres-
ent with the Lord."
383:12 A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
does not affect his happiness, because mind and body
rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt
383:15 gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a
mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur-
roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do
383:18 not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined.
This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body
in proper condition.
Beliefs illusive
383:21 The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves
his health, but does this make it so? Does his
383:24 assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu-
brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in-
stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false
383:27 belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a
man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
The movement-cure - pinching and pounding the poor
383:30 body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in-
sensibly so - is another medical mistake, resulting from
the common notion that health depends on inert matter
384:1 instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed
matter, either feel or act without mind?
Corporeal penalties
384:3 We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought
that we have transgressed a material law and must of
necessity pay the penalty. Let us reassure
384:6 ourselves with the law of Love. God never
punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for
deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue,
384:9 cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty
through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not
an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his
384:12 protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through
this action of thought and its results upon the body, the
student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the
384:15 grand verities of Christian Science.
Not matter, but Mind
If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of
perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza,
384:18 congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of
inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy
is safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such
384:21 symptoms are not apt to follow exposure; but if you
believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects when
transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own case or
384:24 to destroy the bad effects of your belief. When the fear
subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken
no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other
384:27 disease will ever result from exposure to the weather. In
Science this is an established fact which all the evidence
before the senses can never overrule.
Benefit of philanthropy
384:30 Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before
the divine rights of intelligence, and then the power
of Mind over the entire functions and organs of the
385:1 human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial
that Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists en-
385:3 gaged in humane labors have been able to
undergo without sinking fatigues and expo-
sures which ordinary people could not endure. The ex-
385:6 planation lies in the support which they derived from
the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual
demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and en-
385:9 durance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the
penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best
deeds. Let us remember that the eternal law of right,
385:12 though it can never annul the law which makes sin its
own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but
those due for wrong-doing.
Honest toil has no penalty
385:15 Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow-
ard conditions, /if without sin/, can be experienced with-
out suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do,
385:18 you can do without harm to yourself. If you
sprain the muscles or wound the flesh, your
remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the
385:21 flesh shall be discolored, painful, swollen, and inflamed.
Our sleep and food
You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten.
You are a law unto yourself. Saying this and believing
385:24 it, you will suffer in proportion to your belief
and fear. Your sufferings are not the penalty
for having broken a law of matter, for it is a law of mortal
385:27 mind which you have disobeyed. You say or think, be-
cause you have partaken of salt fish, that you must be
thirsty, and you are thirsty accordingly, while the oppo-
385:30 site belief would produce the opposite result.
Doubtful evidence
Any supposed information, coming from the body or
from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu-
386:1 sion of mortal mind, - one of its dreams. Realize that
the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted
386:3 in the case of sickness, any more than it is in
the case of sin.
Climate and belief
Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief
386:6 says that you may catch cold and have catarrh; but no
such result occurs without mind to demand
it and produce it. So long as mortals declare
386:9 that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh,
fever, rheumatism, or consumption, those effects will
follow, - not because of the climate, but on account of
386:12 the belief. The author has in too many instances healed
disease through the action of Truth on the minds of mor-
tals, and the corresponding effects of Truth on the body,
386:15 not to know that this is so.
Erroneous despatch
A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the
death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's
386:18 real death would bring. You think that your
anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another
despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and
386:21 you learn that your suffering was merely the result of
your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and
death. You will learn at length that there is no cause
386:24 for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood.
Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.
Mourning causeless
If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were labor-
386:27 ing under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sor-
row is without cause," you would not have
understood him, although the correctness of
386:30 the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So,
when our friends pass from our sight and we lament,
that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall
387:1 perceive this to be true when we grow into the under-
standing of Life, and know that there is no death.
Mind heals brain-disease
387:3 Because mortal mind is kept active, must it pay the
penalty in a softened brain? Who dares to say that actual
Mind can be overworked? When we reach
387:6 our limits of mental endurance, we conclude
that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far;
but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active,
387:9 and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can
so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers
and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by
387:12 the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.
Right never punishable
Our thinkers do not die early because they faithfully
perform the natural functions of being. If printers and
387:15 authors have the shortest span of earthly ex-
istence, it is not because they occupy the most
important posts and perform the most vital functions in
387:18 society. That man does not pay the severest penalty
who does the most good. By adhering to the realities of
eternal existence, - instead of reading disquisitions on
387:21 the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience
to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing
good, - one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of
387:24 love, but grows stronger because of it. It is a law of so-
called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all
things discordant.
Christian history
387:27 The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs
of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed
on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent
387:30 Mind, who gives man faith and understanding
whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but
from bodily suffering.
388:1 The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian
Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power
388:3 of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corpo-
real senses, a victory which Science alone can explain.
Stolidity, which is a resisting state of mortal mind, suffers
388:6 less, only because it knows less of material law.
The Apostle John testified to the divine basis of Chris-
tian Science, when dire inflictions failed to destroy his
388:9 body. Idolaters, believing in more than one mind, had
"gods many," and thought that they could kill the body
with matter, independently of mind.
Sustenance spiritual
388:12 Admit the common hypothesis that food is the nutri-
ment of life, and the follows the necessity for another
admission in the opposite direction, - that
388:15 food has power to destroy Life, God, through
a deficiency or an excess, a quality or a quantity. This
is a specimen of the ambiguous nature of all material
388:18 health-theories. They are self-contradictory and self-de-
structive, constituting a "kingdom divided against itself,"
which is "brought to desolation." If food was prepared
388:21 by Jesus for his disciples, it cannot destroy life.
God sustains man
The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of
man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that
388:24 God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are
not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in
immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond
388:27 our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until
we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living
Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall
388:30 neither eat to live nor live to eat.
Diet and digestion
If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious
functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought
389:1 must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with
the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left
389:3 to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf
of the control of Mind over this belief and every
erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we
389:6 know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed
to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat-
ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested.
389:9 Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it
is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can
be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo-
389:12 site evidence.
Scripture rebukes
Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the
life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can
389:15 kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in
Scripture by the metaphors about the fount
and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di-
389:18 vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories
maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human
life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite
389:21 law that food shall be inimical to existence.
Ancient confusion
Materialists contradict their own statements. Their
belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac-
389:24 tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity
between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God
and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the
389:27 battle-axe of Science.
A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came under my observation. In her belief the woman had 389:30 chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de- 390:1 spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My food is all digested, and I should like something more 390:3 to eat."
Ultimate harmony
We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we
should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim-
390:6 ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seem-
ing discord. It is our ignorance of God, the
divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and
390:9 the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth
will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and
pains of sense for the joys of Soul.
Unnecessary prostration
390:12 When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the
testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let
your higher sense of justice destroy the false
390:15 process of mortal opinions which you name
law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor
laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last far-
390:18 thing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with
thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with
him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon
390:21 the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that
it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more
the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no
390:24 law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sick-
ness, but you have divine authority for denying that neces-
sity and healing the sick.
Treatment of disease
390:27 "Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of
chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consump-
tion, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages
390:30 of disease with as powerful mental opposi-
tion as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of
an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the
391:1 spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind,
/alias/ matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit.
391:3 Blot out the images of mortal thought and its beliefs in
sickness and sin. Then, when thou art delivered to the
judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, "Thou
391:6 art whole!"
Righteous rebellion
Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient
or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against
391:9 them. Banish the belief that you can possi-
bly entertain a single intruding pain which can-
not be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way
391:12 you can prevent the development of pain in the body.
No law of God hinders this result. It is error to suffer
for aught but your own sins. Christ, or Truth, will de-
391:15 stroy all other supposed suffering, and real suffering for
your own sins will cease in proportion as the sin ceases.
Contradict error
Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice de-
391:18 clares the absence of law. When the body is supposed
to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty. Since
matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind
391:21 which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a pro-
test. If you say, "I am sick," you plead guilty. Then
your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal
391:24 mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has
no intelligence to declare itself something and announce
its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore
391:27 make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself
and to others.
Sin to be overcome
Mentally contradict every complaint from the body,
391:30 and rise to the true consciousness of Life as
Love, - as all that is pure, and bearing the
fruits of Spirit. Fear is the fountain of sickness,
392:1 and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence
it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease.
392:3 Only while fear or sin remains can it bring forth death.
To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should
be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear,
392:6 which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to
readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear
enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to
392:9 take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to
the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God's image.
Illusions about nerves
The physical affirmation of disease should always be
392:12 met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is pro-
duced on the body, must be expressed men-
tally, and thought should be held fast to this
392:15 ideal. If you believe in inflamed and weak nerves, you
are liable to an attack from that source. You will call it
neuralgia, but we call it a belief. If you think that con-
392:18 sumption is hereditary in your family, you are liable to
the development of that thought in the form of what is
termed pulmonary disease, unless Science shows you
392:21 otherwise. If you decide that climate or atmosphere is
unhealthy, it will be so to you. Your decisions will mas-
ter you, whichever direction they take.
Guarding the door
392:24 Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought.
Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in
bodily results, you will control yourself har-
392:27 moniously. When the condition is present
which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise,
heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office
392:30 as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears.
Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the
body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or
393:1 pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman
forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget-
393:3 ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.
The strength of Spirit
The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal
mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their
393:6 results, - ignorant that the predisposing, re-
mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a
law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the
393:9 master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness,
sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take
possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.
393:12 Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike
good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing
can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on
393:15 man.
No pain in matter
Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind
governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern-
393:18 ment. Have no fear that matter can ache,
swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law
of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have
393:21 no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no
more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree
which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch,
393:24 were it not for mortal mind.
When Jesus declares that "the light of the body is the
eye," he certainly means that light depends upon Mind,
393:27 not upon the complex humors, lenses, muscles, the iris
and pupil, constituting the visual organism.
No real disease
Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter
393:30 cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter
and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the
disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness;
394:1 to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-
ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming
394:3 reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni-
versal and perfect remedy.
Recuperation mental
By conceding power to discord, a large majority of
394:6 doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real
recuperative power. Knowledge that we
can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu-
394:9 lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points
out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond
the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from
394:12 helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To
those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis-
couraging, - as much so as would be the advice to a man
394:15 who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise
above his difficulties.
Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of
394:18 material systems in general, - that their theories are
sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better
than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils
394:21 overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from
God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will
you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it
394:24 can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means
the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine
permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony,
394:27 with Truth and Love?
Arguing wrongly
We should remember that Life is God, and that God
is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian
394:30 Science, the sick usually have little faith in
it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows
that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick
395:1 unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.
They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it.
395:3 They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the
deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and
eternal likeness to God.
Divine authority
395:6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to
disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to
master the false evidences of the corporeal
395:9 senses and to assert its claims over mortal-
ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and
sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car-
395:12 nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in
material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death
will disappear.
Aids in sickness
395:15 Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-
sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the
sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit-
395:18 ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse
should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of
faith, - receptive to Truth and Love.
Mental quackery
395:21 It is mental quackery to make disease a reality - to
hold it as something seen and felt - and then to attempt
its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous
395:24 to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a
cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their
reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in
395:27 physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease
as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may
appear in a more alarming form.
Effacing images of disease
395:30 The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor
affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from
becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the
396:1 worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind
the thought of disease, but should efface from
396:3 thought all forms and types of disease, both for
one's own sake and for that of the patient.
Avoid talking disease
Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-
396:6 cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never
startle with a discouraging remark about re-
covery, nor draw attention to certain symp-
396:9 toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of
the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have
to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's
396:12 thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis
is passed.
False testimony refuted
The refutation of the testimony of material sense is
396:15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this
testimony. The refutation becomes arduous,
not because the testimony of sin or disease is
396:18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its
truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-
ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, - all teaching
396:21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.
Healthful explanation
At the right time explain to the sick the power which
their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine
396:24 and wholesome understanding, with which to
combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the
images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in
396:27 thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man;
that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit,
outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life
396:30 and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under-
stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by
matter nor by the divine Mind.
Misleading methods
397:1 By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing
how mortal mind affects the body, - acting beneficially
397:3 or injuriously on the health, as well as on the
morals and the happiness of mortals, - we are
misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the
397:6 mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in-
juring those whom we mean to bless.
Remedy for accidents
Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-
397:9 ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them
by admitting their reality and continuance,
as directly as you enhance your joys by be-
397:12 lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac-
cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!"
Your thought is more powerful than your words, more
397:15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury
real.
Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt
397:18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the
ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your
disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-
397:21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures
declare Him to be.
Independent mentality
To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great
397:24 verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their
waking hours than when they act, walk, see,
hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can
397:27 never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because
they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind
is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and
397:30 you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You
will understand yourself and your Maker better than
before.
Naming maladies
398:1 Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he
said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
398:3 charge thee, come out of him, and enter no
more into him." It is added that "the spirit
[error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and
398:6 he was as one dead," - clear evidence that the malady
was not material. These instances show the concessions
which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance
398:9 of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the
distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter,
whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not
398:12 dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto
thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand
he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored
398:15 whole, like as the other."
The action of faith
Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a
particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms
398:18 of disease. What produces the change? It is
the faith of the doctor and the patient, which
reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect
398:21 upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of
pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink
is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not
398:24 in matter.
So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing
effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change
398:27 the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind
faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism
changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis-
398:30 ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue,
to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process.
The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has
399:1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.
Corporeal combinations
399:3 You say that certain material combinations produce
disease; but if the material body causes disease, can
matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal
399:6 mind prescribes the drug, and administers it.
Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through
certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se-
399:9 cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the
action of mortal thought, /alias /mortal mind.
Automatic mechanism
So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its
399:12 body, but this so-called mind is both the service and
message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un-
able to talk, and matter can return no an-
399:15 swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how
can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates
its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it,
399:18 and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action
of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua-
tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force
399:21 the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows
that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.
Mental strength
Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of
399:24 which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion.
This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is
only a false sense of matter, since matter is not
399:27 sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin-
ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.
Confirmation in a parable
Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong
399:30 man's house and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man?" In other words: How
can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called
400:1 mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When
disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear
400:3 of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor-
oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which
must be held in subjection before its influence upon health
400:6 and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we
can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, - namely, of
sin and disease.
Eradicate error from thought
400:9 Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they
forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine
Mind, and abandon their material beliefs.
400:12 Eradicate the image of disease from the per-
turbed thought before it has taken tangible
shape in conscious thought, /alias/ the body, and you pre-
400:15 vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy,
if you understand that every disease is an error, and has
no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to
400:18 it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-
tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.
Mortal mind controlled
When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed
400:21 mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought
alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind
rules all that is mortal. We see in the body
400:24 the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted
on the retina the image which becomes visible to the
senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be
400:27 destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony
of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani-
fest as sin, sickness, and death.
Mortal mind not a healer
400:30 The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of
sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this.
It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many
401:1 mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any
human error is its own enemy, and works against itself;
401:3 it does nothing in the right direction and much
in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing
evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer,
401:6 but it engenders disease and death.
Effect of opposites
If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-
tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as
401:9 when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be-
cause the truth of being must transform the
error to the end of producing a higher manifestation.
401:12 This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but
should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter
has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees
401:15 materially.
What I term /chemicalization/ is the upheaval produced
when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be-
401:18 lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to
the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case
with a fermenting fluid.
Medicine and brain
401:21 The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon mental action. If the mind were parted from the body, could you produce any effect upon the brain 401:24 or body by applying the drug to either? Would the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?
Skilful surgery
401:27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-
acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave
surgery and the adjustment of broken bones
401:30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon,
while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental
reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.
402:1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but
surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last
402:3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the
author has already in her possession well-authenticated
records of the cure, by herself and her students through
402:6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints,
and spinal vertebrae.
Indestructible life of man
The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake
402:9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im-
mortal Mind and its formations will be appre-
hended in Science, and material beliefs will
402:12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible
and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal
mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own
402:15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation
can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and
disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is
402:18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal
mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.
The evil of mesmerism
We say that one human mind can influence another and
402:21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that
we govern our own bodies. The error, mes-
merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term
402:24 - illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would
make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily
and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield
402:27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better
instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof
that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce
402:30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or
pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be
a belief without a real cause.
Wrong-doer should suffer
403:1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own
diseased conditions. The great difference between vol-
403:3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol-
untary mesmerism is induced consciously and
should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self-
403:6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake
a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under-
stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the
403:9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.
The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in
one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real-
403:12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be
healed only by the divine Mind.
Error's power imaginary
You command the situation if you understand that
403:15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the
truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly
producing on mortal body the results of false
403:18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal
error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth,
which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.
403:21 The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir-
itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal-
ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from
403:24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint
your patient with it.
Disease-production
The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike
403:27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the
nature of a case, and the practitioner improves
or injures the case in proportion to the truth
403:30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental
conception and development of disease are not under-
stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar
404:1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case
according to Christian Science.
Appetites to be abandoned
404:3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special
servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and
destroy these errors with the truth of being, -
404:6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering
which his submission to such habits brings, and by con-
vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe-
404:9 tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.
Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and
you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked
404:12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the
repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the
individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is
404:15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy
sinner is the hardened sinner.
Temperance reform
The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results
404:18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree
that brings not forth good fruit. This con-
viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,
404:21 is one of the most important points in the theology of
Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and
true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure,
404:24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and
increases his ability to master evil and to love good.
Sin or fear the root of sickness
Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and
404:27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth.
Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth,
404:30 make a man sick, and neither material medi-
cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body,
unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him
405:1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.
Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence
405:3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the
lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.
Mental conspirators
Christian Science commands man to master the pro-
405:6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,
to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with
charity, and to overcome deceit with hon-
405:9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you
would not cherish an army of conspirators against
health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you
405:12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The
judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of
the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and
405:15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing
is paid, - until you have balanced your account with
God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
405:18 reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of
sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im-
mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good,
405:21 in which is no power to sin.
Cumulative repentence
It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth
than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con-
405:24 science. The abiding consciousness of wrong-
doing tends to destroy the ability to do right.
If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is
405:27 hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are con-
quered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they
bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its
405:30 pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to
retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and
to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.
The leaves of healing
406:1 The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
406:3 Sin and sickness are both healed by the same
Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine
Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering
406:6 full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will
submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and
forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated
406:9 in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per-
fect Love casteth out fear."
Sickness will abate
The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and
406:12 spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.
Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will
abate and seem less real as we approach the
406:15 scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and
all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral
man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he
406:18 should be as fearless on the question of disease.
Resist to the end
Resist evil - error of every sort - and it will flee from
you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately
406:21 shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direc-
tion of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life
over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go
406:24 on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no
more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of
any kind involves weakness and suffering, - a loss of
406:27 control over the body.
Morbid cravings
The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,
tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery
406:30 of the body. This normal control is gained
through divine strength and understanding.
There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a
407:1 fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp
remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to
407:3 man's self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of to-
bacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no crea-
ture except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.
Universal panacea
407:6 Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters -
passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge - is con-
quered only by a mighty struggle. Every
407:9 hour of delay makes the struggle more severe.
If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush
out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian
407:12 Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the
weakness of mortal mind, - strength from the immortal
and omnipotent Mind, - and lifting humanity above
407:15 itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and
good-will to man.
Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris-
407:18 tian Science, and he will get the better of that desire
and ascend a degree in the scale of health, happiness,
and existence.
Immortal memory
407:21 If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contra-
dict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all
being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmoni-
407:24 ous in every action. Let the perfect model be
present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized op-
posite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light,
407:27 and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your
consciousness.
Sin a form of insanity
There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-
407:30 ity in different degrees. Sin is spared from
this classification, only because its method of
madness is in consonance with common mortal belief.
408:1 Every sort of sickness is error, - that is, sickness is
loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact
408:3 that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac-
knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are
sick.
408:6 There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which
mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the
material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien-
408:9 tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special
name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are
committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly
408:12 defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-
tal minds and bodies.
Drugs and brain-lobes
The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use
408:15 of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of
insanity. Can drugs go of their own accord
to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam-
408:18 mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal
mind through matter? Drugs do not affect a corpse, and
Truth does not distribute drugs through the blood, and
408:21 from them derive a supposed effect on intelligence and sen-
timent. A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce
insanity as perceptibly as would congestion of the brain,
408:24 were it not that mortal mind thinks that the tarsal joint is
less intimately connected with the mind than is the brain.
Reverse the belief, and the results would be perceptibly
408:27 different.
Matter and animate error
The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-
tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of
408:30 the body which we call sensation in matter
is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it-
self, - ignorant of the errors it includes and of their
409:1 effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You
may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do
409:3 you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and
not by matter?" /Mortal mind /and body combine as
one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state-
409:6 ment, - animate error called nerves, brain, mind, - the
more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease-
beliefs.
Dictation of error
409:9 Unconscious mortal mind - /alias /matter, brain - can-
not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick."
The belief, that the unconscious substratum
409:12 of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and
reports disease independently of this so-called conscious
mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing
409:15 how to govern their bodies.
So-called superiority
The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be
superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and
409:18 the stronger never yields to the weaker, ex-
cept through fear or choice. The animate
should be governed by God alone. The real man is
409:21 spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect
so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the
beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This
409:24 mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put
on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man
and seek the true model.
Death no benefactor
409:27 We have no right to say that life depends on matter
now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot
spend our days here in ignorance of the Science
409:30 of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave
a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us
harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance.
410:1 If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is
spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual
410:3 Life hereafter.
Life eternal and present
"This is life eternal," says Jesus, - /is/, not /shall be/;
and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge
410:6 of his Father and of himself, - the knowledge
of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eter-
nal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
410:9 Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures
say, "Man shall not live by bread /alone/, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," show-
410:12 ing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind
objects to making this teaching practical.
Love casteth out fear
Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.
410:15 The more difficult seems the material condition to be
overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our
faith and the purer our love. The Apostle
410:18 John says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love
casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made per-
fect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclama-
410:21 tion of Christian Science.
Be not afraid
The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no
410:24 misuse. Selfishness does not appear in the practice of
Truth or Christian Science. If mental prac-
tice is abused or is used in any way except to
410:27 promote right thinking and doing, the power to heal
mentally will diminish, until the practitioner's healing
ability is wholly lost. Christian scientific practice be-
410:30 gins with Christ's keynote of harmony, "Be not afraid!"
411:1 Said Job: "The thing which I greatly feared is come
upon me."
Naming diseases
411:3 My first discovery in the student's practice was this:
If the student silently called the disease by name, when
he argued against it, as a general rule the body
411:6 would respond more quickly, - just as a per-
son replies more readily when his name is spoken; but
this was because the student was not perfectly attuned to
411:9 divine Science, and needed the arguments of truth for
reminders. If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear
witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific
411:12 way, and the healing is instantaneous.
Evils cast out
It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis-
ease, - a disease which moderns would call /dementia/.
411:15 The demon, or evil, replied that his name was
Legion. Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil,
and the insane man was changed and straightway be-
411:18 came whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus
caused the evil to be self-seen and so destroyed.
Fear as the foundation
The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is
411:21 fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a
false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.
Disease is an image of thought externalized.
411:24 The mental state is called a material state. Whatever
is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is
imaged forth on the body.
Unspoken pleading
411:27 Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear
of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp-
tion from disease and danger. Watch the re-
411:30 sult of this simple rule of Christian Science,
and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every
disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear,
412:1 your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly
governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand-
412:3 point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear
of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien-
tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet
412:6 the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat,
but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern-
ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be
412:9 the victor.
Eloquent silence
You may call the disease by name when you mentally
deny it; but by naming it audibly, you are liable under
412:12 some circumstances to impress it upon the
thought. The power of Christian Science and
divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to un-
412:15 clasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.
Insistence requisite
To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth,
of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material
412:18 senses. To heal by argument, find the type
of the ailment, get its name, and array your
mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men-
412:21 tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and
conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of
disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and
412:24 that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence
of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the
body corresponds with the normal conditions of health
412:27 and harmony.
The cure of infants
If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs
to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently
412:30 or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian
Science. The Scientist knows that there can
be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent
413:1 and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and
God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter.
413:3 The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contem-
plation of physical wants or conditions induces those very
conditions. A single requirement, beyond what is neces-
413:6 sary to meet the simplest needs of the babe is harmful.
Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and
food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter
413:9 does not. The wise or unwise views of parents and other
persons on these subjects produce good or bad effects on
the health of children.
Ablutions for cleanliness
413:12 The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural
nor necessary than would be the process of taking a fish
out of water every day and covering it with dirt
413:15 in order to make it thrive more vigorously in its
own element. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," but
washing should be only for the purpose of keeping the
413:18 body clean, and this can be effected without scrubbing the
whole surface daily. Water is not the natural habitat of
humanity. I insist on bodily cleanliness within and with-
413:21 out. I am not patient with a speck of dirt; but in caring
for an infant one need not wash his little body all over each
day in order to keep it sweet as the new-blown flower.
Juvenile ailments
413:24 Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of
flatulency, and constantly directing the mind to such
signs, - that mind being laden with illusions
413:27 about disease, health-laws, and death, - these
actions convey mental images to children's budding
thoughts, and often stamp them there, making it probable
413:30 at any time that such ills may be reproduced in the very
ailments feared. A child may have worms, if you say so,
or any other malady, timorously held in the beliefs con-
414:1 cerning his body. Thus are laid the foundations of the
belief in disease and death, and thus are children educated
414:3 into discord.
Cure of insanity
The treatment of insanity is especially interesting.
However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than
414:6 do most diseases to the salutary action of
truth, which counteracts error. The argu-
ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in
414:9 other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter,
brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause
suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish
414:12 a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the
thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is
called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.
414:15 To fix truth steadfastly in your patients' thoughts, ex-
plain Christian Science to them, but not too soon, - not
until your patients are prepared for the explanation, -
414:18 lest you array the sick against their own interests by troub-
ling and perplexing their thought. The Christian Scien-
tist's argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of
414:21 being. The Scripture declares, "The Lord He is God
[good]; there is none else beside Him." Even so, harmony
is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de-
414:24 clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither
feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in
view. Keep in mind the verity of being, - that man is
414:27 the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is
painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfec-
tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is
414:30 blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine
Love.
Matter is not inflamed
Matter cannot be inflamed. Inflammation is fear, an
415:1 excited state of mortals which is not normal. Immor-
tal Mind is the only cause; therefore disease is neither a
415:3 cause nor an effect. Mind in every case is the
eternal God, good. Sin, disease, and death
have no foundations in Truth. Inflamation as a mor-
415:6 tal belief quickens or impedes the action of the system,
because thought moves quickly or slowly, leaps or halts
when it contemplates unpleasant things, or when the in-
415:9 dividual looks upon some object which he dreads. In-
flammation never appears in a part which mortal thought
does not reach. That is why opiates relieve inflammation.
415:12 They quiet the thought by inducing stupefaction and by
resorting to matter instead of to Mind. Opiates do not
remove the pain in any scientific sense. They only ren-
415:15 der mortal mind temporarily less fearful, till it can master
an erroneous belief.
Truth calms the thought
Note how thought makes the face pallid. It either re-
415:18 tards the circulation or quickens it, causing a pale or
flushed cheek. In the same way thought in-
creases or diminishes the secretions, the action
415:21 of the lungs, of the bowels, and of the heart. The mus-
cles, moving quickly or slowly and impelled or palsied by
thought, represent the action of all the organs of the hu-
415:24 man system, including brain and viscera. To remove
the error producing disorder, you must calm and instruct
mortal mind with immortal Truth.
Effects of etherization
415:27 Etherization will apparently cause the body to dis-
appear. Before the thoughts are fully at rest, the limbs
will vanish from consciousness. Indeed, the
415:30 whole frame will sink from sight along with
surrounding objects, leaving the pain standing forth as
distinctly as a mountain-peak, as if it were a separate
416:1 bodily member. At last the agony also vanishes. This
process shows the pain to be in the mind, for the inflam-
416:3 mation is not suppressed; and the belief of pain will
presently return, unless the mental image occasioning
the pain be removed by recognizing the truth of being.
Sedatives valueless
416:6 A hypodermic injection of morphine is administered
to a patient, and in twenty minutes the sufferer is qui-
etly asleep. To him there is no longer any
416:9 pain. Yet any physician - allopathic, homoe-
opathic, botanic, eclectic - will tell you that the trouble-
some material cause is unremoved, and that when the
416:12 soporific influence of the opium is exhausted, the pa-
tient will find himself in the same pain, unless the belief
which occasions the pain has meanwhile been changed.
416:15 Where is the pain while the patient sleeps?
The so-called physical ego
The material body, which you call /me/, is mortal mind,
and this mind is material in sensation, even as the body,
416:18 which has originated from this material sense
and been developed according to it, is mate-
rial. This materialism of parent and child is only in
416:21 mortal mind, as the dead body proves; for when the
mortal has resigned his body to dust, the body is no
longer the parent, even in appearance.
Evil thought depletes
416:24 The sick know nothing of the mental process by
which they are depleted, and next to nothing of the
metaphysical method by which they can be
416:27 healed. If they ask about their disease, tell
them only what is best for them to know. Assure them
that they think too much about their ailments, and
416:30 have already heard too much on that subject. Turn
their thoughts away from their bodies to higher ob-
jects. Teach them that their being is sustained by
417:1 Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace,
and harmony in God, divine Love.
Helpful encouragement
417:3 Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more
than their doctors. Always support their trust in the
power of Mind to sustain the body. Never
417:6 tell the sick that they have more courage
than strength. Tell them rather, that their strength
is in proportion to their courage. If you make the sick
417:9 realize this great truism, there will be no reaction from
over-exertion or from excited conditions. Maintain
the facts of Christian Science, - that Spirit is God, and
417:12 therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter
cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting
through spiritual law. Then hold your ground with
417:15 the unshaken understanding of Truth and Love, and
you will win. When you silence the witness against your
plea, you destroy the evidence, for the disease disap-
417:18 pears. The evidence before the corporeal senses is not
the Science of immortal man.
Disease to be made unreal
To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream
417:21 from which the patient needs to be awakened. Dis-
ease should not appear real to the physician,
since it is demonstrable that the way to
417:24 cure the patient is to make disease unreal to him. To
do this, the physician must understand the unreality
of disease in Science.
417:27 Explain audibly to your patients, as soon as they can
bear it, the complete control which Mind holds over the
body. Show them how mortal mind seems to induce
417:30 disease by certain fears and false conclusions, and how
divine Mind can cure by opposite thoughts. Give your
patients an underlying understanding to support them
418:1 and to shield them from the baneful effects of their own
conclusions. Show them that the conquest over sickness,
418:3 as well as over sin, depends on mentally destroying all
belief in material pleasure or pain.
Christian pleading
Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the
418:6 error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter.
Plead with an honest conviction of truth and
a clear perception of the unchanging, unerr-
418:9 ing, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your
fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will
heal the sick.
Truthful arguments
418:12 It must be clear to you that sickness is no more
the reality of being than is sin. This mortal dream
of sickness, sin, and death should cease
418:15 through Christian Science. Then one dis-
ease would be as readily destroyed as another. What-
ever the belief is, if arguments are used to destroy it,
418:18 the belief must be repudiated, and the negation must ex-
tend to the supposed disease and to whatever decides its
type and symptoms. Truth is affirmative, and confers
418:21 harmony. All metaphysical logic is inspired by this sim-
ple rule of Truth, which governs all reality. By the
truthful arguments you employ, and especially by the
418:24 spirit of Truth and Love which you entertain, you will
heal the sick.
Morality required
Include moral as well as physical belief in your efforts
418:27 to destroy error. Cast out all manner of evil. "Preach
the gospel to every creature." Speak the
truth to every form of error. Tumors, ulcers,
418:30 tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are wak-
ing dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which
flee before the light of Truth.
419:1 A moral question may hinder the recovery of the sick.
Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate will
419:3 perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors
of all sorts tend in this direction. Your true course is
to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Life, Truth,
419:6 and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone
are real and harmonious.
Relapse unnecessary
If your patient from any cause suffers a relapse, meet
419:9 the cause mentally and courageously, knowing that
there can be no reaction in Truth. Neither
disease itself, sin, nor fear has the power to
419:12 cause disease or a relapse. Disease has no intelligence
with which to move itself about or to change itself from
one form to another. If disease moves, mind, not mat-
419:15 ter, moves it; therefore be sure that you move it off.
Meet every adverse circumstance as its master. Ob-
serve mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for develop-
419:18 ment enter thought. Think less of material conditions
and more of spiritual.
Conquer beliefs and fears
Mind produces all action. If the action proceeds from
419:21 Truth, from immortal Mind, there is harmony; but mor-
tal mind is liable to any phase of belief. A
relapse cannot in reality occur in mortals or
419:24 so-called mortal minds, for there is but one
Mind, one God. Never fear the mental malpractitioner,
the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind,
419:27 tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God
is the only power. To succeed in healing, you must con-
quer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and
419:30 rise into higher and holier consciousness.
True government of man
If it is found necessary to treat against relapse, know
that disease or its symptoms cannot change forms, nor
420:1 go from one part to another, for Truth destroys disease.
There is no metastasis, no stoppage of harmonious
420:3 action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love
not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man. If
students do not readily heal themselves, they should
420:6 early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid
them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves,
they need only to know that error cannot produce this
420:9 unnatural reluctance.
Positive reassurance
Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims,
for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease
420:12 and ward it off, as positively as they can the
temptation to sin. This fact of Christian Sci-
ence should be explained to invalids when they are in a
420:15 fit mood to receive it, - when they will not array them-
selves against it, but are ready to become receptive to the
new idea. The fact that Truth overcomes both disease
420:18 and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy
stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It in-
creases or diminishes the action, as the case may require,
420:21 better than any drug, alterative, or tonic.
Proper stimulus
Mind is the natural stimulus of the body, but erro-
neous belief, taken at its best, is not promotive of health
420:24 or happiness. Tell the sick that they can
meet disease fearlessly, if they only realize
that divine Love gives them all power over every physical
420:27 action and condition.
Awaken the patient
If it becomes necessary to startle mortal mind to break
its dream of suffering, vehemently tell your patient that
420:30 he must awake. Turn his gaze from the false
evidence of the senses to the harmonious facts
of Soul and immortal being. Tell him that he suffers
421:1 only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only
difference is, that insanity implies belief in a diseased
421:3 brain, while physical ailments (so-called) arise from the
belief that other portions of the body are deranged. De-
rangement, or /disarrangement/, is a word which conveys
421:6 the true definition of all human belief in ill-health, or dis-
turbed harmony. Should you thus startle mortal mind
in order to remove its beliefs, afterwards make known
421:9 to the patient your motive for this shock, showing him
that it was to facilitate recovery.
How to treat a crisis
If a crisis occurs in your treatment, you must treat 421:12 the patient less for the disease and more for the mental disturbance or fermentation, and subdue the symptoms by removing the belief that this 421:15 chemicalization produces pain or disease. Insist vehe- mently on the great fact which covers the whole ground, that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside 421:18 Him. There is /no disease/. When the supposed suffer- ing is gone from mortal mind, there can be no pain; and when the fear is destroyed, the inflammation will sub- 421:21 side. Calm the excitement sometimes induced by chemi- calization, which is the alterative effect produced by Truth upon error, and sometimes explain the symptoms 421:24 and their cause to the patient.
No perversion of Mind-science
It is no more Christianly scientific to see disease than
it is to experience it. If you would destroy the sense
421:27 of disease, you should not build it up by
wishing to see the forms it assumes or by
employing a single material application for
421:30 its relief. The perversion of Mind-science is like as-
serting that the products of eight multiplied by five, and
of seven by ten, are both forty, and that their combined
422:1 sum is fifty, and then calling the process mathematics.
Wiser than his persecutors, Jesus said: "If I by Beelze-
422:3 bub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them
out?"
Effect of this book
If the reader of this book observes a great stir through-
422:6 out his whole system, and certain moral and physical
symptoms seem aggravated, these indications
are favorable. Continue to read, and the book
422:9 will become the physician, allaying the tremor which
Truth often brings to error when destroying it.
Disease neutralized
Patients, unfamiliar with the cause of this commotion
422:12 and ignorant that it is a favorable omen, may be alarmed.
If such be the case, explain to them the law
of this action. As when an acid and alkali
422:15 meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral
chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving
more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend
422:18 less on material evidence. These changes which go on
in mortal mind serve to reconstruct the body. Thus
Christian Science, by the alchemy of Spirit, destroys sin
422:21 and death.
Bone-healing by surgery
Let us suppose two parallel cases of bone-disease, both
similarly produced and attended by the same symptoms.
422:24 A surgeon is employed in one case, and a
Christian Scientist in the other. The sur-
geon, holding that matter forms its own conditions and
422:27 renders them fatal at certain points, entertains fears and
doubts as to the ultimate outcome of the injury. Not
holding the reins of government in his own hands, he
422:30 believes that something stronger than Mind - namely,
matter - governs the case. His treatment is therefore
tentative. This mental state invites defeat. The belief
423:1 that he has met his master in matter and may not be
able to mend the bone, increases his fear; yet this belief
423:3 should not be communicated to the patient, either ver-
bally or otherwise, for this fear greatly diminishes the
tendency towards a favorable result. Remember that the
423:6 unexpressed belief oftentimes affects a sensitive patient
more strongly than the expressed thought.
Scientific corrective
The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically
423:9 that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the
truth of being, to destroy the error. This cor-
rective is an alterative, reaching to every part
423:12 of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches
"the joints and marrow," and it restores the harmony of
man.
Coping with difficulties
423:15 The matter-physician deals with matter as both his foe
and his remedy. He regards the ailment as weakened or
strengthened according to the evidence which
423:18 matter presents. The metaphysician, making
Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and
regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to
423:21 error and discord, has rendered himself strong, instead
of weak, to cope with the case; and he proportionately
strengthens his patient with the stimulus of courage and
423:24 conscious power. Both Science and consciousness are
now at work in the economy of being according to the law
of Mind, which ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy.
Formation from thought
423:27 Ossification or any abnormal condition or derange-
ment of the body is as directly the action of mortal
mind as is dementia or insanity. Bones have
423:30 only the substance of thought which forms
them. They are only phenomena of the mind of mor-
tals. The so-called substance of bone is formed first
424:1 by the parent's mind, through self-division. Soon the
child becomes a separate, individualized mortal mind,
424:3 which takes possession of itself and its own thoughts of
bones.
Accidents unknown to God
Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind,
424:6 and we must leave the mortal basis of belief
and unite with the one Mind, in order to
change the notion of chance to the proper sense
424:9 of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.
Opposing mentality
Under divine Providence there can be no accidents,
since there is no room for imperfection in perfection.
424:12 In medical practice objections would be raised if one
doctor should administer a drug to counteract the work-
ing of a remedy prescribed by another doctor.
424:15 It is equally important in metaphysical prac-
tice that the /minds /which surround your patient should
not act against your influence by continually expressing
424:18 such opinions as may alarm or discourage, - either by
giving antagonistic advice or through unspoken thoughts
resting on your patient. While it is certain that the
424:21 divine Mind can remove any obstacle, still you need the
ear of your auditor. It is not more difficult to make your-
self heard mentally while others are thinking about your
424:24 patients or conversing with them, if you understand
Christian Science - the oneness and the allness of divine
Love; but it is well to be alone with God and the sick
424:27 when treating disease.
Mind removes scrofula
To prevent or to cure scrofula and other so-called he-
reditary diseases, you must destroy the belief in these ills
424:30 and the faith in the possibility of their trans-
mission. The patient may tell you that he
has a humor in the blood, a scrofulous diathesis. His
425:1 parents or some of his progenitors farther back have so
believed. Mortal mind, not matter, induces this con-
425:3 clusion and its results. You will have humors, just so
long as you believe them to be safety-valves or to be
ineradicable.
Nothing to consume
425:6 If the case to be mentally treated is consumption, take
up the leading points included (according to belief) in
this disease. Show that it is not inherited;
425:9 that inflammation, tubercles, hemorrhage, and
decomposition are beliefs, images of mortal thought su-
perimposed upon the body; that they are not the truth
425:12 of man; that they should be treated as error and put out
of thought. Then these ills will disappear.
The lungs re-formed
If the body is diseased, this is but one of the beliefs of
425:15 mortal mind. Mortal man will be less mortal, when he
learns that matter never sustained existence
and can never destroy God, who is man's Life.
425:18 When this is understood, mankind will be more spiritual
and know that there is nothing to consume, since Spirit,
God, is All-in-all. What if the belief is consumption?
425:21 God is more to a man than his belief, and the less we ac-
knowledge matter or its laws, the more immortality we
possess. Consciousness constructs a better body when
425:24 faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material
belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form
you anew. You will never fear again except to offend
425:27 God, and you will never believe that heart or any por-
tion of the body can destroy you.
