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You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures Author: Mary Baker Eddy Release Date: October, 2002 [EBook #3458] [This edition 11 was first posted on January 31, 2004] Edition: 11 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCIENCE AND HEALTH *** This etext was produced by Dave Keyston Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures by MARY BAKER EDDY YE shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. JOHN viii. 32. THERE is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. SHAKESPEARE OH! Thou hast heard my prayer; And I am blest! This is Thy high behest:-- Thou here, and _everywhere_. MARY BAKER EDDY SCIENCE AND HEALTH - Table Of Contents PREFACE CHAPTER I - PRAYER CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM CHAPTER V - ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE CHAPTER VII - PHYSIOLOGY CHAPTER VIII - FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH CHAPTER IX - CREATION CHAPTER X - SCIENCE OF BEING CHAPTER XI - SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED CHAPTER XII - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE CHAPTER XIII - TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHAPTER XIV - RECAPITULATION KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES CHAPTER XV - GENESIS CHAPTER XVI - THE APOCALYPSE CHAPTER XVII - GLOSSARY CHAPTER XVIII - FRUITAGE PREFACE vi:1 To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds vi:3 the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet- shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in vi:6 cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be- nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ vi:9 Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn- ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise- men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of vi:12 divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony. The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the vi:15 portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping- vi:18 stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall vi:21 reign forever." A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy vi:24 pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished. vi:27 Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in vii:1 the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but vii:3 to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense vii:6 must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con- cord to sound. vii:9 Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo- vii:12 site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and this demonstration shows that Christian healing con- vii:15 fers the most health and makes the best men. On this basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma- vii:18 terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous "No" is the response deducible from two connate vii:21 facts, - the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians, and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of diseases since the flood. vii:24 In the author's work, RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPEC- TION, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis- vii:27 covery of the system that she denominated Christian Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for vii:30 the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions were crude, the first steps of a child in the newly dis- covered world of Spirit. ix:1 She also began to jot down her thoughts on the main subject, but these jottings were only infantile ix:3 lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet ix:6 he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words, and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite ix:9 thought, though still imperfectly. So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers ix:12 came." Certain essays written at that early date are still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of ix:15 Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac- tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis- ix:18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of Christ. Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy- ix:21 righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject ix:24 could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875, copies were, however, in friendly circulation. Before writing this work, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, she ix:27 made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which have never been published. This was during the years 1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative ix:30 ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that time, and the degrees by which she came at length to its solution; but she values them as a parent x:1 may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and she would not have them changed. x:3 The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was pub- lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory x:6 and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH. They regard the human mind as a healing agent, whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of x:9 Christian Science. A few books, however, which are based on this book, are useful. The author has not compromised conscience to suit x:12 the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon- estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in- x:15 finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated cases of healing, she and her students have proved the worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part x:18 have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all physical supports have failed, because there is so little x:21 faith in His disposition and power to heal disease. The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its x:24 purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po- tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un- biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, x:27 and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her method who do not understand her meaning, or dis- cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their x:30 works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req- uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de- sirable. xi:1 Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal- ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the xi:3 action of the human mind, which action in some unex- plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con- trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all xi:6 other pathological methods are the fruits of human faith in matter, faith in the workings, not of Spirit, but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science. xi:9 The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real- xi:12 ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works xi:15 are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and re- xi:18 peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime, To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], And recovering of sight to the blind, xi:21 To set at liberty them that are bruised. When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and xi:24 water His vineyard. The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing was started by the author with only one student in xi:27 Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881, she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law xi:30 relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled her to get this institution chartered for medical pur- xii:1 poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien- tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that xii:3 date, hers was the only College of this character which had been established in the United States, where Christian Science was first introduced. xii:6 During seven years over four thousand students were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile she was pastor of the first established Church of xii:9 Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci- entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole xii:12 editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal, the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of xii:15 its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the next two years of her life should be given to the prep- aration of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which xii:18 was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil- iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never xii:21 read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu- cidate her idealism. In the spirit of Christ's charity, as one who "hopeth xii:24 all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth. MARY BAKER EDDY NOTE. - The author takes no patients, and declines medical consultation. CHAPTER I - PRAYER For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him. - CHRIST JESUS. 1:1 THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are 1:3 possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say or think on this subject, I speak from experience. 1:6 Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im- molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christian- 1:9 ization and health of mankind. Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from 1:12 trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds. Right motives 2:1 What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us, 2:3 to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous- 2:6 ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return unto us void. Deity unchangeable God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more 2:9 than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchang- ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for 2:12 ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov- ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip- service, for He already knows all. 2:15 Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at- tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that 2:18 God will save us is not all that is required. The mere habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as 2:21 humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit- ual growth. God's standard God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is 2:24 intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any- thing He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall 2:27 we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour- ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire does bring us nearer the source of all existence and 2:30 blessedness. Asking God to _be_ God is a vain repetition. God is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and 3:1 He who is immutably right will do right without being reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not 3:3 sufficient to warrant him in advising God. The spiritual mathematics Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The 3:6 rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own 3:9 work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless- ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation. 3:12 The Divine Being must be reflected by man, - else man is not the image and likeness of the patient, tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to 3:15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire. Prayerful ingratitude How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit 3:18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni- present, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind. We plead 3:21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the 3:24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech. 3:27 If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in- sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro- 3:30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from 4:1 divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati- tude of barren lives. Efficacious petitions 4:3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the com- 4:6 mandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has 4:9 done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." 4:12 The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas- ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not 4:15 acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness to be partakers of Love. Watchfulness requisite Simply asking that we may love God will never 4:18 make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchful- ness and in striving to assimilate more of 4:21 the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the Science of Christianity through demonstration of the 4:24 divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring experience. Veritable devotion 4:27 Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer, watchfulness, and devout obedience enable 4:30 us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers, superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love, and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate- 5:1 rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps him from demonstrating his power over error. Sorrow and reformation 5:3 Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step re- quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity, 5:6 - namely, reformation. To this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for 5:9 what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall 5:12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run- ning over." Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always 5:15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and 5:18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin- ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther, the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin 5:21 through suffering. Cancellation of human sin Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin. Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven 5:24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying, 5:27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin because he fancies himself forgiven. Diabolism destroyed An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to 5:30 "destroy the _works_ of the devil." We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de- struction of all evil works, error and disease included. 6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip- tures say, that if we deny Christ, "he also will deny us." Pardon and amendment 6:3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner. God is not separate from the wis- 6:6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition 6:9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence. To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means 6:12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be- lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach 6:15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand the divine Principle of being. Mercy without partiality "God is Love." More than this we cannot ask, 6:18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or un- 6:21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing. Divine severity Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it 6:24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of- fence unto me." He came teaching and 6:27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death. He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down." It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, 6:30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas- ter confirms this description. 7:1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence 7:3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found in his own words,- showing the necessity for such forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed 7:6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de- prives material sense of its false claims. Audible praying Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary 7:9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro- duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply into these things, we find that "a zeal . . . 7:12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac- tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo- 7:15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment. Emotional utterances Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec- 7:18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo- ments a higher experience and a better life 7:21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self- satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di- 7:24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied. Danger from audible prayer 7:27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp- tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut- tering desires which are not real and consoling 7:30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for- giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion. 8:1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self- justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite. 8:3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi- cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to 8:6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond with their character. They hold secret fellowship with sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like 8:9 unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness." Aspiration and love If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful, is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the 8:12 comment upon him? If he reached the loftiness of his prayer, there would be no occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu- 8:15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,- this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that 8:18 shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray- ers are like charity in one respect,- they "cover the multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what- 8:21 ever fervency of expression does not always mean a desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses 8:24 the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do we not already know more of this heart than we are 8:27 willing to have our neighbor see? Searching the heart We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way 8:30 only can we learn what we honestly are. If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa- tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not 9:1 rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"? During many years the author has been most grateful 9:3 for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen- sure,- in the falsehood which does no one any good. Summit of aspiration The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these 9:6 questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish- ness, satisfied with having prayed for some- 9:9 thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin- cerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, 9:12 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is 9:15 a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith. Practical religion Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy 9:18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"? This command includes much, even the sur- render of all merely material sensation, affec- 9:21 tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, 9:24 and material sense and human will have no place. The chalice sacrificial Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire 9:27 to attain this point? No! Then why make long prayers about it and ask to be Christians, since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our 9:30 dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right. 10:1 Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed- 10:3 ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord, we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him. The world must grow to the spiritual understanding 10:6 of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor- rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are 10:9 willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in demonstration of power and "with signs following." 10:12 Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error. Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables 10:15 us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life. Perfunctory prayers One of the forms of worship in Thibet is to carry a 10:18 praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the doors to earn a penny by grinding out a prayer. But the advance guard of progress has 10:21 paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution. Asking amiss Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some mis- 10:24 apprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness, or we should certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip- 10:27 tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always 10:30 best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer- ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss." 11:1 Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer, "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of 11:3 forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, "Go, and sin no more." Remission of penalty A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this 11:6 may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it only saves the criminal from one form of punishment. The moral law, which has the 11:9 right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu- tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law brings penalty in order to compel this progress. Truth annihilates error 11:12 Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they are corrected) leaves the offender free to re- 11:15 peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but 11:18 wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in- dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering. Desire for holiness 11:21 Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor- tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we 11:24 desire holiness above all else, we shall sac- rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road 11:27 to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual 11:30 desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life. Prayer for the sick 12:1 "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re- 12:3 quest that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of 12:6 such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak- ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out 12:9 another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under- 12:12 standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con- scientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to 12:15 God and of man's unity with Truth and Love. Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its 12:18 power from human faith and belief. The drug does nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a 12:21 drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative. The common custom of praying for the recovery of the sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come 12:24 from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science. Love impartial and universal 12:27 Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper, and not help another who offers the same measure of prayer? If the sick recover because they 12:30 pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti- tioners (_per se_ or by proxy) should get well. In divine Science, where prayers are mental, _all_ may avail them- 13:1 selves of God as "a very present help in trouble." Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and 13:3 bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." Public exaggerations In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions, 13:6 beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we are not secretly yearning and openly striv- ing for the accomplishment of all we ask, 13:9 our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward 13:12 us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de- sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is 13:15 sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon- estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and 13:18 we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real wishes with a torrent of words. Corporeal ignorance If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will 13:21 prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi- 13:24 nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle, Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal 13:27 creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re- flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The 13:30 world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind to the reality of man's existence, - for the world of sen- sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body. Bodily presence 14:1 If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo- tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we 14:3 would gain, we are not "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" in the demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas- 14:6 ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon- stration and understanding of Life as revealed in 14:9 Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love,- by Spirit, not by matter. Spiritualized consciousness 14:12 Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of matter, - and the body will then utter no 14:15 complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir- 14:18 itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I 14:21 go unto my Father," - [because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material 14:24 sense. Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate- rial living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual under- 14:27 standing and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak 14:30 "as one having authority." "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 15:1 which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Spiritual sanctuary 15:3 So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to 15:6 error, it is open to Truth, and _vice versa_. The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses, but He knows all things and rewards according to 15:9 motives, not according to speech. To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent, 15:12 that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error. Effectual invocation In order to pray aright, we must enter into the 15:15 closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must 15:18 deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We 15:21 must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an- swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and 15:24 let our lives attest our sincerity. Trustworthy beneficence Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness, 15:27 purity, and affection are constant prayers. Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and 15:30 they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi- ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness. Loftiest adoration 16:1 A great sacrifice of material things must precede this advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer 16:3 is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra- tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth 16:6 that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense. The prayer of Jesus Christ Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer, which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Mas- 16:9 ter said, "After this manner therefore pray ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt 16:12 among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does not affect the meaning of the prayer itself. 16:15 In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti- 16:18 tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars. Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and 16:21 sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir- itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick. 16:24 Here let me give what I understand to be the spir- itual sense of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father which art in heaven, 16:27 _Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious_, Hallowed be Thy name. _Adorable One._ 16:30 Thy kingdom come. _Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present._ 17:1 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. _Enable us to know,- as in heaven, so on earth,- God is 17:3 omnipotent, supreme_. Give us this day our daily bread; _Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;_ 17:6 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. _And Love is reflected in love;_ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 17:9 evil; _And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death._ 17:12 For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. _For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All._ CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. - PAUL. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. - PAUL. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. - JESUS. Divine oneness 18:1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, 18:3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both in- 18:6 dividual and collective. He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,- to show them how to do theirs, but not to do 18:9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility. Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he 18:12 refuted all opponents with his healing power. Human reconciliation The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, 18:15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself. The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ, 18:18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived 19:1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and 19:3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness. Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him- self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for 19:6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon- ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer 19:9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,- the law of divine Love. 19:12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de- claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and death, although his teaching set households at variance, 19:15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a sword. Efficacious repentance Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort 19:18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray 19:21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone- ment,- in the _at-one-ment_ with God,- for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables 19:24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem- onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach- ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If 19:27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur- ity, although God is good. Jesus' sinless career Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no 19:30 other gods before me," which may be ren- dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,- 20:1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are 20:3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved, not by spirits but by Spirit. 20:6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a 20:9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the 20:12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet be sensual and sinful. Perfect example Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal 20:15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are healed." "Despised and rejected of men," returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor- 20:18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, 20:21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness. Behest of the cross 20:24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into 20:27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 20:30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing. Moral victory 21:1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a 21:3 good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be- cause you are a better man. This is having our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love. 21:6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph, that they shall reach his harmony and reward. 21:9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv- ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma- terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things 21:12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy. Inharmonious travellers 21:15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am _en route_ for California, we are not journeying together. We have separate time-tables to consult, 21:18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor- tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my 21:21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our 21:24 companionship may continue. Zigzag course Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither- 21:27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for 21:30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By- and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow 22:1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid of this to find and follow the right road. Moral retrogression 22:3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope of forgiveness,- selfishness and sensuality causing con- stant retrogression,- our moral progress will 22:6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown- ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and 22:9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned with success. Wait for reward "Work out your own salvation," is the demand of 22:12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you. "Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re- ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If 22:15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race. 22:18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis- cern the good you have done, and receive according to your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from 22:21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified. Deliverance not vicarious Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in 22:24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious 22:27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God. Justice and substitution 22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not 23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. 23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That 23:6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien- 23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf- fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love. Doctrines and faith 23:12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine, firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him." This preaching receives a strong rebuke in 23:15 the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead." Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be- tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, 23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab- lishes the claims of God. Self-reliance and confidence 23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, _faith_ and the words corresponding thereto have these two defini- tions, _trustfulness_ and _trustworthiness_. One 23:24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem- 23:27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!" expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!" 23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir- itual understanding and confides all to God. The Hebrew verb _to believe_ means also _to be firm_ or 24:1 _to be constant_. This certainly applies to Truth and Love understood and practised. Firmness in error will never 24:3 save from sin, disease, and death. Life's healing currents Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and 24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where 24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out. Radical changes He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will 24:12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re- generation. This is having part in the atone- ment; this is the understanding, in which 24:15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant when the ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great change, - a change as radical as that 24:18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to pre- destination and future punishment. Purpose of crucifixion Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus 24:21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it and are willing to be forgiven? Does spiritualism find Jesus' death necessary 24:24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then we must differ from them both. 24:27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical af- fection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that 24:30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own disciples could not admit such an event to be possible. After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was 25:1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of Truth and Love. True flesh and blood 25:3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The effi- cacy of Jesus' spiritual offering is infinitely greater than can be expressed by our sense of human 25:6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon "the accursed tree," than when it was flowing in 25:9 his veins as he went daily about his Father's business. His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine 25:12 Life. Effective triumph Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals 25:15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By 25:18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu- ally than all others the Principle of being. Hence the force of his admonition, "If ye love me, keep my com- 25:21 mandments." Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease, the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving 25:24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith 25:27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the 25:30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made manifest in the humanity of Jesus. Individual experience 26:1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with gratitude for what he did for mortals, - treading alone 26:3 his loving pathway up to the throne of glory, in speechless agony exploring the way for us, - yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe- 26:6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed 26:9 through divine Love. Christ's demonstration The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: "I am the way, the truth, and the life;" 26:12 "I and my Father are one." This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, 26:15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does 26:18 for man. Proof in practice A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac- 26:21 tice as well as precept. Jesus' teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was 26:24 the precious import of our Master's sinless career and of his demonstration of power over death. He proved by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin, 26:27 and death. Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief. It was the divine Principle of all real being which he 26:30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love. 27:1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was in- tended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had 27:3 come: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 27:6 to the poor the gospel is preached." In other words: Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is, and he will at once perceive that God is the power in 27:9 the Messianic work. Living temple That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien- 27:12 tific statement: "Destroy this temple [body], and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up." It is as if he had said: The I - the Life, substance, 27:15 and intelligence of the universe - is not in matter to be destroyed. Jesus' parables explain Life as never mingling with 27:18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut down the false doctrine of pantheism, - that God, or 27:21 Life, is in or of matter. Recreant disciples Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits 27:24 him with two or three hundred other disciples who have left no name. "Many are called, but few are chosen." They fell away from grace because 27:27 they never truly understood their Master's instruction. Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the essential religion he came to establish? Jesus' persecu- 27:30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point. They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and to kill him according to certain assumed material laws. Help and hindrance 28:1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the di- vine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus' 28:3 mission. Even many of his students stood in his way. If the Master had not taken a student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would 28:6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love. 28:9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out of it, one's consecration to Christ is more on the ground of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we 28:12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin. Misleading conceptions 28:15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of Jesus was generally understood. Not a single compo- nent part of his nature did the material 28:18 world measure aright. Even his righteous- less and purity did not hinder men from saying: He is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is 28:21 his patron. Persecution prolonged Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy 28:24 Master's feet! To suppose that persecution for righteousness' sake belongs to the past, and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world 28:27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mis- take the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself. The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle, 28:30 "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some form, every pioneer of truth. Christian warfare There is too much animal courage in society and not 29:1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple 29:3 with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the 29:6 crown of rejoicing. Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis- belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly 29:9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we may never receive it in this world. The Fatherhood of God 29:12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be- lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed 29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glori- ous perception that God is the only author of man. The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and 29:18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus - that is, Joshua, or Saviour. Spiritual conception The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to 29:21 silence material law and its order of generation, and brought forth her child by the revelation of Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of 29:24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog- nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever 29:27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed. 29:30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit, is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self- 30:1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could 30:3 demonstrate the Science of Love - his Father or divine Principle. Jesus the way-shower Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook 30:6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en- dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with- out measure. This accounts for his struggles 30:9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to be the mediator, or _way-shower_, between God and men. Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal 30:12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal mind as "the way." Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said: 30:15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the new executor for God, present the divine law of Love, 30:18 which blesses even those that curse it. Rebukes helpful As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death,- 30:21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between 30:24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and of error. If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of 30:27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only in this way can we bless our enemies, though they 30:30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found 31:1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place 31:3 it in such hands. Fleshly ties temporal Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, 31:6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren," im- plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We 31:9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of _father_. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all. Healing primary 31:12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol- lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the 31:15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, - following his 31:18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, - we drink of his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu- rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full 31:21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 31:24 death till he come." Painful prospect Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- 31:27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse- cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus 31:30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service; and these things will they 32:1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me." Sacred sacrament 32:3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath was _sacramentum_, and our English word 32:6 _sacrament_ is derived from it. Among the Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the 32:9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows 32:12 forth his bitter experience, - the cup which he prayed might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis- sion to the divine decree. 32:15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and 32:18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it." Spiritual refreshment The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is 32:21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them bread. This would have been foolish in a 32:24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat- ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with 32:27 spiritual views. Jesus' sad repast The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion, 32:30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken at the close of day, in the twilight of a glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and 33:1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions to matter. Heavenly supplies 33:3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna, which of old had fed in the wilderness the 33:6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error. 33:9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne this bread from house to house, _breaking_ (explaining) it to 33:12 others, and now it comforted themselves. For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow. 33:15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast- ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said, "Drink ye all of it." The holy struggle 33:18 When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but Thine, be done!"- that is, Let not the flesh, 33:21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the 33:24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek in heart. Incisive questions 33:27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions which attend a new and higher understand- 33:30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing 34:1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira- 34:3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God," that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ, 34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com- memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or _God with us_; and if a friend be with us, why need we 34:9 memorials of that friend? Millennial glory If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of 34:12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the world. If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal 34:15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor, - the receptive thought, - they will bring in the millennium. Fellowship with Christ 34:18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught. His resurrection was also their resur- 34:21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this 34:24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness, 34:27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which has since been called the ascension. The last breakfast What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and 34:30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples in the bright morning hours at the joyful meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom 35:1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent- ance, - hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced 35:3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right 35:6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new- 35:9 ness of life as Spirit. This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists 35:12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re- ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their 35:15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh after death, its exemplification of human probation, and his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh, 35:18 when he rose out of material sight. Spiritual Eucharist Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can 35:21 unite with this church only as we are new- born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth 35:24 the fruits of Love, - casting out error and healing the sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven," 35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira- tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com- mended to his followers. Final purpose 35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re- form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to 36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of 36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after 36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern- 36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy. Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his 36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John, the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly 36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly- 36:18 minded. Righteous retribution A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un- limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as 36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for sinners to receive their full punishment this side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right- 36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven, 36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock- ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing. Vicarious suffering 36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf- fering of the just for the unjust. Can God therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de- 37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They 37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Martyrs inevitable History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of 37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit. 37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi- naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of 37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals. Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated 37:15 by lookers-on. Complete emulation When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate him in _all_ his ways and to imitate his mighty works? 37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May 37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im- port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow 37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon- stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris- tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in 37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com- mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world, 37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "_Heal the sick_!" Jesus' teaching belittled Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration 38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are assured that this command was intended only for a par- 38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol- lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a 38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of 38:9 divine Science. Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be- lieve; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they 38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing his disciples, yet he did not say, "These signs shall follow _you_," but _them_- "them that believe" in all time to come. 38:15 Here the word _hands_ is used metaphorically, as in the text, "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have 38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe "through their word." Material pleasures 38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo- ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ, 38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the 38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati- fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un- 38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its healing power. Mockery of truth 39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog- nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol- 39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last triumph. He won eternal honors. He over- came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving 39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci- fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as 39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed. A belief suicidal The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone 39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss. The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them. 39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not the threshold over which he must pass into living glory. Present salvation 39:18 "_Now_," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be- hold, _now_ is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salva- 39:21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleas- 39:24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists 39:27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain- ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as 39:30 triumphs. Sin and penalty Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that 40:1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad- 40:3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv- ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing and its Science, will support them. Another will say: 40:6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted 40:9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method 40:12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our 40:15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal? Suffering inevitable Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was 40:18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way and the power of Truth. If a career so great and good as that of Jesus could not avert a 40:21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of 40:24 Truth and Love. Service and worship Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all men should follow the example of our Master and his 40:27 apostles and not merely worship his personal- ity. It is sad that the phrase _divine service_ has come so generally to mean public worship instead of 40:30 daily deeds. Within the veil The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of 41:1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and 41:3 this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and triumphs of the right- eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. 41:6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being. The thorns and flowers The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with 41:9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap what they now sow. The pampered hypo- crite may have a flowery pathway here, but 41:12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the penalty due. Healing early lost The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave 41:15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his earthly mission; but in the Christian Church this demonstration of healing was early lost, 41:18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient school of philosophy, _materia medica_, or scholastic theol- ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of 41:21 absolute Science. Immortal achieval Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered 41:24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and then sat down at the right hand of the Father. Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about 41:27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at. Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing 41:30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick. 42:1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a 42:3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the- ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God. A belief in death The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It 42:6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death will be found at length to be a mortal dream, which comes in darkness and disappears with the light. Cruel desertion 42:9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval 42:12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa- lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends, who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross. Death outdone 42:15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's power was the proof of his final triumph over body and matter, and gave full evidence of divine 42:18 Science, - evidence so important to mortals. The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine 42:21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won- drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp- tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus. 42:24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates that in Christian Science the true man is governed by 42:27 God - by good, not evil - and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to 42:30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ- eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting 43:1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as they did understand it after his bodily departure. Pentecost repeated 43:3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear- ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled the disciples to understand what Jesus had 43:6 said. Heretofore they had only believed; now they understood. The advent of this understanding is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, - that 43:9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos- tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history. Convincing evidence Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing, 43:12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to 43:15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God, which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay. The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught, 43:18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu- ated and extended it. Divine victory 43:21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned him, but he was demonstrating divine Science. 43:24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies, he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat- ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him. 43:27 The divine must overcome the human at every point. The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli- 43:30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such beliefs. Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must 44:1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow, 44:3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem- acy of Spirit be demonstrated. Jesus in the tomb The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge 44:6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great problem of being. His three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time. 44:9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas- ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris- tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims 44:12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene. He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted 44:15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove 44:18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ his feet as before. The deific naturalism Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature 44:21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power? It was a method of surgery beyond material art, but it was not a supernatural act. On 44:24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ- healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of 44:27 human invention. Obstacles overcome His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon- 44:30 strating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense. There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great 45:1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law 45:3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting victory. Victory over the grave 45:6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci- ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and 45:9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death 45:12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im- 45:15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre. The stone rolled away Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu- 45:18 man hope and faith, and through the reve- lation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual 45:21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love. After the resurrection They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught, 45:24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre, for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was: 45:27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit. He presented the same body that he had before his cru- 45:30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over matter. Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un- 46:1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion 46:3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them of the truthfulness of all that he had taught. Spiritual interpretation In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends 46:6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them, and by the breaking of bread. The divine Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries 46:9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and 46:12 healing the sick. Corporeality and Spirit The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit, and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses 46:15 that his body was not changed until he himself ascended, - or, in other words, rose even higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince 46:18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail- prints and the spear-wound. Spiritual ascension Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed 46:21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma- terial conditions; and this exaltation explained his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a 46:24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave. Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen- 46:27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more. Pentecostal power 46:30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci- 47:1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them 47:3 a faint conception of the Life which is God. They no longer measured man by material sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master, 47:6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter, but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming 47:9 power as on the Day of Pentecost. The traitor's conspiracy Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal. 47:12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus' 47:15 teachings. A period was approaching which would reveal the in- finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas 47:18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer, and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The 47:21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be- 47:24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti- mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the traitor fell with it. 47:27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio- lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no 47:30 record. Gethsemane glorified During his night of gloom and glory in the garden, Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi- 48:1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu- 48:3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" Could they not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice- 48:6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world? There was no response to that human yearning, and so Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from 48:9 sense to Soul. Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum- 48:12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt- ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and 48:15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a life-work. Defensive weapons Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one 48:18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence. "He opened not his mouth." The great dem- onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before 48:21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re- sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy 48:24 sword." Pilate's question Pale in the presence of his own momentous question, "What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence 48:27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate was ignorant of the consequences of his awful decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing 48:30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for man. 49:1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's question. They knew what had inspired their devotion, 49:3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand- ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject 49:6 unto us through thy name." Students' ingratitude Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the 49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations, sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre- 49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last human yearning with one sign of fidelity? Heaven's sentinel The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc- 49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with God. No human eye was there to pity, no arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had 49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest post of power, charged with the grandest trust of heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing 49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ is not subject to material conditions, but is above the reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, 49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and the grave. Cruel contumely The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly 49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest proofs of divine power, mocked him on the cross, saying derisively, "He saved others; 49:30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned "aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God." 50:1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." 50:3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide what truth and love are? A cry of despair The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor- 50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" 50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would impugn the justice and love of a father who could with- hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so 50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself, Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken 50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling question. No! They must abide in him and he in them, or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the 50:18 human race. Divine Science misunderstood If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo- ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses, 50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even what they did say, - that Jesus' teachings were false, and that all evidence of their cor- 50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying could not make it so. The real pillory The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human 50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving the purpose of his mission, was a million times sharper than the thorns which pierced 50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful 51:1 lips the plaintive cry, "_Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?_" It was the possible loss of something more important than 51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misappre- hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This dread added the drop of gall to his cup. Life-power indestructible 51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; 51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc- tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life 51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom- plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, 51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could 51:18 be extinguished. Example for our salvation His consummate example was for the salvation of us all, but only through doing the works which he did and 51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing was not alone to restore health, but to demon- strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by 51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance, inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin- 51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality. Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist 51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the dead. Master's business 52:1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi- ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas- 52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He served God; they served mammon. His affec- tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in 52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi- dence of sin, sickness, and death. Purity's rebuke 52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the 52:12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace. 52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite in putting to shame and death the best man that ever trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again 52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth. Saviour's prediction The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing- ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac- 52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high- 52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: 52:27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe." Defamatory accusations The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra- 52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb- auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils 53:1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their 53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene. 53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because he was their friend; hence the cup he drank. Reputation and character The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his 53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He was at work in divine Science. His words 53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be- lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine, 53:15 infinite Love. Inspiring discontent The world could not interpret aright the discomfort which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which 53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science shows the cause of the shock so often pro- duced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from 53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth. Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which 53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil. Bearing our sins Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the mortal errors which constitute the material body, and 53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma- 53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of spiritual power. Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would 54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine 54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de- fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, 54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified example introduced. Inspiration of sacrifice Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All 54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true idea of God. That he might liberally pour his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin- 54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus' intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com- mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and 54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers 54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor follow his example. Spiritual friendship 54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious friends, whose religion was something more 54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en- abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol- 54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con- firmed the prediction. Injustice to the Saviour If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on 54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro- fess to love him, reject him? Would they not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter- 55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs? The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the 55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but this does not affect the invincible facts. 55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now 55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a 55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of the synagogue. 55:15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall 55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as himself, - when he shall realize God's omnipotence and the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done 55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful- filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly 55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing. 55:27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you _forever_." This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science. CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. - JESUS. 56:1 WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism, John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus 56:3 added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain cases) to material methods were for the advancement of 56:6 spiritual good. Marriage temporal Marriage is the legal and moral provision for genera- tion among human kind. Until the spiritual creation 56:9 is discerned intact, is apprehended and under- stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision of the Apocalypse, - where the corporeal sense of crea- 56:12 tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from heaven, - marriage will continue, subject to such moral regulations as will secure increasing virtue. Fidelity required 56:15 Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, . . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday." 56:18 The commandment, "Thou shalt not com- mit adultery," is no less imperative than the one, "Thou shalt not kill." 57:1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it 57:3 one cannot attain the Science of Life. Mental elements Union of the masculine and feminine qualities consti- tutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a 57:6 higher tone through certain elements of the feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour- age and strength through masculine qualities. These 57:9 different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac- 57:12 tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like the returning spring. Affection's demands 57:15 Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, good- 57:18 ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to 57:21 share it. Help and discipline Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, en- 57:24 larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec- tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance 57:27 of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for 57:30 heaven. Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap- pointments it involves or the hopes it fulfils. To happify 58:1 existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of 58:3 spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping wings trail in dust. Chord and discord Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the 58:6 human mind may be different, but they should be con- cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, - 58:9 these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in- dividually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence. Mutual freedom 58:12 There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of all another's time and thoughts. With ad- 58:15 ditional joys, benevolence should grow more diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will 58:18 not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love; but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for 58:21 the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the bound- ary, of the affections. A useful suggestion 58:24 Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more together than they eat separately." This is a hint that a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance 58:27 or stupid ease, because another supplies her wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth- 58:30 ing can abolish the cares of marriage. Differing duties "She that is married careth . . . how she may please her husband," says the Bible; and this is the pleasantest 59:1 thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on 59:3 both sides. There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu- tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years 59:6 of married life. Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact which might otherwise become unbearable. Man should 59:9 not be required to participate in all the annoyances and cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex- pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the 59:12 different demands of their united spheres, their sympa- thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each partner sustaining the other, - thus hallowing the union 59:15 of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace and home. Trysting renewed Tender words and unselfish care in what promotes the 59:18 welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this 59:21 and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the old trysting-times. After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati- 59:24 bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should exist before this union and continue ever after, for decep- tion is fatal to happiness. Permanent obligation 59:27 The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re- 59:30 lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal mistakes are undermining its foundations. Separation never should take place, and it never would, if both 60:1 husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists. Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of 60:3 harmony and happiness. Permanent affection Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary to the formation of a happy and permanent companion- 60:6 ship. The beautiful in character is also the good, welding indissolubly the links of affec- tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her 60:9 child, because the mother-love includes purity and con- stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal affection lives on under whatever difficulties. 60:12 From the logic of events we learn that selfishness and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined 60:15 together. Centre for affections Marriage should improve the human species, becoming a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to 60:18 man, and a centre for the affections. This, however, in a majority of cases, is not its present tendency, and why? Because the education of 60:21 the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations, - passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment, display, and pride, - occupy thought. Spiritual concord 60:24 An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat- ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true happiness of being, places it on a false basis. 60:27 Science will correct the discord, and teach us life's sweeter harmonies. Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, 60:30 and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal 61:1 man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real 61:3 enjoyment. Ascendency of good The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi- 61:6 ness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi- 61:9 tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring 61:12 of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better balanced minds, and sounder constitutions. Propensities inherited If some fortuitous circumstance places promising chil- 61:15 dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful children early droop and die, like tropical flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance 61:18 they live to become parents in their turn, they may re- produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble 61:21 ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath- some wreck? 61:24 Is not the propagation of the human species a greater responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks 61:27 and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be transmitted to children. The formation of mortals must greatly improve to 61:30 advance mankind. The scientific _morale_ of marriage is spiritual unity. If the propagation of a higher human species is requisite to reach this goal, then its material con- 62:1 ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener- ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the 62:3 period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity. The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, 62:6 with which the child can meet and master the belief in so- called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease. Inheritance heeded If parents create in their babes a desire for incessant 62:9 amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked to, those parents should not, in after years, complain of their children's fretfulness or fri- 62:12 volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned. Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what 62:15 ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the rising generation than you dream. Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should 62:18 become men and women only through growth in the understanding of man's higher nature. The Mind creative We must not attribute more and more intelligence 62:21 to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human 62:24 body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter- fere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of erring, human concepts. Superior law of Soul 62:27 The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower; if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed. Our false views of life hide eternal harmony, 62:30 and produce the ills of which we complain. Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and 63:1 the superior law of Soul last. You would never think that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease 63:3 than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science of being. Spiritual origin In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti- 63:6 ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior 63:9 to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti- mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being. The rights of woman 63:12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no precedent for such injustice, and civilization 63:15 mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than does either Christian Science or civilization. Unfair discrimination 63:18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their discrimination as to the person, property, and parental claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran- 63:21 chise for women will remedy the evil with- out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational 63:24 means of improvement at present is the elevation of society in general and the achievement of a nobler race for legislation, - a race having higher aims and 63:27 motives. If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be 63:30 allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her children free from interference. 64:1 Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers 64:3 exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and 64:6 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Benevolence hindered Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to 64:9 be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris- tianity. When a man lends a helping hand to some noble woman, struggling alone with 64:12 adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from 64:15 giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would afford. Progressive development Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Further- 64:18 more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, 64:21 but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re- joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis- 64:24 dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per- petual peace. Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar- 64:27 riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of 64:30 the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its own, - all that really is, - and the voices of physical sense will be forever hushed. Blessing of Christ 65:1 Experience should be the school of virtue, and human happiness should proceed from man's highest nature. 65:3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and 65:6 eternal existence may be discerned. Righteous foundations If the foundations of human affection are consistent with progress, they will be strong and enduring. Divorces 65:9 should warn the age of some fundamental error in the marriage state. The union of the sexes suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its 65:12 harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded. Powerless promises The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of 65:15 the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home 65:18 happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher affection. Transition and reform There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many 65:21 other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left among the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is 65:24 not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot- 65:27 ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more spiritual adherence. The mental chemicalization, which has brought con- 65:30 jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum is gone. Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity: 66:3 Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. Salutary sorrow 66:6 Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, - a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy 66:9 and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi- 66:12 nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc- 66:15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love. Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re- 66:18 member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal infelicity, it is well to hope, pray, and wait patiently on divine wisdom to point out the path. Patience is wisdom 66:21 Husbands and wives should never separate if there is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the logic of events than for a wife precipitately 66:24 to leave her husband or for a husband to leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good 66:27 company. Socrates considered patience salutary under such circumstances, making his Xantippe a discipline for his philosophy. The gold and dross 66:30 Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us where it found us. The furnace separates the gold from the dross that the precious metal may 67:1 be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons 67:3 He teaches? Weathering the storm When the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds, 67:6 and the waves lift themselves into mountains. We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He 67:9 answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under- 67:12 standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work- 67:15 ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens the troubled sea. Spiritual power 67:18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force to character is too absurd for consideration, when we remember that through spiritual ascendency 67:21 our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other 67:24 means and methods. The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor 67:27 of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal. Basis of true religion 67:30 Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains and pleasures, but Jesus rebuked the suffering from any such cause or effect. The epoch approaches when the 68:1 understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for 68:3 fear of being thought ridiculous. They are slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some- time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has 68:6 created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood. 68:9 Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not 68:12 in haste to take the vow "until death do us part." Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela- tions to your growth and to your influence on other 68:15 lives. Insanity and agamogenesis I never knew more than one individual who believed in agamogenesis; she was unmarried, a lovely charac- 68:18 ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon 68:21 the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per- 68:24 petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is evident, but I discredit the belief that agamogenesis applies to the human species. God's creation intact 68:27 Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion; it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind, but an impartation of the divine Mind to man 68:30 and the universe. Proportionately as human generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, har- monious being will be spiritually discerned; and man, 69:1 not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe 69:3 are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease. 69:6 Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ- ing that man is a creator. God's children already created will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being. 69:9 Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con- 69:12 tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in- finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip- 69:15 tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain, and of man deathless and perfect and eternal. If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring 69:18 spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First 69:21 Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach 69:24 that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques- tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry, 69:27 and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac- counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in 69:30 marriage." CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, And unto wizards that peep and that mutter; Should not a people seek unto their God? - ISAIAH. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. - JOHN. The infinite one Spirit 70:1 MORTAL existence is an enigma. Every day is a mystery. The testimony of the corporeal senses 70:3 cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive, but the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures of Truth. Whatever is false or sinful can 70:6 never enter the atmosphere of Spirit. There is but one Spirit. Man is never God, but spiritual man, made in God's likeness, reflects God. In this scientific 70:9 reflection the Ego and the Father are inseparable. The supposition that corporeal beings are spirits, or that there are good and evil spirits, is a mistake. Real and unreal identity 70:12 The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The questions are: What are God's identities? 70:15 What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing formed? 71:1 Nothing is real and eternal, - nothing is Spirit, - but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither 71:3 person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense. The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever; 71:6 but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not _in_ Spirit's formations. Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form, 71:9 which forms only reflect. Dream-lessons Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a flower, - that you touch and smell it. Thus you learn 71:12 that the flower is a product of the so-called mind, a formation of thought rather than of matter. Close your eyes again, and you may see land- 71:15 scapes, men, and women. Thus you learn that these also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence. From 71:18 dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor matter is the image or likeness of God, and that im- mortal Mind is not in matter. Found wanting 71:21 When the Science of Mind is understood, spiritualism will be found mainly erroneous, having no scientific basis nor origin, no proof nor power outside of 71:24 human testimony. It is the offspring of the physical senses. There is no sensuality in Spirit. I never could believe in spiritualism. 71:27 The basis and structure of spiritualism are alike ma- terial and physical. Its spirits are so many corporealities, limited and finite in character and quality. Spiritualism 71:30 therefore presupposes Spirit, which is ever infinite, to be a corporeal being, a finite form, - a theory contrary to Christian Science. 72:1 There is but one spiritual existence, - the Life of which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The 72:3 divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense. If a material body - in other words, mortal, material sense - were permeated by Spirit, that body would 72:6 disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A con- dition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of spiritual life. Spirits obsolete 72:9 So-called _spirits_ are but corporeal communicators. As light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God, 72:12 is the only truth-giver to man. Truth de- stroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth 72:15 (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which are not united by progress, but separated. Perfection is not expressed through imperfection. 72:18 Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the anti- pode of Spirit. Error is not a convenient sieve through which truth can be strained. Scientific phenomena 72:21 God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never present. In Science, individual good derived 72:24 from God, the infinite All-in-all, may flow from the departed to mortals; but evil is neither com- municable nor scientific. A sinning, earthly mortal is 72:27 not the reality of Life nor the medium through which truth passes to earth. The joy of intercourse becomes the jest of sin, when evil and suffering are communicable. 72:30 Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the com- municator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and humanity. As readily can you mingle fire and frost as 73:1 Spirit and matter. In either case, one does not support the other. 73:3 Spiritualism calls one person, living in this world, _ma- terial_, but another, who has died to-day a sinner and sup- posedly will return to earth to-morrow, it terms a _spirit_. 73:6 The fact is that neither the one nor the other is infinite Spirit, for Spirit is God, and man is His likeness. One government The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an- 73:9 other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and the Science of man, for man is image. God controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any 73:12 other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, - the repe- tition of evil. 73:15 If Spirit, or God, communed with mortals or controlled them through electricity or any other form of matter, the divine order and the Science of omnipotent, omnipresent 73:18 Spirit would be destroyed. Incorrect theories The belief that material bodies return to dust, hereafter to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and 73:21 desires, is incorrect. Equally incorrect is the belief that spirit is confined in a finite, ma- terial body, from which it is freed by death, and that, when 73:24 it is freed from the material body, spirit retains the sensa- tions belonging to that body. No me-diumship It is a grave mistake to suppose that matter is any part 73:27 of the reality of intelligent existence, or that Spirit and matter, intelligence and non-intelligence, can commune together. This error Science will 73:30 destroy. The sensual cannot be made the mouthpiece of the spiritual, nor can the finite become the channel of the infinite. There is no communication between so- 74:1 called material existence and spiritual life which is not subject to death. Opposing conditions 74:3 To be on communicable terms with Spirit, persons must be free from organic bodies; and their return to a mate- rial condition, after having once left it, would 74:6 be as impossible as would be the restoration to its original condition of the acorn, already absorbed into a sprout which has risen above the soil. The seed 74:9 which has germinated has a new form and state of exist- ence. When here or hereafter the belief of life in matter is extinct, the error which has held the belief dissolves 74:12 with the belief, and never returns to the old condition. No correspondence nor communion can exist between persons in such opposite dreams as the belief of having 74:15 died and left a material body and the belief of still living in an organic, material body. Bridgeless division The caterpillar, transformed into a beautiful insect, 74:18 is no longer a worm, nor does the insect return to fraternize with or control the worm. Such a backward transformation is impossible in 74:21 Science. Darkness and light, infancy and manhood, sickness and health, are opposites, - different beliefs, which never blend. Who will say that infancy can utter 74:24 the ideas of manhood, that darkness can represent light, that we are in Europe when we are in the opposite hemi- sphere? There is no bridge across the gulf which divides 74:27 two such opposite conditions as the spiritual, or incor- poreal, and the physical, or corporeal. In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, 74:30 never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead and living cannot commune together, for they are in separate states of existence, or consciousness. Unscientific investiture 75:1 This simple truth lays bare the mistaken assumption that man dies as matter but comes to life as spirit. The 75:3 so-called dead, in order to reappear to those still in the existence cognized by the physical senses, would need to be tangible and material, - to have 75:6 a material investiture, - or the material senses could take no cognizance of the so-called dead. Spiritualism would transfer men from the spiritual sense 75:9 of existence back into its material sense. This gross mate- rialism is scientifically impossible, since to infinite Spirit there can be no matter. Raising the dead 75:12 Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that 75:15 Lazarus had never died, not by an admis- sion that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his 75:18 body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it. 75:21 When you can waken yourself or others out of the belief that all must die, you can then exercise Jesus' spiritual power to reproduce the presence of those who have thought 75:24 they died, - but not otherwise. Vision of the dying There is one possible moment, when those living on the earth and those called dead, can commune together, and 75:27 that is the moment previous to the transition, - the moment when the link between their op- posite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through 75:30 which we pass from one dream to another dream, or when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those 76:1 who have gone before. The ones departing may whisper this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the 76:3 hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes aloud his rapture. Real Life is God 76:6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as neither material nor finite, but as infinite, - as God, universal good; and the belief that life, or 76:9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never 76:12 raised from matter. When advanced to spiritual being and the understanding of God, man can no longer com- mune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more 76:15 than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem to be corporeal, but he will be an individual conscious- ness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter. 76:18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When divine Science is universally understood, they will