Soundness maintained
If you have sound and capacious lungs and want
425:30 them to remain so, be always ready with the
mental protest against the opposite belief in
heredity. Discard all notions about lungs, tubercles, in-
426:1 herited consumption, or disease arising from any cir-
cumstance, and you will find that mortal mind, when
426:3 instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers
the body into health.
Our footsteps heavenward
The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less
426:6 difficult when she has the high goal always before her
thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps
in endeavoring to reach it. When the desti-
426:9 nation is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The
struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak,
resting instead of wearying one. If the belief in death
426:12 were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that
there is no death, this would be a "tree of life," known
by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and en-
426:15 deavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learn-
ing the necessity of working out his own salvation. When
it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that
426:18 mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this
understanding will quicken into newness of life. It will
master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave,
426:21 and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal
existence.
Christian standard
The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of
426:24 the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health
and morals far beyond its present elevation,
and would enable us to hold the banner of
426:27 Christianity aloft with unflinching faith in God, in Life
eternal. Sin brought death, and death will disappear
with the disappearance of sin. Man is immortal, and
426:30 the body cannot die, because matter has no life to sur-
render. The human concepts named matter, death, dis-
ease, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed.
Life not contingent on matter
427:1 If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is
427:3 the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of
Truth, and Soul is never without its represent-
ative. Man's individual being can no more
427:6 die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for
both are immortal. If man believes in death now, he
must disbelieve in it when learning that there is no reality
427:9 in death, since the truth of being is deathless. The be-
lief that existence is contingent on matter must be met
and mastered by Science, before Life can be understood
427:12 and harmony obtained.
Mortality vanquished
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
ence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the
427:15 harmony of being nor end the existence of
man in Science. Man is the same after as
before a bone is broken or the body guillotined. If man
427:18 is never to overcome death, why do the Scriptures say,
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"? The
tenor of the Word shows that we shall obtain the victory
427:21 over death in proportion as we overcome sin. The great
difficulty lies in ignorance of what God is. God, Life,
Truth, and Love make man undying. Immortal Mind,
427:24 governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the
physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.
No death nor inaction
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
427:27 man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his
last resort, but it should have been his first
and only resort. The dream of death must
427:30 be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought
will waken from its own material declaration, "I am
dead," to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, "There
428:1 is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor
reaction."
Vision opening
428:3 Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstra-
tion of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark
visions of material sense into harmony and
428:6 immortality. Man's privilege at this supreme
moment is to prove the words of our Master: "If a man
keep my saying, he shall never see death." To divest
428:9 thought of false trusts and material evidences in order
that the spiritual facts of being may appear, - this is
the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep
428:12 away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may
establish in truth the temple, or body, "whose builder
and maker is God."
Intelligent consecration
428:15 We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown
God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the eternal
builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life
428:18 which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal
belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental
might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them
428:21 with the life which is spiritual, not material.
The present immortality
The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man
/is/, not /shall be/, perfect and immortal. We must hold
428:24 forever the consciousness of existence, and
sooner or later, through Christ and Christian
Science, we must master sin and death. The evidence
428:27 of man's immortality will become more apparent, as ma-
terial beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being
are admitted.
Careful guidance
428:30 The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and
raised the dying to life and health through the under-
standing of God as the only Life. It is a sin to believe
429:1 that aught can overpower omnipotent and eternal Life,
and this Life must be brought to light by the understand-
429:3 ing that there is no death, as well as by other
graces of Spirit. We must begin, however,
with the more simple demonstrations of control, and
429:6 the sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration
takes time for its accomplishment. When walking, we
are guided by the eye. We look before our feet, and if
429:9 we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of
spiritual advancement.
Clay replying to the potter
The corpse, deserted by thought, is cold and decays,
429:12 but it never suffers. Science declares that man is sub-
ject to Mind. Mortal mind affirms that mind
is subordinate to the body, that the body is
429:15 dying, that it must be buried and decomposed
into dust; but mortal mind's affirmation is not true.
Mortals waken from the dream of death with bodies un-
429:18 seen by those who think that they bury the body.
Continuity of existence
If man did not exist before the material organization
began, he could not exist after the body is disintegrated.
429:21 If we live after death and are immortal, we
must have lived before birth, for if Life ever
had any beginning, it must also have an ending, even ac-
429:24 cording to the calculations of natural science. Do you
believe this? No! Do you understand it? No! This
is why you doubt the statement and do not demonstrate
429:27 the facts it involves. We must have faith in all the say-
ings of our Master, though they are not included in the
teachings of the schools, and are not understood gener-
429:30 ally by our ethical instructors.
Life all-inclusive
Jesus said (John viii. 51), "If a man keep my saying,
he shall never see death." That statement is not con-
430:1 fined to spiritual life, but includes all the phenomena of
existence. Jesus demonstrated this, healing the dying
430:3 and raising the dead. Mortal mind must part
with error, must put off itself with its deeds,
and immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, will appear.
430:6 Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base
by resting upon Spirit instead of matter. When man
gives up his belief in death, he will advance more rapidly
430:9 towards God, Life, and Love. Belief in sickness and
death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the
true sense of Life and health. When will mankind wake
430:12 to this great fact in Science?
I here present to my readers an allegory illustrative
of the law of divine Mind and of the supposed laws of mat-
430:15 ter and hygiene, an allegory in which the plea of Christian
Science heals the sick.
A mental court case
Suppose a mental case to be on trial, as cases are tried
430:18 in court. A man is charged with having committed liver-
complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates,
and the trial commences. Personal Sense is
430:21 the plaintiff. Mortal Man is the defendant. False Belief
is the attorney for Personal Sense. Mortal Minds, Ma-
teria Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Hypnotism, Envy,
430:24 Greed and Ingratitude, constitute the jury. The court-
room is filled with interested spectators, and Judge
Medicine is on the bench.
430:27 The evidence for the prosecution being called for, a
witness testifies thus: -
I represent Health-laws. I was present on certain nights
430:30 when the prisoner, or patient, watched with a sick friend.
Although I have the superintendence of human affairs, I
was personally abused on those occasions. I was told that
431:1 I must remain silent until called for at this trial, when I
would be allowed to testify in the case. Notwithstanding
431:3 my rules to the contrary, the prisoner watched with the sick
every night in the week. When the sick mortal was thirsty,
the prisoner gave him drink. During all this time the pris-
431:6 oner attended to his daily labors, partaking of food at ir-
regular intervals, sometimes going to sleep immediately
after a heavy meal. At last he committed liver-complaint,
431:9 which I considered criminal, inasmuch as this offence is
deemed punishable with death. Therefore I arrested Mor-
tal Man in behalf of the state (namely, the body) and cast
431:12 him into prison.
At the time of the arrest the prisoner summoned Physi-
ology, Materia Medica, and Hypnotism to prevent his pun-
431:15 ishment. The struggle on their part was long. Materia
Medica held out the longest, but at length all these assist-
ants resigned to me, Health-laws, and I succeeded in get-
431:18 ting Mortal Man into close confinement until I should
release him.
The next witness is called:-
431:21 I am Coated Tongue. I am covered with a foul fur,
placed on me the night of the liver-attack. Morbid Secre-
tion hypnotized the prisoner and took control of his mind,
431:24 making him despondent.
Another witness takes the stand and testifies:-
I am Sallow Skin. I have been dry, hot, and chilled by
431:27 turns since the night of the liver-attack. I have lost my
healthy hue and become unsightly, although nothing on my
part has occasioned this change. I practise daily ablutions
431:30 and perform my functions as usual, but I am robbed of my
good looks.
432:1 The next witness testifies: -
I am Nerve, the State Commissioner for Mortal Man.
432:3 I am intimately acquainted with the plaintiff, Personal
Sense, and know him to be truthful and upright, whereas
Mortal Man, the prisoner at the bar, is capable of false-
432:6 hood. I was witness to the crime of liver-complaint. I
knew the prisoner would commit it, for I convey messages
from my residence in matter, alias brain, to body.
432:9 Another witness is called for by the Court of Error
and says: -
I am Mortality, Governor of the Province of Body, in
432:12 which Mortal Man resides. In this province there is a stat-
ute regarding disease, - namely, that he upon whose per-
son disease is found shall be treated as a criminal and
432:15 punished with death.
The Judge asks if by doing good to his neighbor, it is
possible for man to become diseased, transgress the laws,
432:18 and merit punishment, and Governor Mortality replies in
the affirmative.
Another witness takes the stand and testifies: -
432:21 I am Death. I was called for, shortly after the report of
the crime, by the officer of the Board of Health, who pro-
tested that the prisoner had abused him, and that my pres-
432:24 ence was required to confirm his testimony. One of the
prisoner's friends, Materia Medica, was present when I
arrived, endeavoring to assist the prisoner to escape from
432:27 the hands of justice, /alias /nature's so-called law; but my
appearance with a message from the Board of Health
changed the purpose of Materia Medica, and he decided at
432:30 once that the prisoner should die.
Judge Medicine charges the jury
433:1 The testimony for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, being
closed, Judge Medicine arises, and with great solemnity
433:3 addresses the jury of Mortal Minds. He an-
alyzes the offence, reviews the testimony, and
explains the law relating to liver-complaint.
433:6 His conclusion is, that laws of nature render disease
homicidal. In compliance with a stern duty, his Honor,
Judge Medicine, urges the jury not to allow their judg-
433:9 ment to be warped by the irrational, unchristian sugges-
tions of Christian Science. The jury must regard in such
cases only the evidence of Personal Sense against Mortal
433:12 Man.
As the Judge proceeds, the prisoner grows restless. His
sallow face blanches with fear, and a look of despair and
433:15 death settles upon it. The case is given to the jury. A
brief consultation ensues, and the jury returns a verdict
of "Guilty of liver-complaint in the first degree."
Mortal Man sentenced
433:18 Judge Medicine then proceeds to pronounce the solemn
sentence of death upon the prisoner. Because he has
loved his neighbor as himself, Mortal Man has
433:21 been guilty of benevolence in the first degree,
and this has led him into the commission of the second
crime, liver-complaint, which material laws condemn as
433:24 homicide. For this crime Mortal Man is sentenced to
be tortured until he is dead. "May God have mercy on
your soul," is the Judge's solemn peroration.
433:27 The prisoner is then remanded to his cell (sick-bed),
and Scholastic Theology is sent for to prepare the fright-
ened sense of Life, God, - which sense must be immortal,
433:30 - for /death/.
Appeal to a higher tribunal
Ah! but Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the
friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors
434:1 and set the captive free. Swift on the wings of divine
Love, there comes a despatch: "Delay the execution;
434:3 the prisoner is not guilty." Consternation fills
the prison-yard. Some exclaim, "It is con-
trary to law and justice." Others say,
434:6 "The law of Christ supersedes /our/ laws; let us follow
Christ."
Counsel for defence
After much debate and opposition, permission is ob-
434:9 tained for a trial in the Court of Spirit, where Christian
Science is allowed to appear as counsel for
the unfortunate prisoner. Witnesses, judges
434:12 and jurors, who were at the previous Court of Error,
are now summoned to appear before the bar of Justice
and eternal Truth.
434:15 When the case for Mortal Man /versus/ Personal Sense
is opened, Mortal Man's counsel regards the prisoner
with the utmost tenderness. The counsel's earnest,
434:18 solemn eyes, kindling with hope and triumph, look up-
ward. Then Christian Science turns suddenly to the
supreme tribunal, and opens the argument for the
434:21 defence: -
The prisoner at the bar has been unjustly sentenced.
His trial was a tragedy, and is morally illegal. Mortal
434:24 Man has had no proper counsel in the case. All the test-
mony has been on the side of Personal Sense, and we shall
unearth this foul conspiracy against the liberty and life of
434:27 Man. The only valid testimony in the case shows the
alleged crime never to have been committed. The pris-
oner is not proved "worthy of death, or of bonds."
434:30 Your Honor, the lower court has sentenced Mortal Man
to die, but God made Man immortal and amenable to
Spirit only. Denying justice to the body, that court com-
435:1 mended man's immortal Spirit to heavenly mercy, - Spirit
which is God Himself and Man's only lawgiver! Who or
435:3 what has sinned? Has the body or has Mortal Mind
committed a criminal deed? Counsellor False Belief has
argued that the body should die, while Reverend Theology
435:6 would console conscious Mortal Mind, which alone is capa-
ble of sin and suffering. The body committed no offence.
Mortal Man, in obedience to higher law, helped his fellow-
435:9 man, an act which should result in good to himself as well
as to others.
The law of our Supreme Court decrees that whosoever
435:12 /sinneth/ shall die; but good deeds are immortal, bringing
joy instead of grief, pleasure instead of pain, and life
instead of death. If liver-complaint was committed by
435:15 trampling on Laws of Health, this was a good deed, for the
agent of those laws is an outlaw, a destroyer of Mortal
Man's liberty and rights. Laws of Health should be sen-
435:18 tenced to die.
Watching beside the couch of pain in the exercise of a
love that "is the fulfilling of the law," - doing "unto
435:21 others as ye would that they should do unto you," - this
is no infringement of law, for no demand, human or divine,
renders it just to punish a man for acting justly. If mor-
435:24 tals sin, our Supreme Judge in equity decides what penalty
is due for the sin, and Mortal Man can suffer only for his
sin. For naught else can he be punished, according to the
435:27 law of Spirit, God.
Then what jurisdiction had his Honor, Judge Medicine,
in this case? To him I might say, in Bible language, "Sit-
435:30 test thou to judge . . . after the law, and commandest . . .
to be smitten contrary to the law?" The only jurisdiction
to which the prisoner can submit is that of Truth, Life, and
435:33 Love. If they condemn him not, neither shall Judge Medi-
cine condemn him; and I ask that the prisoner be restored
to the liberty of which he has been unjustly deprived.
436:1 The principal witness (the officer of the Health-laws)
deposed that he was an eye-witness to the good deeds for
436:3 which Mortal Man is under sentence of death. After be-
traying him into the hands of your law, the Health-agent
disappeared, to reappear however at the trial as a witness
436:6 against Mortal Man and in the interest of Personal Sense,
a murderer. Your Supreme Court must find the pris-
oner on the night of the alleged offence to have been acting
436:9 within the limits of the divine law, and in obedience
thereto. Upon this statute hangs all the law and testimony.
Giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name, is a Christian
436:12 service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man
should find it again. Such acts bear their own justifica-
tion, and are under the protection of the Most High.
436:15 Prior to the night of his arrest, the prisoner summoned
two professed friends, Materia Medica and Physiology, to
prevent his committing liver-complaint, and thus save him
436:18 from arrest. But they brought with them Fear, the sheriff,
to precipitate the result which they were called to prevent.
It was Fear who handcuffed Mortal Man and would now
436:21 punish him. You have left Mortal Man no alternative.
He must obey your law, fear its consequences, and be pun-
ished for his fear. His friends struggled hard to rescue the
436:24 prisoner from the penalty they considered justly due, but
they were compelled to let him be taken into custody, tried,
and condemned. Thereupon Judge Medicine sat in judg-
436:27 ment on the case, and substantially charged the jury, twelve
Mortal Minds, to find the prisoner guilty. His Honor sen-
tenced Mortal Man to die for the very deeds which the di-
436:30 vine law compels man to commit. Thus the Court of Error
construed obedience to the law of divine Love as disobedi-
ence to the law of Life. Claiming to protect Mortal Man
436:33 in right-doing, that court pronounced a sentence of death
for doing right.
One of the principal witnesses, Nerve, testified that he
437:1 was a ruler of Body, in which province Mortal Man resides.
He also testified that he was on intimate terms with the
437:3 plaintiff, and knew Personal Sense to be truthful; that he
knew Man, and that Man was made in the image of God,
but was a criminal. This is a foul aspersion on man's
437:6 Maker. It blots the fair escutcheon of omnipotence. It in-
dicates malice aforethought, a determination to condemn
Man in the interest of Personal Sense. At the bar of Truth,
437:9 in the presence of divine Justice, before the Judge of our
higher tribunal, the Supreme Court of Spirit, and before
its jurors, the Spiritual Senses, I proclaim this witness,
437:12 Nerve, to be destitute of intelligence and truth and to be
a false witness.
Man self-destroyed; the testimony of matter respected;
437:15 Spirit not allowed a hearing; Soul a criminal though
recommended to mercy; the helpless innocent body tor-
tured, - these are the terrible records of your Court of
437:18 Error, and I ask that the Supreme Court of Spirit reverse
this decision.
Here the opposing counsel, False Belief, called Chris-
437:21 tian Science to order for contempt of court. Various
notables - Materia Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Scho-
lastic Theology, and Jurisprudence - rose to the ques-
437:24 tion of expelling Christian Science from the bar, for such
high-handed illegality. They declared that Christian Sci-
ence was overthrowing the judicial proceedings of a regu-
437:27 larly constituted court.
But Judge Justice of the Supreme Court of Spirit over-
ruled their motions on the ground that unjust usages
437:30 were not allowed at the bar of Truth, which ranks above
the lower Court of Error.
The attorney, Christian Science, then read from the
437:33 supreme statute-book, the Bible, certain extracts on the
438:1 Rights of Man, remarking, that the Bible was better au-
thority than Blackstone: -
438:3 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and
let them have dominion.
Behold, I give unto you power . . . over all the power
438:6 of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Then Christian Science proved the witness, Nerve, to
438:9 be a perjurer. Instead of being a ruler in the Province
of Body, in which Mortal Man was reported to reside,
Nerve was an insubordinate citizen, putting in false
438:12 claims to office and bearing false witness against Man.
Turning suddenly to Personal Sense, by this time silent,
Christian Science continued: -
438:15 I ask your arrest in the name of Almighty God on three distinct charges of crime, to wit: perjury, treason, and con- spiracy against the rights and life of man.
438:18 Then Christian Science continued:
Another witness, equally inadequate, said that on the
night of the crime a garment of foul fur was spread over
438:21 him by Morbid Secretion, while the facts in the case show
that this fur is a foreign substance, imported by False Be-
lief, the attorney for Personal Sense, who is in partnership
438:24 with Error and smuggles Error's goods into market with-
out the inspection of Soul's government officers. When
the Court of Truth summoned Furred Tongue for examina-
438:27 tion, he disappeared and was never heard of more.
Morbid Secretion is not an importer or dealer in fur, but
we have heard Materia Medica explain how this fur is
438:30 manufactured, and we know Morbid Secretion to be on
friendly terms with the firm of Personal Sense, Error, &
439:1 Co., receiving pay from them and introducing their goods
into the market. Also, be it known that False Belief, the
439:3 counsel for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, is a buyer for this
firm. He manufactures for it, keeps a furnishing store,
and advertises largely for his employers.
439:6 Death testified that he was absent from the Province of
Body, when a message came from False Belief, command-
ing him to take part in the homicide. At this request
439:9 Death repaired to the spot where the liver-complaint was
in process, frightening away Materia Medica, who was then
manacling the prisoner in the attempt to save him. True,
439:12 Materia Medica was a misguided participant in the misdeed
for which the Health-officer had Mortal Man in custody,
though Mortal Man was innocent.
439:15 Christian Science turned from the abashed witnesses,
his words flashing as lightning in the perturbed faces
of these worthies, Scholastic Theology, Materia Medica,
439:18 Physiology, the blind Hypnotism, and the masked Per-
sonal Sense, and said: -
God will smite you, O whited walls, for injuring in your
439:21 ignorance the unfortunate Mortal Man who sought your
aid in his struggles against liver-complaint and Death.
You came to his rescue, only to fasten upon him an offence
439:24 of which he was innocent. You aided and abetted Fear
and Health-laws. You betrayed Mortal Man, meanwhile
declaring Disease to be God's servant and the righteous
439:27 executor of His laws. Our higher statutes declare you all,
witnesses, jurors, and judges, to be offenders, awaiting the
sentence which General Progress and Divine Love will
439:30 pronounce.
We send our best detectives to whatever locality is re-
ported to be haunted by Disease, but on visiting the spot,
439:33 they learn that Disease was never there, for he could not
440:1 possibly elude their search. Your Material Court of Errors,
when it condemned Mortal Man on the ground of hygienic
440:3 disobedience, was manipulated by the oleaginous machina-
tions of the counsel, False Belief, whom Truth arraigns
before the supreme bar of Spirit to answer for his crime.
440:6 Morbid Secretion is taught how to make sleep befool reason
before sacrificing mortals to their false gods.
Mortal Minds were deceived by your attorney, False Be-
440:9 lief, and were influenced to give a verdict delivering Mortal
Man to Death. Good deeds are transformed into crimes,
to which you attach penalties; but no warping of justice
440:12 can render disobedience to the so-called laws of Matter
disobedience to God, or an act of homicide. Even penal
law holds homicide, under stress of circumstances, to be
440:15 justifiable. Now what greater justification can any deed
have, than that it is for the good of one's neighbor? Where-
fore, then, in the name of outraged justice, do you sentence
440:18 Mortal Man for ministering to the wants of his fellow-man
in obedience to divine law? You cannot trample upon the
decree of the Supreme Bench. Mortal Man has his appeal
440:21 to Spirit, God, who sentences only for sin.
The false and unjust beliefs of your human mental legis-
lators compel them to enact wicked laws of sickness and so
440:24 forth, and then render obedience to these laws punishable
as crime. In the presence of the Supreme Lawgiver, stand-
ing at the bar of Truth, and in accordance with the divine
440:27 statutes, I repudiate the false testimony of Personal. Sense.
I ask that he be forbidden to enter against Mortal Man
any more suits to be tried at the Court of Material Error.
440:30 I appeal to the just and equitable decisions of divine Spirit
to restore to Mortal Man the rights of which he has been
deprived.
Charge of the Chief Justice
440:33 Here the counsel for the defence closed, and the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, with benign and imposing
441:1 presence, comprehending and defining all law and evi-
dence, explained from his statute-book, the
441:3 Bible, that any so-called law, which under-
takes to punish aught but sin, is null and void.
He also decided that the plaintiff, Personal Sense, be
441:6 not permitted to enter any suits at the bar of Soul, but
be enjoined to keep perpetual silence, and in case of
temptation, to give heavy bonds for good behavior. He
441:9 concluded his charge thus: -
The plea of False Belief we deem unworthy of a hearing.
Let what False Belief utters, now and forever, fall into
441:12 oblivion, "unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown." Accord-
ing to our statute, Material Law is a liar who cannot bear
witness against Mortal Man, neither can Fear arrest Mortal
441:15 Man nor can Disease cast him into prison. Our law refuses
to recognize Man as sick or dying, but holds him to be for-
ever in the image and likeness of his Maker. Reversing the
441:18 testimony of Personal Sense and the decrees of the Court of
Error in favor of Matter, Spirit decides in favor of Man
and against Matter. We further recommend that Materia
441:21 Medica adopt Christian Science and that Health-laws,
Mesmerism, Hypnotism, Oriental Witchcraft, and Esoteric
Magic be publicly executed at the hands of our sheriff,
441:24 Progress.
The Supreme Bench decides in favor of intelligence, that
no law outside of divine Mind can punish or reward Mortal
441:27 Man. Your personal jurors in the Court of Error are
myths. Your attorney, False Belief, is an impostor, per-
suading Mortal Minds to return a verdict contrary to law
441:30 and gospel. The plaintiff, Personal Sense, is recorded in
our Book of books as a liar. Our great Teacher of mental
jurisprudence speaks of him also as "a murderer from the
441:33 beginning." We have no trials for sickness before the tri-
442:1 bunal of divine Spirit. There, Man is adjudged innocent
of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such
442:3 laws. Our statute is spiritual, our Government is divine.
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Divine verdict
The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a
442:6 verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience-
chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty. Then
the prisoner rose up regenerated, strong, free.
442:9 We noticed, as he shook hands with his counsel, Chris-
tian Science, that all sallowness and debility had dis-
appeared. His form was erect and commanding, his
442:12 countenance beaming with health and happiness. Divine
Love had cast out fear. Mortal Man, no longer sick
and in prison, walked forth, his feet "beautiful upon the
442:15 mountains," as of one "that bringeth good tidings."
Christ the great physician
Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters into
the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot
442:18 be reversed, but the reverse of error is true.
An improved belief cannot retrograde. When
Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into
442:21 a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understand-
ing, and sin, disease, and death disappear. Christ, Truth,
gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the ma-
442:24 terial, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man
is clothed and fed spiritually. St. Paul says, "Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling:" Jesus
442:27 said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom." This truth is
Christian Science.
442:30 Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. - PROVERBS.
Study of medicine
443:1 WHEN the discoverer of Christian Science is con-
sulted by her followers as to the propriety, advan-
443:3 tage, and consistency of systematic medical
study, she tries to show them that under ordi-
nary circumstances a resort to faith in corporeal means
443:6 tends to deter those, who make such a compromise, from
entire confidence in omnipotent Mind as really possessing
all power. While a course of medical study is at times
443:9 severely condemned by some Scientists, she feels, as she
always has felt, that all are privileged to work out their
own salvation according to their light, and that our motto
443:12 should be the Master's counsel, "Judge not, that ye be
not judged."
Failure's lessons
If patients fail to experience the healing power of
443:15 Christian Science, and think they can be benefited by
certain ordinary physical methods of medical
treatment, then the Mind-physician should
443:18 give up such cases, and leave invalids free to resort to
whatever other systems they fancy will afford relief.
Thus such invalids may learn the value of the apostolic
443:21 precept: "Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine." If the sick find these material expedients
444:1 unsatisfactory, and they receive no help from them, these
very failures may open their blind eyes. In some way,
444:3 sooner or later, all must rise superior to materiality, and
suffering is oft the divine agent in this elevation. "All
things work together for good to them that love God," is
444:6 the dictum of Scripture.
Refuge and strength
If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from
other Scientists, - their brethren upon whom they may
444:9 call, - God will still guide them into the right
use of temporary and eternal means. Step by
step will those who trust Him find that "God is our refuge
444:12 and strength, a very present help in trouble."
Charity to those opposed
Students are advised by the author to be charitable
and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion
444:15 and medicine, but to those who hold these dif-
fering opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing
the way through Christ, as we understand it,
444:18 but let us also be careful always to "judge righteous judg-
ment," and never to condemn rashly. "Whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
444:21 That is, Fear not that he will smite thee again for thy for-
bearance. If ecclesiastical sects or medical schools turn
a deaf ear to the teachings of Christian Science, then part
444:24 from these opponents as did Abraham when he parted
from Lot, and say in thy heart: "Let there be no strife, I
pray thee, between me and thee, and between My herd-
444:27 men and thy herdmen; for we be brethren." Immortals,
or God's children in divine Science, are one harmonious
family; but mortals, or the "children of men" in material
444:30 sense, are discordant and ofttimes false brethren.
Conforming to explicit rules
The teacher must make clear to students the Science
of healing, especially its ethics, - that all is Mind, and
445:1 that the Scientist must conform to God's requirements.
Also the teacher must thoroughly fit his students to defend
445:3 themselves against sin, and to guard against the
attacks of the would-be /mental assassin/, who
attempts to kill morally and physically. No
445:6 hypothesis as to the existence of another power should
interpose a doubt or fear to hinder the demonstration of
Christian Science. Unfold the latent energies and capac-
445:9 ities for good in your pupil. Teach the great possibilities
of man endued with divine Science. Teach the dangerous
possibility of dwarfing the spiritual understanding and
445:12 demonstration of Truth by sin, or by recourse to material
means for healing. Teach the meekness and might of life
"hid with Christ in God," and there will be no desire for
445:15 other healing methods. You render the divine law of
healing obscure and void, when you weigh the human in
the scale with the divine, or limit in any direction of
445:18 thought the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.
Divine energy
Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with
Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion
445:21 of the divine energy in healing the sick. Self-
seeking, envy, passion, pride, hatred, and
revenge are cast out by the divine Mind which heals
445:24 disease. The human will which maketh and worketh a lie,
hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to
health, and is the cause of disease rather than its cure.
Blight of avarice
445:27 There is great danger in teaching Mind-healing indis-
criminately, thus disregarding the morals of the student
and caring only for the fees. Recalling Jeffer-
445:30 son's words about slavery, "I tremble, when I
remember that God is just," the author trembles whenever
she sees a man, for the petty consideration of money,
446:1 teaching his slight knowledge of Mind-power, - per-
haps communicating his own bad morals, and in this way
446:3 dealing pitilessly with a community unprepared for self-
defence.
A thorough perusal of the author's publications heals
446:6 sickness. If patients sometimes seem worse while read-
ing this book, the change may either arise from the alarm
of the physician, or it may mark the crisis of the disease.
446:9 Perseverance in the perusal of the book has generally
completely healed such cases.
Exclusion of malpractice
Whoever practises the Science the author teaches,
446:12 through which Mind pours light and healing upon this
generation, can practise on no one from sin-
ister or malicious motives without destroying
446:15 his own power to heal and his own health. Good must
dominate in the thoughts of the healer, or his demon-
stration is protracted, dangerous, and impossible in Sci-
446:18 ence. A wrong motive involves defeat. In the Science
of Mind-healing, it is imperative to be honest, for victory
rests on the side of immutable right. To understand
446:21 God strengthens hope, enthrones faith in Truth, and
verifies Jesus' word: "Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world."
Iniquity overcome
446:24 Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothing-
ness. Not human platitudes, but divine beatitudes, re-
flect the spiritual light and might which heal
446:27 the sick. The exercise of will brings on a
hypnotic state, detrimental to health and integrity of
thought. This must therefore be watched and guarded
446:30 against. Covering iniquity will prevent prosperity and the
ultimate triumph of any cause. Ignorance of the error
to be eradicated oftentimes subjects you to its abuse.
No trespass on human rights
447:1 The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon
man's individual right of self-government. We have no
447:3 authority in Christian Science and no moral
right to attempt to influence the thoughts of
others, except it be to benefit them. In men-
447:6 tal practice you must not forget that erring human opin-
ions, conflicting selfish motives, and ignorant attempts
to do good may render you incapable of knowing or
447:9 judging accurately the need of your fellow-men. There-
fore the rule is, heal the sick when called upon for aid,
and save the victims of the mental assassins.
Expose sin without believing in it
447:12 Ignorance, subtlety, or false charity does not for-
ever conceal error; evil will in time disclose and pun-
ish itself. The recuperative action of the
447:15 system, when mentally sustained by Truth,
goes on naturally. When sin or sickness -
the reverse of harmony - seems true to material sense,
447:18 impart without frightening or discouraging the pa-
tient the truth and spiritual understanding, which de-
stroy disease. Expose and denounce the claims of
447:21 evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no
reality in them. A sinner is not reformed merely
by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because
447:24 there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin,
you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the
illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove
447:27 its unreality. The sick are not healed merely by
declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that
there is none.
Wicked evasions
447:30 A sinner is afraid to cast the first stone. He may
say, as a subterfuge, that evil is unreal, but to know it,
he must demonstrate his statement. To assume that
448:1 there are no claims of evil and yet to indulge them, is
a moral offence. Blindness and self-righteousness cling
448:3 fast to iniquity. When the Publican's wail
went out to the great heart of Love, it won his
humble desire. Evil which obtains in the bodily senses,
448:6 but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if
evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured. Under
such circumstances, to say that there is no evil, is an evil
448:9 in itself. When needed tell the truth concerning the lie.
Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down
from the pinnacle.
Truth's grand results
448:12 Christian Science rises above the evidence of the cor-
poreal senses; but if you have not risen above sin your-
self, do not congratulate yourself upon your
448:15 blindness to evil or upon the good you know
and /do/ not. A dishonest position is far from Christianly
scientific. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
448:18 but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy." Try to leave on every student's mind the strong
impress of divine Science, a high sense of the moral and
448:21 spiritual qualifications requisite for healing, well knowing
it to be impossible for error, evil, and hate to accomplish
the grand results of Truth and Love. The reception or
448:24 pursuit of instructions opposite to absolute Christian
Science must always hinder scientific demonstration.
Adherence to righteousness
If the student adheres strictly to the teachings of Chris-
448:27 tian Science and ventures not to break its rules, he can-
not fail of success in healing. It is Christian
Science to do right, and nothing short of right-
448:30 doing has any claim to the name. To talk the right and
live the wrong is foolish deceit, doing one's self the most
harm. Fettered by sin yourself, it is difficult to free
449:1 another from the fetters of disease. With your own wrists
manacled, it is hard to break another's chains. A little
449:3 leaven causes the whole mass to ferment. A grain of
Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnip-
otent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be
449:6 gained in order to continue in well doing.
Right adjusts the balance
The wrong done another reacts most heavily against
one's self. Right adjusts the balance sooner or later.
449:9 Think it "easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle," than for you to benefit
yourself by injuring others. Man's moral mercury, ris-
449:12 ing or falling, registers his healing ability and fitness to
teach. You should practise well what you know, and
you will then advance in proportion to your honesty
449:15 and fidelity, - qualities which insure success in this
Science; but it requires a higher understanding to teach
this subject properly and correctly than it does to heal
449:18 the most difficult case.
Inoculation of thought
The baneful effect of evil associates is less seen than
felt. The inoculation of evil human thoughts ought to
449:21 be understood and guarded against. The
first impression, made on a mind which is
attracted or repelled according to personal merit or de-
449:24 merit, is a good detective of individual character. Cer-
tain minds meet only to separate through simultaneous
repulsion. They are enemies without the preliminary
449:27 offence. The impure are at peace with the impure.
Only virtue is a rebuke to vice. A proper teacher of Chris-
tian Science improves the health and the morals of his
449:30 student if the student practises what he is taught, and
unless this result follows, the teacher is a Scientist only
in name.
Three classes of neophytes
450:1 There is a large class of thinkers whose bigotry and
conceit twist every fact to suit themselves. Their creed
450:3 teaches belief in a mysterious, supernatural
God, and in a natural, all-powerful devil. An-
other class, still more unfortunate, are so depraved that
450:6 they appear to be innocent. They utter a falsehood,
while looking you blandly in the face, and they never
fail to stab their benefactor in the back. A third class
450:9 of thinkers build with solid masonry. They are sincere,
generous, noble, and are therefore open to the approach
and recognition of Truth. To teach Christian Science
450:12 to such as these is no task. They do not incline long-
ingly to error, whine over the demands of Truth, nor
play the traitor for place and power.
Touchstone of Science
450:15 Some people yield slowly to the touch of Truth. Few
yield without a struggle, and many are reluctant to ac-
knowledge that they have yielded; but un-
450:18 less this admission is made, evil will boast
itself above good. The Christian Scientist has enlisted
to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome
450:21 them by understanding their nothingness and the allness
of God, or good. Sickness to him is no less a temptation
than is sin, and he heals them both by understanding
450:24 God's power over them. The Christian Scientist knows
that they are errors of belief, which Truth can and will
destroy.
False claims annihilated
450:27 Who, that has felt the perilous beliefs in life, substance,
and intelligence separated from God, can say that there
is no error of belief? Knowing the claim of
450:30 animal magnetism, that all evil combines in
the belief of life, substance, and intelligence in matter,
electricity, animal nature, and organic life, who will deny
451:1 that these are the errors which Truth must and will an-
nihilate? Christian Scientists must live under the con-
451:3 stant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from
the material world and be separate. They must re-
nounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power.
451:6 Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow,
must be their queen of life.
Treasure in heaven
Students of Christian Science, who start with its letter
451:9 and think to succeed without the spirit, will either make
shipwreck of their faith or be turned sadly
awry. They must not only seek, but strive,
451:12 to enter the narrow path of Life, for "wide is the gate,
and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat." Man walks in the
451:15 direction towards which he looks, and where his treasure
is, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affec-
tions are spiritual, they come from above, not from be-
451:18 neath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.
Obligations of teachers
Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacher
of the Science of Mind-healing, knows that human will
451:21 is not Christian Science, and he must recog-
nize this in order to defend himself from the
influence of human will. He feels morally obligated to
451:24 open the eyes of his students that they may perceive the
nature and methods of error of every sort, especially any
subtle degree of evil, deceived and deceiving. All mental
451:27 malpractice arises from ignorance or malice aforethought.
It is the injurious action of one mortal mind controlling
another from wrong motives, and it is practised either
451:30 with a mistaken or a wicked purpose.
Indispensable defence
Show your student that mental malpractice tends to
blast moral sense, health, and the human life. Instruct
452:1 him how to bar the door of his thought against this
seeming power, - a task not difficult, when one under-
452:3 stands that evil has in reality no power.
Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error.
The wrong thought should be arrested before it has a
452:6 chance to manifest itself.
Egotistic darkness
Walking in the light, we are accustomed to the light
and require it; we cannot see in darkness. But eyes ac-
452:9 customed to darkness are pained by the light.
When outgrowing the old, you should not fear
to put on the new. Your advancing course may pro-
452:12 voke envy, but it will also attract respect. When error
confronts you, withhold not the rebuke or the explana-
tion which destroys error. Never breathe an immoral
452:15 atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it. Better is
the frugal intellectual repast with contentment and virtue,
than the luxury of learning with egotism and vice.
Unwarranted expectations
452:18 Right is radical. The teacher must know the truth
himself. He must live it and love it, or he cannot impart
it to others. We soil our garments with con-
452:21 servatism, and afterwards we must wash them
clean. When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds its
harmonies, you take no risks in the policy of error. Ex-
452:24 pect to heal simply by repeating the author's words, by
right talking and wrong acting, and you will be disap-
pointed. Such a practice does not demonstrate the
452:27 Science by which divine Mind heals the sick.
Reliable authority
Acting from sinful motives destroys your power of
healing from the right motive. On the other hand, if
452:30 you had the inclination or power to practise
wrongly and then should adopt Christian
Science, the wrong power would be destroyed. You do
453:1 not deny the mathematician's right to distinguish the cor-
rect from the incorrect among the examples on the black-
453:3 board, nor disbelieve the musician when he distinguishes
concord from discord. In like manner it should be granted
that the author understands what she is saying.
Winning the field
453:6 Right and wrong, truth and error, will be at strife in
the minds of students, until victory rests on the side of
invincible truth. Mental chemicalization fol-
453:9 lows the explanation of Truth, and a higher
basis is thus won; but with some individuals the morbid
moral or physical symptoms constantly reappear. I
453:12 have never witnessed so decided effects from the use of
material remedies as from the use of spiritual.
Knowledge and honesty
Teach your student that he must know himself be-
453:15 fore he can know others and minister to human needs.
Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is
human weakness, which forfeits divine help.
453:18 You uncover sin, not in order to injure, but in order
to bless the corporeal man; and a right motive has
its reward. Hidden sin is spiritual wickedness in high
453:21 places. The masquerader in this Science thanks God
that there is no evil, yet serves evil in the name of
good.
Metaphysical treatment
453:24 You should treat sickness mentally just as you would
sin, except that you must not tell the patient that he is
sick nor give names to diseases, for such a
453:27 course increases fear, the foundation of dis-
ease, and impresses more deeply the wrong mind-picture.
A Christian Scientist's medicine is Mind, the divine Truth
453:30 that makes man free. A Christian Scientist never recom-
mends material hygiene, never manipulates. He does
not trespass on the rights of mind nor can he practise
454:1 animal magnetism or hypnotism. It need not be added
that the use of tobacco or intoxicating drinks is not in
454:3 harmony with Christian Science.
Impotence of hate
Teach your students the omnipotence of Truth, which
illustrates the impotence of error. The understanding,
454:6 even in a degree, of the divine All-power de-
stroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path,
- the path which leads to the house built without hands
454:9 "eternal in the heavens." Human hate has no legiti-
mate mandate and no kingdom. Love is enthroned.
That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power,
454:12 is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is
the great truth which strips all disguise from error.
Love the incentive
He, who understands in sufficient degree the Princi-
454:15 ple of Mind-healing, points out to his student error as
well as truth, the wrong as well as the right
practice. Love for God and man is the true
454:18 incentive in both healing and teaching. Love inspires,
illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives
give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to
454:21 speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of
Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the
waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.
454:24 Patience must "have her perfect work."
Continuity of interest
Do not dismiss students at the close of a class term,
feeling that you have no more to do for them. Let your
454:27 loving care and counsel support all their feeble
footsteps, until your students tread firmly in
the straight and narrow way. The superiority of spir-
454:30 itual power over sensuous is the central point of Chris-
tian Science. Remember that the letter and mental
argument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing
455:1 thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love,
which heals the sick and the sinner.
Weakness and guilt
455:3 A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a
faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable
conditions for healing the sick. Such mental
455:6 states indicate weakness instead of strength.
Hence the necessity of being right yourself in order to
teach this Science of healing. You must utilize the moral
455:9 might of Mind in order to walk over the waves of error
and support your claims by demonstration. If you are
yourself lost in the belief and fear of disease or sin, and
455:12 if, knowing the remedy, you fail to use the energies of
Mind in your own behalf, you can exercise little or no
power for others' help. "First cast out the beam out
455:15 of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
The trust of the All-wise
The student, who receives his knowledge of Christian
455:18 Science, or metaphysical healing, from a human teacher,
may be mistaken in judgment and demonstra-
tion, but God cannot mistake. God selects
455:21 for the highest service one who has grown into such a
fitness for it as renders any abuse of the mission an im-
possibility. The All-wise does not bestow His highest
455:24 trusts upon the unworthy. When He commissions a mes-
senger, it is one who is spiritually near Himself. No per-
son can misuse this mental power, if he is taught of God
455:27 to discern it.
Integrity assured
This strong point in Christian Science is not to be
overlooked, - that the same fountain cannot send forth
455:30 both sweet waters and bitter. The higher
your attainment in the Science of mental
healing and teaching, the more impossible it will be-
456:1 come for you intentionally to influence mankind adverse
to its highest hope and achievement.
Chicanery impossible
456:3 Teaching or practising in the name of Truth, but con-
trary to its spirit or rules, is most dangerous quackery.
Strict adherence to the divine Principle and
456:6 rules of the scientific method has secured
the only success of the students of Christian Science.
This alone entitles them to the high standing which
456:9 most of them hold in the community, a reputation ex-
perimentally justified by their efforts. Whoever af-
firms that there is more than one Principle and method
456:12 of demonstrating Christian Science greatly errs, igno-
rantly or intentionally, and separates himself from the
true conception of Christian Science healing and from
456:15 its possible demonstration.
No dishonest concessions
Any dishonesty in your theory and practice betrays a
gross ignorance of the method of the Christ-cure. Science
456:18 makes no concessions to persons or opinions.
One must abide in the /morale/ of truth or he
cannot demonstrate the divine Principle. So long as
456:21 matter is the basis of practice, illness cannot be effica-
ciously treated by the metaphysical process. Truth does
the work, and you must both understand and abide by the
456:24 divine Principle of your demonstration.
This volume indispensable
A Christian Scientist requires my work SCIENCE AND
HEALTH for his textbook, and so do all his students and
456:27 patients. Why? /First/: Because it is the voice
of Truth to this age, and contains the full
statement of Christian Science, or the Science of healing
456:30 through Mind. /Second/: Because it was the first book
known, containing a thorough statement of Christian
Science. Hence it gave the first rules for demonstrating
457:1 this Science, and registered the revealed Truth uncon-
taminated by human hypotheses. Other works, which
457:3 have borrowed from this book without giving it credit,
have adulterated the Science. /Third/: Because this book
has done more for teacher and student, for healer and
457:6 patient, than has been accomplished by other books.
Purity of science
Since the divine light of Christian Science first dawned
upon the author, she has never used this newly discovered
457:9 power in any direction which she fears to have
fairly understood. Her prime object, since
entering this field of labor, has been to prevent suffering,
457:12 not to produce it. That we cannot scientifically both
cure and cause disease is self-evident. In the legend of
the shield, which led to a quarrel between two knights
457:15 because each of them could see but one face of it, both
sides were beautiful according to their degree; but to
mental malpractice, prolific of evil, there is no good as-
457:18 pect, either silvern or golden.
Backsliders and mistakes
Christian Science is not an exception to the general
rule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct
457:21 line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at the
same time hit the mark. To pursue other
vocations and advance rapidly in the demonstration of
457:24 this Science, is not possible. Departing from Christian
Science, some learners commend diet and hygiene.
They even practise these, intending thereby to initiate
457:27 the cure which they mean to complete with Mind, as if
the non-intelligent could aid Mind! The Scientist's
demonstration rests on one Principle, and there must
457:30 and can be no opposite rule. Let this Principle be ap-
plied to the cure of disease without exploiting other
means.
Mental charlatanism
458:1 Mental quackery rests on the same platform as all
other quackery. The chief plank in this platform is the
458:3 doctrine that Science has two principles in
partnership, one good and the other evil, -
one spiritual, the other material, - and that these two
458:6 may be simultaneously at work on the sick. This
theory is supposed to favor practice from both a mental
and a material standpoint. Another plank in the plat-
458:9 form is this, that error will finally have the same effect
as truth.
Divinity ever ready
It is anything but scientifically Christian to think of
458:12 aiding the divine Principle of healing or of trying to sus-
tain the human body until the divine Mind
is ready to take the case. Divinity is always
458:15 ready. /Semper paratus/ is Truth's motto. Having seen
so much suffering from quackery, the author desires to
keep it out of Christian Science. The two-edged sword
458:18 of Truth must turn in every direction to guard "the tree
of life."
The panoply of wisdom
Sin makes deadly thrusts at the Christian Scientist as
458:21 ritualism and creed are summoned to give place to higher
law, but Science will ameliorate mortal malice.
The Christianly scientific man reflects the
458:24 divine law, thus becoming a law unto himself. He does
violence to no man. Neither is he a false accuser. The
Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is hon-
458:27 est and consistent in following the leadings of divine
Mind. He must prove, through living as well as heal-
ing and teaching, that Christ's way is the only one
458:30 by which mortals are radically saved from sin and
sickness.
Advancement by sacrifice
Christianity causes men to turn naturally from matter
459:1 to Spirit, as the flower turns from darkness to light.
Man then appropriates those things which "eye hath
459:3 not seen nor ear heard." Paul and John
had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man
achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice,
459:6 so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldli-
ness. Then he will have nothing in common with the
worldling's affections, motives, and aims. Judge not the
459:9 future advancement of Christian Science by the steps
already taken, lest you yourself be condemned for fail-
ing to take the first step.
Dangerous knowledge
459:12 Any attempt to heal mortals with erring mortal mind,
instead of resting on the omnipotence of the divine
Mind, must prove abortive. Committing the
459:15 bare process of mental healing to frail mor-
tals, untaught and unrestrained by Christian Science,
is like putting a sharp knife into the hands of a blind
459:18 man or a raging maniac, and turning him loose in
the crowded streets of a city. Whether animated by
malice or ignorance, a false practitioner will work mis-
459:21 chief, and ignorance is more harmful than wilful wicked-
ness, when the latter is distrusted and thwarted in its
incipiency.
Certainty of results
459:24 To mortal sense Christian Science seems abstract, but
the process is simple and the results are sure if the Science
is understood. The tree must be good, which
459:27 produces good fruit. Guided by divine Truth
and not guesswork, the /theologus/ (that is, the student -
the Christian and scientific expounder - of the divine
459:30 law) treats disease with more certain results than any
other healer on the globe. The Christian Scientist should
understand and adhere strictly to the rules of divine meta-
460:1 physics as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstra-
tion on this sure basis.
Ontology defined
460:3 Ontology is defined as "the science of the necessary
constituents and relations of all beings," and it under-
lies all metaphysical practice. Our system of
460:6 Mind-healing rests on the apprehension of the
nature and essence of all being, - on the divine Mind
and Love's essential qualities. Its pharmacy is moral,
460:9 and its medicine is intellectual and spiritual, though used
for physical healing. Yet this most fundamental part of
metaphysics is the one most difficult to understand and
460:12 demonstrate, for to the material thought all is material,
till such thought is rectified by Spirit.
Mischievous imagination
Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal, - that is,
460:15 to the frightened, false sense of the patient. Sickness
is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. It
is therefore to be dealt with through right ap-
460:18 prehension of the truth of being. If Christian healing
is abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes a
tedious mischief-maker. Instead of scientifically effect-
460:21 ing a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every cripple
and invalid, buffeting them with the superficial and cold
assertion, "Nothing ails you."
Author's early instructions
460:24 When the Science of Mind was a fresh revelation to
the author, she had to impart, while teaching its grand
facts, the hue of spiritual ideas from her own
460:27 spiritual condition, and she had to do this orally
through the meagre channel afforded by language and by
her manuscript circulated among the students. As for-
460:30 mer beliefs were gradually expelled from her thought, the
teaching became clearer, until finally the shadow of old
errors was no longer cast upon divine Science.
Proof by induction
I do not maintain that anyone can exist in the flesh
without food and raiment; but I do believe that the
461:3 real man is immortal and that he lives in
Spirit, not matter. Christian Science must
be accepted at this period by induction. We admit the
461:6 whole, because a part is proved and that part illustrates
and proves the entire Principle. Christian Science can
be taught only by those who are morally advanced and
461:9 spiritually endowed, for it is not superficial, nor is it
discerned from the standpoint of the human senses.
Only by the illumination of the spiritual sense, can
461:12 the light of understanding be thrown upon this Science,
because Science reverses the evidence before the material
senses and furnishes the eternal interpretation of God and
461:15 man.
If you believe that you are sick, should you say, " I am
sick"? No, but you should tell your belief sometimes,
461:18 if this be requisite to protect others. If you commit a
crime, should you acknowledge to yourself that you are
a criminal? Yes. Your responses should differ because
461:21 of the different effects they produce. Usually to admit
that you are sick, renders your case less curable, while
to recognize your sin, aids in destroying it. Both sin and
461:24 sickness are error, and Truth is their remedy. The truth
regarding error is, that error is not true, hence it is unreal.
To prove scientifically the error or unreality of sin, you
461:27 must first see the claim of sin, and then destroy it.
Whereas, to prove scientifically the error or unreality of
disease, you must mentally unsee the disease; then you
461:30 will not feel it, and it is destroyed.
Rapidity of assimilation
Systematic teaching and the student's spiritual growth
and experience in practice are requisite for a thorough
462:1 comprehension of Christian Science. Some individu-
als assimilate truth more readily than others, but any
462:3 student, who adheres to the divine rules
of Christian Science and imbibes the spirit
of Christ, can demonstrate Christian Science, cast out
462:6 error, heal the sick, and add continually to his store of
spiritual understanding, potency, enlightenment, and
success.
Divided loyalty
462:9 If the student goes away to practise Truth's teach-
ings only in part, dividing his interests between God and
mammon and substituting his own views for
462:12 Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows.
Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian
Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every state-
462:15 ment, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There
is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way
is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and
462:18 persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every
department of life.
Anatomy defined
Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-
462:21 knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to
discover their quality, quantity, and origin.
Are thoughts divine or human? That is the
462:24 important question. This branch of study is indispen-
sable to the excision of error. The anatomy of Christian
Science teaches when and how to probe the self-in-
462:27 flicted wounds of selfishness, malice, envy, and hate. It
teaches the control of mad ambition. It unfolds the
hallowed influences of unselfishness, philanthropy, spir-
462:30 itual love. It urges the government of the body both
in health and in sickness. The Christian Scientist,
through understanding mental anatomy, discerns and
463:1 deals with the real cause of disease. The material physi-
cian gropes among phenomena, which fluctuate every in-
463:3 stant under influences not embraced in his diagnosis, and
so he may stumble and fall in the darkness.
Scientific obstetrics
Teacher and student should also be familiar with the
463:6 obstetrics taught by this Science. To attend properly
the birth of the new child, or divine idea,
you should so detach mortal thought from its
463:9 material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and
safe. Though gathering new energy, this idea cannot
injure its useful surroundings in the travail of spiritual
463:12 birth. A spiritual idea has not a single element of error,
and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.
The new idea, conceived and born of Truth and Love, is
463:15 clad in white garments. Its beginning will be meek, its
growth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying. When
this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant
463:18 is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause the
mother no more suffering. By this we know that Truth
is here and has fulfilled its perfect work.
Unhesitating decision
463:21 To decide quickly as to the proper treatment of error -
whether error is manifested in forms of sickness, sin,
or death - is the first step towards destroy-
463:24 ing error. Our Master treated error through
Mind. He never enjoined obedience to the laws of nature,
if by these are meant laws of matter, nor did he use drugs.
463:27 There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is a
spiritual law instead of material. The sick are not healed
by inanimate matter or drugs, as they believe that they
463:30 are. Such seeming medical effect or action is that of so-
called mortal mind.
Seclusion of the author
It has been said to the author, "The world is bene-
464:1 fited by you, but it feels your influence without seeing
you. Why do you not make yourself more widely
464:3 known?" Could her friends know how little
time the author has had, in which to make
herself outwardly known except through her laborious
464:6 publications, - and how much time and toil are still re-
quired to establish the stately operations of Christian
Science, - they would understand why she is so secluded.
464:9 Others could not take her place, even if willing so to do.
She therefore remains unseen at her post, seeking no self-
aggrandizement but praying, watching, and working for
464:12 the redemption of mankind.
If from an injury or from any cause, a Christian Scien-
tist were seized with pain so violent that he could not
464:15 treat himself mentally, - and the Scientists had failed
to relieve him, - the sufferer could call a surgeon, who
would give him a hypodermic injection, then, when the
464:18 belief of pain was lulled, he could handle his own case
mentally. Thus it is that we "prove all things; [and]
hold fast that which is good."
The right motive and its reward
464:21 In founding a pathological system of Christianity, the
author has labored to expound divine Principle, and not
to exalt personality. The weapons of bigotry,
464:24 ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.
Adulterating Christian Science, makes it void.
Falsity has no foundation. "The hireling fleeth, because
464:27 he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." Neither
dishonesty nor ignorance ever founded, nor can they over-
throw a scientific system of ethics.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. - ISAIAH.
465:1 THIS chapter is from the first edition of the author's
class-book, copyrighted in 1870. After much labor
465:3 and increased spiritual understanding, she revised that
treatise for this volume in 1875. Absolute Christian
Science pervades its statements, to elucidate scientific
465:6 metaphysics.
/Question/. - What is God?
465:9 /Answer/. - God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite
Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
/Question/. - Are these terms synonymous?
465:12 /Answer/. - They are. They refer to one absolute God.
They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and
wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice,
465:15 mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.
/Question/. - Is there more than one God or Principle?
/Answer/. - There is not. Principle and its idea is one,
465:18 and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-
466:1 present Being, and His reflection is man and the universe.
/Omni/ is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying /all/.
466:3 Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science
or true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifesta-
tions of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter,
466:6 and have one Principle.
Real /versus/ unreal
/Question/. - What are spirits and souls?
/Answer/. - To human belief, they are personalities
466:9 constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth and
error, good and evil; but these contrasting
pairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-
466:12 tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together nor
assimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truth
is limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error
466:15 is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is
unreal. This last statement contains the point you will
most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the
466:18 most important to understand.
Mankind redeemed
The term /souls/ or /spirits/ is as improper as the term
/gods/. Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else.
466:21 There is no finite soul nor spirit. Soul or
Spirit means only one Mind, and cannot be
rendered in the plural. Heathen mythology and Jewish
466:24 theology have perpetuated the fallacy that intelligence,
soul, and life can be in matter; and idolatry and ritualism
are the outcome of all man-made beliefs. The Science
466:27 of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate the
chaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright,
and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and
466:30 its divine Principle, making mankind better physically,
morally, and spiritually.
Two chief commands
467:1 /Question/. - What are the demands of the Science of
Soul?
467:3 /Answer/. - The first demand of this Science is, " Thou
shalt have no other gods before me." This /me/ is Spirit.
Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt
467:6 have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no
truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second
is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
467:9 It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one
Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love.
Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact
467:12 becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brother-
hood of man will be established. Having no other gods,
turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide
467:15 him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, hav-
ing that Mind which was also in Christ.
Soul not confined in body
Science reveals Spirit, Soul, as not in the body, and
467:18 God as not in man but as reflected by man. The greater
cannot be in the lesser. The belief that the
greater can be in the lesser is an error that
467:21 works ill. This is a leading point in the Science of Soul,
that Principle is not in its idea. Spirit, Soul, is not
confined in man, and is never in matter. We reason im-
467:24 perfectly from effect to cause, when we conclude that
matter is the effect of Spirit; but /a priori/ reasoning
shows material existence to be enigmatical. Spirit gives
467:27 the true mental idea. We cannot interpret Spirit, Mind,
through matter. Matter neither sees, hears, nor feels.
Sinlessness of Mind, Soul
Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind,
467:30 we begin with Mind, which must be under-
stood through the idea which expresses it and
cannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we
468:1 arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own
unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human
468:3 illusions. If Soul sinned, it would be mortal, for sin is
mortality's self, because it kills itself. If Truth is im-
mortal, error must be mortal, because error is unlike
468:6 Truth. Because Soul is immortal, Soul cannot sin, for
sin is not the eternal verity of being.
/Question/. - What is the scientific statement of being?
468:9 /Answer/. - There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub-
stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
468:12 Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore
468:15 man is not material; he is spiritual.
Spiritual synonyms
/Question/. - What is substance?
/Answer/. - Substance is that which is eternal and inca-
468:18 pable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are
substance, as the Scriptures use this word in
Hebrews: "The substance of things hoped
468:21 for, the evidence of things not seen." Spirit, the synonym
of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The
spiritual universe, including individual man, is a com-
468:24 pound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit.
Eternity of Life
/Question/. - What is Life?
/Answer/. - Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit.
468:27 Life is without beginning and without end.
Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of
Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in
468:30 proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite;
469:1 eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of mat-
ter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which
469:3 includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Mat-
ter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not
limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If
469:6 Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.
/Question/. - What is intelligence?
/Answer/. - Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence,
469:9 and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality
of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, - Life, Truth,
and Love, - named God.
True sense of infinitude
469:12 /Question/. - What is Mind?
/Answer/. - Mind is God. The exterminator of error
is the great truth that God, good, is the /only/ Mind, and
469:15 that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind
- called /devil/ or evil - is not Mind, is not
Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There
469:18 can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and
if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other,
sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if
469:21 that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude,
when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a
place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all
469:24 space is filled with God.
The sole governor
We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when
after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and
469:27 has all-power, we still believe there is another
power, named /evil/. This belief that there
is more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology
469:30 as are ancient mythology and pagan idolatry. With
470:1 one Father, even God, the whole family of man would
be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good,
470:3 the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth,
and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which
constitute divine Science. The supposed existence of
470:6 more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This
error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the
spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an
470:9 unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and
universal.
The divine standard of perfection
Divine Science explains the abstract statement that
470:12 there is one Mind by the following self-evident propo-
sition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, the
unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can
470:15 only seem to be real by giving reality to the
unreal. The children of God have but one Mind. How
can good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man,
470:18 never sins? The standard of perfection was originally
God and man. Has God taken down His own standard,
and has man fallen?
Indestructible relationship
470:21 God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle
of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection,
man, remains perfect. Man is the expression
470:24 of God's being. If there ever was a moment
when man did not express the divine perfec-
tion, then there was a moment when man did not express
470:27 God, and consequently a time when Deity was unex-
pressed - that is, without entity. If man has lost per-
fection, then he has lost his perfect Principle, the divine
470:30 Mind. If man ever existed without this perfect Principle
or Mind, then man's existence was a myth.
The relations of God and man, divine Principle and
471:1 idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows
no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine
471:3 order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He cre-
ates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged
in its eternal history.
Celestial evidence
471:6 The unlikeness of Truth, - named /error/, - the op-
posite of Science, and the evidence before the five cor-
poreal senses, afford no indication of the grand
471:9 facts of being; even as these so-called senses
receive no intimation of the earth's motions or of the
science of astronomy, but yield assent to astronomical
471:12 propositions on the authority of natural science.
The facts of divine Science should be admitted, -
although the evidence as to these facts is not supported
471:15 by evil, by matter, or by material sense, - because the
evidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained by
spiritual sense. Man is, and forever has been, God's re-
471:18 flection. God is infinite, therefore ever present, and
there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirit-
uality of the universe is the only fact of creation. "Let
471:21 God be true, but every [material] man a liar."
The test of experience
/Question/. - Are doctrines and creeds a benefit to man?
/Answer/. - The author subscribed to an orthodox
471:24 creed in early youth, and tried to adhere to it until she
caught the first gleam of that which inter-
prets God as above mortal sense. This
471:27 view rebuked human beliefs, and gave the spiritual im-
port, expressed through Science, of all that proceeds
from the divine Mind. Since then her highest creed has
471:30 been divine Science, which, reduced to human apprehen-
sion, she has named Christian Science. This Science
472:1 teaches man that God is the only Life, and that this Life
is Truth and Love; that God is to be understood, adored,
472:3 and demonstrated; that divine Truth casts out supposi-
tional error and heals the sick.
God's law destroys evil
The way which leads to Christian Science is straight
472:6 and narrow. God has set His signet upon Science, mak-
ing it coordinate with all that is real and only
with that which is harmonious and eternal.
472:9 Sickness, sin, and death, being inharmonious, do not
originate in God nor belong to His government. His
law, rightly understood, destroys them. Jesus furnished
472:12 proofs of these statements.
Evanescent materiality
/Question/. - What is error?
/Answer/. - Error is a supposition that pleasure and
472:15 pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in mat-
ter. Error is neither Mind nor one of Mind's
faculties. Error is the contradiction of Truth.
472:18 Error is a belief without understanding. Error is unreal
because untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not.
If error were true, its truth would be error, and we should
472:21 have a self-evident absurdity - namely, /erroneous truth/.
Thus we should continue to lose the standard of Truth.
Unrealities that seem real
/Question/. - Is there no sin?
472:24 /Answer/. - All reality is in God and His creation, har-
monious and eternal. That which He creates is good,
and He makes all that is made. Therefore
472:27 the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is
the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring
belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not
472:30 true, because they are not of God. We learn in Christian
473:1 Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illu-
sion, possessing neither reality nor identity though seeming
473:3 to be real and identical.
Christ the ideal Truth
The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God,
is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are
473:6 to be classified as effects of error. Christ
came to destroy the belief of sin. The God-
principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is every-
473:9 where, and nothing apart from Him is present or has
power. Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal
sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes
473:12 all power to God. Jesus is the name of the man who,
more than all other men, has presented Christ, the true
idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroy-
473:15 ing the power of death. Jesus is the human man, and
Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus the
Christ.
Jesus not God
473:18 In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced
the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the
proof of Christianity's truth and love; but to
473:21 reach his example and to test its unerring Sci-
ence according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and
death, a better understanding of God as divine Prin-
473:24 ciple, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is
required.
Jesus not understood
Jesus established what he said by demonstration,
473:27 thus making his acts of higher importance than his
words. He proved what he taught. This
is the Science of Christianity. Jesus /proved/
473:30 the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error,
to be divine. Few, however, except his students un-
derstood in the least his teachings and their glorious
474:1 proofs, - namely, that Life, Truth, and Love (the Prin-
ciple of this unacknowledged Science) destroy all error,
474:3 evil, disease, and death.
Miracles rejected
The reception accorded to Truth in the early Chris-
tian era is repeated to-day. Whoever introduces the
474:6 Science of Christianity will be scoffed at and
scourged with worse cords than those which
cut the flesh. To the ignorant age in which it first
474:9 appears, Science seems to be a mistake, - hence the
misinterpretation and consequent maltreatment which
it receives. Christian marvels (and /marvel/ is the sim-
474:12 ple meaning of the Greek word rendered /miracle/ in the
New Testament) will be misunderstood and misused
by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is
474:15 gained.
Divine fulfilment
If sin, sickness, and death are as real as Life, Truth,
and Love, then they must all be from the same source;
474:18 God must be their author. Now Jesus came
to destroy sin, sickness, and death yet the
Scriptures aver, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
474:21 Is it possible, then, to believe that the evils which Jesus
lived to destroy are real or the offspring of the divine
will?
Truth destroys falsity
474:24 Despite the hallowing influence of Truth in the de-
struction of error, must error still be immortal? Truth
spares all that is true. If evil is real, Truth
474:27 must make it so; but error, not Truth, is
the author of the unreal, and the unreal vanishes,
while all that is real is eternal. The apostle says that
474:30 the mission of Christ is to "destroy the works of the
devil." Truth destroys falsity and error, for light and
darkness cannot dwell together. Light extinguishes the
475:1 darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is "no
night there." To Truth there is no error, - all is Truth.
475:3 To infinite Spirit there is no matter, - all is Spirit, divine
Principle and its idea.
Fleshly factors unreal
/Question/. - What is man?
475:6 /Answer/. - Man is not matter; he is not made up of
brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The
Scriptures inform us that man is made in
475:9 the image and likeness of God. Matter is
not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so
unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect; and be-
475:12 cause he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so under-
stood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of
Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of
475:15 God, including all right ideas; the generic term for
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which man is
475:18 the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;
that which has no separate mind from God; that which
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which
475:21 possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.
And God said: "Let us make man in our image, after
475:24 our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
475:27 creepeth upon the earth."
Man unfallen
Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The
real man cannot depart from holiness, nor
475:30 can God, by whom man is evolved, engender
the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not
476:1 God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,
476:3 which declares that man begins in dust or as a material
embryo. In divine Science, God and the real man are
inseparable as divine Principle and idea.
Mortals are not immortals
476:6 Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life
and intelligence are in matter, and that
476:9 this matter is man. God is the Principle of
man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not
mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and im-
476:12 mortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only
and eternal verities of man. Mortals are not fallen chil-
dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,
476:15 which may subsequently be regained. They were, from
the beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed
476:18 up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-
appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal
man.
Imperishable identity
476:21 Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual
status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal
476:24 man: "As for man, his days are as grass: as
a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall
476:27 know it no more."
The kingdom within
When speaking of God's children, not the children of
men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"
476:30 that is, Truth and Love reign in the real
man, showing that man in God's image is
unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the per-
477:1 fect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal
man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour
477:3 saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man
healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom
of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
477:6 Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself
spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect
nor material.
Material body never God's idea
477:9 Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal
senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but
Christian Science reveals man as the idea of
477:12 God, and declares the corporeal senses to be
mortal and erring illusions. Divine Science
shows it to be impossible that a material body, though
477:15 interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed
mind, should be man, - the genuine and perfect man,
the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
477:18 Were it otherwise, man would be annihilated.
Reflection of Spirit
/Question/. - What are body and Soul?
/Answer/. - Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the re-
477:21 flection in multifarious forms of the living Principle,
Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelli-
gence of man, which is individualized, but not
477:24 in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to
Spirit.
Man inseparable from Spirit
Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught
477:27 some glimpses of the underlying reality, when
they called a certain beautiful lake "the smile
of the Great Spirit." Separated from man,
477:30 who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man,
divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity. But there is,
478:1 there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with
God.
A vacant domicile
478:3 What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you
within mortality? Even according to the teachings of
natural science, man has never beheld Spirit
478:6 or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What
basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except
the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of
478:9 the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer-
tain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seen
to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they
478:12 even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul
in the body?
Harmonious functions
/Question/. - Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and
478:15 is there intelligence in matter?
/Answer/. - No, not if God is true and mortal man a
liar. The assertion that there can be pain or pleasure
478:18 in matter is erroneous. That body is most
harmonious in which the discharge of the nat-
ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence
478:21 dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and
brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the
functions of Mind. Error says, "I am man;" but this
478:24 belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning
to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-
man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which
478:27 reflects God. St. Paul said, "But when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Immortal birthright
478:30 /Mortal man/ is really a self-contradictory phrase, for
man is not mortal, "neither indeed can be;" man is im-
479:1 mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-
479:3 ual origin. With what truth, then, could the
Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,
"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-
479:6 trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and
material; it must be immortal and spiritual.
Matter's supposed selfhood
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
479:9 An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is
all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,
feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-
479:12 cognizant, - cannot feel itself, see itself, nor
understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,
which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter
479:15 can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we
call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical
senses?
Chaos and darkness
479:18 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep."
479:21 (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the
Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit
and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos
479:24 are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,
and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of
nothingness.
Spiritual reflection
479:27 We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,
because it has none of the divine hues. Paul
479:30 says: "For the invisible things of Him, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)
480:1 When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
480:3 the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
480:6 there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
480:9 tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, - is in God, the origin and gov-
480:12 ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
480:15 Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
480:18 attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
480:21 site of good - that is, evil - which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
480:24 false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
480:27 [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness,
480:30 death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
481:1 other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
481:3 else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
481:6 free "to enter into the holiest," - the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
481:9 prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
481:12 mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
481:15 and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," - this growth of
481:18 material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
481:21 then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.
Sense and pure Soul
481:24 If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is
supported, God must uphold it, and this is
481:27 impossible, since Truth cannot support error.
Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, -
hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that
481:30 it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be
found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a
sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-
482:1 tion of the word /sense/ for /soul/ gives the exact meaning in
a majority of cases.
Soul defined
482:3 Human thought has adulterated the meaning of the
word /soul/ through the hypothesis that soul is both an evil
and a good intelligence, resident in matter.
482:6 The proper use of the word /soul/ can always
be gained by substituting the word /God/, where the deific
meaning is required. In other cases, use the word /sense/,
482:9 and you will have the scientific signification. As used
in Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym of
Spirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with
482:12 sense, with material sensation.
Sonship of Jesus
/Question/. - Is it important to understand these ex-
planations in order to heal the sick?
482:15 /Answer/. - It is, since Christ is "the way" and the
truth casting out all error. Jesus called himself " the
Son of man," but not the son of Joseph. As
482:18 woman is but a species of the genera, he was
literally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest human
concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from
482:21 Christ, the Messiah, - the divine idea of God outside
the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-
trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of
482:24 old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through
faith, to the hungering heart in every age.
Sickness erroneous
Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out.
482:27 Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law
of Truth, which heals the sick, on the basis
of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no
482:30 other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not
a healer, but causes the belief in disease.
True healing transcendent
483:1 Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and
animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they
483:3 do not heal, but only relieve suffering tempo-
rarily, exchanging one disease for another.
We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or
483:6 Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human.
Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately su-
persede all other means in healing. In order to heal by
483:9 Science, you must not be ignorant of the moral and spir-
itual demands of Science nor disobey them. Moral igno-
rance or sin affects your demonstration, and hinders its
483:12 approach to the standard in Christian Science.
Terms adopted by the author
After the author's sacred discovery, she affixed the
name "Science" to Christianity, the name "error" to
483:15 corporeal sense, and the name "substance" to
Mind. Science has called the world to battle
over this issue and its demonstration, which
483:18 heals the sick, destroys error, and reveals the universal
harmony. To those natural Christian Scientists, the an-
cient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed
483:21 the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter.
Science the way
Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-
honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with
483:24 material observations alone, this Science has
met with opposition; but if any system honors
God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-
483:27 ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as
no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way
of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works
483:30 through the divine name and nature. One must fulfil
one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be
well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity
484:1 will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to
be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When
484:3 this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry,
nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon
the rock, Christ.
Mindless methods
484:6 /Question/. - Does Christian Science, or metaphysical
healing, include medication, material hygiene, mesmer-
ism, hypnotism, theosophy, or spiritualism?
484:9 /Answer/. - Not one of them is included in it. In di-
vine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the
law of Mind. What are termed natural
484:12 science and material laws are the objective
states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses
the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.
484:15 Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and
hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind.
Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Cer-
484:18 tain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really
caused by the faith in them which the false human con-
sciousness is educated to feel.
Animal magnetism error
484:21 Mesmerism is mortal, material illusion. Animal mag-
netism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error
in all its forms; it is the human antipode
484:24 of divine Science. Science must triumph
over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting
an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories
484:27 and practices.
Error only ephemeral
/Question/. - Is materiality the concomitant of spirit-
uality, and is material sense a necessary preliminary to
484:30 the understanding and expression of Spirit?
485:1 /Answer/. - If error is necessary to define or to reveal
Truth, the answer is yes; but not otherwise. /Material
485:3 sense/ is an absurd phrase, for matter has no
sensation. Science declares that Mind, not
matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts
485:6 this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays
mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimpor-
tant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because
485:9 of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephem-
eral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth.
Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how
485:12 to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more
unreal?
Scientific translations
Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not
485:15 to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come
naturally into Spirit through better health and
morals and as the result of spiritual growth.
485:18 Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man im-
mortal. The belief that life can be in matter or soul in
body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg,
485:21 is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth,
destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which
man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven
485:24 is perfect." If thought yields its dominion to other '
powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful
images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents,
485:27 called disease and sin.
Material beliefs
The heathen gods of mythology controlled war and
agriculture as much as nerves control sensation or
485:30 muscles measure strength. To say that
strength is in matter, is like saying that the
power is in the lever. The notion of any life or intelli-
486:1 gence in matter is without foundation in fact, and you
can have no faith in falsehood when you have learned
486:3 falsehood's true nature.
Sense /versus/ Soul
Suppose one accident happens to the eye, another to
the ear, and so on, until every corporeal sense is quenched.
486:6 What is man's remedy? To die, that he may
regain these senses? Even then he must gain
spiritual understanding and spiritual sense in order to
486:9 possess immortal consciousness. Earth's preparatory
school must be improved to the utmost. In reality man
never dies. The belief that he dies will not establish his
486:12 scientific harmony. Death is not the result of Truth but
of error, and one error will not correct another.
Death an error
Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that his body
486:15 was the same immediately after death as before. If death
restores sight, sound, and strength to man,
then death is not an enemy but a better friend
486:18 than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes
harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet
supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long
486:21 as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mor-
tal in belief and subject to chance and change.
Permanent sensibility
Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are
486:24 eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immor-
tality are in Spirit and understanding, not in
matter, - hence their permanence. If this
486:27 were not so, man would be speedily annihilated. If the
five corporeal senses were the medium through which
to understand God, then palsy, blindness, and deafness
486:30 would place man in a terrible situation, where he would
be like those "having no hope, and without God in the
world;" but as a matter of fact, these calamities often
487:1 drive mortals to seek and to find a higher sense of happi-
ness and existence.
Exercise of Mind-faculties
487:3 Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of
man, never attainable through death, but gained by walk-
ing in the pathway of Truth both before and
487:6 after that which is called death. There is more
Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually
than materially. There is more Science in the perpetual
487:9 exercise of the Mind-faculties than in their loss. Lost
they cannot be, while Mind remains. The apprehension
of this gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf cen-
487:12 turies ago, and it will repeat the wonder.
Understanding /versus/ belief
/Question/. - You speak of belief. Who or what is it
that believes?
487:15 /Answer/. - Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the
need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind
understands. The body cannot believe. The
487:18 believer and belief are one and are mortal.
Christian evidence is founded on Science or
demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and
487:21 there is in reality no such thing as /mortal/ mind. Mere
belief is blindness without Principle from which to ex-
plain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sen-
487:24 tient and intelligent matter is erroneous.
The Apostle James said, "Show me thy faith without
thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."
487:27 The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens
our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless
reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.
Confirmation by healing
487:30 This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This
Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the
488:1 enduring and harmonious phases of things. The result
of our teachings is their sufficient confirmation. When,
488:3 on the strength of these instructions, you are
able to banish a severe malady, the cure shows
that you understand this teaching, and therefore you re-
488:6 ceive the blessing of Truth.
Belief and firm trust
The Hebrew and Greek words often translated /belief/
differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the
488:9 English verb /believe/; they have more the sig-
nificance of faith, understanding, trust, con-
stancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in
488:12 our common version to approve and endorse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.
All faculties from Mind
/Question/. - Do the five corporeal senses constitute
488:15 man?
/Answer/. - Christian Science sustains with immortal
proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines
488:18 these so-called senses as /mortal beliefs/, the
testimony of which cannot be true either of
man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no
488:21 cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves
have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-
stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone
488:24 possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.
Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of
organization and decomposition, - otherwise the very
488:27 worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the
real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce
them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-
488:30 turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,
not in matter.
Possibilities of Life
489:1 The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.
When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows
489:3 again. If the Science of Life were understood,
it would be found that the senses of Mind are
never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the
489:6 human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's
claw, - not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine
one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter
489:9 is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal
to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness
develops, this belief goes out, - yields to the reality of
489:12 everlasting Life.
Decalogue disregarded
Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the
commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-
489:15 mands. How then can this sense be the God-
given channel to man of divine blessings or
understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-
489:18 pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?
Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time
the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-
489:21 dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-
tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not
forth sweet waters and bitter.
Organic construction valueless
489:24 The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or
error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-
cause matter has no sensation, and no organic
489:27 construction can give it hearing and sight nor
make it the medium of Mind. Outside the
material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense
489:30 of God, man, and creation is /non-sense/, want of sense.
Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes
good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there
490:1 is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian
Science dispute this error.
Will-power an animal propensity
490:3 Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief
commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an
animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.
490:6 Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-
tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the
motive-powers of man. Will - blind, stubborn, and head-
490:9 long - cooperates with appetite and passion. From this
cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-
erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.
Theories helpless
490:12 The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until
it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of
Truth. Human theories are helpless to make
490:15 man harmonious or immortal, since he is so
already, according to Christian Science. Our only need
is to know this and reduce to practice the real man's di-
490:18 vine Principle, Love
True nature and origin
"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings."
Human belief - or knowledge gained from the so-called
490:21 material senses - would, by fair logic, anni-
hilate man along with the dissolving elements
of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the
490:24 nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with
immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers
in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained
490:27 in no other way.
Sleep an illusion
Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of
material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either
490:30 oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.
Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man
will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he
491:1 is swimming when he is on dry land. Needle-thrusts will
not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.
491:3 Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and
shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or va-
lidity. Change the belief, and the sensation changes.
491:6 Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears.
Man linked with Spirit
Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary
error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter
491:9 calling itself right. Man's spiritual individual-
ity is never wrong. It is the likeness of man's
Maker. Matter cannot connect mortals with the true
491:12 origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only
by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls
the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and
491:15 find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man
forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
Material man as a dream
The belief that matter and mind are one, - that mat-
491:18 ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-
times presenting no appearance of mind, -
this belief culminates in another belief, that
491:21 man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real
being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are
closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are
491:24 lost from the body, and they wander whither they will
apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-
sonality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man
491:27 may have an attractive personality.
Spiritual existence the one fact
When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-
ures of matter. Who will say, even though he
491:30 does not understand Christian Science, that
this dream - rather than the dreamer - may
not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise,
492:1 when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and
thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious?
492:3 For right reasoning there should be but one fact before
the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there
is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its
492:6 unlikeness, mortality.
Mind one and all
Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already
proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,
492:9 will uplift the physical and moral standard
of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify
and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy
492:12 all error, and bring immortality to light. We know that
a statement proved to be good must be correct. New
thoughts are constantly obtaining the floor. These two
492:15 contradictory theories - that matter is something, or
that all is Mind - will dispute the ground, until one is
acknowledged to be the victor. Discussing his cam-
492:18 paign, General Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on
this line, if it takes all summer." Science says: All is
Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this
492:21 line. Matter can afford you no aid.
Scientific ultimatum
The notion that mind and matter commingle in the
human illusion as to sin, sickness, and death must even-
492:24 tually submit to the Science of Mind, which
denies this notion. /God is Mind, and God is
infinite; hence all is Mind/. On this statement rests the
492:27 Science of being, and the Principle of this Science is di-
vine, demonstrating harmony and immortality.
Victory for Truth
The conservative theory, long believed, is that there
492:30 are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im-
possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error
always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.
493:1 On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows
Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun
493:3 appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand
still; but astronomical science contradicts this,
and explains the solar system as working on a differ-
493:6 ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the
knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to
Science, to the immortal truth of all things.
Mental preparation
493:9 /Question/, - Will you explain sickness and show how it
is to be healed?
/Answer/. - The method of Christian Science Mind-heal-
493:12 ing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian
Science Practice. A full answer to the above
question involves teaching, which enables the
493:15 healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle
and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.
Mind destroys all ills
Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the
493:18 five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sick-
ness is a belief, which must be annihilated by
the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of
493:21 so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the
body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense
of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or
493:24 mental inharmony. That man is material, and that mat-
ter suffers, - these propositions can only seem real and
natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the
493:27 reality of being.
If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of
death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false
493:30 sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the
power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever
494:1 intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire
action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body], and
494:3 in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this
for tired humanity's reassurance.
Inexhaustible divine Love
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great
494:6 a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God,
who needed no help from Jesus' example to
preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals
494:9 did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every
human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-
494:12 strated the divine power to heal only for a select number
or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and
in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
Reason and Science
494:15 The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus
demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the
infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring
494:18 human sense to flee from its own convictions
and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-
rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but
494:21 sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-
periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-
ence of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with
494:24 the unbroken reality of scientific being.
Which of these two theories concerning man are you
ready to accept? One is the mortal testimony, changing,
494:27 dying, unreal. The other is the eternal and real evidence,
bearing Truth's signet, its lap piled high with immortal
fruits.
Followers of Jesus
494:30 Our Master cast out devils (evils) and healed the sick.
It should be said of his followers also, that they cast fear
and all evil out of themselves and others and heal the sick.
495:1 God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is
governed by God. Truth casts out error now
495:3 as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago. All
of Truth is not understood; hence its healing power is not
fully demonstrated.
Destruction of all evil
495:6 If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot
destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then
classify sickness and error as our Master did,
495:9 when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath
bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life-
giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power
495:12 which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and
sets the captive free physically and morally.
Steadfast and calm trust
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling
495:15 steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His
likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither
fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and
495:18 calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious - as
Life eternally is - can destroy any painful sense of, or
belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science,
495:21 instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of
being, and this understanding will supplant error with
Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-
495:24 cord with harmony.
Rudiments and growth
/Question/. - How can I progress most rapidly in the
understanding of Christian Science?
495:27 /Answer/. - Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe
the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science and follow the behests of God,
495:30 abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and
Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain
496:1 that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn
that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions
496:3 from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind,
and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by
man and governs the entire universe. You will learn
496:6 that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey
God, to have one Mind, and to love another as
yourself.
Condition of progress
496:9 We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself:
Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?
Am I demonstrating the healing power of
496:12 Truth and Love? If so then the way will
grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits
will prove what the understanding of God brings to man.
496:15 Hold perpetually this thought, - that it is the spiritual
idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to
demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing,
496:18 based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-
lying, and encompassing all true being.
Triumph over death
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
496:21 the law," - the law of mortal belief, at war with the
facts of immortal Life, even with the spiritual
law which says to the grave, "Where is thy
496:24 victory?" But "when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
496:27 is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."
/Question/. - Have Christian Scientists any religious
creed?
496:30 /Answer/. - They have not, if by that term is meant
doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of
497:1 the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian
Science: -
497:3 1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word
of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and in-
497:6 finite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the
Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's
image and likeness.
497:9 3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the
destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that
casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is pun-
497:12 ished so long as the belief lasts.
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evi-
dence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity
497:15 with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and
we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ,
through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the
497:18 Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming
sin and death.
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and
497:21 his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eter-
nal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the noth-
ingness of matter.
497:24 6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for
that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to
do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and
497:27 to be merciful, just, and pure.
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. - REVELATION.
And I appeared unto Abraham,, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them. - EXODUS.
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. - JOHN.
Spiritual interpretation
501:1 SCIENTIFIC interpretation of the Scriptures prop-
erly starts with the beginning of the Old Testa-
501:3 ment, chiefly because the spiritual import of
the Word, in its earliest articulations, often
seems so smothered by the immediate context as to
501:6 require explication; whereas the New Testament narra-
tives are clearer and come nearer the heart. Jesus il-
lumines them, showing the poverty of mortal existence,
501:9 but richly recompensing human want and woe with
spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplifi-
cation of wonder and glory which angels could only
501:12 whisper and which God illustrated by light and har-
mony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called
mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural
501:15 good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the
weary ones sigh when needing something more native
to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual
501:18 evil.
Spiritual overture
502:1 A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that
the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so
502:3 brief that it would almost seem, from the
preponderance of unreality in the entire nar-
rative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality,
502:6 the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over
the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator
and His creation.
Deflection of being
502:9 Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history
of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This
deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to
502:12 suggest the proper reflection of God and the
spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter
of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought
502:15 take on higher symbols and significations, when scien-
tifically Christian views of the universe appear, illuminat-
ing time with the glory of eternity.
502:18 In the following exegesis, each text is followed by its spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Chris- tian Science.
/Genesis/ i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Ideas and identities
502:24 The infinite has no beginning. This word /beginning/
is employed to signify /the only/, - that is, the eternal ver-
ity and unity of God and man, including
502:27 the universe. The creative Principle - Life,
Truth, and Love - is God. The universe reflects God.
There is but one creator and one creation. This crea-
503:1 tion consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their
identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and
503:3 forever reflected. These ideas range from the infini-
tesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons
and daughters of God.
503:6 /Genesis/ i. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Spiritual harmony
503:9 The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual har-
mony, - heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth,
matter is unknown. No supposition of error
503:12 enters there. Divine Science, the Word of
God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God
is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines
503:15 the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, - that infinite
space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in
countless spiritual forms.
503:18 /Genesis/ i. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Mind's idea faultless
Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:
503:21 /first/, in light; /second/, in reflection; /third/, in spiritual and
immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But
this Mind creates no element nor symbol of
503:24 discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought,
mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.
/Genesis/ i. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good:
503:27 and God divided the light from the darkness.
God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony
504:1 from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by
aught but the good.
504:3 /Genesis/ i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the
darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morn-
ing were the first day.
Light preceding the sun
504:6 All questions as to the divine creation being both
spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for
though solar beams are not yet included in
504:9 the record of creation, still there is light. This
light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it
is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This
504:12 also shows that there is no place where God's light is not
seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are
ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a
504:15 creation?
Evenings and mornings
The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented
as taking place on so many /evenings/ and /mornings/, -
504:18 words which indicate, in the absence of solar
time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views
which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.
504:21 Here we have the explanation of another passage of
Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into
504:24 the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas
a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and
vague conjectures emit no such effulgence.
Spirit /versus/ darkness
504:27 Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it /light?/
Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter,
darkness, and darkness obscures light. Mate-
504:30 rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the
absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions
505:1 form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
505:3 death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.
/Genesis/ i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
505:6 the waters.
Spiritual firmament
Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.
505:9 The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-
tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of
Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
505:12 nor the so-called material senses.
/Genesis/ i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
505:15 which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Understanding imparted
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:
505:18 "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
505:21 good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between
the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds
Mind, - Life, Truth, and Love, - and demonstrates the
505:24 divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in
Christian Science.
Original reflected
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
505:27 of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things
brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-
mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
505:30 erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to
506:1 themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-
ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-
506:3 like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore
matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-
tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which
506:6 separates Christian Science from supposition and makes
Truth final.
/Genesis/ i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.
506:9 And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Exalted thought
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted
506:12 thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.
Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each
successive stage of progress.
506:15 /Genesis/ i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Unfolding of thoughts
506:18 Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their
proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts,
even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose
506:21 in order that the purpose may appear.
/Genesis/ i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and
the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and
506:24 God saw that it was good.
Spirit names and blesses
Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-
fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-
506:27 tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon
Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find-
ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet
507:1 appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the /dry land/
illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind,
507:3 while /water/ symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly
feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line
of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father-
507:6 hood and motherhood of God. Spirit names and blesses
all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and
subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of
507:9 nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind,
strangers in a tangled wilderness.
/Genesis/ i. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
507:12 grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:
and it was so.
Divine propagation
507:15 The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of
the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi-
tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul-
507:18 tiplication of the compound idea man. The
tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat-
ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind
507:21 which includes all. A material world implies a mortal
mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation
declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.
Ever-appearing creation
507:24 Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men-
tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all
expresses Science and art throughout His
507:27 creation, and the immortality of man and the
universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con-
tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.
507:30 Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate-
rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall
508:1 to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal
man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind
508:3 is All and reproduces all - as Mind is the multiplier,
and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the
product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought,
508:6 a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the
Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov-
erns all.
508:9 /Genesis/ i. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, and
herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw
508:12 that it was good.
Mind's pure thought
God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen-
der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is
508:15 the pure thought emanating from divine
Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex-
pressed in the text. /Gender/ means simply /kind/ or /sort/,
508:18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or
femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and
grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither
508:21 male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc-
tion names the female gender last in the ascending order
of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male
508:24 or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds
the infinitude of Love.
/Genesis/ i. 13. And the evening and the morning were
508:27 the third day.
Rising to the light
The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an
important one to the human thought, letting in the light
509:1 of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to
the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of
509:3 all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent
upon no material organization. Our Master
reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he
509:6 rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending
thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of
eternal Life.
509:9 /Genesis/ i. 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
509:12 and years.
Rarefaction of thought
Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies,
but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.
509:15 This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of
thought as it ascends higher. God forms and
peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand-
509:18 ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi-
cate the immensity of space.
Divine nature appearing
So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances
509:21 are no more contingent now on time or material struc-
ture than they were when "the morning stars
sang together." Mind made the "plant of
509:24 the field before it was in the earth." The periods of
spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's
creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness
509:27 - yea, the divine nature - appear in man and the uni-
verse never to disappear.
Spiritual ideas apprehended
Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind
509:30 and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his
fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the
510:1 sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit-
510:3 ual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects
of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit
and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.
510:6 /Genesis/ i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma-
ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it
was so.
510:9 Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose
"light shall we see light;" and this illumination is re-
flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn
510:12 away from a false material sense.
/Genesis/ i. 16. And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
510:15 night: He made the stars also.
Geology a failure
The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul out-
side the body, giving existence and intelligence to the
510:18 universe. Love alone can impart the limit-
less idea of infinite Mind. Geology has never
explained the earth's formations; it cannot explain them.
510:21 There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has
been already divided into evening and morning; and the
allusion to fluids (Genesis i. 2) indicates a supposed for-
510:24 mation of matter by the resolving of fluids into solids,
analogous to the suppositional resolving of thoughts into
material things.
Spiritual subdivision
510:27 Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love,
and not a vitalizing property of matter. Sci-
ence reveals only one Mind, and this one shin-
510:30 ing by its own light and governing the universe, including
511:1 man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its
own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light,
511:3 intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose
seed is in itself." Thus God's ideas "multiply and re-
plenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub-
511:6 limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.
/Genesis/ i. 17, 18. And God set them in the firmament of
the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over
511:9 the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Darkness scattered
In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has
511:12 the impress of heaven, God is revealed as in-
finite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is
there.
511:15 /Genesis/ i. 19. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day.
The changing glow and full effulgence of God's infi-
511:18 nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.
/Genesis/ i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl
511:21 that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of
heaven.
Soaring aspirations
To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and aeri-
511:24 form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand
for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mor-
tals metaphorically present the gradation of
511:27 mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking
form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The
fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament
512:1 of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and
above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal
512:3 and divine Principle, Love.
/Genesis/ i. 21. And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth
512:6 abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after
his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Seraphic symbols
Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power,
512:9 and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These an-
gels of His presence, which have the holiest
charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of
512:12 Mind, and consequently reproduce their own character-
istics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do
know that their natures are allied to God's nature; and
512:15 spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet
subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.
/Genesis/ i. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit-
512:18 ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let
fowl multiply in the earth.
Multiplication of pure ideas
Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and
512:21 perfect ideas. From the infinite elements of the one
Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and
quantity, and these are mental, both primarily
512:24 and secondarily. Their spiritual nature is discerned only
through the spiritual senses. Mortal mind inverts the true
likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its
512:27 own misconceptions. Ignorant of the origin and opera-
tions of mortal mind, - that is, ignorant of itself, - this
so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims
512:30 God as their author; albeit God is ignorant of the ex-
513:1 istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its
claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is
513:3 an attempted infringement on infinity.
/Genesis/ i. 23. And the evening and the morning were
the fifth day.
Spiritual spheres
513:6 Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of
Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To
material sense, this divine universe is dim and
513:9 distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight;
but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.
In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions,
513:12 and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be
apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.
/Genesis/ i. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
513:15 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Continuity of thoughts
Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all
513:18 thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind
conceiving them; but the intelligence, exist-
ence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God,
513:21 who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.
/Genesis/ i. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after
his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that
513:24 creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that
it was good.
God's thoughts are spiritual realities
God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are
513:27 spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind - being non-
existent and consequently not within the range of im-
514:1 mortal existence - could not by simulating deific power
invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per-
514:3 sons or things upon its own plane, since noth-
ing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive
infinity, in which and of which God is the
514:6 sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the
realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis-
port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of
514:9 holiness.
Qualities of thought
Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the
king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in
514:12 the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open
field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside
the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the
514:15 divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and
perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand
hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and
514:18 keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa-
nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ-
uality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the
514:21 millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: -
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
514:24 And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
Creatures of God useful
Understanding the control which Love held over all,
514:27 Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the
viper to be harmless. All of God's creatures
moving in the harmony of Science, are harm-
514:30 less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand
verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.
515:1 It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor
to emulate the example of Jesus. "And God saw that
515:3 it was good."
The serpent harmless
Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping
over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-
515:6 pent of God's creating is neither subtle nor
poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its
adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which
515:9 forms them, - the power which changeth the serpent
into a staff.
/Genesis/ i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our
515:12 image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
515:15 thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Elohistic plurality
The eternal Elohim includes the forever universe.
The name Elohim is in the plural, but this plurality of
515:18 Spirit does not imply more than one God, nor
does it imply three persons in one. It relates
to the oneness, the triunity of Life, Truth, and Love.
515:21 "Let /them/ have dominion." Man is the family name
for all ideas, - the sons and daughters of God. All that
God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting good-
515:24 ness and power.
Reflected likeness
Your mirrored reflection is your own image or like-
ness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also.
515:27 If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in
accord with yours. Now compare man before
the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror
515:30 divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note
516:1 how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection
to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in
516:3 the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of
God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love,
which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;
516:6 and when we subordinate the false testimony of the
corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see
this true likeness and reflection everywhere.
Love imparts beauty
516:9 God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life
is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in
goodness, which impart their own peace and
516:12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfish-
ness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath
our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the
516:15 earth." The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to
heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The
sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the
516:18 prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the
flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man,
made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's domin-
516:21 ion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent
and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality,
the infinite Father-Mother God.
516:24 /Genesis/ i. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Ideal man and woman
516:27 To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated
that God made man in His own image, to reflect the
divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic
516:30 term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen-
ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan-
517:1 guages the word for /man/ is used also as the synonym of
/mind/. This definition has been weakened by anthropo-
517:3 morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word /an-
thropomorphic/, in such a phrase as "an anthropomorphic
God," is derived from two Greek words, signifying /man/
517:6 and /form/, and may be defined as a mortally mental at-
tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving
quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man
517:9 corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth.
The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In
divine Science, we have not as much authority for con-
517:12 sidering God masculine, as we have for considering
Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of
Deity.
Divine personality
517:15 The world believes in many persons; but if God is per-
sonal, there is but one person, because there is but one
God. His personality can only be reflected,
517:18 not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and
they all have one Principle and parentage. The only
proper symbol of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal.
517:21 What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal
is God's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity
can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit
517:24 to infinitude or to its reflections.
/Genesis/ i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
517:27 and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.
Birthright of man
517:30 Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to
multiply, - to manifest His power. Man is not made
518:1 to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not sub-
jection. He is lord of the belief in earth
518:3 and heaven, - himself subordinate alone to
his Maker. This is the Science of being.
/Genesis/ i. 29, 30. And God said, Behold, I have given
518:6 you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every
518:9 beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it
518:12 was so.
Assistance in brotherhood
God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the
greater, and in return, the higher always protects the
518:15 lower. The rich in spirit help the poor in
one grand brotherhood, all leaving the same
Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth
518:18 his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in
another's good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea
might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through
518:21 all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality -
infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
518:24 /Genesis/ i. 31. And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Perfection of creation
518:27 The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and ex-
presses all, and all must therefore be as perfect is the
divine Principle is perfect. Nothing is new to Spirit.
519:1 Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all
things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.
519:3 Deity was satisfied with His work. How could
He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation
was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-
519:6 containment and immortal wisdom?
/Genesis/ ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.
Infinity measureless
519:9 Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete
and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and
the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Hu-
519:12 man capacity is slow to discern and to grasp
God's creation and the divine power and presence which
go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals
519:15 can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old
man and reach the spiritual image and likeness. What
can fathom infinity! How shall we declare Him, till,
519:18 in the language of the apostle, "we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful-
519:21 ness of Christ"?
/Genesis/ ii. 2. And on the seventh day God ended His
work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh
519:24 day from all His work which He had made.
Resting in holy work
God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished,
can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No
519:27 exhaustion follows the action of this Mind,
according to the apprehension of divine Science. The
520:1 highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint,
is in holy work.
Love and man coexistent
520:3 Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth,
height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all
space. That is enough! Human language
520:6 can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what
exists. The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor
comprehended by mortals, than is His infinite Principle,
520:9 Love. Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and
eternal. The numerals of infinity, called /seven days/, can
never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.
520:12 These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they
will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of
error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine
520:15 infinite calculus.
/Genesis/ ii. 4, 5. These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the
520:18 Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and
every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every
herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah]
520:21 had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not
a man to till the ground.
Growth is from Mind
Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all
520:24 through Mind, not through matter, - that the plant
grows, not because of seed or soil, but because
growth is the eternal mandate of Mind. Mor-
520:27 tal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creat-
ing thought is from above, not from beneath. Because
Mind makes all, there is nothing left to be made by a
520:30 lower power. Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,
never causing man to till the ground, but making him
521:1 superior to the soil. Knowledge of this lifts man above
the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious
521:3 spiritual harmony and eternal being.
Spiritual narrative
Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being
that is without beginning or end. All that is made is
521:6 the work of God, and all is good. We leave
this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation
(as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of
521:9 God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, -
joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy,
omnipotence, and omnipresence.
521:12 The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We
should look away from the opposite supposition that man
is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual
521:15 record of creation, to that which should be engraved on
the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond"
and the pen of an angel.
521:18 The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.
521:21 /Genesis/ ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
The story of error
The Science and truth of the divine creation have been
521:24 presented in the verses already considered, and now the
opposite error, a material view of creation, is
to be set forth. The second chapter of Gene-
521:27 sis contains a statement of this material view of God and
the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of
scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error
521:30 or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence
522:1 of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction
to the true.
The two records
522:3 The Science of the first record proves the falsity of
the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are
antagonistic. The first record assigns all
522:6 might and government to God, and endows
man out of God's perfection and power. The second
record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, - as hav-
522:9 ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit
of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science
explains as impossible.
522:12 This second record unmistakably gives the history of
error in its externalized forms, called life and intelli-
gence in matter. It records pantheism, opposed to the
522:15 supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is
declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, -
dust returning to dust.
Erroneous representation
522:18 In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit.
Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the
earth. Spirit is represented as entering mat-
522:21 ter in order to create man. God's glowing
denunciations of man when not found in His
image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide
522:24 with revelation in declaring this material creation false.
Hypothetical reversal
This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which
portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in
522:27 constructing the universe, is based on some
hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just pre-
ceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life,
522:30 Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does
the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un-
erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-
523:1 not be so. Yet one might so judge from an unintelligent
perusal of the Scriptural account now under comment.
Mist, or false claim
523:3 Because of its false basis, the mist of obscurity evolved
by error deepens the false claim, and finally declares that
God knows error and that error can improve
523:6 His creation. Although presenting the exact
opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The crea-
tions of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from
523:9 mystification, and not from the firmament, or under-
standing, which God erects between the true and false.
In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.
523:12 All is material myth, instead of the reflection of
Spirit.
Distinct documents
It may be worth while here to remark that, according
523:15 to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two dis-
tinct documents in the early part of the book of
Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because
523:18 the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other
document is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is
always called Jehovah, - or Lord God, as our common
523:21 version translates it.
Jehovah or Elohim
Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three
verses of the second, - in what we understand to be the
523:24 spiritually scientific account of creation, - it is
Elohim (God) who creates. From the fourth
verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called
523:27 Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become
more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter
twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace-
523:30 able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is
usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the
Hebrew people, who is referred to.
Gods of the heathen
524:1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is
seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish
524:3 god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites,
in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro-
dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.
Jehovah a tribal deity
524:6 It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly
went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme
Being by the national name of Jehovah. In
524:9 that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God
seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a
tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine
524:12 Principle to be lived and loved.
/Genesis/ ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
524:15 the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Creation reversed
Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite
deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With
l8 a single command, Mind had made man,
both male and female. How then could a
material organization become the basis of man? How
524:21 could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind,
and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not
the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His
524:24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-
real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and
God?
524:27 It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground.
Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter
ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into
524:30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature
525:1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-
come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of
525:3 God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed,
not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re-
flects God; /mankind/ represents the Adamic race, and is
525:6 a human, not a divine, creation.
Definitions of man
The following are some of the equivalents of the term
/man/ in different languages. In the Saxon, /mankind, a
525:9 /woman, any one/; in the Welsh, /that which rises
up/, - the primary sense being /image, form/; in
the Hebrew, /image, similitude/; in the Icelandic, /mind/.
525:12 The following translation is from the Icelandic: -
And God said, Let us make man after our mind and
our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after
525:15 God's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and
female.
No baneful creation
In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were
525:18 made through the Word of God, "and without Him [the
/logos/, or /word/] was not anything made that
was made." Everything good or worthy, God
525:21 made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not
make, - hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis
we read that He saw everything which He had made,
525:24 "and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses
declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the
history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural
525:27 record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the
material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed
as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.
525:30 /Genesis/ ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God
[Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
526:1 and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Contradicting first creation
526:3 The previous and more scientific record of creation
declares that God made "every plant of the field be-
fore it was in the earth." This opposite
526:6 declaration, this statement that life issues
from matter, contradicts the teaching of the first chap-
ter, - namely, that all Life is God. Belief is less than
526:9 understanding. Belief involves theories of material hear-
ing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses.
The appetites and passions, sin, sickness, and death,
526:12 follow in the train of this error of a belief in intelligent
matter.
Record of error
The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural
526:15 text in the second chapter of Genesis. God pronounced
good all that He created, and the Scriptures
declare that He created all. The "tree of
526:18 life" stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which
guards it is the type of divine Science. The "tree of
knowledge" stands for the erroneous doctrine that the
526:21 knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as
the knowledge of good. Was evil instituted through God,
Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra-
526:24 diction of the first creation? This second biblical account
is a picture of error throughout.
/Genesis/ ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took the
526:27 man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and
to keep it.
Garden of Eden
The name Eden, according to Cruden, means /pleasure/,
526:30 /delight./ In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-
527:1 rial body. God could not put Mind into matter nor in-
finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and
527:3 keep it, - to make it beautiful or to cause it
to live and grow. Man is God's reflection, needing no
cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.
527:6 /Genesis/ ii. 16, 17. And the Lord God [Jehovah] com-
manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good
527:9 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
No temptation from God
Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting
527:12 man, but the Apostle James says: "God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any
man." It is true that a knowledge of evil would
527:15 make man mortal. It is plain also that mate-
rial perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, consti-
tutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that God,
527:18 good, made "the tree of life" to be the tree of death to His
own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is un-
real because it is a lie, - false in every statement.
527:21 /Genesis/ ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord God
[Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl
of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he
527:24 would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof.
Creation's counterfeit
Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but
527:27 doing so materially, not spiritually, and ask-
ing a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the
Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his
527:30 dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man
528:1 that dust should become sentient, when all being is the
reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares
528:3 that God has already created man, both male and
female? That Adam gave the name and nature of
animals, is solely mythological and material. It can-
528:6 not be true that man was ordered to create man anew
in partnership with God; this supposition was a dream,
a myth.
528:9 /Genesis/ ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah]
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and
He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
528:12 thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto
the man.
Hypnotic surgery
528:15 Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing
a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a
surgical operation on him and thereby create
528:18 woman. This is the first record of magnet-
ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light,
- materially rather than spiritually, - error now simu-
528:21 lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar-
ing what great things error has done. Beholding the
creations of his own dream and calling them real and
528:24 God-given, Adam - /alias/ error - gives them names.
Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the
creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them
528:27 /mankind/, - that is, a kind of man.
Mental midwifery
But according to this narrative, surgery was first per-
formed mentally and without instruments;
528:30 and this may be a useful hint to the medical
faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden
529:1 fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there
came a suggestion of change in the /modus operandi/, -
529:3 that man should be born of woman, not woman again
taken from man. It came about, also, that instruments
were needed to assist the birth of mortals. The first
529:6 system of suggestive obstetrics has changed. Another
change will come as to the nature and origin of man,
and this revelation will destroy the /dream/ of existence,
529:9 reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact
of creation, that both man and woman proceed from
God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser
529:12 parent.
/Genesis/ iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
529:15 made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the
woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of
529:18 the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Mythical serpent
529:21 Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the
children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the
metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the
529:24 animal kingdom which represents the species
described, - a talking serpent, - and should rejoice that
evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and
529:27 has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing
this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, be-
cause we know that they are worthless and unreal.
Error or Adam
529:30 Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of
material mind. He begins his reign over man some-
530:1 what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days
become shorter. In this development, the im-
530:3 mortal, spiritual law of Truth is made manifest
as forever opposed to mortal, material sense.
Divine providence
In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine
530:6 Principle of being. The earth, at God's command, brings
forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus
once said, "Take no thought for your life,
530:9 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," - presuming
not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God,
the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe
530:12 man as He doth the lilies.
/Genesis/ iii. 4, 5. And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day
530:15 ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Error's assumption
This myth represents error as always asserting its su-
530:18 periority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science and
saying, through the material senses: "I can
open your eyes. I can do what God has not
530:21 done for you. Bow down to me and have another god.
Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more
pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be de-
530:24 sired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be
mine." Thus Spirit and flesh war.
Scriptural allegory
The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream
530:27 has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the
dreamer and dream are one, for neither is
true nor real. /First/, this narrative supposes
530:30 that something springs from nothing, that matter pre-
cedes mind. /Second/, it supposes that mind enters matter,
531:1 and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.
The order of this allegory - the belief that everything
531:3 springs from dust instead of from Deity - has been main-
tained in all the subsequent forms of belief. This is the
error, - that mortal man starts materially, that non-
531:6 intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are
both right and wrong.
Higher hope
It is well that the upper portions of the brain represent
531:9 the higher moral sentiments, as if hope were ever prophe-
sying thus: The human mind will sometime
rise above all material and physical sense, ex-
531:12 changing it for spiritual perception, and exchanging hu-
man concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man
will recognize his God-given dominion and being.
Biological inventions
531:15 If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non-
intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body
by the creator, why is not this divine order
531:18 still maintained by God in perpetuating the
species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and
animals have a propagating property of their own?
531:21 Who dares to say either that God is in matter or that
matter exists without God? Has man sought out other
creative inventions, and so changed the method of his
531:24 Maker?
Which institutes Life, - matter or Mind? Does Life
begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by
531:27 matter or by Spirit? Certainly not by both, since flesh
wars against Spirit and the corporeal senses can take no
cognizance of Spirit. The mythologic theory of mate-
531:30 rial life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian
record of man as created by Mind in the image and like-
ness of God and having dominion over all the earth. Did
532:1 God at first create one man unaided, - that is, Adam, -
but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order
532:3 to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes
and governs all.
Progeny cursed
All human knowledge and material sense must be
532:6 gained from the five corporeal senses. Is this knowledge
safe, when eating its first fruits brought death?
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
532:9 surely die," was the prediction in the story under consid-
eration. Adam and his progeny were cursed, not blessed;
and this indicates that the divine Spirit, or Father, con-
532:12 demns material man and remands him to dust.
/Genesis/ iii. 9, 10. And the Lord God [Jehovah] called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he
532:15 said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Shame the effect of sin
Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material
532:18 sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.
Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed
from the divine voice calling out to the cor-
532:21 poreal senses. Its summons may be thus paraphrased:
"Where art thou, man? Is Mind in matter? Is Mind
capable of error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of
532:24 good, when God is All and He is Mind and there is but
one God, hence one Mind?"
Fear comes of error
Fear was the first manifestation of the error of mate-
532:27 rial sense. Thus error began and will end the dream of
matter, In the allegory the body had been
naked, and Adam knew it not; but now error
532:30 demands that /mind/ shall see and feel through matter, the
five senses. The first impression material man had of
533:1 himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost
man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over
533:3 all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on
Adam.
/Genesis/ iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that
533:6 thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man
said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave
533:9 me of the tree, and I did eat.
The beguiling first lie
Here there is an attempt to trace all human errors
directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the
533:12 creator of evil. The allegory shows that the
snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which
beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,
533:15 /alias mortal error/, charges God and woman with his own
dereliction, saying, "The woman, whom Thou gavest
me, is responsible." According to this belief, the rib taken
533:18 from Adam's side has grown into an evil mind, named
/woman/, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than
he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?
533:21 Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the
rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from
Adam to form Eve. The belief in material life and in-
533:24 telligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its
suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof.
False womanhood
Truth, cross-questioning man as to His knowledge of
533:27 error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She
says, " The serpent beguiled me, and I did
eat;" as much as to say in meek penitence,
533:30 "Neither man nor God shall father my fault." She has
already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence
534:1 she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of
man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter
534:3 enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold
at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to mani-
fest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled
534:6 woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true
sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man.
/Genesis/ iii. 14, 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said
534:9 unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Spirit and flesh
534:12 This prophecy has been fulfilled. The Son of the Virgin-
mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error; and the
Apostle Paul explains this warfare between the
534:15 idea of divine power, which Jesus presented,
and mythological material intelligence called /energy/ and
opposed to Spirit.
534:18 Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: "The carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that
534:21 are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell
in you."
Bruising sin's head
534:24 There will be greater mental opposition to the spirit-
ual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has
ever been since the Christian era began. The
534:27 serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of
the woman, - will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea
of Love; and the woman, this idea, will bruise the head
534:30 of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding
535:1 a foothold in Christian Science. The seed of Truth and
the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, - yea,
535:3 the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, - are the wheat
and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned,
the other to be garnered into heavenly places.
535:6 /Genesis/ iii. 16. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
535:9 husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Judgment on error
Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed ma-
terial foundations of life and intelligence. It dooms idol-
535:12 atry. A belief in other gods, other creators,
and other creations must go down before Chris-
tian Science. It unveils the results of sin as shown in
535:15 sickness and death. When will man pass through the
open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul,
into the heritage of the first born among men? Truth is
535:18 indeed " the way."
/Genesis/ iii. 17-19. And unto Adam He said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
535:21 eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou
shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns
535:24 also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
535:27 wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.
New earth and no more sea
In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "And God
535:30 called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together
536:1 of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is
written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
536:3 the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away; and there was no more sea." In St.
John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spir-
536:6 itual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed
human concepts advancing and receding, is represented
as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns,
536:9 is /all/ and there is no other consciousness.
The fall of error
The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-
sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual
536:12 gravitation and attraction to one Father, in
whom we " live, and move, and have our be-
ing," should be lost, and if man should be governed by
536:15 corporeality instead of divine Principle, by body instead
of by Soul, man would be annihilated. Created by flesh
instead of by Spirit, starting from matter instead of from
536:18 God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The
blind leading the blind, both would fall.
True attainment
Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are
536:21 "of few days, and full of trouble." Their supposed joys
are cheats. Their narrow limits belittle their gratifica-
tions, and hedge about their achievements with thorns.
536:24 Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material concep-
tion of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the
immortal side. Through toil, struggle, and sor-
536:27 row, what do mortals attain? They give up
their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal
and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.
536:30 /Genesis/ iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
537:1 and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
537:3 the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east
537:6 of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
life.
Justice and recompense
537:9 A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
ity or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil
has no local habitation nor name. Crea-
537:12 tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
537:15 is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway
to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries
itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for
537:18 nothingness.
Inspired interpretation
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory - this second account in Genesis - is to depict
537:21 the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
537:24 first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the
Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets
it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear
537:27 contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which
blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is
represented as changeable. The literal meaning would
537:30 imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, -
538:1 Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
not her own."
Spiritual gateway
538:3 Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.
Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.
Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate
538:6 of understanding to note the proper guests.
Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth
gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between
538:9 Truth and error, between the material and spiritual, -
the unreal and the real.
Contrasted testimony
The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure
538:12 of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the
universe. The "tree of life" is significant of
eternal reality or being. The "tree of knowl-
538:15 edge" typifies unreality. The testimony of the serpent is
significant of the illusion of error, of the false claims that
misrepresent God, good. Sin, sickness, and death have
538:18 no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which
God creates the heavens, earth, and man. Until that
which contradicts the truth of being enters into the arena,
538:21 evil has no history, and evil is brought into view only as
the unreal in contradistinction to the real and eternal.
/Genesis/ iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she
538:24 conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord [Jehovah].
Erroneous conception
This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-
538:27 tal man, and of sin which is temporal. As both mortal
man and sin have a beginning, they must
consequently have an end, while the sinless,
538:30 real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten
a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author
539:1 of sin and sin's progeny. This false sense of existence
is fratricidal. In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is
539:3 "a murderer from the beginning." Error begins by
reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the
foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality
539:6 were something which matter can both give and take
away.
Only one standard
What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life,
539:9 or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil,
matter, error, and death? God could never
impart an element of evil, and man possesses
539:12 nothing which he has not derived from God. How then
has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he
obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit
539:15 resigned to matter the government of the universe?
A type of falsehood
The Scriptures declare that God condemned this lie as
to man's origin and character by condemning its symbol,
539:18 the serpent, to grovel beneath all the beasts
of the field. It is false to say that Truth and
error commingle in creation. In parable and argument,
539:21 this falsity is exposed by our Master as self-evidently
wrong. Disputing these points with the Pharisees and
arguing for the Science of creation, Jesus said: "Do men
539:24 gather grapes of thorns?" Paul asked: "What com-
munion hath light with darkness? And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?"
Scientific offspring
539:27 The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human
power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate
the one Mind which makes and governs man
539:30 and the universe. The Science of creation,
so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus inspired his wisest
and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his
540:1 marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of
Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates
540:3 neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sick-
ness, and death.
Cleansing upheaval
In Isaiah we read: "I make peace, and create evil. I
540:6 the Lord do all these things;" but the prophet referred to
divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its
utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re-
540:9 ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The
muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the
stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms
540:12 of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our igno-
rance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought
to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its
540:15 effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil
and all power to sin.
Allegiance to Spirit
Science renders "unto Caesar the things which are
540:18 Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." It
saith to the human sense of sin, sickness, and
death, "God never made you, and you are a
540:21 false sense which hath no knowledge of God." The pur-
pose of the Hebrew allegory, representing error as assum-
ing a divine character, is to teach mortals never to believe
540:24 a lie.
/Genesis/ iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also
540:27 brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.
Spiritual and material
Cain is the type of mortal and material man, conceived
in sin and "shapen in iniquity;" he is not the
540:30 type of Truth and Love. Material in origin
and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel
541:1 takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb
is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re-
541:3 sembles a mind-offering than does Cain's fruit. Jealous
of his brother's gift, Cain seeks Abel's life, instead of mak-
ing his own gift a higher tribute to the Most High.
541:6 /Genesis/ iv. 4, 5. And the Lord [Jehovah] had respect
unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his
offering, He had not respect.
541:9 Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through
a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain's
fruit? No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of
541:12 even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the
ground could be.
/Genesis/ iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and
541:15 slew him.
The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli-
gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood
541:18 of man at the very outset.
/Genesis/ iv. 9. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am
541:21 I my brother's keeper?
Brotherhood repudiated
Here the serpentine lie invents new forms. At first it
usurps divine power. It is supposed to say
541:24 in the first instance, "Ye shall be as gods."
Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards
his brother.
541:27 /Genesis/ iv. 10, 11. And He [Jehovah] said, . . . The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth.
Murder brings its curse
542:1 The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in-
curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it
542:3 might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material
beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when-
ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides
542:6 behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be
concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils
error. Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon
542:9 error the mark of the beast. Even the disposition to
excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance
of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin,
542:12 invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine
mercy.
/Genesis/ iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him
542:15 Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken
on him sevenfold. And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark
upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
Retribution and remorse
542:18 "They that take the sword shall perish with the
sword." Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's
own way, and let human justice pattern the
542:21 divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both
for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks
the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the
542:24 waymarks of God. To envy's own hell, justice con-
signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's
commandments.
542:27 /Genesis/ iv. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.
Climax of suffering
The sinful misconception of Life as something less
543:1 than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon
itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering,
543:3 yields to Truth and returns to dust; but it
is only mortal man and not the real man,
who dies. The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it
543:6 is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more
beautifully apparent at error's demise.
Dwelling in dreamland
In divine Science, the material man is shut out from
543:9 the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot
take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come
into His presence, and must dwell in dream-
543:12 land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that ma-
terial life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illu-
sion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare
543:15 of extermination. The great verities of existence are
never excluded by falsity.
Man springs from Mind
All error proceeds from the evidence before the mate-
543:18 rial senses. If man is material and originates in an
egg, who shall say that he is not primarily
dust? May not Darwin be right in think-
543:21 ing that apehood preceded mortal manhood? Minerals
and vegetables are found, according to divine Science,
to be the creations of erroneous thought, not of matter.
543:24 Did man, whom God created with a word, originate
in an egg? When Spirit made all, did it leave aught
for matter to create? Ideas of Truth alone are reflected
543:27 in the myriad manifestations of Life, and thus it is
seen that man springs solely from Mind. The belief
that matter supports life would make Life, or God,
543:30 mortal.
Material inception
The text, "In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah
God] made the earth and the heavens," introduces the
544:1 record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,
- a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit
544:3 had no participation in it. In God's creation
ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.
There was no rain and "not a man to till the ground."
544:6 Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was
self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the
material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in
544:9 the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man
eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that
man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the
544:12 infinite Mind.
First evil suggestion
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does
matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might
544:15 or right or wisdom to create or to destroy.
All is under the control of the one Mind,
even God. The first statement about evil, - the first
544:18 suggestion of more than the one Mind, - is in the fable
of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously re-
corded, include nothing of the kind.
Material personality
544:21 The serpent is supposed to say, "Ye shall be as gods,"
but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be
the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual
544:24 being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a
material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man,
in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and
544:27 likeness of the one God.
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and
truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called
544:30 mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man's nostrils
so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with
corporeality as the producer instead of divine Prin-
545:1 ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con-
ceptions.
545:3 "Behold, the man is become as one of us." This could
not be the utterance of Truth or Science, for according
to the record, material man was fast degenerating and
545:6 never had been divinely conceived.
Mental tillage
The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means
this, - that mortals should so improve material belief
545:9 by thought tending spiritually upward as to
destroy materiality. Man, created by God,
was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion
545:12 of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory
of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors
send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions,
545:15 and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the
whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a
false view, destructive to existence and happiness. Out-
545:18 side of Christian Science all is vague and hypothetical, the
opposite of Truth; yet this opposite, in its false view of
God and man, impudently demands a blessing.
Erroneous standpoint
545:21 The translators of this record of scientific creation
entertained a false sense of being. They believed in
the existence of matter, its propagation and
545:24 power. From that standpoint of error, they
could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit.
Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which
545:27 is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has
but one reply to all error, - to sin, sickness, and death:
"Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness]
545:30 shalt thou return."
Mortality mythical
"As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth]
shall all be made alive." The mortality of man is a
546:1 myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is
now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman-
546:3 cipated from it, - this belief alone is mortal.
Spirit, God, never germinates, but is "the same
yesterday, and to-day, and forever." If Mind, God, cre-
546:6 ates error, that error must exist in the divine Mind, and
this assumption of error would dethrone the perfection
of Deity.
No truth from a material basis
546:9 Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine
Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to
declare Mind, while matter is governed by un-
546:12 erring intelligence? "There went up a mist
from the earth." This represents error as
starting from an idea of good on a material basis. It
546:15 supposes God and man to be manifested only through
the corporeal senses, although the material senses can
take no cognizance of Spirit or the spiritual idea.
546:18 Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than
other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot
possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To
546:21 the author, they are transparent, for they contain the deep
divinity of the Bible.
Dawning of spiritual facts
Christian Science is dawning upon a material age.
546:24 The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine
in the darkness, though the darkness, com-
prehending them not, may deny their reality.
546:27 The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris-
tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom-
plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle
546:30 which all may understand.
Proof given in healing
If mathematics should present a thousand different
examples of one rule, the proving of one example would
547:1 authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris-
tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the
547:3 proof of all here said of Christian Science. If
one of the statements in this book is true, every
one must be true, for not one departs from the stated sys-
547:6 tem and rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader,
the Science of healing, and so ascertain if the author has
given you the correct interpretation of Scripture.
Embryonic evolution
547:9 The late Louis Agassiz, by his microscopic examination
of a vulture's ovum, strengthens the thinker's conclusions
as to the scientific theory of creation. Agassiz
547:12 was able to see in the egg the earth's atmos-
phere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, while the
germinating speck of so-called embryonic life seemed a
547:15 small sun. In its history of mortality, Darwin's theory
of evolution from a material basis is more consistent than
most theories. Briefly, this is Darwin's theory, - that
547:18 Mind produces its opposite, matter, and endues matter
with power to recreate the universe, including man. Ma-
terial evolution implies that the great First Cause must
547:21 become material, and afterwards must either return to
Mind or go down into dust and nothingness.
True theory of the universe
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to
547:24 have them understood spiritually, for only by this under-
standing can truth be gained. The true the-
ory of the universe, including man, is not in
547:27 material history but in spiritual development.
Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and
mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and
547:30 immortal.
Scriptural perception
It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts
humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.
548:1 "The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." Christian
548:3 Science separates error from truth, and breathes
through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of
life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis-
548:6 cover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that
man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal
harmony.
The clouds dissolving
548:9 How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds
cover the sun's face! So Christian Science can be seen
only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away.
548:12 Earth has little light or joy for mortals before
Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error
helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension
548:15 of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on
hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true
ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.
Prediction of a naturalist
548:18 Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist
says: "It is very possible that many general statements
now current, about birth and generation, will
548:21 be changed with the progress of information."
Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained
the diviner side in Christian Science, - so far apart from
548:24 his material sense of animal growth and organization, -
he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.
Methods of reproduction
Natural history is richly endowed by the labors and
548:27 genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought
to light important facts in regard to so-called
embryonic life. Agassiz declares ("Methods
548:30 of Study in Natural History,") "Certain ani-
mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also
increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self-
549:1 division." This discovery is corroborative of the Science
of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication
549:3 of certain animals takes place apart from sexual condi-
tions. The supposition that life germinates in eggs and
must decay after it has grown to maturity, if not before,
549:6 is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, - a
blunder which will finally give place to higher theories
and demonstrations.
The three processes
549:9 Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed
to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc-
tion and to multiply their species sometimes
549:12 through eggs, sometimes through buds, and
sometimes through self-division. According to recent
lore, successive generations do not begin with the /birth/ of
549:15 new individuals, or personalities, but with the formation
of the nucleus, or egg, from which one or more individu-
alities subsequently emerge; and we must therefore look
549:18 upon the simple ovum as the germ, the starting-point, of
the most complicated corporeal structures, including those
which we call human. Here these material researches
549:21 culminate in such vague hypotheses as must necessarily
attend false systems, which rely upon physics and are de-
void of metaphysics.
Deference to material law
549:24 In one instance a celebrated naturalist, Agassiz, dis-
covers the pathway leading to divine Science, and beards
the lion of materialism in its den. At that
549:27 point, however, even this great observer mis-
takes nature, forsakes Spirit as the divine origin of
creative Truth, and allows matter and material law to
549:30 usurp the prerogatives of omnipotence. He absolutely
drops from his summit, coming down to a belief in the
material origin of man, for he virtually affirms that
550:1 the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non-
intelligent egg.
Deep-reaching interrogations
550:3 If this be so, whence cometh Life, or Mind, to the
human race? Matter surely does not possess Mind.
God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms
550:6 and preserves the individuality and identity
of animals as well as of men. God cannot
become finite, and be limited within material bounds.
550:9 Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed
through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate
what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it be-
550:12 gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being
and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it
will hereafter.
Stages of existence
550:15 Error of thought is reflected in error of action. The
continual contemplation of existence as material and cor-
poreal - as beginning and ending, and with
550:18 birth, decay, and dissolution as its component
stages - hides the true and spiritual Life, and causes
our standard to trail in the dust. If Life has any starting-
550:21 point whatsoever, then the great I AM is a myth. If Life
is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embry-
onic, it is infinite. An egg is an impossible enclosure for
550:24 Deity.
Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro-
ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor
550:27 does a lion bring forth a lamb. Amalgamation is deemed
monstrous and is seldom fruitful, but it is not so hideous
and absurd as the supposition that Spirit - the pure and
550:30 holy, the immutable and immortal - can originate the
impure and mortal and dwell in it. As Christian Science
repudiates self-evident impossibilities, the material senses
551:1 must father these absurdities, for both the material senses
and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.
The real producer
551:3 Either Mind produces, or it is produced. If Mind is
first, it cannot produce its opposite in quality and quantity,
called matter. If matter is first, it cannot pro-
551:6 duce Mind. Like produces like. In natural
history, the bird is not the product of a beast. In spiritual
history, matter is not the progenitor of Mind.
The ascent of species
551:9 One distinguished naturalist argues that mortals spring
from eggs and in races. Mr. Darwin admits this, but he
adds that mankind has ascended through all
551:12 the lower grades of existence. Evolution de-
scribes the gradations of human belief, but it does not
acknowledge the method of divine Mind, nor see that ma-
551:15 terial methods are impossible in divine Science and that
all Science is of God, not of man.
Transmitted peculiarities
Naturalists ask: "What can there be, of a material
551:18 nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, -
themselves composed of the simplest material
elements, - by which all peculiarities of an-
551:21 cestry, belonging to either sex, are brought down from
generation to generation?" The question of the natu-
ralist amounts to this: How can matter originate or trans-
551:24 mit mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and
doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases creation on
materiality. From a material standpoint, "Canst thou
551:27 by searching find out God?" All must be Mind, or
else all must be matter. Neither can produce the other.
Mind is immortal; but error declares that the material
551:30 seed must decay in order to propagate its species, and
the resulting germ is doomed to the same routine.
Causation not in matter
The ancient and hypothetical question, Which is first,
552:1 the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the
parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question
552:3 follows: Who or what produces the parent of
the egg? That the earth was hatched from the
"egg of night" was once an accepted theory. Heathen
552:6 philosophy, modern geology, and all other material hy-
potheses deal with causation as contingent on matter
and as necessarily apparent to the corporeal senses, even
552:9 where the proof requisite to sustain this assumption is un-
discovered. Mortal theories make friends of sin, sickness,
and death; whereas the spiritual scientific facts of exist-
552:12 ence include no member of this dolorous and fatal triad.
Emergence of mortals
Human experience in mortal life, which starts from an
egg, corresponds with that of Job, when he says, "Man
552:15 that is born of a woman is of few days, and
full of trouble." Mortals must emerge from
this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck
552:18 open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward
and upward. But thought, loosened from a material
basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild
552:21 with freedom and so be self-contradictory.
Persistence of species
From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow,
sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills
552:24 they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. The
blending tints of leaf and flower show the
order of matter to be the order of mortal mind. The
552:27 intermixture of different species, urged to its utmost
limits, results in a return to the original species. Thus
it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal
552:30 mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when
the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.
Better basis than embryology
Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material
553:1 existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac-
company their descriptions with important observations,
553:3 which should awaken thought to a higher and
purer contemplation of man's origin. This
clearer consciousness must precede an under-
553:6 standing of the harmony of being. Mortal thought must
obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or
health will never be universal, and harmony will never
553:9 become the standard of man.
One of our ablest naturalists has said: "We have no
right to assume that individuals have grown or been
553:12 formed under circumstances which made material con-
ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction,
or important to their origin and first introduction."
553:15 Why, then, is the naturalist's basis so materialistic,
and why are his deductions generally material?
All nativity in thought
Adam was created before Eve. In this instance, it is
553:18 seen that the maternal egg never brought forth Adam.
Eve was formed from Adam's rib, not from a
foetal ovum. Whatever theory may be adopted
553:21 by general mortal thought to account for human origin,
that theory is sure to become the signal for the appear-
ance of its method in finite forms and operations. If con-
553:24 sentaneous human belief agrees upon an ovum as the
point of emergence for the human race, this potent belief
will immediately supersede the more ancient supersti-
553:27 tion about the creation from dust or from the rib of our
primeval father.
Being is immortal
You may say that mortals are formed before they
553:30 think or know aught of their origin, and you
may also ask how belief can affect a result
which precedes the development of that belief. It can
554:1 only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what "eye
hath not seen," - even the cause of all that exists, - for
554:3 the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who
is its divine immortal Principle. There is no such thing
as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings,
554:6 because being is immortal, like Deity, - or, rather, being
and Deity are inseparable.
Our conscious development
Error is always error. It is /no thing/. Any statement
554:9 of life, following from a misconception of life, is errone-
ous, because it is destitute of any knowledge
of the so-called selfhood of life, destitute of
554:12 any knowledge of its origin or existence. The mortal
is unconscious of his foetal and infantile existence; but
as he grows up into another false claim, that of self-con-
554:15 scious matter, he learns to say, "I am somebody; but
who made me?" Error replies, "God made you." The
first effort of error has been and is to impute to God the
554:18 creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite
Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.
Mendacity of error
Jesus defined this opposite of God and His creation
554:21 better than we can, when he said, "He is a liar, and the
father of it." Jesus also said, "Have not I
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
554:24 This he said of Judas, one of Adam's race. Jesus never
intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, "Ye
are of your father, the devil." All these sayings were to
554:27 show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is
simply a falsity and illusion.
Ailments of animals
It is the general belief that the lower animals are less
554:30 sickly than those possessing higher organiza-
tions, especially those of the human form.
This would indicate that there is less disease in propor-
555:1 tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi-
tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind.
555:3 A fair conclusion from this might be, that it is the human
belief, and not the divine arbitrament, which brings the
physical organism under the yoke of disease.
Ignorance the sign of error
555:6 An inquirer once said to the discoverer of Christian
Science: "I like your explanations of truth, but I do
not comprehend what you say about error."
555:9 This is the nature of error. The mark of igno-
rance is on its forehead, for it neither understands nor
can be understood. Error would have itself received as
555:12 mind, as if it were as real and God-created as truth; but
Christian Science attributes to error neither entity nor
power, because error is neither mind nor the outcome of
555:15 Mind.
The origin of divinity
Searching for the origin of man, who is the reflection
of God, is like inquiring into the origin of God, the self-
555:18 existent and eternal. Only impotent error
would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good
with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this
555:21 sham unity /man/, as if man were the offspring of both
Mind and matter, of both Deity and humanity. Crea-
tion rests on a spiritual basis. We lose our standard of
555:24 perfection and set aside the proper conception of Deity,
when we admit that the perfect is the author of aught
that can become imperfect, that God bestows the power
555:27 to sin, or that Truth confers the ability to err. Our
great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized
manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in
555:30 death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus
was able to present himself unchanged after the cruci-
fixion. Truth fosters the idea of Truth, and not the be-
556:1 lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained
by Spirit.
Genera classified
556:3 Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor-
tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to
possess life and mind. These false beliefs
556:6 will disappear, when the radiation of Spirit
destroys forever all belief in intelligent matter. Then
will the new heaven and new earth appear, for the for-
556:9 mer things will have passed away.
The Christian's privilege
Mortal belief infolds the conditions of sin. Mortal
belief dies to live again in renewed forms, only to go out
556:12 at last forever; for life everlasting is not to be
gained by dying. Christian Science may ab-
sorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but
556:15 the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known
most fully to him who understands best the divine Life.
Did the origin and the enlightenment of the race come
556:18 from the deep sleep which fell upon Adam? Sleep is
darkness, but God's creative mandate was, "Let there be
light." In sleep, cause and effect are mere illusions.
556:21 They seem to be something, but are not. Oblivion and
dreams, not realities, come with sleep. Even so goes on
the Adam-belief, of which mortal and material life is the
556:24 dream.
Ontology /versus/ physiology
Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?
Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual
556:27 life before it cares to solve the problem of
being, hence the author's experience; but when
that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand-
556:30 point.
It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only
a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and
557:1 repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain
under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with-
557:3 out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this
and learn how to develop their children properly on dry
land.
The curse removed
557:6 Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of
nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege-
tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no
557:9 pain in multiplying; but human propagation
has its suffering because it is a false belief. Christian Sci-
ence reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the
557:12 line of creation rises towards spiritual man, - towards
enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line
of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin,
557:15 disease, and mortality, the better for him, - the less pain
and sorrow are his. When the mist of mortal mind evap-
orates, the curse will be removed which says to woman,
557:18 "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Divine
Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of
Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as
557:21 never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.
Popular theology takes up the history of man as if he
began materially right, but immediately fell into mental
557:24 sin; whereas revealed religion proclaims the Science of
Mind and its formations as being in accordance with
the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind,
557:27 spake and it was done.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. - REVELATION.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of
our God, in the mountain of His holiness. - PSALMS.
558:1 ST. JOHN writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of
Revelation: -
558:3 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of
558:6 fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he
set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the
earth.
The new Evangel
558:9 This angel or message which comes from God, clothed
with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. To mortal sense
Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and
558:12 dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow.
When understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When
you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means,
558:15 and it has for you a light above the sun, for God "is the
light thereof." Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations
of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy
558:18 Ghost, whose flames of Truth were prophetically de-
scribed by John the Baptist as consuming error.
Truth's volume
559:1 This angel had in his hand "a little book," open for
all to read and understand. Did this same book contain
559:3 the revelation of divine Science, the "right
foot" or dominant power of which was upon
the sea, - upon elementary, latent error, the source of
559:6 all error's visible forms? The angel's left foot was upon
the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon
visible error and audible sin. The "still, small voice"
559:9 of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean
to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of
Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth."
559:12 It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It
arouses the "seven thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent
forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is
559:15 the power of Truth demonstrated, - made manifest in
the destruction of error. Then will a voice from harmony
cry: "Go and take the little book. . . . Take it, and eat
559:18 it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in
thy mouth sweet as honey." Mortals, obey the heavenly
evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from
559:21 beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed
sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not
over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter. When you
559:24 approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle, when
you eat the divine body of this Principle, - thus partak-
ing of the nature, or primal elements, of Truth and Love,
559:27 - do not be surprised nor discontented because you must
share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs; for the
Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus prefigured this
559:30 perilous passage out of bondage into the El Dorado of faith
and hope.
To-day's lesson
The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, or Revela-
560:1 tion of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connec-
tion with the nineteenth century. In the opening of the
560:3 sixth seal, typical of six thousand years since
Adam, the distinctive feature has reference
to the present age.
560:6 /Revelation/ xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
560:9 stars.
True estimate of God's messenger
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science inter-
prets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great
560:12 miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and
the grand necessity of existence is to gain the
true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of
560:15 heaven in man. This goal is never reached while we
hate our neighbor or entertain a false estimate of any-
one whom God has appointed to voice His Word. Again,
560:18 without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can
never understand the divine Principle. The botanist must
know the genus and species of a plant in order to classify
560:21 it correctly. As it is with things, so is it with persons.
Persecution harmful
Abuse of the motives and religion of St. Paul hid from
view the apostle's character, which made him equal to
560:24 his great mission. Persecution of all who have
spoken something new and better of God has
not only obscured the light of the ages, but has been fatal
560:27 to the persecutors. Why? Because it has hid from
them the true idea which has been presented. To mis-
understand Paul, was to be ignorant of the divine idea he
560:30 taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a
greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea - igno-
561:1 rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth
and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal
561:3 good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice of
evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.
Espousals supernal
Agassiz, through his microscope, saw the sun in an
561:6 egg at a point of so-called embryonic life. Because of
his more spiritual vision, St. John saw an
"angel standing in the sun." The Revelator
561:9 beheld the spiritual idea from the mount of vision.
Purity was the symbol of Life and Love. The Revelator
saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a
561:12 bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb
of Love. To John, "the bride" and "the Lamb" repre-
sented the correlation of divine Principle and spiritual idea,
561:15 God and His Christ, bringing harmony to earth.
Divinity and humanity
John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in
the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life
561:18 and its demonstration, - reducing to human
perception and understanding the Life which
is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal self-
561:21 hood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood.
Spiritual sunlight
The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man,
the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence
561:24 of God and man as the divine Principle and
divine idea. The Revelator symbolizes Spirit
by the sun. The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance
561:27 of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet. The
light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar, but spirit-
ual Life, which is "the light of men." In the first chapter
561:30 of the Fourth Gospel it is written, "There was a man sent
from God . . . to bear witness of that Light."
Spiritual idea revealed
John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the im-
562:1 maculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual
idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy
562:3 Ghost,- divine Science. As Elias presented
the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus
afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this
562:6 figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's
motherhood. The moon is under her feet. This idea
reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit,
562:9 from which the universe borrows its reflected light, sub-
stance, life, and intelligence.
Spiritual idea crowned
The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The
562:12 twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, - separated by
belief from man's divine origin and the true
idea, - will through much tribulation yield to
562:15 the activities of the divine Principle of man in the har-
mony of Science. These are the stars in the crown of
rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens
562:18 of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea
by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting
the light which shines "unto the perfect day" as the night
562:21 of materialism wanes.
/Revelation/ xii. 2. And she being with child cried, travail-
ing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Travail and joy
562:24 Also the spiritual idea is typified by a woman in tra-
vail, waiting to be delivered of her sweet promise, but re-
membering no more her sorrow for joy that
562:27 the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and the
travail portentous.
/Revelation/ xii. 3. And there appeared another wonder in
562:30 heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
The dragon as a type
563:1 Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a
diviner sense., harmony is the real and discord the unreal.
563:3 We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, and
death. We may well be perplexed at human
fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts
563:6 its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions
of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?
The great red dragon symbolizes a lie, - the belief
563:9 that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.
This dragon stands for the sum total of human error.
The ten horns of the dragon typify the belief that mat-
563:12 ter has power of its own, and that by means of an
evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be
broken.
The sting of the serpent
563:15 The Revelator lifts the veil from this embodiment of
all evil, and beholds its awful character; but he also
sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of
563:18 God. The Revelator sees that old serpent,
whose name is devil or evil, holding untiring watch, that
he may bite the heel of truth and seemingly impede the
563:21 offspring of the spiritual idea, which is prolific in health,
holiness, and immortality.
/Revelation/ xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the
563:24 stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Animal tendency
563:27 The serpentine form stands for subtlety, winding its
way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good.
Its sting is spoken of by Paul, when he refers
563:30 to "spiritual wickedness in high places." It
is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel
564:1 them to devour each other and cast out devils through
Beelzebub.
564:3 As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error's
own nature and methods. This malicious animal in-
stinct, of which the dragon is the type, incites mortals to
564:6 kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals, and
worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime. This
last infirmity of sin will sink its perpetrator into a night
564:9 without a star.
Malicious barbarity
The author is convinced that the accusations against
Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were instigated
564:12 by the criminal instinct here described. The
Revelator speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God
and of the dragon as warring against innocence. Since Jesus
564:15 must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate,
met and conquered sin in every form. The brutal bar-
barity of his foes could emanate from no source except the
564:18 highest degree of human depravity. Jesus "/opened not
his mouth/." Until the majesty of Truth should be demon-
strated in divine Science, the spiritual idea was arraigned
564:21 before the tribunal of so-called mortal mind, which was
unloosed in order that the false claim of mind in matter
might uncover its own crime of defying immortal Mind.
Doom of the dragon
564:24 From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and
death, envy, hatred, and revenge, - all evil, - are typi-
fied by a serpent, or animal subtlety. Jesus
564:27 said, quoting a line from the Psalms, "They
hated me without a cause." The serpent is perpetually
close upon the heel of harmony. From the beginning
564:30 to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual
idea. In Genesis, this allegorical, talking serpent typi-
fies mortal mind, "more subtle than any beast of the
565:1 field." In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this
evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen
565:3 with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe
for destruction. It is full of lust and hate, loathing the
brightness of divine glory.
565:6 /Revelation/ xii. 5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
The conflict with purity
565:9 Led on by the grossest element of mortal mind, Herod
decreed the death of every male child in order that the
man Jesus, the masculine representative of the
565:12 spiritual idea might never hold sway and de-
prive Herod of his crown. The impersonation of the
spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our
565:15 Master; but "of his kingdom there shall be no end,"
for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations
and peoples - imperatively, absolutely, finally - with di-
565:18 vine Science. This immaculate idea, represented first
by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman,
will baptize with fire; and the fiery baptism will burn up
565:21 the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love,
melting and purifying even the gold of human character.
After the stars sang together and all was primeval har-
565:24 mony, the material lie made war upon the spiritual idea;
but this only impelled the idea to rise to the zenith of
demonstration, destroying sin, sickness, and death, and
565:27 to be caught up unto God, - to be found in its divine
Principle.
/Revelation/ xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilder-
565:30 ness, where she hath a place prepared of God.
Spiritual guidance
566:1 As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly
through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides
566:3 of human fear, - as they were led through the
wilderness, walking wearily through the great
desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised
566:6 joy, - so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires
in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense
of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for
566:9 them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but
moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire
by night, leading to divine heights.
566:12 If we remember the beautiful description which Sir
Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the Jewess
in the story of Ivanhoe, -
566:15 When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out of the land of bondage came,
Her fathers' God before her moved,
566:18 An awful guide, in smoke and flame, -
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same
hymn, -
566:21 And oh, when stoops on Judah's path
In shade and storm the frequent night,
Be Thou, longsuffering, slow to wrath,
566:24 A burning and a shining light!
/Revelation/ xii. 7, 8. And there was war in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
566:27 dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
Angelic offices
The Old Testament assigns to the angels, God's divine
566:30 messages, different offices. Michael's charac-
teristic is spiritual strength. He leads the
hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan, and
567:1 fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task
of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering
567:3 Love. These angels deliver us from the depths. Truth
and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong
faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails through
567:6 the understanding of God. The Gabriel of His presence
has no contests. To infinite, ever-present Love, all is
Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death.
567:9 Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for he is
killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail
against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with
567:12 them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and
Spirit.
/Revelation/ xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out,
567:15 that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiv-
eth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him.
Dragon cast down to earth
567:18 That false claim - that ancient belief, that old serpent
whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there is intelli-
gence in matter either to benefit or to injure
567:21 men - is pure delusion, the red dragon; and
it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual
idea, and so proved to be powerless. The words "cast
567:24 unto the earth" show the dragon to be nothingness, dust
to dust; and therefore, in his pretence of being a talker,
he must be a lie from the beginning. His angels, or mes-
567:27 sages, are cast out with their author. The beast and the
false prophets are lust and hypocrisy. These wolves in
sheep's clothing are detected and killed by innocence, the
567:30 Lamb of Love.
Warfare with error
Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the wolf.
568:1 Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error. Ever
since the foundation of the world, ever since error would
568:3 establish material belief, evil has tried to slay
the Lamb; but Science is able to destroy this
lie, called evil. The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse
568:6 typifies the divine method of warfare in Science, and the
glorious results of this warfare. The following chapters
depict the fatal effects of trying to meet error with error.
568:9 The narrative follows the order used in Genesis. In
Genesis, first the true method of creation is set forth and
then the false. Here, also, the Revelator first exhibits
568:12 the true warfare and then the false.
/Revelation/ xii. 10 - 12. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
568:15 kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And they overcame him by
568:18 the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the
568:21 inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Paean of jubilee
568:24 For victory over a single sin, we give thanks and mag-
nify the Lord of Hosts. What shall we say of the mighty
conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter
568:27 than has ever before reached high heaven,
now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ;
for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her
568:30 primal and everlasting strain. Self-abnegation, by which
we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against
error, is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly
569:1 interprets God as divine Principle, - as Life, represented
by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love,
569:3 represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period,
here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the
mortal belief in a power opposed to God.
The robe of Science
569:6 The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many," is literally ful-
filled, when we are conscious of the supremacy
569:9 of Truth, by which the nothingness of error
is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error is in
proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the hem
569:12 of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality,
and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, - in a sweet
and certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those who
569:15 break faith with divine Science and fail to strangle the
serpent of sin as well as of sickness! They are dwellers
still in the deep darkness of belief. They are in the surg-
569:18 ing sea of error, not struggling to lift their heads above the
drowning wave.
Expiation by suffering
What must the end be? They must eventually expi-
569:21 ate their sin through suffering. The sin, which one has
made his bosom companion, comes back to him
at last with accelerated force, for the devil
569:24 knoweth his time is short. Here the Scriptures declare
that evil is temporal, not eternal. The dragon is at last
stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods
569:27 of torture it may take to remove all sin, must depend upon
sin's obduracy.
/Revelation/ xii. 13. And when the dragon saw that he
569:30 was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man child.
Apathy to occultism
570:1 The march of mind and of honest investigation will
bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of
570:3 some sort, the growing occultism of this period.
The present apathy as to the tendency of
certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be
570:6 shocked into another extreme mortal mood, - into human
indignation; for one extreme follows another.
/Revelation/ xii. 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his
570:9 mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and
570:12 swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his
mouth.
Receptive hearts
Millions of unprejudiced minds - simple seekers for
570:15 Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert - are wait-
ing and watching for rest and drink. Give
them a cup of cold water in Christ's name,
570:18 and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon
should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea?
He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again
570:21 sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night.
In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual
idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing
570:24 you impart will give thanks. The waters will be paci-
fied, and Christ will command the wave.
Hidden ways of iniquity
When God heals the sick or the sinning, they should
570:27 know the great benefit which Mind has wrought. They
should also know the great delusion of mor-
tal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful.
570:30 Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the
power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are
571:1 not so willing to point out the evil in human thought,
and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing
571:3 iniquity.
Christly warning
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary
to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like
571:6 you better when you tell them their virtues
than when you tell them their vices. It re-
quires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his
571:9 faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake of doing
right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind
of the foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees the
571:12 foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and
designate those as unfaithful stewards who have seen the
danger and yet have given no warning.
The armor of divinity
571:15 At all times and under all circumstances, overcome
evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply
the wisdom and the occasion for a victory
571:18 over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love,
human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a
higher humanity will unite all interests in the one
571:21 divinity.
Pure religion enthroned
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal
scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes the
571:24 mirror in which mortals may see their own
image. In significant figures he depicts the
thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he
571:27 rebukes the conceit of sin, and foreshadows its doom.
With his spiritual strength, he has opened wide the gates
of glory, and illumined the night of paganism with the
571:30 sublime grandeur of divine Science, outshining sin, sorcery,
lust, and hypocrisy. He takes away mitre and sceptre.
He enthrones pure and undefiled religion, and lifts on
572:1 high only those who have washed their robes white in
obedience and suffering.
Native nothingness of sin
572:3 Thus we see, in both the first and last books of the
Bible, - in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, - that sin
is to be Christianly and scientifically reduced
572:6 to its native nothingness. "Love one an-
other" (I John, iii. 23), is the most simple and profound
counsel of the inspired writer. In Science we are chil-
572:9 dren of God; but whatever is of material sense, or mor-
tal, belongs not to His children, for materiality is the
inverted image of spirituality.
Fulfilment of the Law
572:12 Love fulfils the law of Christian Science, and nothing
short of this divine Principle, understood and demon-
strated, can ever furnish the vision of the
572:15 Apocalypse, open the seven seals of error with
Truth, or uncover the myriad illusions of sin, sickness,
and death. Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will be seen
572:18 and acknowledged that matter must disappear.
In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: -
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
572:21 heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.
Man's present possibilities
The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional
572:24 stage in human experience called death, but he already
saw a new heaven and a new earth. Through
what sense came this vision to St. John? Not
572:27 through the material visual organs for seeing, for optics
are inadequate to take in so wonderful a scene. Were this
new heaven and new earth terrestrial or celestial, mate-
573:1 rial or spiritual? They could not be the former, for the
human sense of space is unable to grasp such a view.
573:3 The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while yet
beholding what the eye cannot see, - that which is in-
visible to the uninspired thought. This testimony of Holy
573:6 Writ sustains the fact in Science, that the heavens and
earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness
which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the
573:9 unillumined human mind, the vision is material. This
shows unmistakably that what the human mind terms
matter and spirit indicates states and stages of con-
573:12 sciousness.
Nearness of Deity
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was an-
other revelation, even the declaration from heaven, su-
573:15 preme harmony, that God, the divine Principle
of harmony, is ever with men, and they are
His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a mis-
573:18 erable sinner, but as the blessed child of God. Why?
Because St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and
earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was
573:21 the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could
see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the
spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scrip-
573:24 tural authority for concluding that such a recognition of
being is, and has been, possible to men in this present
state of existence, - that we can become conscious,
573:27 here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain.
This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science.
Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will
573:30 surely appear sometime and in some way. There will
be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When
you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of
574:1 God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is
therefore a present possibility.
574:3 The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to console the weary pilgrim, journeying " uphill all the way."
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: -
574:6 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
574:9 the Lamb's wife.
Vials of wrath and consolation
This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love,
carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till he be-
574:12 came conscious of the spiritual facts of being
and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from
God, out of heaven," - the spiritual outpour-
574:15 ing of bliss and glory, which he describes as the city
which "lieth foursquare." The beauty of this text is,
that the sum total of human misery, represented by
574:18 the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues, has full
compensation in the law of Love. Note this, - that the
very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured
574:21 forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience
which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the
four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and
574:24 heaven-bestowing.
Spiritual wedlock
Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-
cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-
574:27 winged dove descending upon you. The very
circumstance, which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel
574:30 entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers:
575:1 "Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness
into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb's
575:3 wife, - Love wedded to its own spiritual idea." Then
cometh the marriage feast, for this revelation will de-
stroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material
575:6 sense.
The city foursquare
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16)
as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down from
575:9 God, out of heaven," represents the light and
glory of divine Science. The builder and
maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in the
575:12 book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which hath founda-
tions." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teach-
ing must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate
575:15 the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodi-
gal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of
the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The
575:18 four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity,
and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall not be shut
at all by day: for there shall be no night there." This
575:21 city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.
The royally divine gates
As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of
575:24 the north, the city of the great King." It is
indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and
square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star,
575:27 the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward,
to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who fol-
lowed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the
575:30 genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the skies,
- the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society
into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization
576:1 of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of
Harmony.
Revelation's pure zenith
576:3 This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-
ness, - this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which to
us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, -
576:6 reached St. John's vision while yet he taber-
nacled with mortals.
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city,
576:9 the beloved Disciple writes: -
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
The shrine celestial
576:12 There was no temple, - that is, no material structure
in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped
in spirit and in love. The word /temple/ also
576:15 means body. The Revelator was familiar
with Jesus' use of this word, as when Jesus spoke of his
material body as the temple to be temporarily rebuilt
576:18 (John ii. 21). What further indication need we of the
real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw
heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"?
576:21 This kingdom of God "is within you," - is within
reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual
idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this
576:24 recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his
understanding of God.
Divine sense of Deity
The term Lord, as used in our version of the Old
576:27 Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah, and ex-
presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated
to deific apprehension through spiritual trans-
576:30 figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches a higher
meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the divine
577:1 sense, even as the material sense of personality yields
to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite
577:3 Principle and infinite idea, - as one Father with His uni-
versal family, held in the gospel of Love. The Lamb's
wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer
577:6 two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures
in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality re-
flects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being.
577:9 In this divinely united spiritual consciousness, there is no
impediment to eternal bliss, - to the perfectibility of
God's creation.
The city of our God
577:12 This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary
nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the
Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second,
577:15 the Christ, the spiritual idea of God; third,
Christianity, which is the outcome of the divine Prin-
ciple of the Christ-idea in Christian history; fourth,
577:18 Christian Science, which to-day and forever interprets
this great example and the great Exemplar. This city
of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for Love
577:21 is the light of it, and divine Mind is its own interpreter.
All who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty
potentates and dynasties will lay down their honors
577:24 within the heavenly city. Its gates open towards light
and glory both within and without, for all is good, and
nothing can enter that city, which "defileth. . . . or
577:27 maketh a lie."
The writer's present feeble sense of Christian Science
closes with St. John's Revelation as recorded by the
577:30 great apostle, for his vision is the acme of this Science
as the Bible reveals it.
In the following Psalm one word shows, though faintly,
578:1 the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures
by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal
578:3 or spiritual sense of Deity: -
[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
578:6 [LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
[LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] lead-
578:9 eth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; [LOVE's]
578:12 rod and [LOVE'S] staff they comfort me.
[LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil; my cup
578:15 runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness]
578:18 of [LOVE] for ever.
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. - REVELATION.
579:1 In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of
the spiritual for the material definition of a Scrip-
579:3 tural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired
writer. On this account this chapter is added. It con-
tains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms,
579:6 giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original
meaning.
ABEL. Watchfulness; self-offering; surrendering to
579:9 the creator the early fruits of experience.
ABRAHAM. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the
eternal Principle of being.
579:12 This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create
trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of
spiritual understanding.
579:15 ADAM. Error; a falsity; the belief in "original sin,"
sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, - of God
and His creation; a curse; a belief in intelligent matter,
580:1 finiteness, and mortality; "dust to dust;" red sand-
stone; nothingness; the first god of mythology; not
580:3 God's man, who represents the one God and is His own
image and likeness; the opposite of Spirit and His crea-
tions; that which is not the image and likeness of good,
580:6 but a material belief, opposed to the one Mind, or Spirit;
a so-called finite mind, producing other minds, thus mak-
ing "gods many and lords many" (I Corinthians viii. 5);
580:9 a product of nothing as the mimicry of something; an
unreality as opposed to the great reality of spiritual ex-
istence and creation; a so-called man, whose origin,
580:12 substance, and mind are found to be the antipode of
God, or Spirit; an inverted image of Spirit; the image
and likeness of what God has not created, namely, mat-
580:15 ter, sin, sickness, and death; the opposer of Truth,
termed error; Life's counterfeit, which ultimates in
death; the opposite of Love, called hate; the usurper
580:18 of Spirit's creation, called self-creative matter; immor-
tality's opposite, mortality; that of which wisdom saith,
"Thou shalt surely die."
580:21 The name Adam represents the false supposition that
Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end; that the
infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into non-
580:24 intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense; that
immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal
mind; that the one God and creator entered what He cre-
580:27 ated, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.
ADVERSARY. An adversary is one who opposes, denies,
disputes, not one who constructs and sustains reality and
580:30 Truth. Jesus said of the devil, "He was a murderer from
the beginning, . . . he is a liar and the father of it."
581:1 This view of Satan is confirmed by the name often con-
ferred upon him in Scripture, the "adversary."
581:3 ALMIGHTY. All-power; infinity; omnipotence.
ANGELS. God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual
intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness,
581:6 purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality,
and mortality.
ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved
581:9 to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of
Spirit, destroying belief in matter.
God and man coexistent and eternal; Science show-
581:12 ing that the spiritual realities of all things are created
by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation
overcome and followed by exaltation.
581:15 ASHER (Jacob's son). Hope and faith; spiritual com-
pensation; the ills of the flesh rebuked.
BABEL. Self-destroying error; a kingdom divided
581:18 against itself, which cannot stand; material knowledge.
The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evi-
dence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more
581:21 confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall
of its structure.
BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in
581:24 Spirit.
We are "willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord." (II Corinthians v. 8.)
582:1 BELIEVING. Firmness and constancy; not a faltering nor a blind faith, but the perception of spiritual Truth. 582:3 Mortal thoughts, illusion.
BENJAMIN (Jacob's son). A physical belief as to life,
substance, and mind; human knowledge, or so-called
582:6 mortal mind, devoted to matter; pride; envy; fame;
illusion; a false belief; error masquerading as the pos-
sessor of life, strength, animation, and power to act.
582:9 Renewal of affections; self-offering; an improved
state of mortal mind; the introduction of a more spiritual
origin; a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Prin-
582:12 ciple; a spiritual type; that which comforts, consoles,
and supports.
BRIDE. Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the
582:15 idea of God; a sense of Soul, which has spiritual bliss
and enjoys but cannot suffer.
BRIDEGROOM. Spiritual understanding; the pure con-
582:18 sciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man
as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only crea-
tive power.
582:21 BURIAL. Corporeality and physical sense put out of
sight and hearing; annihilation. Submergence in Spirit;
immortality brought to light.
582:24 CANAAN (the son of Ham). A sensuous belief; the
testimony of what is termed material sense; the error
which would make man mortal and would make mortal
582:27 mind a slave to the body.
CHILDREN. The spiritual thoughts and representa-
tives of Life, Truth, and Love.
583:1 Sensual and mortal beliefs; counterfeits of creation,
whose better originals are God's thoughts, not in em-
583:3 bryo, but in maturity; material suppositions of life, sub-
stance, and intelligence, opposed to the Science of being.
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. The representatives of Soul, not
583:6 corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having
wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine
Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting
583:9 out error and healing the sick; Christ's offspring.
CHRIST. The divine manifestation of God, which comes
to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.
583:12 CHURCH. The structure of Truth and Love; what-
ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of
583:15 its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the
dormant understanding from material beliefs to the ap-
prehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of
583:18 divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and
healing the sick.
CREATOR. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating
583:21 divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent
Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal;
the opposite of matter and evil, which have no Prin-
583:24 ciple; God, who made all that was made and could not
create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself.
DAN (Jacob's son). Animal magnetism; so-called mor-
583:27 tal mind controlling mortal mind; error, working out
the designs of error; one belief preying upon another.
584:1 DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea
of Truth and Love.
584:3 "And the evening and the morning were the first day."
(Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear
in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind
584:6 measures time according to the good that is unfolded.
This unfolding is God's day, and "there shall be no night
there."
584:9 DEATH. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the un-
real and untrue; the opposite of Life.
Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. Mind
584:12 is immortal. The flesh, warring against Spirit; that
which frets itself free from one belief only to be fettered
by another, until every belief of life where Life is not
584:15 yields to eternal Life. Any material evidence of death is
false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being.
DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor
584:18 mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness,
and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of
the flesh, which saith: " I am life and intelligence in
584:21 matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, -
a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and
put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to
584:24 reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the
image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image."
DOVE. A symbol of divine Science; purity and peace;
584:27 hope and faith.
DUST. Nothingness; the absence of substance, life, or
intelligence.
585:1 EARS. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses,
but spiritual understanding.
585:3 Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, "Having
ears, hear ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)
EARTH. A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality,
585:6 which are likewise without beginning or end.
To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense,
it is a compound idea.
585:9 ELIAS. Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to mate-
rial sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned
the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold;
585:12 the basis of immortality.
"Elias truly shall first come and restore all things."
(Matthew xvii. 11.)
585:15 ERROR. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 472.
EUPHRATES (river). Divine Science encompassing
the universe and man; the true idea of God; a type
585:18 of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the
place of physics; the reign of righteousness. The atmos-
phere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or
585:21 death; a state of mortal thought, the only error of which
is limitation; finity; the opposite of infinity.
EVE. A beginning; mortality; that which does not
585:24 last forever; a finite belief concerning life, substance,
and intelligence in matter; error; the belief that the hu-
man race originated materially instead of spiritually, -
585:27 that man started first from dust, second from a rib, and
third from an egg.
586:1 EVENING. Mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest.
586:3 EYES. Spiritual discernment, - not material but mental. Jesus said, thinking of the outward vision, "Having 586:6 eyes, see ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)
FAN. Separator of fable from fact; that which gives
action to thought.
586:9 FATHER. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine
Principle, commonly called God.
FEAR. Heat; inflammation; anxiety; ignorance; error;
586:12 desire; caution.
FIRE. Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; afflic-
tion purifying and elevating man.
586:15 FIRMAMENT. Spiritual understanding; the scientific
line of demarcation between Truth and error, between
Spirit and so-called matter.
586:18 FLESH. An error of physical belief; a supposition that
life, substance, and intelligence are in matter; an illusion;
a belief that matter has sensation.
586:21 GAD (Jacob's son). Science; spiritual being under-
stood; haste towards harmony.
GETHSEMANE. Patient woe; the human yielding to
586:24 the divine; love meeting no response, but still remaining
love.
587:1 GHOST. An illusion; a belief that mind is outlined
and limited; a supposition that spirit is finite.
587:3 GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged
morally, civilly, and socially.
GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing,
587:6 all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle;
Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance;
intelligence.
587:9 GODS. Mythology; a belief that life, substance, and
intelligence are both mental and material; a supposition
of sentient physicality; the belief that infinite Mind is in
587:12 finite forms; the various theories that hold mind to be a
material sense, existing in brain, nerve, matter; supposi-
titious minds, or souls, going in and out of matter, erring
587:15 and mortal; the serpents of error, which say, "Ye shall
be as gods."
God is one God, infinite and perfect, and cannot be-
587:18 come finite and imperfect.
GOOD. God; Spirit; omnipotence; omniscience; om-
nipresence; omni-action.
587:21 HAM (Noah's son). Corporeal belief; sensuality;
slavery; tyranny.
HEART. Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and
587:24 sorrows.
HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government
by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere
587:27 of Soul.
588:1 HELL. Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred;
revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-de-
588:3 struction, self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which
"worketh abomination or maketh a lie."
HIDDEKEL (river). Divine Science understood and
588:6 acknowledged.
HOLY GHOST. Divine Science; the development of
eternal Life, Truth, and Love.
588:9 I, or EGO. Divine Principle; Spirit; Soul; incor-
poreal, unerring, immortal, and eternal Mind.
There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or
588:12 Mind, governing all existence; man and woman un-
changed forever in their individual characters, even as
numbers which never blend with each other, though they
588:15 are governed by one Principle. All the objects of God's
creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this
one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that
588:18 life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and
material.
I AM. God; incorporeal and eternal Mind; divine
588:21 Principle; the only Ego.
IN. A term obsolete in Science if used with reference
to Spirit, or Deity.
588:24 INTELLIGENCE. Substance; self-existent and eternal
Mind; that which is never unconscious nor limited.
See chapter on Recapitulation, page 469.
589:1 ISSACHAR (Jacob's son). A corporeal belief; the offspring of error; envy; hatred; selfishness; self-will; 589:3 lust.
JACOB. A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, re-
pentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of
589:6 Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to
the spiritual sense of Life and Love.
JAPHET (Noah's son). A type of spiritual peace, flow-
589:9 ing from the understanding that God is the divine Prin-
ciple of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child
of His care.
589:12 JERUSALEM. Mortal belief and knowledge obtained
from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and
the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyr-
589:15 anny. Home, heaven.
JESUS. The highest human corporeal concept of the
divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing
589:18 to light man's immortality.
JOSEPH. A corporeal mortal; a higher sense of Truth
rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immor-
589:21 tality and supremacy of Truth; pure affection blessing
its enemies.
JUDAH. A corporeal material belief progressing and
589:24 disappearing; the spiritual understanding of God and
man appearing.
590:1 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The rein of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent 590:3 Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.
KNOWLEDGE. Evidence obtained from the five cor-
poreal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human
590:6 theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine
and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the oppo-
site of spiritual Truth and understanding.
590:9 LAMB OF GOD. The spiritual idea of Love; self-im-
molation; innocence and purity; sacrifice.
LEVI (Jacob's son). A corporeal and sensual belief;
590:12 mortal man; denial of the fulness of God's creation;
ecclesiastical despotism.
LIFE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.
590:15 LORD. In the Hebrew, this term is sometimes em-
ployed as a title, which has the inferior sense of master,
or ruler. In the Greek, the word /kurios/ almost always
590:18 has this lower sense, unless specially coupled with the
name God. Its higher signification is Supreme Ruler.
LORD GOD. Jehovah.
590:21 This double term is not used in the first chapter of
Genesis, the record of spiritual creation. It is intro-
duced in the second and following chapters, when the
590:24 spiritual sense of God and of infinity is disappearing
from the recorder's thought, - when the true scientific
statements of the Scriptures become clouded through a
591:1 physical sense of God as finite and corporeal. From this
follow idolatry and mythology, - belief in many gods, or
591:3 material intelligences, as the opposite of the one Spirit,
or intelligence, named Elohim, or God.
MAN. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spirit-
591:6 ual image and likeness of God; the full representation of
Mind.
MATTER. Mythology; mortality; another name for
591:9 mortal mind; illusion; intelligence, substance, and life
in non-intelligence and mortality; life resulting in death,
and death in life; sensation in the sensationless; mind
591:12 originating in matter; the opposite of Truth; the oppo-
site of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal
Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees,
591:15 feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief.
MIND. The only I, or Us; the only Spirit, Soul, divine
Principle, substance, Life, Truth, Love; the one God;
591:18 not that which is/ in/ man, but the divine Principle, or God,
of whom man is the full and perfect expression; Deity,
which outlines but is not outlined.
591:21 MIRACLE. That which is divinely natural, but must
be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.
MORNING. Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and
591:24 progress.
MORTAL MIND. Nothing claiming to be something,
for Mind is immortal; mythology; error creating other
591:27 errors; a suppositional material sense, /alias/ the belief
592:1 that sensation is in matter, which is sensationless; a be-
lief that life, substance, and intelligence are in and of
592:3 matter; the opposite of Spirit, and therefore the opposite
of God, or good; the belief that life has a beginning
and therefore an end; the belief that man is the off-
592:6 spring of mortals; the belief that there can be more than
one creator; idolatry; the subjective states of error;
material senses; that which neither exists in Science nor
592:9 can be recognized by the spiritual sense; sin; sickness;
death.
MOSES. A corporeal mortal; moral courage; a type
592:12 of moral law and the demonstration thereof; the proof
that, without the gospel, - the union of justice and affec-
tion, - there is something spiritually lacking, since justice
592:15 demands penalties under the law.
MOTHER. God; divine and eternal Principle; Life,
Truth, and Love.
592:18 NEW JERUSALEM. Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony.
592:21 NIGHT. Darkness; doubt; fear.
NOAH. A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the noth-
ingness of material things and of the immortality of all
592:24 that is spiritual.
OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heav-
enly inspiration.
592:27 PHARISEE. Corporeal and sensuous belief; self-right-
eousness; vanity; hypocrisy.
593:1 PISON (river). The love of the good and beautiful, and
their immortality.
593:3 PRINCIPLE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 465.
PROPHET. A spiritual seer; disappearance of mate- rial sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth.
593:6 PURSE. Laying up treasures in matter; error.
RED DRAGON. Error; fear; inflammation; sensuality; subtlety; animal magnetism; envy; revenge.
593:9 RESURRECTION. Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence; material belief yielding to spiritual understanding.
593:12 REUBEN (Jacob's son). Corporeality; sensuality; de- lusion; mortality; error.
RIVER. Channel of thought.
593:15 When smooth and unobstructed, it typifies the course of Truth; but muddy, foaming, and dashing, it is a type of error.
593:18 ROCK. Spiritual foundation; Truth. Coldness and stubbornness.
SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and
593:21 demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and
death destroyed.
SEAL. The signet of error revealed by Truth
594:1 SERPENT (/ophis/, in Greek; /nacash/, in Hebrew).
Subtlety; a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error;
594:3 the first statement of mythology and idolatry; the belief
in more than one God; animal magnetism; the first lie
of limitation; finity; the first claim that there is an oppo-
594:6 site of Spirit, or good, termed matter, or evil; the first
delusion that error exists as fact; the first claim that sin,
sickness, and death are the realities of life. The first
594:9 audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that
there was another power, named /evil/, which was as real
and eternal as God, good.
594:12 SHEEP. Innocence; inoffensiveness; those who follow
their leader.
SHEM (Noah's son). A corporeal mortal; kindly affec-
594:1 tion; love rebuking error; reproof of sensualism.
SON. The Son of God, the Messiah or Christ. The
son of man, the offspring of the flesh. " Son of a year."
594:18 SOULS. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 466.
SPIRIT. Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle;
all that is good; God; that only which is perfect, ever-
594:21 lasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite.
SPIRITS. Mortal beliefs; corporeality; evil minds;
supposed intelligences, or gods; the opposites of God;
594:24 errors; hallucinations. (See page 466.)
SUBSTANCE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.
595:1 SUN. The symbol of Soul governing man, - of
Truth, Life, and Love.
595:3 SWORD. The idea of Truth; justice. Revenge;
anger.
TARES. Mortality; error; sin; sickness; disease;
595:6 death.
TEMPLE. Body; the idea of Life, substance, and in-
telligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of
595:9 Love; a material superstructure, where mortals congre-
gate for worship.
THUMMIM. Perfection; the eternal demand of divine
595:12 Science.
The Urim and Thummim, which were to be on Aaron's
breast when he went before Jehovah, were holiness and
595:15 purification of thought and deed, which alone can fit us
for the office of spiritual teaching.
TIME. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are
595:18 summed tip all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions,
knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before,
and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal
595:21 disappears and spiritual perfection appears.
TITHE. Contribution; tenth part; homage; gratitude.
A sacrifice to the gods.
595:24 UNCLEANLINESS. Impure thoughts; error; sin; dirt.
UNGODLINESS. Opposition to the divine Principle and
its spiritual idea.
596:1 UNKNOWN. That which spiritual sense alone compre-
hends, and which is unknown to the material senses.
596:3 Paganism and agnosticism may define Deity as "the
great unknowable;" but Christian Science brings God
much nearer to man, and makes Him better known as
596:6 the All-in-all, forever near.
Paul saw in Athens an altar dedicated "to the unknown
God." Referring to it, he said to the Athenians: "Whom
596:9 therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."
(Acts xvii. 23.)
URIM. Light.
596:12 The rabbins believed that the stones in the breast-
plate of the high-priest had supernatural illumination,
but Christian Science reveals Spirit, not matter, as the
596:15 illuminator of all. The illuminations of Science give us
a sense of the nothingness of error, and they show the
spiritual inspiration of Love and Truth to be the only fit
596:18 preparation for admission to the presence and power of
the Most High.
VALLEY. Depression; meekness; darkness.
596:21 "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." (Psalm xxiii.4.)
Though the way is dark in mortal sense, divine Life
596:24 and Love illumine it, destroy the unrest of mortal thought,
the fear of death, and the supposed reality of error. Chris-
tian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud
596:27 and blossom as the rose.
VEIL. A cover; concealment; hiding; hypocrisy.
The Jewish women wore veils over their faces in token
597:1 of reverence and submission and in accordance with
Pharisaical notions.
597:3 The Judaic religion consisted mostly of rites and cere-
monies. The motives and affections of a man were of
little value, if only he appeared unto men to fast. The
597:6 great Nazarene, as meek as he was mighty, rebuked the
hypocrisy, which offered long petitions for blessings upon
material methods, but cloaked the crime, latent in thought,
597:9 which was ready to spring into action and crucify God's
anointed. The martyrdom of Jesus was the culminating
sin of Pharisaism. It rent the veil of the temple. It re-
597:12 vealed the false foundations and superstructures of super-
ficial religion, tore from bigotry and superstition their
coverings, and opened the sepulchre with divine Science,
597:15 - immortality and Love.
WILDERNESS. Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spon-
taneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a
597:18 material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense
unfolds the great facts of existence.
WILL. The motive-power of error; mortal belief; ani-
597:21 mal power. The might and wisdom of God.
"For this is the will of God." (I Thessalonians
iv. 3.)
597:24 Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-
doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term
as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities.
597:27 WIND. That which indicates the might of omnipo-
tence and the movements of God's spiritual government,
encompassing all things. Destruction; anger; mortal
597:30 passions.
598:1 The Greek word for /wind/ (/pneuma/) is used also for
/spirit/, as in the passage in John's Gospel, the third chap-
598:3 ter, where we read: "The wind [/pneuma/] bloweth where
it listeth. . . . So is every one that is born of the Spirit
[/pneuma/]." Here the original word is the same in both
598:6 cases, yet it has received different translations, as in other
passages in this same chapter and elsewhere in the New
Testament. This shows how our Master had constantly
598:9 to employ words of material significance in order to unfold
spiritual thoughts. In the record of Jesus' supposed
death, we read: "He bowed his head, and gave up the
598:12 ghost;" but this word /ghost/ is /pneuma/. It might be trans-
lated /wind/ or /air/, and the phrase is equivalent to our
common statement, "He breathed his last." What
598:15 Jesus gave up was indeed air, an etherealized form of
matter, for never did he give up Spirit, or Soul.
WINE. Inspiration; understanding. Error; fornica-
598:18 tion; temptation; passion.
YEAR. A solar measurement of time; mortality;
space for repentance.
598:21 "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years."
(II Peter iii. 8.)
One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual
598:24 understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.
This exalted view, obtained and retained when the Sci-
ence of being is understood, would bridge over with life
598:27 discerned spiritually the interval of death, and man
would be in the full consciousness of his immortality and
eternal harmony, where sin, sickness, and death are un-
598:30 known. Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which
599:1 is the solar year. Eternity is God's measurement of Soul-
filled years.
599:3 YOU. As applied to corporeality, a mortal; finity.
ZEAL. The reflected animation of Life, Truth, and
Love. Blind enthusiasm; mortal will.
599:6 ZION. Spiritual foundation and superstructure; in- spiration; spiritual strength. Emptiness; unfaithful- ness; desolation.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. - JESUS.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. - PAUL.
Let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. - SOLOMON'S SONG.
THOUSANDS of letters could be presented in testimony of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and particularly concerning the vast number of people who have been reformed and healed through the perusal or study of this book.
For the assurance and encouragement of the reader, a few of these
letters are here republished from THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL and
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL. The originals are in the possession of the
Editor, who can authenticate the testimonials which follow.
I was a great sufferer from a serious form of rheumatic trouble, my hands being affected to such an extent that it was impossible for me even to dress without assistance. The trouble finally reached the knees, and I became very lame and had to be assisted in and out of bed. I went to the different health resorts for the benefit I hoped to derive from the baths and waters that were prescribed by physicians, but found no permanent relief. I was placed under an X-ray examination, and was told that the joints were becoming ossified. I then consulted a celebrated specialist, who after a thorough examination said my condition would continue to grow worse and that I would become completely helpless.
At that time a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was loaned me. I read it more from curiosity than with the thought of any physical benefit. As the truth was unfolded to me, I realized that the mental condition was what needed correcting, and that the Spirit of truth which inspired this book was my physician. My healing is complete, and the liberation in thought is manifest in a life of active usefulness rather than the bondage of helpless invalidism and suffering. I owe to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gratitude which words cannot express. Her revelation of the practical rather than the merely theoretical application of Jesus' words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," proved to be my redeemer. I did not even have to apply to a practitioner, but am most grateful for the helpful words of loving friends. - E. B. B., Pasadena, Cal.
It is nearly five years since I bought my first copy of Science and Health, the reading of which cured me of chronic constipation, nervous headache, astigmatism, and hernia, in less than four months.
Where would I be now, had not this blessed truth been brought to me by much persuasion of a very dear friend?
I certainly should have been deep in the slough of despond, if not in the grave. Am I truly thankful for all the good that has come to me and mine? I try to let my works testify of that; but to those whom I do not meet in person, I can truly say, Yes; I am indeed more thankful than words can express for the glorious healing that has come to me, both physical, mental, and moral, and I also convey herein, my song of gratitude to the dear Leader who has through her fidelity to Truth enabled me to touch at least the hem of Christ's garment. - B. S. J., Sioux City, Iowa.
It was about fifteen years ago that Christian Science first came to my notice. At that time I had been a chronic invalid for a good many years. I had acute bowel trouble, bronchitis, and a number of other troubles. One physician had told me that my lungs were like wet paper, ready to tear at any time, and I was filled with fear, as my mother, two brothers, and a sister had been victims of consumption. I tried many physicians and every material remedy that promised help, but no help came until I found a copy of Mrs. Eddy's book, Science and Health. The book was placed in my hands by one who did not then appreciate it, and I was told that it would be hard for me to understand it. I commenced reading it with this thought, but I caught beautiful glimpses of Truth, which took away my fear and healed me of all those diseases, and they have never returned.
I would also like to tell how I was healed of a sprained ankle. The accident occurred in the morning, and all that day and during the night I gave myself Christian Science treatment, as best I could. The next morning it seemed to be no better, being very sore, badly swollen, and much discolored. Feeling that I had done all I could, I decided to stop thinking about it. I took my copy of Science and Health and began reading. Very soon I became so absorbed in the book that I forgot all about my ankle; it went entirely out of my thought, for I had a glimpse of all God's creation as spiritual, and for the time being lost sight of my material selfhood. After two hours I laid the book down and walked into another room. When next I thought of my ankle, I found it was not hurting me. The swelling had gone down, the black and blue appearance had nearly vanished, and it was perfectly well. It was healed while I was "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord." This experience was worth a great deal to me, for it showed me how the healing is done. - C. H., Portland, Ore.
My gratitude for Christian Science is boundless. I was afflicted with a fibroid tumor which weighed not less than fifty pounds, attended by a continuous hemorrhage for eleven years. The tumor was a growth of eighteen years.
I lived in Fort Worth, Tex., and I had never heard of Christian Science before leaving there for Chicago in the year 1887. I had tried to live near to God, and I feel sure He guided me in all my steps to this healing and saving truth. After being there several weeks I received letters from a Texas lady who had herself been healed, and who wrote urging me to try Christian Science.
Changing my boarding-place, I met a lady who owned a copy of Science and Health, and in speaking to her of having seen the book, she informed me she had one, and she got it and told me I could read it. The revelation was marvelous and brought a great spiritual awakening. This awakened sense never left me, and one day when walking alone it came to me very suddenly that I was healed, and I walked the faster declaring every step that I was healed. When I reached my boarding-place, I found my hostess and told her I was healed. She looked the picture of amazement. The tumor began to disappear at once, the hemorrhage ceased, and perfect strength was manifest.
There was no joy ever greater than mine for this Christ-cure, for I was very weary and heavy laden. I thought very little of either sleeping or eating, and my heart was filled with gratitude, since I knew I had touched the hem of his garment.
I must add that the reading of Science and Health, and that alone, healed me, and it was the second copy I ever saw. - S. L., Fort Worth, Tex.
While an inmate of the State asylum for the insane at Middletown, Conn., an epileptic, and at times confined to my bed with bilious attacks, pronounced incurable by the doctors (at least six in number), the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mrs. Eddy was placed in my hands. After reading a few pages, I became very much impressed with the truth therein stated, and although I was surrounded with opposition, I knew that "underneath are the everlasting arms." Since that time - past the middle of the year 1899 - I have kept pressing on, until I have been healed by reading Science and Health. At times I was beset by what seemed unconquerable opposition, until the first week in October, 1904, when, upon going to my home in Darien for a visit, I was given my liberty, and I am now earning my living in this city. After having been subject to epileptic attacks since 1892, and at one time pronounced dying by the doctor in charge, I am now well. I have had no fit, or symptoms of any, since the first week in May, 1904.
I trust that this testimony to the healing power of Truth, realized by reading Science and Health (for I had no treatment), may reach the eye of some to whom the battle seems long, and inspire them with fresh courage and a realization of the worth of the victory. I am filled with inexpressible gratitude and love to God, and to Mrs. Eddy. - Mrs. B. B. C., Stamford, Conn.
I have felt for some time I should give my experience in mental surgery. In May, 1902, going home for lunch, on a bicycle, and while riding down a hill at a rapid gait, I was thrown from the wheel, and falling on my left side with my arm under my head, the bone was broken about half-way between the shoulder and elbow. While the pain was intense, I lay still in the dust, declaring the truth and denying that there could be a break or accident in the realm of divine Love, until a gentleman came to assist me, saying, he thought I had been stunned. I was only two and a half blocks from home, so I mounted my wheel again and managed to reach it. On arriving there I lay down and asked my little boy to bring me our textbook. He immediately brought Science and Health, which I read for about ten minutes, when all pain left.
I said nothing to my family of the accident, but attended to some duties and was about half an hour late in returning to the office, this being my only loss of time from work. My friends claimed that the arm had not been broken, as it would have been impossible for me to continue my work without having it set, and carrying it in a sling until the bone knit together. Their insistence almost persuaded me that I might have been mistaken, until one of my friends invited me to visit a physician's office where they were experimenting with an X-ray machine. The physician was asked to examine my left arm to see if it differed from the ordinary. On looking through it, he said, "Yes, it has been broken, but whoever set it made a perfect job of it, and you will never have any further trouble from that break." My friend then asked the doctor to show how he could tell where the break had been. The doctor pointed out the place as being slightly thicker at that part, like a piece of steel that had been welded. This was the first of several cases of mental surgery that have come under my notice, and it made a deep impression on me.
For the benefit of others who may have something similar to meet, I will say that I have overcome almost constant attacks of sick headaches, extending back to my earliest recollection. - L. C. S., Salt Lake City, Utah.
I wish to add my testimony to those of others, and hope that it may be the means of bringing some poor sufferer to health, to happiness, and to God. I was healed through simply reading this wonderful book, Science and Health. I had been troubled periodically for many years with sore eyes, and had been to many doctors, who called the disease iritis and cataract. They told me that my eyes would always give me trouble, and that I would eventually lose my sight if I remained in an office, and advised me to go under an operation. Later on I had to wear glasses at my work, also out of doors as I could not bear the winds, and my eyes were gradually becoming worse. I could not read for longer than a few minutes at a time, otherwise they would smart severely. I had to rest my eyes each evening to enable me to use them the next day; in fact gas-light was getting unbearable because of the pain, and I made home miserable. A dear brother told me about Christian Science, and said that if I would read Science and Health it would help me. He procured for me the loan of the book. The first night I read it, it so interested me I quite forgot all about my eyes until my wife remarked that it was eleven o'clock. I found that I had been reading this book for nearly four hours, and I remarked immediately after, "I believe my eyes are cured," which was really the case. The next day, on looking at my eyes, my wife noticed that the cataract had disappeared. I put away my outdoor glasses, which I have not required since, and through the understanding gained by studying Christian Science I have been able to do away with my indoor glasses also, and have had no return of pain in my eyes since. This is now a year and a half ago. - G. F. S., Liverpool, England.
Fourteen years ago my heart awoke to gratitude to God and the dear Leader at the same time. After a patient and persistent effort of three months' duration, to procure a copy of Science and Health (during which time I had visited every bookstore, and many of the second-hand bookstores in the city of St. Paul), and had failed to find it, I at last remembered that the stranger who told me I might be healed, had mentioned a name, and McVicker's Theatre Building in Chicago as being in some way connected with the work. I sent there for information regarding a book called Health and Science, and the return mail brought me the book, Science and Health, and in it I at once found sure promise of deliverance from valvular heart disease, with all the accompaniments, such as extreme nervousness, weakness, dyspepsia, and insomnia. I had suffered from these all my life, finding no permanent relief, even, in material remedies, and no hope of cure at any time. Only those who have been healed in such bondage and have been liberated by the same means, can know the eager joy of the first perusal of that wonderful book.
Half a day's reading convinced me that I had found the way to holiness and health. I read on, thinking only of the spiritual enlightenment, content to wait until I should be led to some person who would heal me; but old things had passed away, and all things had become new. I was completely healed before I had met a Scientist, or one who knew anything about Christian Science, and before I had read a line of any other Christian Science literature except one leaf of a tract; so it is absolutely certain that the healing was entirely impersonal, as was also the teaching, which enabled me to begin at once demonstrating the power of Truth to destroy all forms of error. - E. J. W., North Yakima, Wash.
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I send the particulars of my healing through Christian Science. While visiting friends in the southwestern part of Ontario, about three years ago, my attention was called to Christian Science and the wonderful healing it was doing. I had lived in New York for twenty-five years, but had never heard of Christian Science before, to my recollection.
Up to that time, for seventeen years, I had suffered with indigestion and gastritis in the worst form, often being overcome from a seeming pressure against the heart. I had asthma for four years, also had worn glasses for four years. It seemed to me that I had swallowed every known medicine to relieve my indigestion, but they only gave me temporary benefit. I purchased a copy of Science and Health, and simply from the reading of that grand book I was completely healed of all my physical ailments in two weeks' time. I have used no medicine from that day to this, and with God's help, and the wonderful light revealed to me through the reading of Mrs. Eddy's book, I never expect to again. I used to smoke eight or ten cigars a day, and also took an occasional drink, but the desire for these has gone, - I feel forever. I travel on the road, and am constantly being invited to indulge, but it is no effort to abstain, and in many instances I find that my refusal helps others.
While I fully appreciate the release from my physical troubles, this pales into insignificance in comparison with the spiritual uplifting Christian Science has brought me. I had not been inside a church for more than ten years, to attend regular services, until I entered a Christian Science church. What I saw and realized there, seemed so genuine that I loved Christian Science from the very start. I have never taken a treatment, - every inch of the way has been through study and practical demonstration, and I know that all can do the same thing if they will try.
Since I have been in Science I have overcome a case of ulcerated tooth in one night through the reading of Science and Health; also a severe attack of grip in thirty-six hours by obeying the Scripture saying, "Physician, heal thyself." - B. H. N., New York, N. Y.
I was a great sufferer for many years from internal cancer and consumption. I was treated by the best of physicians in New York, Minneapolis, and Duluth, and was finally given up as incurable, when I heard of Christian Science. A neighbor who had been healed of consumption, kindly loaned me Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, which I read and became interested in. In three months' time, I was healed, the truth conveyed to me by this book being the healer, and not only of these diseases, but I was made whole mentally as well. I have not been in bed one day since, or rather in eleven years. I have had many good demonstrations during this time, have passed through many a "fiery trial," but this blessed truth has caused me to stand, at times seemingly alone, and God was with me.
I will mention a demonstration of painless childbirth which I have had since coming to Idaho. Perhaps it may help some sister who is looking through the /Journal/ for a demonstration of this kind, as I was before my baby came. Good help being scarce here, I did my housework up to the time I was confined, and was in perfect health. I awoke my husband one morning at five o'clock, and at half past five baby was born, no one being present but my husband and myself. It was quite a surprise to the rest of the family to see me sitting by the fire with a new baby on my lap. My son got the breakfast, of which I ate heartily; at noon I joined the family in the dining-room. I was out on the porch the second day, around the yard the third day, and have been perfectly well ever since, which has been now over three years. To one who had previously passed through agony untold, with a physician in attendance, this seemed wonderful. I hope this will interest some one who is seeking the truth, and I wish to express my sincere love for our beloved Leader, who has given us the " Key to the Scriptures." - E. C. C., Lewiston, Idaho.
Nine years ago my only child was hovering between life and death. Some of the best physicians in Boston had pronounced his case incurable, saying that if he lived he would always be an invalid and a cripple. One of the diseases was gastric catarrh. He was allowed to eat but very few things, and even after taking every precaution, he suffered to the extent that he would lie in spasms for half a day. He also had rickets; physicians saying that there was not a natural bone in his body.
It was while he was in what seemed to be his greatest agony, and when I was in the darkest despair, that I first heard of Christian Science. The bearer of the joyful tidings could only tell me to come and hear of the wonderful things that Christian Science was doing. I accepted the invitation, for I was willing to try anything to save my child, and the following Friday evening I attended my first meeting, which was in The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist. Long before the service began every seat was filled, which was amazing to me, being an ordinary weekly meeting, and that night I realized from the testimonies given that Christian Science was the religion for which I had been searching for years. The next day I went to find a practitioner, but was unable to get the one who had been recommended, he being too busy. On my way home I thought of some of the testimonies which I had heard the night before, - of people being healed by simply reading Science and Health. I resolved at once to borrow a copy, and not dreaming of the sacrifice that my friend would make by conferring such a favor, I went and asked her for a loan of Science and Health. I never saw any one part so reluctantly with a book as my friend did with her copy of the textbook.
I read it silently and audibly, day and night, in my home, and although I could not seem to understand it, yet the healing commenced to take place at once. The little mouth which had been twisted by spasms grew natural and the child was soon able to be up, playing and romping about the house as any child should. About this time we decided to move to the far West.
I was young in Science at the time, and my husband greatly feared that the journey would cause a relapse for the child, but instead, he continued to improve. I constantly read the Bible, Science and Health, and Miscellaneous Writings, the two weeks we traveled, and we were the only ones in our car who, throughout the journey, did not get train sick. The child's limbs grew perfectly straight, he ate anything he wanted, and for years he has been a natural, healthy child in every way. He has passed through some of the worst forms of contagion untouched and unharmed.
I had been reading Science and Health several months, before I gave any thought to myself and my numerous complaints. I had never been very strong, and some of my ailments were supposed to be hereditary and chronic, hence I dragged through many tedious years with a belief in medical laws and hereditary laws resting upon me.
Just before I commenced reading Science and Health I spent a half day in having my eyes examined by one of the leading oculists in Boston. His verdict was that my eyes were in a dreadful condition, and that I would always need to wear glasses. In the meantime I commenced to read Science and Health, and when I thought of my eyes, I had no need for glasses. The years that I have been in Science I have used my eyes incessantly, night as well as day, doing all kinds of trying work and without requiring the aid of glasses. I was healed of all my complaints whilst seeking the truth for my child, and many of them have never returned. Those that appeared simply came to the surface to be destroyed. Teeth have been restored and facial blemishes removed, unconsciously, simply by reading Science and Health. All of this is, however, nothing to compare with the spiritual uplifting which I have received, and I have everything to be thankful for. - M. T. W., Los Angeles, Cal.
For about five years I was afflicted with sciatic rheumatism, in such a severe form that my body was drawn out of shape. When able to be around, I walked with the assistance of a cane. The attacks were periodical, recurring every few months; any exposure to rain or dampness would bring one. At one time I was in bed eleven weeks, suffering intensely all the time except when relieved by hypodermic injections. When I had these attacks, my regular physician was always in attendance. My daughter consulted another physician, who said there would have to be an operation which would include the exposing and scraping of the sciatic nerve. There was also another physician who, knowing of the case, examined my heart and claimed that it was weak and that I was liable to pass on at any time from heart trouble.
After suffering three years I heard of Christian Science, but did not avail myself of it for two years, when I decided to give up all other means and rely wholly upon it. It was not convenient to call a practitioner, so I took Science and Health and applied its teachings as best I could. In three days the trouble completely left me and there has never been the slightest return. My health has been good ever since, and I am at present in perfect physical health. I have been benefited in every way by Christian Science, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and would not be without my understanding of it for anything. - Mrs. E. A. K., Billings, Mont.
I am very thankful to God for what He has done for me. I was suddenly left alone, with many troubles and trials, and I took up the study of the Bible. I was trying to understand it, prior to joining some church, as it seemed to me this would be expected. I had attended all sorts of churches from my childhood up, but never could find any that met my need. As time passed on, my condition became very alarming. Sciatic rheumatism, that had troubled me for some years, became so severe I could scarcely do anything.
Then there appeared some complications, so distressing that I was unable to walk far, and had to sit down frequently by the way. I thought I had Bright's disease, - such excruciating pains, no tongue could tell my sufferings. With all these things upon me, death seemed very near. I had never joined any church, and I thought it now too late, as I would have to wait six months on probation, and I would be dead before that.
About this time I made some inquiries of my sister in reference to Christian Science, as she had already turned to that faith, and I soon found that it was just what I had been looking for. I saw at once that it declared the truth and nothing but the truth. I commenced reading Science and Health, also the New Testament. I wanted to find out what Jesus said, as I did not expect then to live long. I did not go to the meetings, nor did I read Science and Health to be cured, - not thinking of that, - but to be saved from an everlasting hell hereafter. My sister urged me to have a practitioner, but I kept on reading, and praying to God in silence, and what happened? Where had the diseases gone? I persisted in reading Science and Health, together with the Bible, with the knowledge that God as revealed by Christ Jesus can do everything, that He made everything that was made, that He can and does heal the afflicted. He has healed me, thanks to His most holy name. - G. J. H., Charleston, Ill.
In the year 1901, Christian Science found me a hopeless invalid. I had suffered for seven years previous with a very painful back, the result of an operation. I could get no rest or sleep at night, as I could not lie down, but had to sit propped in a chair with pillows around me. Only those who have suffered as I did can know the full misery of it. I had come to the end of material means and never hoped to get well. One day, however, while out walking, it was my good fortune to come to a Christian Scientist's house, and there the teaching was explained to me. I was advised to buy Science and Health, which I did, and the study of this book has healed my back entirely. Christian Science has also cured me of long-standing catarrh of the throat, and neuralgia with which I had been afflicted from childhood. Before coming into Science I had doctored with three of the best physicians in Seattle, but none could give me relief.
I am no longer a sufferer, but rejoice exceedingly in Christian Science.
God's promise has been fulfilled to me, " But unto you that fear my name
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." - E.
O., Georgetown, Wash.
Christian Science found in me a minister's son who had failed to profit by continuous teaching in the old thought. Some years ago I was pronounced by a professor of /materia medica/, whose works are in general use, a neurasthenic. I had been in this condition more or less for eight years, and up to two years ago, when Christian Science was first brought to my attention (thanks to Almighty God) through a kind friend, I was almost constantly taking medicine and had in all eleven physicians who undoubtedly did their best, but without avail, not- withstanding almost all known drugs were prescribed, and further I had tried very many patent medicines. I was also put through forms of hygienic treatment and other things that offered inducements. At the time of coming into Science I was taking three times daily forty minims of cod-liver oil and three of creosote, also three drops of Fowler's solution of arsenic, and on the month or so previous had bought eighteen dollars' worth of patent medicine. I was restricted to the simplest means of diet, - all stews, fries, sweets, berries, and tomatoes I had not touched for two years.
I started to read Science and Health, and before I had half finished the book once I was eating everything that any one does. I read the book eleven times straight ahead and many times skipping about. The book has done the work and I am a well man. - C. E. M., Philadelphia, Pa.
I have received much help, spiritually and physically, through Christian Science. I had what the doctors diagnosed as muscular rheumatism, dropsy, and constipation of thirty years' standing. A dear friend whom I had known as an invalid had been healed by Christian Science and advised me to read Science and Health. I did so, having a desire to know the truth. One of my troubles was that I could not sleep. I began reading the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, and troubles of every kind disappeared before I had read Science and Health through. The thought came, What about the old remedies? but truth prevailed, and I took all the material remedies I had and threw them away. That was seven years ago, and I have not had any use for them since. My husband was healed of the tobacco habit of fifty years' standing, also of kidney trouble, by reading Science and Health. I have not words to express the gratitude I feel to-day for the many blessings that have come to our home. - Mrs. M. K. O., Seattle, Wash.
I became interested in Christian Science about eleven years ago, and was healed of neuralgia of the stomach, from which I had suffered from a child. As I grew older, the spells became more frequent and more severe; the only relief physicians could give me was by hypodermic injections of morphine. Finally, after each spell, I would be prostrated for a day or two with the after-effect of the morphine. I was entirely healed of this trouble through the study of Science and Health. I think I never realized what fear meant until I began to try and put into practice my understanding of Christian Science for my children. I have proved, however, many times, that fear can neither help nor hinder in our demonstration of truth. The first time I realized this was in the overcoming of a severe case of croup for my little boy. I was awakened one night by the sound that seems to bring terror to every mother's heart, and found the little fellow sitting up in bed, gasping for breath. I got up, took him in my arms, and went into the next room. My first thought was, "O if only there was another Christian Scientist in town!" But there was not, and the work must be done and done quickly. I tried to treat him, but was so frightened I could not think; so I picked up Science and Health, which lay on the table beside me, and began reading aloud. I had read but a few lines when these words came to me as though a voice spoke, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." Almost immediately after, the little one said, "Mamma, sing 'Shepherd,' " - our Leader's hymn, that both the big and the little children love. I began singing, and commencing with the second line, the little voice joined me. I shall never forget the feeling of joy and peace that came over me, when I realized how quickly God's word, through Science and Health and the beautiful hymn, had accomplished the healing work. This is only one of many instances in which the power of God's word to heal has been demonstrated in our home. - A. J. G., Riverside, Cal.
Paul said, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." In my own case deafness has been overcome by an enlarged understanding of God's word, as explained by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. Many times I have been enabled to turn to God, to know it was His will to help in trouble, and obtained the needed benefit. Catarrh has disappeared; tonsilitis, which very frequently laid me aside from duties in the schoolroom and home, is no longer manifest. When temptation comes (for Christian Science is both preventive and curative), I turn to that wonderful book, Science and Health, and my precious Bible, grown dearer since read in the new light of spiritual understanding, until I know that my mind is renewed, because the action is changed and the inflammation has abated.
Thus in my experience in Christian Science, I have seen the transformation begun, and Truth is able to perfect that which is begun in me so gloriously. - Mrs. C.A. McL., Brooklyn, Nova Scotia.
For fifteen years I was a great sufferer physically and mentally. Eminent physicians treated me for hereditary consumption, torpid liver, and many other diseases. I sought relief at famous springs, the ozone of Florida, and the pure air of Colorado, but in vain. My life was one ceaseless torture.
During all this time, however, I was an earnest seeker after Truth. I examined every religious teaching with a calm and unprejudiced attention. From an orthodox Protestant I became a skeptic, and a follower of Voltaire, Tom Paine, and Ingersoll; yet all the while I retained faith in a supreme intelligent Being who made all. Sick, weary, doubting, and despairing, I accidentally went into a Christian Science church in New York City, on a Wednesday evening, not knowing what kind of a place it was. Seeing a large number of people going into the building, I followed, supposing that a marriage ceremony had attracted the crowd. Being informed it was their regular Wednesday evening service, I inquired as to the denomination. I concluded that it was another new fad, but after investigation I procured a copy of Science and Health, promising I would read it carefully. I began reading the book on Tuesday and finished on Friday of the same week. I was still in the dark. I laid the book down, involuntarily closed my eyes, and silently prayed to God.
I remained in that attitude a few moments, when I felt like the mariner who had been tossed for days upon a boisterous sea, the clouds bending low, the billows rolling high, all nature wrapped in darkness; in his despair he kneels and commits his soul to God, when he suddenly beholds the North Star breaking through the clouds, enabling him to guide his ship to the shores of safety. Many things were made plain to me. I saw that there is one Fatherhood of God and one brotherhood of man; that though "once I was blind, now I see;" that there was no more pain, nor aches, no fear, nor indigestion. I slept that night like a babe and awoke next morning refreshed. There are now no traces whatever of my former complaint and I feel like a new being. - L. P., New York, N. Y.
About nine years ago I was drawn to Christian Science by a relative whose many afflictions had given place to health and harmony, and whose loving gratitude was reflected in every word and deed. The thought came to me, God indeed healeth all our diseases.
My first reading of Science and Health was without understanding. I was full of darkness and gloom, and it was laid aside for a time. The good seed had been sown, however, and erelong the reading was resumed, and with such interest that my afflictions disappeared "like mist before the morning sun." Asthma (thought to be hereditary), neuralgia in an aggravated form, and besides these, the tobacco and liquor habit of many years' standing left me. Bless the Lord, "He sent his word" and healed me, - for the reading of Science and Health brought to my consciousness the truth that makes free. - S., Shellman, Ga.
I became interested in Christian Science nearly five years ago through the healing of my wife of what the doctors called consumption in its last stages. I had tried everything that I could get in the way of /materia medica/, and every doctor would tell me nearly the same story about the case. At last they recommended for her only a higher, drier climate, and when she would be at her worst to give her something to quiet her.
I tried different climates, but she was no better, indeed worse. At last she struggled along until the first of March, 1899. She had taken to her bed again. For two days and nights she suffered, and I called a physician. He came and diagnosed the case, and said that he could do nothing for her but give her some morphine tablets to make her rest. I gave her two of them according to direction, and just before the time to give her the third, she called me to her bedside, and said, " Don't give me any more of that stuff, for it does me more harm than good," so I turned and placed them in the fire, though I did not then know anything about Christian Science. We had heard of it, but that was all. I gave her the last tablet at eight o'clock that night, and about nine o'clock the next day a lady who had been healed in Christian Science visited her, and introduced her to this great truth. She accepted it and thought she would try it. The lady loaned her Science and Health. She got the book about ten o'clock that day and read it until dinner was called. She ate a hearty dinner, the first in about three days, and that same evening she dressed herself, walked into the dining-room, ate a hearty supper and enjoyed it. She slept well that night. She borrowed this lady's copy of Science and Health two hours each day for eight days, and was healed. The first day that she read Science and Health she weighed about ninety-five pounds. Three months later she weighed one hundred and thirty-five pounds. - A. J. D., Houston, Tex.
It may help others to know that some one was really healed of severe illness through Christian Science. It is over nine years since we first became interested in the Science, and it would be hard to find a healthier person than I am now. I can go all day, from morning till night, upheld by the thought that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." I can truly say that I scarcely know what physical weariness is any more. Before I came into Science the physicians said that one lung was gone, and that the other was affected with tuberculosis; so, from their standpoint, there was little left for me to hope for. We had tried every remedy that they had suggested. I had gone to the mountains, but could not stay there on account of the altitude; and when they did not know what else to do, they said we would better go to England - that the ocean air would be beneficial. So we spent three months in the British Isles, and when I came back I seemed much better, but this only lasted a short time. In little more than a month I was worse than ever, and my mother was told that I had but a few weeks, or at most months, to live.
At that time, a lady, a stranger to us, suggested that we try Christian Science. There was no prejudice against it, as we did not even know what it was. We knew of no Scientists in the Western town where we were living, and when we were told that we could send to Kansas City for absent treatment, we thought it was absurd. We were then told that many people had been healed through the reading of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, and to us this seemed a little worse than the absent treatment, but as we had tried everything we had heard of up to that time, my mother sent for the book.
It came in the middle of October and we began to read it together. It seemed to me from the first that it was something I had always believed, but did not know how to express - it seemed such a natural thing. My improvement was very gradual, but I felt I was recovering. After the Christmas holidays I started in at school and went the whole term without missing a day, - something I had never done before. I finished my school course without missing a day - in fact, I have not spent a day in bed since that time. I feel absolutely certain that I have two sound, healthy lungs now. The hollows in my chest have filled out, and I breathe perfectly on both sides; rarely have a cold to meet, and have not a sign of a cough.
People sometimes say, "Oh, well, maybe you never had consumption." Well, I had all the symptoms, and they are every one gone through the reading of Science and Health. - E. L. B., Chicago, Ill.
I feel compelled to write my testimony and hope that I may be accepted as one more witness to the Truth as contained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
In the year 1883 I first heard of Christian Science. I was sitting in a saloon in Leadville, Col., reading a daily paper of that place. My eyes lighted upon an article which spoke of some peculiar people in Boston who claimed to have discovered how to heal as Jesus healed. I do not remember much of the article, but those words stayed with me.
I had drifted out to Colorado from New York City (my home), where I had been under the treatment of many leading physicians. The last one, who was too honest to take my money knowing that he could not cure me, advised me to keep away from doctors and quit taking medicine, as nothing but death could cure me. My trouble was pronounced by some to be Bright's disease, by others gravel on the kidneys with very acute inflammation of the bladder and prostate gland.
In the spring of 1888 my wife and myself were spending the evening at the house of a gentleman whose wife had been healed in the East by Christian Science. The gentleman took a book from its bookcase saying, "Here is a work on Christian Science." It proved to be Science and Health. I knew as soon as I had read the title-page that this was the very book we wanted. We immediately sent for the book, and when it arrived we obeyed the angel and feasted on it. I was very much prejudiced against the Bible, and my first demonstration over self was to consent to read the four Gospels. My wife bought me a New Testament and I began to read it. What a change came over me! All my prejudice was gone in an instant! When I read the Master's words, I caught his meaning and the lesson he tried to convey. It was not difficult for me to accept the whole Bible, for I could not help myself, I was just captured. The disease with which I had been troubled for years tormented me worse than ever for about six months, as if trying to turn me aside; but I lost all fear of it.
I kept up my study of Science and Health and the disease disappeared. I can honestly say that Science and Health was my only healer, and it has been my only teacher. - R. A. C., Los Angeles, Cal.
Christian Science came to me when I was a wreck, my body being completely covered with sores. My eyes were very bad, so that I sat in a darkened room for weeks together, most of the time in bed under opiates. The home doctor and a specialist said the disease of the eyes could not be cured, though they might help me for a while. I had one operation, and the doctor said if I took cold I would become totally blind. My suffering was beyond telling.
A clergyman called almost every day, and sat by my bed and wept, and my good, kind doctor shed tears many times. Finally, after a year of this terrible suffering, I was sent to Indiana, to a sister who had been healed of lung trouble by Christian Science. The first day I was there she read to me from the Bible and from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and I was healed. I knew that God was no respecter of persons, and when I saw what had been done for my sister, who was changed from being a mere frame to a strong, robust, healthy, rosy-cheeked woman, the cough all gone, I said, "God has as much for me, if I will accept it." I was healed instantaneously by Christian Science, and am thankful to God for giving us this understanding through Mrs. Eddy, our beloved Leader. I am now in perfect health. - Mrs. F. S., Laurel, Miss.
For twelve years previous to the fall of 1897 I had been under the care of a physician much of the time. Different opinions were given by them, as to the nature of the trouble, some diagnosing it as an abnormal growth, etc. I was healed through reading" Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. It was a clear case of transformation of the body by the renewal of the mind. I am perfectly well at the present time. - J. M. H., Omaha, Neb.
There is no doubt that by far the greater number come to Christian Science by the way of physical healing, but there are those to whom this does not particularly appeal. In the hope that it may be of benefit to some such, and in gratitude for help received, I submit my own experience. Three years ago I knew nothing of Christian Science, aside from the knowledge gathered from the daily papers and current literature. When I thought of the subject at all, it was to class Christian Science with various human theories with which I could not be in sympathy, for they seemed to rely upon both good and evil. I had never known of a case of healing, had never read the textbook or heard of the /Journal/ or /Sentinel/, but I would sometimes see people going into the Christian Science church. I was tired of trying to find anything satisfactory in religious belief, for it seemed as if God either could not or would not bring into harmony the terrible conditions existing in human society. I had quit using any form of prayer except the Lord's Prayer, and even then omitted the words "lead us not into temptation." How I longed to know just a little of the "why?" and "wherefore?" of it all.
Here is where Christian Science found me. I was thrown in contact with a dear friend of whom I had seen very little for a year or more, a thoroughly educated woman and a thinker. She told me she had taken some treatments in Christian Science for a physical trouble, and had become very much interested in the study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. She asked me if I would like to look at the book, and I said I would be glad to do so. The first chapter, "Prayer," appealed to me from the first, and when I came to Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer (Science and Health, p. 17), my interest was fully aroused. I knew that in a dim way I was learning what it means to "pray without ceasing." Very soon I bought a book of my own, and with the help of our Lesson-Sermons, as given in the /Quarterly/, I began in earnest the study of Science and Health, in connection with the Bible.
I stood very much in need of physical healing at this time, having suffered for several years from an obstinate form of stomach trouble. So far as I know, I gave no thought to the benefits I might derive physically from the study, but I did believe this Science held the truth of things, and I was so absorbed in getting an understanding of the Principle that I thought very little of myself. After about three or four months' study I realized that the stomach trouble was gone, and with it went other physical troubles, which have never returned. This healing was brought about by the earnest, conscientious seeking for the truth, as contained in the Bible and interpreted by our Leader in our textbook, Science and Health. I have since learned more of the Science of healing and have been able in a small way to help others in need. I have also learned that in living and loving is healing realized, and in reflecting divine Love I have the "signs following."
When we think of the pure, loving, unselfish life Mrs. Eddy must have lived in order to become conscious of this truth and give it to us, words are a poor medium through which to express the gratitude which her followers feel for her. It is best expressed by obediently following her, even as she is following Christ. - H. T., Omaha, Neb.
It has occurred to me that I have had ample time to meditate on the many blessings which I have received through Christian Science, as it is now more than six years since I was entirely healed of dyspepsia as well as constipation in its worst form by the reading of Science and Health. So aggravated were the conditions that for three years or more I was unable to drink a glass of cold water. Everything that I drank had to be hot, and my only means of relief from the bowel trouble was hot water injections, for a period of more than three years.
I can truthfully say that I was permanently, and I might say instantly, healed of those two ailments by reading Science and Health as before stated, and in fact I do not think I had read more than thirty pages of this book when I ignored entirely the most rigid kind of diet. I ate and drank everything I wished without a single harmful effect from that time to this date, and there has not been a drop of medicine in our home for more than six years, in a family of five.
I have also seen the power of Truth manifested in our home by having our youngest child relieved of the most excruciating pain, and changed to his most playful mood, immediately upon notifying one of the faithful practitioners of this city. For all this I am endeavoring to be thankful to God and to our faithful Leader, Mrs. Eddy, whose pure and undefiled life enabled her to discover this precious truth for the benefit of all mankind. - M. C. McK., Denver, Col.
From early girlhood I was considered an invalid, having been injured by a hard fall while playing. The pain was intense for some time and for several hours I was unable to walk or stand alone. Later, a growing weakness of the back accompanied with sharp pains alarmed my parents, who called a physician, and he pronounced it spinal trouble. Then followed nearly twenty years of increased suffering, at times very severe. As years went by and I became a wife and mother, my suffering increased. Everything that medical skill could do was done, but finding no lasting benefit from anything, I lost hope of recovery.
When Christian Science found me I was under the doctor's sentence that if I lived the week through I would become entirely helpless, not able to move hand or foot. My husband was a travelling man, and being urgently called home, he met an old friend on the train who asked why we did not try Christian Science. The reply, We know nothing of it, was followed by a brief explanation of its healing power and the benefit his family had received. This inspired my husband with new hope, and on his arrival at home he called on a practitioner, who recommended our getting Science and Health, which we did, but ignorance and the prejudice of old education produced such fear that I hid the book under the covers of the bed whenever the children came into the room, fearing that it was not of God and would injure them. God's dear love was, however, more potent than these foolish fears, and the first day I read from its sacred pages I was convinced its teachings were the same truths as Jesus Christ had taught centuries ago. When I had read a few pages, I reached out and threw my medicine from the open window at the head of my bed. I then turned back to the book and began reading again, when, lo, the Christ-idea dawned upon me, and I was healed instantaneously.
I first noticed the spot in my back cooling, and soon I got out of bed. I continued to read eagerly; I felt as if I wanted to devour the healing truth, and drank it in as a thirsty plant does the gentle rain. When dinner was prepared, I walked out and ate a hearty meal with the family, to the amazement of all. We shall never forget what a joyful meal this was. How we did thank God for Christian Science!
As year after year has gone by, till twenty years have passed and the healing has remained perfect, I have grown to thank God with deeper sincerity that one brave woman was found pure enough to bring forth this Christ-healing again, to remain forever among men and to save suffering humanity from all disease and sin. - Mrs. P. L. H., Fairmont, Minn.
I have often had a desire to make public what Christian Science has done for me, but I never could tell of all my blessings, they are so many. >From childhood I was always sick, never knew one hour of rest, and was under the doctor's care most of the time. I was living in the East at that time, and was advised to try change of climate, which I did. I came West with my family in the spring of the year, but instead of growing better I grew steadily worse, until at last I was obliged to keep my bed for nearly three years, - a great sufferer. My ailments were, it seemed, all that flesh is heir to, and were called incurable by the doctors; viz., Bright's disease, and many others, - in the last stages. My case was known among physicians, many of whom were prominent specialists, as a most extreme one. Many, upon looking at me, would turn away with a wise shake of the head and say, "What keeps her alive?" My physicians, who were exceedingly kind and did all that lay within their power for me, gave me up and the death sentence was pronounced on me by all who attended me.
It was then I realized that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." The "little book" was handed me at this hour of great need. I read it, not thinking it would heal me, but, like a drowning man, I grasped at it. I read it, read it again, and soon found myself growing stronger; then I kept on reading and was perfectly healed of all the supposedly incurable diseases. - L. B., Austin, Minn.
As the son of a physician, a graduate in pharmacy, and an ex-druggist, I had a perfect contempt for what I thought Christian Science to be. About six and a half years ago, however, having exhausted all material means at my command, - /materia medica/, electricity, gymnastics, cycling, and so on, - and being in a hopeless state, the study of Christian Science was taken up. I had been a sufferer from catarrh and sore throat for over thirty years, and in the last five were added several others, including dyspepsia, and bronchitis, and a loss in flesh of sixty pounds. I was completely healed, and regained health, strength, and flesh through the spiritual understanding of Christian Science, the result of about six weeks' study. This good and perfect gift came to me through the careful and prayerful study of Christian Science, as revealed to the world to-day through Science and Health. The promise of Christ Jesus, "the truth shall make you free," was fulfilled, and the past six years of health and harmony have been spent in striving to "hold fast that which is good."
While most grateful for the physical healing, my gratitude for the mental and spiritual regeneration is beyond expression. When I learned that Jesus' mission of healing sickness as well as sin did not end with his short stay upon earth, but is practical in all ages, my joy was unbounded. Having spent thousands in the old way, it seemed wonderful to be healed at such small cost as the price of the "little book" and a few weeks' study. Every thought of prejudice immediately vanished before the proofs that Christian Science is indeed the elucidation and practical application of Jesus' teachings, which are demonstrable truth, "The same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." - C. N. C., Memphis, Tenn.
As a mother of a family my heart goes out in love and gratitude to that good woman we are privileged to call our Leader, for all she has done through her book for me and mine.
Ten years ago I was healed of hereditary deafness and catarrh of the head, simply through reading the book, Science and Health. For years previous I had consulted and taken treatment from some of the best specialists for the ear and throat, both in England and America, but grew worse all the time. I was then urged by a lady who had been healed through Christian Science to buy this book and study it. I did so very reluctantly, but had not read fifty pages before I felt I had indeed found the truth which makes free, and can truly say, from that time I have never had a return of the ailment.
That for which I am, however, most grateful, is the daily help it is to me in my household of young children. I am sure if mothers only knew what Christian Science truly means they would give all they possess to know it. We have seen croup, measles, fever, and various other children's complaints, so-called, disappear like dew before the morning sun, through the application of Christian Science, - the understanding of God as ever-present and omnipotent. It has been proven to me without a doubt that God is a very present help in trouble, and what a blessed help this wonderful truth is in the training of our children, and how quickly the child grasps it.
Some time ago my little girl, then three years old, dislocated her shoulder. I was alone in the house at the time. The pain was so intense that she became faint. I treated her the best I knew how, but kept holding the thought that just as soon as some one came I would run for help. She seemed to grow worse and cried very much. I undressed her and tried to twist the arm into place, but it caused such suffering that I began to get afraid. Then like a flash came the thought, What would you do if you were out of the reach of a practitioner? Now is your time to prove God's power and presence. With these thoughts came such a sense of calm and trustfulness that I lost all fear. I then asked the child if I should read to her; she said "Yes, mamma, read the truth-book." I began reading aloud to her from Science and Health. In about half an hour I noticed she tried to lift the arm but screamed and became very pale. I continued to read aloud and again she made an effort to put some candy into her mouth. This time I noticed with joy that she almost reached her mouth before she felt the pain. I kept reading aloud to her until my sister and two boys came in, when she jumped off her bed, so delighted to see her brothers that she forgot her arm. She then began to tell her aunt that she had broken her arm and mamma treated it with the truth-book. When this happened, it was about 10.30 A. M. and by 3 P. M. she was playing out doors as though nothing had ever happened. - Mrs. M. G., Winnipeg, Man.
A few years ago, while under a sense of darkness and despair caused by ill health and an unhappy home, Science and Health was loaned me with a request that I should read it.
At that time my daughter was given up by /materia medica/ to die of lingering consumption, supposed to have been inherited. My own condition seemed even more alarming, as insanity was being manifested, and rather than go to an insane asylum, it seemed to me the only thing to do was to commit suicide. Heart trouble, kidney complaint, and continual headaches caused from female trouble were some of the many ailments I had to contend with. My doctor tried to persuade me to undergo an operation as a means of relief, but I had submitted to a severe operation ten years previous, and found only additional suffering as a result, so I would not consent.
When I began with Science and Health, I read the chapter on "Prayer" first, and at that time did not suppose it possible for me to remember anything I read, but felt a sweet sense of God's protection and power, and a hope that I should at last find Him to be what I so much needed, - a present help in time of trouble. Before that chapter on "Prayer" was finished, my daughter was downstairs eating three meals a day, and daily growing stronger. Before I had finished reading the textbook she was well, but never having heard that the reading of Science and Health healed any one, it was several months before I gave God the glory.
One by one my many ailments left me, all but the headaches; they were less frequent, until at the end of three years the fear of them was entirely overcome.
Neither myself nor my daughter have ever received treatments, but the study of the Bible and Science and Health, the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy, has healed us and keeps us well.
While Christian Science was very new to me, I attended an experience meeting in First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. A gentleman told of an unhappy woman who was about to separate from her husband. This gentleman had asked her if she did not love her husband. She replied, "No; when I married him I did, but not now." He told her God made man in His image and likeness, and that He is perfect. He said to her, "Go home and see only God's perfect man; you don't need to love a sinful mortal such as you have been looking upon." The lady followed his advice, as he told her there is no separation in divine Mind. In a short time peace and harmony were in her home, and both husband and wife became members of a Christian Science church.
This testimony was like a message from heaven to me. I had received many benefits from the study of Science and Health, but it had never dawned upon my darkened consciousness till then how wonderful our God is. I knew what had taken place in that home could take place in my unhappy home where there was neither rest nor peace.
I hopefully took up my cross, and step by step my burden grew lighter, as I journeyed along, realizing the presence of the Christ, Truth, that indeed makes us free. Not all at once did any outward change appear, but at the end of three years all was peace, all the members of the family attending church together and realizing that there is but one Mind. - E. J. B., Superior, Wis.
I was healed of stomach trouble of many years' standing by reading Science and Health. My condition had reached the stage in which I had periodical attacks, that came on with greater frequency. I was a travelling salesman, and it was a common occurrence for me to have to call a physician to my hotel to administer morphine for an acute form of this disease. This became a regular thing at certain places, and these attacks always left me worse than before. As a result of the last one I lost a great deal in weight. I had tried many physicians and most of the usual remedies during these years of suffering, without any good result. Finally, as a last resort, I decided to try Christian Science, and I was healed by reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.
My health has been of the best since I was healed, now six years ago. In the family we have depended entirely on Christian Science for our healing, and have ever found it efficacious. We consider the physical healing, however, only incidental to the understanding of God and His goodness. This, together with our increased love for the Bible, is proving most valuable to us. We are humbly trying to live the lives that will prove our gratitude to God, and to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy. - Charles E. Peck, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
In the spring of 1880 I was taken down with a severe attack of stomach trouble, was bedfast for three months, and not able to drive out for nearly six months. During this time I had three good doctors treating me. I gained a little in strength, but had very little relief from the stomach trouble. I was recommended to try mineral springs and did so, but with the same disappointment. I went to a sanitarium, but yet the stomach trouble prevailed. I had some friends who recommended patent medicines, but no healing came.
I worried along in this way for several years. Finally I read medicine nearly two years with a good doctor friend, especially for my own benefit, and during this time I had a severe attack of bladder trouble, and for fifteen years I suffered so severely at times that I thought life was not really worth living. In connection with these troubles I suffered every winter with rheumatism and the grip. I also had a growth coming on both eyes called cataract, which caused my eyes to be inflamed nearly all the time, and this growth had made such progress that it was causing my vision to be very dim when reading. Corns were not forgotten, as I was reminded of them very frequently, and for all these troubles I had tried every remedy I heard of that I was able to get, specialists included, without relief.
Thanks to a friend who took me in this hopeless, discouraged condition and led me to the light that never knows darkness, I got a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and was healed in a short time by reading this work. - D. W. L., Anderson, Ind.
I became interested in Christian Science in 1901. For four or five years I had suffered with severe attacks which nothing but an opiate seemed to relieve. After one which I think was the worst I ever had, I consulted our family physician, who diagnosed my case as a dangerous kidney disease and said that no medicine could help me but that I must undergo a surgical operation. I continued to grow worse and went to see the physician again, and he advised me to consult a doctor who was connected with the city hospital of Augusta. This doctor made an examination and diagnosed the difficulty as something different but quite as serious. Meanwhile a friend offered me a copy of Science and Health. I said I did not care to read the book, but she was so urgent that I finally promised to do so. I received the book on Saturday, and on Sunday morning I sat down to read it. When I reached the place where Mrs. Eddy says she found this truth in the Bible, I began comparing the two books. I read passages which looked very reasonable to me, and said to myself, This is nearer to the truth than anything I have ever seen. I continued to read all day, stopping only long enough to eat my dinner. As I read on, everything became clearer to me, and I felt that I was healed. During the evening a neighbor came in, and I said, "I am healed, and that book has healed me." I read on and was certainly healed. Eight days after my healing I did my own washing. This occurred in February, 1901. About six weeks after, I was called to care for my mother, who was under the care of my former physician. I again let him examine my side, as he wished to see if the trouble was still there. He said, "It is certainly gone." I said to him, "Doctor, you told me I would never be a well woman unless I was operated upon; what has healed me?" He replied, "God has healed you." - S. H. L., North Pittston, Me.
It is with sincere gratitude for the many blessings Christian Science has brought me, that I give this testimony. I first heard of Christian Science about fifteen years ago. A friend of mine was taking treatment for physical troubles, and was reading the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The title of the book appealed to me very strongly. I said to my friend, "If that is a Key to the Scriptures, I must have it."
I had long been a member of a Bible class in an orthodox Sabbath school, but I never felt satisfied with that which was taught; there was something lacking, I did not understand then what it was. I purchased a copy of Science and Health and began to study it. I wish I could express in words what that book brought me. It illumined the Bible with a glorious light and I began to understand some of the Master's sayings, and tried to apply them.
I had had a longing to live a better Christian life for many years, and often wondered why I failed so utterly to understand the Bible. Now I knew; it was lack of spiritual apprehension.
I did not know at first that people were healed of disease and sin by simply reading Science and Health, but found after a while that such was the case. At that time I had many physical troubles, and one after another of these ills simply disappeared and I found that I had no disease, - I was perfectly free. The spiritual uplifting was glorious, too, and as I go on in the study of this blessed Science, I find I am gaining surely an understanding that helps me to overcome both sin and disease in myself and in others. My faith in good is increased and I know I am losing my belief in evil as a power equal to good. The pathway is not wearisome, because each victory over self gives stronger faith and a more earnest desire to press on. - E. J. R., Toledo, Ohio.
About four years ago, after I had tried different ways and means to be relieved from bodily suffering, a faithful friend called my attention to the teaching of Christian Science. After some opposition, I decided to investigate it, with the thoughtthat if this teaching would be helpful, it was meant for me as well as for others; if it did not afford any help, I could put it aside again, but that I would find out and be convinced.
After I had read Mrs. Eddy's work, Science and Health, a few days, I found that my ailments had disappeared, and a rest had come to me which I had never before known. I had smoked almost incessantly, although I had often determined to use my will power and never smoke again, but had always failed. This desire as well as the desire for drink simply disappeared, and I wish to say here, that I received all these benefits before I had gained much understanding of what I was reading. Like a prisoner, who had been in chains for years, I was suddenly set free. I did not then know how the chain had been removed, but I had to acknowledge that it came through the reading of this book. I then felt an ardent desire to read more, and to know what this power was that had freed me in a few days of that which I had been trying for years to shake off and had failed. It then became clear to me that this was the truth which Jesus Christ taught and preached to free humanity almost two thousand years ago. It did not, however, occur to me to apply it in my business affairs; on the contrary, I first thought that if I continued in my study I would have to retire from business.
This did not happen, however, for I gradually found that the little understanding of this wonderful teaching which I had acquired became a great help to me in my business. I became more friendly, more honest, more loving to my fellow-men; and I also acquired better judgment and was able to do the right thing at the right time. As a natural result my business improved. Before I knew anything of Christian Science my business had often been a burden to me, fear and worry deprived me of my rest. How different it is now! Through the study of the Bible, which now possesses unmeasurable treasures for me, and for our textbook, Science and Health, and the other works of our Leader, I receive peace and confidence in God and that insight into character which is necessary for the correct management of any business. - W. H. H., Bloomfield, Neb.
For a long time I have been impelled to contribute a testimony of the healing power of Truth. As I read other testimonies and rejoice in them, some one may rejoice in mine. I was healed by reading Science and Health. By applying it, I found it to be the truth that Jesus taught, - the truth that sets free.
From childhood I had never known a well day. I was healed of lung trouble of long standing. Consumption was hereditary in our family, my mother and three brothers having passed on with it. The law of/ materia medica /said that in a short time I must follow them. I also had severe stomach trouble of over eight years' standing, during which time I always retired without supper, as the fear of suffering from my food was so great that I denied myself food when hungry. For over twenty years I had ovarian trouble, which was almost unbearable at times. It dated from the birth of my first child, and at one time necessitated an operation. I suffered with about all the ills that flesh is heir to: I had trouble with my eyes from a child; wore glasses for fourteen years, several oculists saying I would go blind, one declaring I would be blind in less than a year if I did not submit to an operation, which I refused to do.
But thanks be to God whose Truth reached me through the study of our textbook. Words fail to express what Christian Science has done for me in various ways, for my children, my home, my all. The physical healing is but a small part; the spiritual unfolding and uplifting is the "pearl of great price," the half that has never been told. - Mrs. J. P. M., Kansas City, Mo.
It has been my privilege to have interviews with representatives of more than sixty per cent of the nations of this earth, under their own vine and fig-tree. I had never heard a principle understandingly advanced that would enable mankind to obey the apostolic command, "prove all things," until Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures was placed in my hands. I believe that the honest study of this book in connection with the Bible will enable one to "prove all things."
I make this unqualified statement because of what my eyes have seen and my ears heard from my fellow-men of unquestioned integrity, and the positive proofs I have gained by the study of these books. Many supposed material laws that had been rooted and grounded in my mentality from youth have been overcome. It required some time for me to wake up to our Leader's words in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206: "The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained through growth, not accretion." I had many disappointments and falls before I was willing to do the scientific work required to prove this statement; yet notwithstanding the cost to ourselves, I am convinced that we cannot do much credit to the cause we profess to love until we place ourselves in a position to prove God as He really is to us individually, and our relation to Him, by scientific work.
I wish to express loving gratitude to our Leader for the new edition of Science and Health. In studying this new edition one cannot help seeing the wisdom, love, and careful and prayerful thought expressed in the revision. Often the changing of a single word in a sentence makes the scientific thought not only more lucid to him who is familiar with the book, but also to those just coming into the blessed light. All honor to that God-loving, God-fearing woman, Mary Baker G. Eddy, whose only work is the work of love in the helping of mankind to help themselves; who has placed before her fellow-men understandingly, what man's divine rights are, and what God really is. - H. W. B., Hartford, Conn.
When I took up the study of Christian Science nearly three years ago, I was suffering from a very bad rupture of thirty-two years' standing. Sometimes the pain was so severe that it seemed as if I could not endure it. These spells would last four or five hours, and while everything was done for me that could be done, no permanent relief came to me until I commenced reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. After I had once looked into it I wanted to read all the time. I was so absorbed in the study of the "little book" that I hardly realized when the healing came, but I was healed, not only of the rupture, but also of other troubles, - inflammatory rheumatism, catarrh, corns, and bunions.
I would never part with the book if I could not get another. I am seventy-seven years old, and am enjoying very good health. - Mrs. M. E. P., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
When Christian Science came to me, I had been taking medicine every day for twenty years, on account of constipation. I had been treated by doctors and specialists; had taken magnetic treatments and osteopathy; had tried change of climate; had an operation in a hospital, and when I came out was worse than before. I was so discouraged, after I had tried everything I ever heard of, and was no better but rather grew worse, that it seemed as though I must give up trying to get well, when a friend suggested that I try Christian Science. I had heard that Christian Scientists healed by prayer, and I thought this must be the way Jesus had healed. I felt that this was all there was left for me to try. I sent for the book, Science and Health, and commenced to read it out of curiosity, not thinking or knowing that I could be helped by the reading, but thinking I must still take medicine and that I must also have treatment by a Scientist. I, however, dropped my medicine and read for three days; then a light began to shine in the darkness. I was healed of the trouble and have never had to take medicine since. I have studied Science and Health faithfully ever since, and other ailments have disappeared. My little daughter has also been healed and has learned to use this knowledge in her school work. - Mrs. O. R., Leadville, Col.
As my thoughts go back to the time when I believed I had nothing to live for, and when each morning's awaking from sleep brought a sense of disappointment to find myself still among the living (for I had hoped each night that I closed my eyes in sleep that it would be the last time), my heart overflows with love and gratitude to God for our dear Leader who discovered this blessed truth and to the dear ones who have helped me so lovingly and patiently over many rough places.
Twelve years ago, I consulted a physician because I had noticed some odd-looking spots on one of my arms. He said they were liver spots, but that it was not worth while prescribing for those few, that I should wait until I was covered with them. About three months later, with the exception of my face and hands, I was covered with them. Then I became alarmed and called on another physician who prescribed for me, but be finally said he could do no more for me. Other physicians were consulted with no better results. Six years ago, friends advised me to see their family physician, and when I called on him he said he was positive he could cure me, so I asked him to prescribe for me. At the end of two years, after prescribing steadily, he said I was so full of medicine that he was afraid to have me take any more, and advised a rest. After having paid out a small fortune, I was no better, and very much discouraged.
Two years ago, having failed in business, I applied to one of my patrons for a furnished room where I could meet the few I still had left. This lady, who is a Christian Scientist, loaned me Science and Health, and because she asked me so often how I was getting on with the book, I began reading it. I also attended the Wednesday evening meetings which I found very interesting. After hearing the testimonies at the meetings, I decided to speak to some practitioner about these spots, but not until I had at least a hundred dollars on hand, because I thought I would require that amount for treatments, as I had been accustomed to paying high prices. I had not inquired about prices, and in fact did not speak to any one about my intentions, because I felt sensitive on this subject. When I had read about half of Science and Health, I missed the spots, and upon searching could find no trace of them. They had entirely disappeared without treatment. In a few weeks the reading of that book had accomplished what /materia medica/ had failed to accomplish in ten years. It is impossible to express the feeling of relief and happiness which came over me then. - C. K., Astoria, N. Y.
While I have testified to those around me and in many localities, of my healing in Christian Science, I feel that it is high time I put the candle in the candlestick where all who will may see. My earliest recollection was a day of suffering, - a physical inheritance from my mother, which gave simple interest for a time until years advanced and compound interest was added. My father was a physician, and material remedies were used for my mother without avail, consequently his confidence in them for me was shaken, - in fact he often told me it was better to suffer without medicine than become a chronic doser, without pain.
I began teaching in early life and continued for more than twenty years, and during that time not a day passed without pain, or fear of pain, and only for my innate love of life it would have become an intolerable burden. For five years oatmeal was my chief food and I became almost as attached to it as Kaspar Hauser to his crust. I was early taught to have faith in God, and many times was relieved of pain only to have it appear again in an aggravated form.
At last my heart cried out for the living God, and the answer came by one of His messengers, who told me of Christian Science. I replied that I believed God could heal, but that I had no faith in the healing of Christian Science, but would like to investigate its theology, as it might aid in giving me some clue to the meaning of life. For three years I had searched the works of the most scientific writers to find the origin of life; many times I would think I had traced it to the beginning, but it would elude my grasp every time. One day in talking with my friend, she said she would like to loan me the textbook, Science and Health, which I very willingly accepted. Not long afterward I felt a severe attack of suffering. I opened the book for the first time and found a paragraph near the middle which attracted my attention. I read the same paragraph over and over for nearly two hours. When the tea bell rang I closed the book and I shall never forget my perception of the new heaven and the new earth, - everything in nature that I could see seemed to have been washed and made clean. The flowers that I have always loved so much, and that from childhood had told me such sweet stories, now spoke to me of the All-in-all, the hearts of my friends seemed kinder, - I had touched the hem of the garment of healing.
I ate my supper that evening forgetful of the preparations I had made for suffering, and when the next day began I was more zealous of good work than ever before. Since closing Science and Health at my first reading I have never been able to find the paragraph which I had read so many times over, the words seemed to have slipped away from me, but my joy knew no bounds at having found the pearl of great price. By the continued reading of the book I was entirely healed, and for fourteen years I have not seen a day of physical suffering. - Miss L. M., Rome, N. Y.
I had been deaf from childhood. I suffered intensely after eating, and dropsy was another of my complaints. This, with consumption, caused one doctor to say, " It puzzles me; I have never seen such a case before as yours."
I met a friend who had been cured in Christian Science, and she said, "Try Christian Science." I got a copy of Science and Health and in three weeks I was entirely cured. I felt uplifted. It seemed as if God's arms were around and about me. I felt as if heaven had come down to earth for me. After five years of suffering can any one wonder at my unspeakable gratitude? - A. B., Pittsburg, Pa.
In 1894 I began the study of Christian Science. At that time I was greatly in need of its healing truth. For a number of years previous I had been a semi-invalid with no hope of ever being well and strong again. Several years before this time I had undergone an operation which resulted in peritonitis. For three years previous to my study of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I was scarcely ever free from headache caused by the weakened and diseased condition of the internal organs. At the time I began the study of Christian Science I was taking five kinds of medicine.
I began to read Science and Health, and did not take treatment, for I thought, "If this is truth, I shall be healed; if it is not, I shall be able to detect it, and will have nothing to do with it." I became a devoted student and gradually my bodily diseases left me, - I was free, and since that time, nearly ten years ago, neither my two children nor myself have taken any medicine; and our understanding of truth has been able to meet and overcome any suggestion of illness.
I was a devoted member of an orthodox church, but as I grew older I began to question my beliefs, and to my questions I could find no satisfactory answer. I became dissatisfied and finally ceased attending church. I could not accept the idea of God taught there, and at last my friends looked sadly upon me as an atheist. There I stood until I learned to know God as revealed in Science and Health, and then all my questionings were answered. In my girlhood I had always prayed to the God I held in mind, and when the shadows of sickness pain, and death came to my family, I prayed as only those can who know that if He helps not, there is none; but my prayers were unanswered. Then I closed my Bible, saying, "There is a mistake somewhere, perhaps some time I may know."
Only those who know the attitude of mind that I was in can understand the joy that came to me as I began to learn of God in Christian Science, and of my relation to Him.
Many proofs of the healing power of Truth and of His protecting care throng my thoughts. Seven years ago, when we were in a far distant country, where Christian Science was then unknown, my little daughter came in one morning from her school, saying, "Mother, I have measles; twenty of the girls are sick in bed and I am afraid they will put me there also." Her face, hands, and chest were covered with a deep red rash, throat sore, and eyes inflamed. We began immediately to do our work in Science and at night, when I left her at the door of the college, her face was clear, her eyes bright, and all fear destroyed. That was the end of the disease. - F. M. P., Boston, Mass.
In love and gratitude to God, and to Mrs. Eddy, the interpreter of Jesus' beautiful teachings, I wish to tell of some of the benefits which I have received from Christian Science. It is a little over a year since Science found me in a deplorable condition, physically as well as mentally. I had ailments of many years' standing, - chronic stomach trouble, severe eye trouble, made almost unbearable from the constant fear of losing any sight (a fate which had befallen my mother), also a painful rupture of twenty-five years' standing. These ailments, combined with unhappy conditions in my home, made me very despondent. I had entirely lost my belief in an all-merciful God, and I did not know where to turn for help. At that time Christian Science was brought to my notice, and I shall never forget the sublime moment when I perceived that an all-loving Father is always with me. Forgotten was all sorrow and worry, and after four weeks' reading in Science and Health all my ailments had disappeared. I am today a healthy, contented woman.
All this has come to pass in one short year, and my earnest desire is to be more and more worthy to be called a child of God. This is in loving gratitude for an understanding of this glorious truth. - Mrs. R. J., Chicago, Ill.
It is a year since I began to read Science and Health, and I will now try to outline what a knowledge of its teachings has done for me.
My condition was then very trying; my eyes, which had caused me much trouble since childhood, were very painful. For these I had been treated by some of the best specialists in my native land, and after coming to the United States I had been doctored much and had worn glasses for four years. I also had catarrh, for which I had taken much medicine without being relieved. In addition to this I was an excessive smoker, using tobacco in some form almost constantly. I had contracted a smoker's heart, and used liquors freely.
The one who brought to me that which I now prize so highly, was a book agent. I told him that I should be forced to leave my trade on account of my eyes. He then told me of having been healed of a cancer, through Christian Science treatment. He showed me a copy of Science and Health, which had the signs of much use, and after being assured that if I did my part I would be healed of all my diseases, I sent for a copy of the book.
My recovery was very rapid, for after reading the book only three weeks I was completely healed of the tobacco habit. I will say, in regard to this healing, that it did not require even as much as a resolution on my part. I was smoking a cigar, while reading Science and Health, when all the desire to continue smoking left me, and I have never had a desire to use tobacco in any form since then. My eyes were the next to manifest the influence of the new knowledge gained, and had soon so far recovered that I could go about my work with ease, and I have had no more use for glasses. To-day my heart is normal, the catarrh has totally disappeared, and I am not addicted to the use of liquor.
Christian Science has proved to be an ever-present help, not only in overcoming physical ailments, but in business and daily life. It has also overcome a great sense of fear. The Bible, which I regarded with suspicion, has become my guide, and Christianity has become a sweet reality, because the Christian Science textbook has indeed been a "Key to the Scriptures" and has breathed through the Gospel pages a sweet sense of harmony. - A. F., Sioux City, Iowa.
After hearing Christian Science lightly spoken of, from a Christian pulpit, I decided to go to one of the services and hear for myself. From infancy I had been devoted to my church, and as soon as I was old enough I was ever active in the work. Feeling it to be my duty to attend every service held in my own church, I took advantage of the Wednesday evening meetings. My first visit was not my last, I am thankful to say, for I saw immediately that these people not only preached Christianity, but practised and lived it. At that time I was wearing glasses and had worn them for sixteen years. At times I suffered the most intense pain, and for this phase of the trouble, one specialist after another had been consulted. All gave me very much the same advice; each one urged extreme carefulness and gave me glasses that seemed to relieve for a time. None of them held out any hope that my sight would ever be restored, saying that the defect had existed since infancy, and that in time I should be blind.
The thought of blindness was very distressing to me, but I tried to bear it with Christian resignation, since I thought that God had seen fit to afflict me; but since I have learned that He is a loving Father, who gives only good, I regret that I ever charged Him with my affliction. I had no treatment, but I read Science and Health, and my eyes were healed and glasses laid aside. I can never find words to express my thanks to our dear Leader, through whose teachings my sight has been regained. I can truthfully say that "whereas I was blind, now I see" - through an understanding of Truth I have found my sight perfect as God gave it. - Miss B. S., Wilmington, N. C.
It is with a heart full of love and gratitude to God, and to our dear Leader, that I send this testimony to the Field. I had never been a strong girl; had always been subject to colds and chills, and suffered all my life from a delicate throat. Seven years ago I had a very severe attack of rheumatic fever and subsequently two less severe ones. These left all sorts of evils behind them, - debility, chronic constipation, and several others, so that with these ills my life was often a burden to me and I used to think I never should receive relief or health. I had also lost all love for God and faith in Him. I could not accept a God who, as I then believed, visited sickness and sorrow upon His children as a means for drawing them to Him.
I was in this state of mind and body when Christian Science found me. A dear friend, seeing my suffering, presented the truth to me, and though at first I did not believe that there could be healing for me, the Christian Scientists' God seemed to be the one I had been looking for all my life. I began to read Science and Health, and shall never forget my joy at finding that I could love and trust God. I took to studying the Bible, and read nothing but Science and Health and other Christian Science literature for a year. After studying the "little book" for about six weeks, I one day realized that I was a well woman, that I had taken no medicine for three weeks, and that my body was perfectly harmonious. The reading of Science and Health had healed me. The wonderful joy and spiritual uplifting which came to me then no words of mine can describe. I had also suffered from astigmatism and had for several years been obliged to use special glasses when reading or working, and could never use my eyes for more than half an hour; but from the first reading of Science and Health I found that I could read in any light and for any length of time without the slightest discomfort. I am not only grateful for the physical healing but for the mental regeneration. I rejoice that I am now able to help others who are sick and sorrowing. - E. E. L., Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland.
In the early part of the year 1895 my physician said I must undergo a surgical operation in order ever to be well.
While in great fear, and dreading the operation, a kind neighbor called, and after telling me of Christian Science gave me a copy of Science and Health. She said I must put aside all medicine, and by reading faithfully she knew I could be healed. The book became my constant companion, and in a short time I was healed. Besides the relief from an operation, I was completely healed of severe headaches and stomach trouble. Physicians could give me no help for either of these ailments. For ten years I have not used medicine of any kind, and have not missed a Christian Science service on account of sickness during this period. I am perfectly well. To say that I am grateful to God for all this does not express my feelings. The physical healing was wonderful, but the understanding given me of God, and the ability to help others outweigh all else. I also love our dear Leader. - Mrs. V. I. B., Concord, N. H.
Early in 1904 I was teaching in a private boarding-school. I was a very unhappy, discontented woman; I had kidney disease, besides sore eyes, and my general health was very bad. The doctor said that the climate did not suit me, and that I certainly should have a change. The best thing, he said, was to go back to France (my own country); but I did not like to leave the school, so I struggled on until July, when we went travelling for a month, but I came home worse than ever. I had a lot of worry, one disappointment after another, and I often thought that life was not worth living. In September, 1904, we heard for the first time of Christian Science through a girl who was attending our boarding-school, and who was healed through Christian Science treatment. We bought the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and what a revelation it was and is to us; it is indeed the fountain of Truth. I had read Science and Health but a very short time when I took off my glasses, began to sleep well, and soon found myself well in mind and body. Besides this, it has brought harmony into our school, where there had been discord, and everything is changed for the better. I cannot describe the happiness that has come to me through Christian Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.
My one aim now is to live Christian Science, not in words only, but in deeds; loving God more and my neighbor as myself, and following meekly and obediently all our Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for Christian Science. - S. A. K., Vancouver, B. C.
When I first heard of Christian Science I had been afflicted for nine years with a very painful disease of the bowels, which four physicians failed even to diagnose, all giving different causes for the dreadful sufferings I endured. The last physician advised me to take no more medicine for these attacks, as drugs would not reach the cause, or do any good. About this time I heard of Christian Science, and had the opportunity of reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, a few minutes every day for about a week, and I was thereby healed. In looking back I found I had not suffered in the least from the time I began reading this book. It has been nearly seventeen years since this wonderful healing, and I have had no return of the disease. My gratitude is endless and can be best expressed by striving mightily to walk in the path our Leader has so lovingly shown us in Science and Health. - Mrs. J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.
After doctoring about a year, I was obliged to give up school and was under medical care for two years; but grew worse instead of better. I was then taken to specialists, who pronounced my case incurable, saying I was in the last stages of kidney disease and could live only a short time. Shortly afterward my uncle gave me a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and asked me to study it. After studying a short time I was able to walk a distance of several miles, which I had not been able to do for three years. I also laid aside glasses which I had worn seven years, having been told I would become blind if my eyes did not receive proper care. It is over a year since I received God's blessing, and I am now enjoying perfect health and happiness. I have never had my glasses on since I first began reading Science and Health, and I have not used any medicine. - L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.
I came to Christian Science purely for physical healing. I was very ill and unhappy; very cynical and disbelieving in regard to what I heard of God and religion.
I tried to live my life in my own way and put religion aside. I was a great believer in fate and in will-power, and thought to put them in the place of God, with the consequence that I was led to do many rash and foolish things. I am now thankful to say that my outlook on life is entirely changed; I have proved God's wisdom and goodness so often that I am willing and thankful to know my future is in His hands and that all things must work out for the best. I have found a God whom I can love and worship with my whole heart, and I now read my Bible with interest and understanding.
I was healed of very bad rheumatism simply by reading Science and Health. I had tried many medicines, also massage, with no result, and the doctors told me that I would always suffer from this disease, as it was inherited, and also because I had rheumatic fever when a child. I suffered day and night, and nothing relieved me until Science proved to me the falseness of this belief by removing it. I gave up all the medicines I was taking and have never touched any since, and that is more than two years ago. Before this I had often tried to do without a medicine that I had taken every day for ten years, but was always ill and had to return to it, until I found out that one Mind is the only medicine, and then I was freed from the suffering.
I had also suffered constantly from bilious attacks, colds, and a weak chest, and had been warned not to be out in wet weather, etc., but now, I am glad to say, I am quite free from all those material laws and go out in all sorts of weather. - R. D. F., Edinburgh, Scotland.
For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak lungs and after being treated by ten different physicians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colorado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery from what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was hereditary, my father having been afflicted with it. I was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about. My general condition was aggravated by what the doctors said was paralysis of the bowels. Three physicians so diagnosed it at different times, and assured my husband that I could never get more than temporary relief. This indeed I found difficult to obtain, in spite of my almost frantic efforts. At times I was nearly insane from suffering, and after eight years of doctoring I found myself steadily growing worse. For four years I did not have a normal action of the bowels, and it was only by extreme effort and by resort to powerful drugs or mechanical means, with resultant suffering, that any action whatever could be brought about.
I had heard nothing of the curative power of Christian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went one night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once to investigate this strange religion, in the hope that it might have something good for me. I bought the textbook, Science and Health, and from the first I found myself growing stronger and better, both physically and mentally, as I acquired a better understanding and endeavored to put into practice what I learned. In one week I was able to get along better without drugs than I had for years with them, and before three months had passed I was better than I had been any time in my life, for I had always suffered more or less from bowel trouble. Since that time I have taken no medicine whatever, and rely wholly upon Christian Science. My lungs are now sound, my bowels normally active, my general health excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue tasks that before would have prostrated me. The study of our textbook was the sole means of my healing. - L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.
It is only two years since I came from darkness into the light of Christian Science, and to me the spiritual uplifting has been wonderful, to say nothing of the physical healing. Words cannot express my gratitude for benefits I have received in that time. For five years I suffered with that dreaded disease, eczema, all over my body. Five doctors said there was no help for me. The suffering seemed as terrible as the hell fire that I had been taught to believe in. When Christian Science came to me two years ago through a dear friend, she gave me a copy of Science and Health and asked me to read it. I told her that I would, for I was like a drowning man grasping at a straw. I had been a Bible student for twenty-eight years, but when I commenced reading Science and Health with the Bible I was healed in less than a week. I never had a treatment. A case of measles was also destroyed in twenty-four hours after it appeared. - Mrs. M. B. G., Vermilion, Ohio.
I am a willing witness to the healing power of Christian Science, having had a lifetime's battle with disease and medical experiments. Various doctors finally admitted that they had exhausted their resources, and could only offer me palliatives, saying that a cure was impossible. I had paralysis of the bowels, frequent sick headaches with unutterable agony, and my mortal career was nearly brought to an end by a malignant type of yellow fever. Many were the attending evils of this physical inharmony, but God confounds the wisdom of men, for while studying Science and Health two years ago, the veil of ignorance was lifted and perfect health was shown to me to be my real condition, and to such there is no relapse. The constant use of glasses, which were apparently a necessity to me for years, was proven needless, and they were laid aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading a never-failing well of comfort to me. By her interpretation "the way of the Lord" is made straight to me and mine. It aids us in our daily overcoming of the tyranny of the flesh and its rebellion against the blessed leading of Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible and our textbook is bringing more and more into our consciousness the power of God unto salvation. - J. C., Manatee, Fla.
With gratitude to God I acknowledge my lifelong debt to Christian Science. In 1895 I attended my first Christian Science meeting, and was deeply impressed with the earnestness of the people and the love reflected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical body, I did not believe such a thing to be possible. I bought Science and Health and studied it to be able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly deluded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the study carefully and thoroughly, and I have had abundant reason since to be glad that I did, for through this study, and the resultant understanding of my relation to God, I was healed of a disease with which I had been afflicted since childhood and for which there was no known remedy. Surely my experience has been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture: "He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." I believe that Science and Health reveals the Word referred to by David. - C. A. B. B., Kansas City, Mo.
It was in April, 1904, that I first heard the "still, small voice" of the Christ and received healing through Christian Science; and the blessings have been so many since, that it would take too much space to name them. Reared from childhood in an intellectual atmosphere, my paternal grandfather having been an orthodox minister of the old school for forty years, and my father a deep student, ever seeking for the truth of all things, I began early to ponder and to study into the meaning of life, and came to the conclusion before I was twenty that though God probably existed in some remote place, still it was impossible to connect Him with my present living. My highest creed, therefore, became, "Do right because it /is/ right and not for fear of being punished." Then began the suffering. Sorrow after sorrow followed each other in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no rest, the road was indeed long and hard and had no turning, until finally the one thing that had stood by me all through the trials, namely, my health, gave way, and with that went my last hope. But the last hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my piano one day, saying that I would gain much good by reading it.
Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I opened the "little book" and began to read. I had read only a short time when such a wonderful transformation took place! I was renewed; born again. Mere words cannot tell the story of the mighty up-lifting that carried me to the very gates of heaven. When I began to read the book, life was a burden, but before I had finished reading it the first time, I was doing all my housework and doing it easily; and since that glorious day I have been a well woman. My health is splendid, and I am striving to let my light so shine that others may be led to the truth. There have been some mighty struggles with error, and I have learned that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or easily drift inside the gate, but that the "asking" and the "seeking" and the "knocking" must be earnest and persistent.
For a long time I was always looking back to see if the error had gone, until one day when I realized that to catch a glimpse of what spiritual sense means I must put corporeal sense behind me. I then set to work in earnest to find the true way. I opened Science and Health and these words were before me, "If God were understood, instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health" (p. 203). I saw that I must get the right understanding of God! I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I waited with longing intensity for some answer. How long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a wonderful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I held my breath - deep into my hungering thought sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self-conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes the mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight. I trod, as it were, on holy ground. Words are inadequate to convey the fullness of that spiritual uplifting, but others who have had similar experiences will understand.
From that hour I have had an intelligent consciousness of the ever-presence of an infinite God who is only good. - C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.
Through reading Science and Health and the illumination which followed, I was healed of ulceration of the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of existence, agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured with the stomach trouble I will not attempt to describe. The attending physician declared that I could live but a short time, and I felt there would be a limit to my endurance of the torture, but the disease was dissipated into nothingness through Christian Science, which brought me peace.
Like many others I had been seemingly lost in the sea of error, without a compass, yet earnestly and honestly seeking a haven. I had investigated all kinds of religions and philosophies that came under my notice, with the exception of Christian Science, which was not then deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held the very truth I was searching for - the light which "shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Three years of stubborn resistance to Truth, with increasing suffering, followed - then the light came, and with it a new experience. Now, after nine years of Christian Science experience, under severe tests, it can be truthfully said that it has not failed me in any hour of need. - J. F. J., Cincinnati, Ohio.
I did not accept Christian Science on account of any healing of my own, but after seeing my mother, who was fast drifting toward helplessness with rheumatism, restored to perfect health with only a few treatments in Christian Science, I thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus taught and practised it, and if so it was what I had been longing for.
This was about ten years ago and was the first I had ever heard of Christian Science. We soon got a copy of Science and Health and I began in the right way to see if Christian Science were the truth. I had no thought of studying it for bodily healing; in fact, I did not think I needed it for that, but my soul cried out for something I had not yet found. This book was indeed a key to the Scriptures.
It was not long after I began reading before I discovered that my eyes were good and strong, I could read as much as I wished, and at any time, which was something I could not do before, as my eyes had always been weak. The doctors said they never would be very strong, and that if I did not wear glasses, I might lose my sight altogether. I never gave up to wearing glasses, and now, thanks to Christian Science, I do not need them, my work for the past two years as a railway mail clerk being a good test. At the same time my eyes were healed, I also noticed that I was entirely healed of another ailment which had been with me all my life, and which was believed to be inherited. Since that time my growth has seemed to me slow, yet when I look back and view myself as I was before Christian Science found me, and compare it with my life as it now is, I can only close my eyes to the picture and rejoice that I have been "born again" and that I have daily been putting off "the old man with his deeds," and putting on "the new man."
Some of the many things that have been overcome through the study of Science and Health, and through realizing and practising the truth it teaches, are profanity, the use of tobacco, a very quick temper, which made both myself and those around me at times very miserable, and such thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. - O. L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.
Most of my boyhood days were spent in the hands of physicians. From birth I was considered a very weakly child, but my mother was brave, and being much devoted to me did everything within her knowledge and power for my comfort. Sickness and medicine were continually before me, and by the time I reached my teens I thought I knew a material remedy for every ill. I continued in my delusion, because I was never told the real cause of my trouble. Besides being under a leading specialist for two years, I was also an outdoor patient at a noted hospital, but I was not healed. It is wonderful how the "little ones" are cared for in the face of all these seeming difficulties. I always used the prayers that I had been taught, and as I grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by little I gained a desire for freedom, and my prayers finally led me to the truth. The first week that I heard of Christian Science, I visited the home of dear Christian Science friends, and was at once refreshed by their purity of thought and example. I bought a copy of Science and Health, and, after studying it a little while with the Bible, I saw that if the Bible was true, Science and Health must also be true. I began to demonstrate over my physical and mental condition, and as soon as the fear and pain began to leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was healed, and stopped complaining. I kept on studying our textbook, and when I got an understanding in a small degree of the Science of Mind, my first thought was to help others. I was guided where I could pro- gress in Science, and was no longer "carried about with every wind of doctrine," but held to Principle as closely as possible. From the time the healing came into my consciousness, the desire for material remedies left me, because Christian Science at once pointed out the way to get at the cause of discord and disease. All that I had to give up were the false beliefs of mortal mind. Christian Science then taught me to love the church, and to appreciate what it had already done for mankind. I often thought of the old adage, "Charity begins at home," and after three years' preparation I felt able to take Christian Science to my home, where it found, in due time, ready acceptance and willing disciples. This gave me even greater joy than my own healing. The more good I saw accomplished, the more love I had for the truth. Christian Science changed my course from the first, and gave me a nobler aim and purpose in life. I was not so easily influenced by other people's shortcomings, when I learned that evil has neither personality nor place. I was not so ready to take offence, when I found out the way to work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause. - A. E. J., Toledo, Ohio.
On the 23rd of March, 1900, I received from one of my daughters a copy of Science and Health on my seventy-first birthday. Although a constant reader of all kinds of papers and books, I had never heard anything of Christian Science, except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco newspaper, from an orthodox clergyman, referring to the Christian Science people in not very complimentary style.
In Mrs. Eddy's book I came across a great deal of thought that was not readily understood at the first reading, but by continued and careful study, and a good deal of help from my knowledge of chemistry and natural philosophy, I soon shook off the belief of sensation in matter, - the so-called elementary substance. One afternoon I put the belt on my circular saw to cut blocks of firewood and also to split a small stick of frame timber. In doing this the stick closed and pinched the saw. I picked up a small wooden wedge and tried to drive it into the saw kerf, but a bit of ice let the stick on to the back of the saw and instantly it flew, with heavy force, into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek fell about twenty feet off on the snow. The blood spattered on the snow next the saw table, and on feeling with my hand there were two wounds, one on the lock of the jaw and another forward, as big as a dollar, on the cheek bone. "Now," I thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery for you," and without further ceremony, I began to treat the case to the best of my knowledge, with the result that the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and so did a thumping pain, which had commenced. I paid no more attention to the matter, but finished my work, and then went to supper. When I washed my face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where the block of wood struck, but after my usual reading I went to bed and slept all night until near daylight, when a pain on the right side awoke me. On feeling with my hand there was another big lump on the right side, but I treated it and went to sleep again. I never lost an hour from the hurt, although I found out that my jaw was broken. There is no scar, only a little red spot on the cheek, and the lumps on the bone have long since disappeared.
In summing up the benefits I have received from the reading of Science and Health, I can but refer to a condition of sickness dating back to the war (1862), when chronic and malignant diarrhea came near making an end of my material existence. My hearing, also, was seriously impaired from the effect of cannon firing at Shiloh, but it has come back to me, and where I formerly dared not eat an orange, or grapes, I can now eat anything without being hurt. My peace of mind is giving me a rest which I never experienced before during my life, and I have ceased to look away off for the divine presence that was always near, though I did not know it. - L. B., Baldy, N. M.
Less than a year ago, when nothing but trouble seemed to encompass me, I was led to Christian Science. My mother's copy of Science and Health was always lying on the table, but I scarcely ever read it. One day, however, the mental conflict was so great I commenced reading in the hope of obtaining peace. Every day since then my companions have been the Bible and Science and Health. At that time I had a very serious eruption on my face, which had been there two years. We had consulted several physicians, and used every remedy suggested to eradicate it, but they proved useless. I had given up all hopes of its ever being healed, as the physician we last consulted pronounced it tuberculosis of the skin and incurable. A few weeks after I commenced reading, I was amazed to see it almost healed over, and to-day my cheek is perfectly smooth, while the scar is disappearing.
In April my baby was born with only the practitioner and a woman friend present. I suffered little pain, and the third day I went down-stairs. I am able to nurse him, - a privilege of which I was deprived with my first child. He is a picture of health, having never been sick a day since he was born. - K. E. W. L., Mt. Dora, Fla.
Leaving home when a young man, I carried with me a protection against the temptation of a great city, - a mother's prayers and a small Bible. For a time I read the Bible and prayed, but without understanding. This did not suffice, and evil seemed to gain the victory. I soon omitted to read my Bible; forgot to go to God in prayer for guidance and help, and looked to the world for that which it never has and never can give, - health, peace, and joy.
Thus, years later, when Christian Science came into my home, it found me prayerless, churchless, godless; a home discordant, and with no thought or knowledge of spiritual things. Up to this time, my wife had for years been seeking health through the physicians, but without success, and as a last resort had been sent to Christian Science. The help received was so wonderful that I commenced the study of Science and Health. The first effect which I realized from the reading of our textbook, was a great love for the Bible and a desire to read it, something which I had not done for years. I went in silent prayer to God, that I might see the light and truth which would enable me to be-come a better man. "Ye must be born again." Thus again, and as a child, was I taught to pray "the effectual fervent prayer" which "availeth much." In a few weeks' study of Science and Health together with the Bible, and without other help, I was healed of a desire for liquor, of years' standing, and of the use of tobacco. Ten years have passed and these appetites have never returned. I have never used either liquor or tobacco in any form from that time to the present. Surely this Scripture is fulfilled in our home: "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." How can we estimate the value of a book, the study of which brings such transformation and regeneration? Only as we endeavor to live, and strive to practise what it teaches, can we begin to pay our debt to God, and to her whom He has sent to make plain to human understanding the life and teaching of Christ Jesus. - W. H. P., Boston, Mass.
For a number of years I was a weary woman, not ill enough in health to, be called an invalid, but suffering more than could be told with fatigue and weakness. Feeling that this was God's will, I did not ask to be healed, although I was constantly doctoring. I suffered with dyspepsia, congestion of the liver, and many other things, including weak eyesight. With all the medicine, and with different changes for rest, I never regained health, and thought I never should, so I prayed for grace to bear my cross patiently for others' sake. One day, while lying on my couch exhausted, which had become a frequent experience, the words came to me, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." I rose, knelt down and said, O God, make me well. I was telling a friend this and she kindly gave me a /Sentinel. /Imagine my joy when I saw the testimonies of healing! I believed them, remembering our Lord's words, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." I obtained a copy of Science and Health and before a week had passed I realized that if God was my all I needed no glasses. My eyes were healed in a few days, and since then I have never thought of glasses. I was also cured of dyspepsia, and nothing that I have eaten has hurt me since then. The belief in health laws was next destroyed, by knowing that our heavenly Father did not make them, and from this has come the beautiful experience of the overcoming of fatigue.
For this alone I can never be thankful enough. True indeed are the words, "They shall run, and not be weary." This was more than a year ago, and I can say that not once have I felt inclined to lie on the couch, nor have I had a headache, although I am doing more work than ever before. Fear has also been overcome in many ways. - A. L., Chelmsford, England.
When Christian Science first came to me, or rather, when I first came to Christian Science, I did not have a very bad opinion of myself. I thought I was a pretty good fellow. I had no religious views. I seemed to be getting along as well as, if not better than, some who professed Christianity. So I drifted along until I was led to investigate Christian Science.
As I progressed in the understanding as gained from the study of both Science and Health and the Bible, and commenced to know myself, I found that a great change had been wrought in me. For fifteen years I had used tobacco, both chewing and smoking; for ten years I had been a victim of the drink habit, sometimes to excess; I was also addicted to profanity. Christian Science removed these appetites. A stomach trouble and other lesser ills, such as headache, a bad temper, an inordinate love of money, etc., disappeared under the same benign influence. Those things that seemed to be pleasure do not give me pleasure now. They were not real pleasure. I have lost nothing, I have sacrificed nothing; but I have gained everything, and not yet the whole, for I can see plenty yet to be done.
The condition of mind before investigating and after is as different as black and white. As Mrs. Eddy says, "Not matter, but Mind, satisfieth." - G. B. P., Henry, S. D.
I should like to express my gratitude for the many benefits I have received through Christian Science, and to mention the great joy brought to me in the thought that man is not the helpless victim of sin, disease, and death. Through its teachings I have been able to overcome many errors.
When Christian Science found me, one year ago last April, in Chicago, I was suffering from catarrh of the stomach, which had been very persistent, and I had been a slave to the cigarette habit for eighteen years. Pain and weakness had robbed me of all that one holds dear. The first symptoms of the disease appeared about five years ago in the form of severe cramps of the stomach, which finally developed into other symptoms of that painful disease. I doctored continually, my diet daily becoming more rigid, until three slices of toast became my daily allowance of food.
In this condition I left the East for my home in Chicago, hoping that a change of climate might benefit me. After spending six weeks there and finding no relief, I concluded to return East. The Sunday morning before leaving I picked up a Sunday paper, and glancing through the religious items my eyes fell on the notices of Christian Science church services. Curiosity led me to a service and I shall never forget that morning or the surprise and joy it gave me to find that beautiful church, and to know that so great a number actually believed that God does heal the sick to-day. This brought a first ray of hope. The evening service found me there again. Among the notices read was that of a reading room, giving the location and time of opening. Monday morning found me there promptly, and the first book I picked up was Science and Health which opened a new world to me.
I had dieted so long and suffered so much that I had a morbid fear of food. When I had reached and read of "neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of mortal mind, can make one suffer" (Science and Health, p. 221), I left the reading room for something to eat. I found a bakery near by, and bought a bag of cakes which I ate, and shortly after I had a hearty dinner without the least complaint from my stomach.
>From that time until now I have eaten anything that I wished, and the craving for cigarettes, which I had for many years, has entirely vanished. The understanding of Truth, which entirely relieved the diseased stomach, healed also the morbid appetite for smoking. After coming back East, I bought a copy of Science and Health, which I have read daily, and find it a continual help in all the affairs of life.
In my home and at work I find this Science a comfort and source of strength. I have had many difficulties in the way, but it has helped me out of them all. - W. E. B., New Britain, Conn.
When I first heard of Christian Science, seven years ago, I supposed that it was some old fad under a new name. In the little Texas town where we then lived there were two or three Christian Scientists who met at the home of one of their number to read the Lesson-Sermon. Meeting one of them one day, I asked if unbelievers could come to their meetings. She said that they could if they wanted to. I went, expecting them to do something that I could laugh at when telling my friends about it. How surprised I was to find out that they didn't do anything but read the Bible and another book which they called Science and Health. I still thought it all foolishness, but resolved to go to their meetings until I found out all they believed. I continued to go until I began to understand a little of what they knew, not what they believed; and instead of spending my time telling others what a silly thing Christian Science is, I am now trying to find words to tell what a great and wonderful thing it is. I have been healed of so-called incurable spinal disease of ten years' standing by studying the Bible and Science and Health. Science and Health has been my only teacher, and I wish to send my thanks to our dear Leader.
There are no other Scientists near where we now live, but I have the /Quarterly /and study the lessons by myself. I have five small children, and Christian Science is invaluable to me in controlling them, and in overcoming their common ills. They often help themselves and each other to destroy their little hurts and fears. - Mrs. M. H., Oleta, Okla.
In the second chapter of First Peter, ninth verse, I read "that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The periodicals so wisely established by our Leader give us one means of showing forth the praises of Truth.
>From the darkness of physical pain and weariness into the light of wholeness and joyousness in work and living, - from the darkness of a clouded sight into the light of clearer vision, - from the darkness of doubt and discord into the marvellous light of the reality of good, - this is what a reading of the Christian Science textbook has done for me.
At the time the book was lent to me, I was teach- ing in the public schools of Chicago, and absences from my work on account of illness were of frequent occurrence. For five weeks I had been under the care of a specialist for an organic trouble, and he said I would have to come as many more months before a cure could be effected. At this time, Science and Health was brought to my notice. I never thought of such a thing as being healed by the reading of the book, but my thought was so changed that I was healed, not only of the organic trouble, but of blurred eyesight, fatigue, and a train of other discordant manifestations. I did not go back to the physician until four months later to pay my bill (which, by the way, was more than five times the price of the Science and Health I had purchased). From the time I read the book I taught steadily without losing time from my work. I was helped, too, with my work in many other ways.
Through reading the textbook I learned that God has given us strength to do all we have to do, and that it is the things we do not have to do (the envying, strife, emulating, vainglorying, and so on) that leave in their wake fatigue and discord.
Gratitude to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, and to her faithful students, with whom I afterwards became associated, can be expressed only by daily efforts to put into practice what has been taught. - T. H. A., Madison, Wis.
I became interested in Christian Science somewhat over three years ago when in much need of help. I had never been strong, and as I grew older I grew weaker and at last became so ill that life was a burden to me. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy was sent to me, in answer to prayer, as I thought. I was a little afraid of all these new fads, as I thought them, but I had not read far before I felt that I had found the truth which makes us free. I was healed of stomach trouble, inward weakness, and bilious attacks.
One physician said I might have to undergo an operation before I could get well, but, thanks to this Truth, I have found that the only operation needed was the regeneration of this so-called human mind by learning to know God. In many cases I have been able to help myself and others.
Words cannot express my thanks to Mrs. Eddy, and to all who are bringing these great truths to the help of the whole world. - E. E. M., Huntington, W. Va.
I became interested in Christian Science some five years ago, the practical nature of its statements appealing to me, and I must say, at the outset, that with my little experience I have found it all and more than I ever dreamt of realizing on this plane of existence. I am satisfied that I have found Truth. God is indeed to me an ever-present help.
My little girl, some ten months old, was afflicted with constipation. It was so severe I dreaded to go out anywhere with her, as I knew not when she would be taken with a convulsion. I had tried all the usual remedies in such cases, but it seemed to grow more obstinate. There was a Christian Scientist living in the same house with us, a Scientist who let her light shine, and while she said little, I felt the reflection of Love. I had no knowledge of the teachings of Christian Science, save that God was the physician at all times. In my own way I believed He was all-powerful, and I said to my husband one day, "I am through with medicine for baby. I am just going to leave her in God's care and see what He will do. I have done all I can." I did as I said, laid my burden at God's feet, and did not pick it up again. In two days the child was perfectly natural, and has since been free from the trouble. She is now six years of age. Some months later a second test came. She woke up at nine o'clock at night crying and holding her ear. There was to sense a gathering. I was alone. I took up my Science and Health and Bible, but the more I worked the louder she screamed. Error kept suggesting material remedies, but I said firmly: "No; I shall not go back to error. God will help me." Just then I thought of my own fear, how excessive it was, and a conversation I had with the Scientist who first voiced the truth to me, came to mind. She said she always found it helpful to treat herself and cast out her own fear before treating a patient. I put baby down and again took up my Science and Health, and these were the words I read: -
"Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love. The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear' " (Science and Health, p. 410). I looked up, the crying had ceased, the child was smiling, and in a few minutes asked to be put to bed. There has been no further trouble of that kind.
I have since seen the power of Truth overcome error of many forms, including croup, whooping-cough, tonsilitis, etc. I am thankful for all these proofs, but far more grateful am I for the spiritual teaching to love, to forgive, to curb my tongue, and cease my criticism. - M. A. H., Brockton, Mass.
I had been taking medicine continually for many years. Finally I was taken suddenly ill and could not leave my room for about two months, then I went away for three months, thinking that I should come back and be able to continue my work. I improved very much, but the fear of quick consumption was with my doctor and my family and friends, and I was warned about the coming winter. Only too soon the fear manifested itself. I had worked just three weeks when all the pains and aches returned, and I had to go to bed as soon as I got home, so there was no pleasure in living. My employer advised me to see my physician, and said perhaps I should not work that winter. I then and there turned to Christian Science. I could not afford to give up work and live away from home, neither did I want to depend on doctors and medicine any longer. I took the book and read it on my way to work, and at noon I lay down on a couch instead of going out for luncheon and fell asleep. When I awoke I was a different person, all pains and aches had gone, and I was free. I was so happy I could hardly contain myself; to material sense it was wonderful. As I walked I kept saying, "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," and tried to understand "the scientific statement of being" by repeating portions at a time, then pondering over them. I read the book four times in succession, and every time I found more and more to aid in the understanding.
This healing was in October, l901, with no other help than Science and Health, and soon I was relieved of other chronic ailments. In February I was able to put away eyeglasses, which I had worn ten years and a half for astigmatism. Oculists told me I would always have to wear them. A month later my father asked me to help him, as he was suffering so much from constipation, dyspepsia, and neuralgia. He had been subsisting on bran, nearly starving himself until be was most miserable, and his limbs seemed so cold that they were kept wrapped in blankets. I felt very humble as he asked me, and told him I would have a practitioner help him, as I had never treated any one; but he would not consent to have any one but myself, and I finally told him I would try, but that he must not hold Science responsible if he were not benefited, for my lack of understanding, and not Science, would be at fault. At my request he read Science and Health, ate whatever he wanted, and used no medicine in any form. After two treatments I received word from him that he was healed of that bondage of thirty years' standing. In view of all these signs which followed my acceptance of Christian Science, I knew it must be true. - R. L. A., Chicago, Ill.
I was delicate from childhood, and my parents did not think it was possible for me to live more than a few years. I lived, however, although there was not much improvement in my health. Travel and change of climate brought only temporary relief, and the physicians gave me no hope that I would ever be well.
As a last resort I began the study of Science and Health, and before I had finished reading the book I realized that its author was divinely commissioned to bring this spiritual message to a waiting world. Through this reading my health was restored, and I was healed of one disease that has been called incurable by all physicians.
For this, together with the greater and higher blessing of having the spiritual fact of being unfolded to me, I am most grateful.
What shall be rendered for such benefits received and made possible by the consecrated life of our revered Leader? Only by following the teachings of our textbook, and by loving obedience to her gentle and timely admonitions can we show our true sense of gratitude. - F. H. D., De Funiak Springs, Fla.
A testimony given in the Journal led me to investigate Christian Science, and I hope in return to be the means of leading some one else to see the beauty of this saving truth, and to learn to know God aright and man's relationship to Him. I know from experience that it is prejudice and misapprehension of what Christian Science is, that keeps many from enjoying the blessings it bestows.
I had been taking patent medicines for several years, and had been to one of the best sanitariums in this country, but was not healed, although I received some benefit, for which I shall always feel grateful, for I know the physicians did all they could for me. I sometimes thought I had exhausted all remedies, but did not give up, for I felt there must be something to heal me if I could find it.
When in this state of mind Christian Science came to my notice, and after reading several /Journals, /I purchased a copy of Science and Health. I read for several days at odd times. I commenced to improve, and in about a week I was healed of most of my ills, among which were dyspepsia and nervous debility.
Although I had heard about Christian Science before, I had never heard that the reading of the Christian Science textbook had ever effected the healing of anybody. I commenced reading to find out what Christian Science was, but was surprised to find myself improving, and was soon assured that it was the theology of Science and Health that healed me, just as it was the theology of Jesus that healed the sick.
It has also proved to me that there can be no Christian Science Church that does not heal the sick and sinful, for healing follows as the natural result of the teaching of Christian Science. The Bible has become a new revelation to me, and I can read it much more understandingly by the light received through the reading of Science and Health. - A. F. M., Fairmont, Minn.
When I attempt to make plain what Christian Science has done for me, words fail me. For twenty years I was a constant sufferer, my spine having been injured when I was very young. As a little child I suffered so much that I would look up to the stars and beg God, who I thought might be up there somewhere, to take me away from the earth, - I was so tired. A great wall of pain seemed to separate me from the pleasures enjoyed by others, and I could not explain how I felt, because no one could understand. Years passed, and I saw my earthly happiness swept away; my heart was broken and I did not know what to do. I cried for help, day after day and night after night, although I was not sure what God was, nor where He was. I only knew that I suffered, and was in need of help, and that there was no earthly help for either mind or body. I loved purity, truth, and right always, and this made evil seem a most terrible reality. I was unable to cope with it, and so found myself in despair. This was my condition when I commenced reading Science and Health. I was ready for its message, and in about ten days there came a wonderful insight into the truth which heals the sick and binds up the broken-hearted. All pain left me, I had a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth, and was beginning to be fed by Love divine.
I had suffered for years with insomnia. That night I rested like a child, and awoke the next morning well and happy. A flood of light daily illumined the pages of the "little book," and the revelation it holds for all came to my waiting heart. "The peace which passeth all understanding" rested upon me, and joy too deep for words transformed my life. My prayers were answered, for I had found God in Christian Science.
The Bible, which I knew very little about, became my constant study, my joy, and my guide. The copy which I bought at the time of my healing is marked from Genesis to Revelation. It was so constantly in my hands for three years that the cover became worn and the leaves loose, so it has been laid away for a new one. Two and three o'clock in the morning often found me poring over its pages, which grew more and more sacred to me every day, and the help I received therefrom was wonderful, for which I can find no words to express iny gratitude. - I. L., Los Angeles, Cal.
Words cannot express my gratitude to God for Christian Science. When I first read Science and Health, I had tried every remedy I had ever heard of. I felt no change in mind or body that I was conscious of until I read page 16 of the chapter on " Prayer," in Science and Health. The first words of the "spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer," telling of our Father-Mother God, gave me a glimpse of heavenly light. I stopped and reasoned, and remembered the teachings of Jesus. The truth of man's spiritual being dawned on my consciousness. I realized I was not subject to mortal laws, as I had been taught all my life. I could not explain how I knew this, but I knew it. Through Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy had given me what I had longed for all my life, - a Mother, a perfect "Father-Mother God." I had known there was a great lack, and at that time I believe the orthodox world had but half of the truth which Jesus came to establish. When I read, "Give us this day our daily bread," and its spiritual interpretation, my tears began to flow; all the years of bitterness, hate, and fear melted away. I knew then, as I know now, that nothing satisfies but Love. That day began the outward and inward conscious healing, - mental and physical. There never came a doubt! I absolutely knew that Christian Science was and is the truth. Money, friends, materiality, are nothing beside the conscious knowledge of God, man, and the universe.
I did not need treatment from any one, - Science and Health was so clear and beautiful. I could not understand the Bible before, but I found it illumined now that I had a little understanding of Christian Science. For ten years I have not had to lie down in the daytime from any sickness. I am now, and have been all these years, the picture of perfect health. When I first read Science and Health I weighed one hundred and four pounds; I now weigh over one hundred and sixty. This physical health is not to be compared to my happiness, - my harmony that nothing can take away, - because it is the gift of God. Nothing has shown me the perversity of the human mind more than in its conclusions in regard to my healing. Even when I felt and knew that I was healed, people constantly said, because I was thin and delicate looking, " You are not well, any one could look at you and know it." Now that I am fleshy, they say, "You don't look as if you ever had a pain in all your life. You could not have had consumption."
When I think what my life was before I had Christian Science, of the six years of colds, suffering, and coughing, not to mention the unhappiness, I want to "work, watch, and pray " for the Mind of Christ, that I may work rightly in God's vineyard, and to know that in truth, what belongs to one belongs to all, - that one God, one Life, Truth, and Love is all. - A. C. L., Kansas City, Kans.
I first heard of Christian Science four years ago. At that time drinking and smoking were my comforters. I had no other companionship. I had lived almost constantly from childhood in an evil atmosphere. Though I was far from being satisfied with my condition, I failed to see how to better it until I read Science and Health. I used occasionally to listen to a sermon, but sermons did not give me any more comfort than I derived from my pipe, hence I concluded that church-going could not satisfy me and I preferred drinking and smoking. When I began to read Science and Health, I saw it offered something substantial. After a few months' study all desire for drinking and smoking disappeared. I did not give them up; I made no sacrifices, I simply found something better. I might mention that I had smoked ever since I can remember. I used to smoke years before I left school, and, like most Englishmen, loved my pipe, and would almost prefer to miss a meal rather than to go without my smoke. I used to think it gave me comfort.
During my four years' study of Christian Science I have not spent a cent for doctors or medicine, neither have I lost a day from my work on account of sickness, which compares wonderfully with the previous four years. I take a great interest and pleasure in reading the Bible and studying the lessons in the /Quarterly/. The Bible used to be a most mysterious book to me, but Science and Health makes it a most precious book, making its meaning clearer, plainer, and simpler.
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to the friend who invited me to attend the service held in the Auditorium years ago. I also wish to acknowledge the benefit I have had from the /Journal/ and the /Sentinel. /They have helped me wonderfully. If the value of Science and Health and these publications were measured as business men value things, by the results or benefits they bring, they certainly would be priceless to me. It would be impossible to measure their value, as I have got something from Science and Health that all the money in the world could not buy. - H. P. H., Chicago, Ill.
In the spring of 1893, while studying for the ministry, Science and Health was placed in my hands, and the truth contained therein at once became to me the pearl of great price. I literally devoured the book, reading it about eighteen hours a day. Its originality was startling, upsetting my preconceived opinions of God, man, and creation. Two sentences especially appealed to me: "The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin" (p. 262), and, "For right reasoning, there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence " (p. 492). I had found the keynote to the Science of being as taught in this marvellous book, and persevered until a glimpse of the new heavens and new earth came, for the old were passing away. With this spiritual uplifting came also physical health.
All my life had been spent in semi-invalidism, and I seemed destined to a life of suffering. In three weeks after beginning Science and Health, to my joyful surprise I found myself a well man, sound physically, and uplifted spiritually. Life was being lived from a new basis, the old things of personal sense were passing away and all things becoming new. I learned that the infinite good is the one Friend upon whom we can call at all times, an all-powerful, ever-present help in every time of trouble; that His children are really governed in peace and harmony by spiritual law, and as the right understanding of it is gained, the other things soon follow, bringing a peace the human concept can never know.
For the last twelve years my whole time has been devoted to Christian Science practice, and I have seen nearly every so-called incurable disease healed by its beneficent influence. God bless our dear Leader! She has set before us an open door, which no man can shut, and it is but a question of time when the world will know her better and love her more. - E. E. N., Washington, D. C.
August 18, 1902, I was taken down with what three doctors pronounced Bright's disease, and they stated that I would not live a year, or if I did succeed in living longer, I would be mentally unbalanced. On December 6, 1902, my wife presented me with Science and Health as a birthday gift, and it was indeed the best present I ever received. Since that time I have been reading it and attending the Second Church here. I have not used any medicine since, nor has any one in our home. I am in the finest of health and have lost all my bad habits. This truth has brought a great spiritual uplifting to all of us, and words cannot express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to all who have helped me to the same. - T. V., Chicago, Ill.
When quite young I was impressed that the Bible was not properly interpreted by the preachers, for I could not conceive of a God of wrath who was unjust enough to allow His little ones to suffer pain, misery, and death. I had hope, however, that some day the truth would be revealed to an awakening world, but little did I dream that even then there was one of God's noble women who reflected sufficient purity and holiness to entertain the "angel of his presence," and commune with the true God.
I was believed to be predisposed to scrofula, so that I was not a strong or attractive child, and my girlhood and womanhood were scarcely ever free from dread of the laws of matter and lack of strength. The climax was reached when a physician informed me, after weeks of treatment, that I had a fibroid tumor, which required an operation. The conditions were most trying and I was heartsick and discouraged when, in January, 1893, I heard of Christian Science through a letter from a dear sister who had been greatly benefited thereby, and I resolved to go at once to a practitioner, for I believed it to be the long-lost truth that would make me free. It meant a great effort and sacrifice for me to go to Chicago at that time, but divine Love opened the way and I reached there in March. I had been in my sister's home but a few days, reading Science and Health almost constantly, when I asked her if I had not better have treatment for the tumor, which had given me so much trouble. She said to me, "You feel well, do you not?" I assured her that I never had felt so well as I had since reaching there. "Well," she said with decision, "your tumor is gone, for God never made it," and her statements were true, for it has never been heard of from that day. Since then I have been healed of chronic sore throat, hay fever, and other troubles, and I know that Christian Science is the truth. - B. W. S., Coldwater, Mich.
I have received so much benefit from the testimonies in the /Sentinel /and /Journal /that I send mine, hoping it may cheer some struggling heart. I was reared by kind and loving Christian parents and was a member of an orthodox church for over twenty years, but I was never satisfied. I was filled with fear and bound down by the false gods of this world, - sin, disease, and poverty; consequently every way I turned, and in everything I attempted to do, I was met with disappointment and failure; but God was leading me into a different life.
My interest was first awakened to Christian Science about thirteen years ago, and I have been a willing disciple ever since. Through the reading of Science and Health I was healed of chronic catarrh and laryngitis, and it also enabled me to lay off my glasses. Christian Science has not only helped me mentally, morally, and physically, but the greatest blessing of all is the spiritual uplifting which enabled me to know that God is both able and willing to care for His children, if we are but willing to do our part and bear the cross which, though it seems heavy at times, always brings a sure reward. Christian Science has not only helped me, but it has enabled me to help others.
The Bible is a new book to me. I now see what Jesus meant when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
My heart goes out in gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for the work she has done and is still doing for the world, and to God I am most grateful that He has guided me into the truth, that I may have life, and have it more abundantly. - Mrs. M. M., Chicago, Ill.
I have long desired to express my gratitude for what Christian Science has done, through reading Science and Health, for me and my family. I was healed of profanity, the tobacco habit, and a bad temper, through the understanding that man is the image and likeness of God. I was also healed of kidney disease and rheumatism. What surprised me most, however, was this; I had had one finger thrown out of place some fifteen years before. It was crooked, but it became straight and useful. A bone in my foot had also been broken, leaving a bunch, which disappeared after I studied Christian Science and received class instruction. I am an entirely well man and for this I am very grateful. I am also glad that I have learned enough of Truth and love to be able to heal others. I wish to express my thankful appreciation of our Leader, also of the /Sentinel/ and the /Journal. /- N. R. F., Salina, Kans.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the great benefits which have come to me through Christian Science. It is nearly ten years since I began the investigation of the subject by borrowing a copy of Science and Health. I had become a hopeless sufferer from asthma, - the disease being so aggravated at times as to make breathing almost impossible. I was also a victim of that dread disease, consumption. It was hereditary, nearly all my family on both sides having passed away with it. I took up Christian Science very much as a drowning man catches at a straw. However, I was much interested as soon as I began to understand it, and having read the book nearly all my waking hours for a few weeks, I became so much better and so convinced of its truth, that myself and wife destroyed all the medicines in the home, and have never since used any remedy except Christian Science. I continued to study and to put into practice the teaching as best I knew, and was restored to health in a few months.
Prior to my investigation of Christian Science I had been from boyhood an outspoken infidel, had read that class of literature extensively, and had no desire for anything of a religious nature, - the orthodox teaching never having appealed to me as a rational exposition of an all-wise God. I now have no more doubt of the truth of the teaching of the great Way-shower, Jesus of Nazareth, than I doubt the correctness of the basic law of mathematics or music. I have no doubt whatever that Christian Science saved me from the grave, and thus proved a most practicable and efficient help in time of greatest need. However great my physical suffering has been, I can but feel glad that through it the door of consciousness was opened to let in the light of Truth. Thus I have progressed a little way in the knowledge of God, good, as revealed in Christian Science. - C. B., Webb City, Mo.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. "
This has been proven to me in every way. When Christian Science came to me, I was a wreck, physically, mentally, and financially; but since the reading of Science and Health turned my thought toward the light, I have found that, as far as I am willing to receive the word and live it, all comforts are supplied me. I am especially grateful for the spiritual help. I know that things which I did and thought last year I would not do or think this year, and am satisfied. Through the careful and prayerful study of Science and Health I have been lifted from sickness to health, from sorrow to peace, from lack to plenty, and, the most beautiful of all, from darkness to light. - Mrs. H. S. C., Seattle, Wash.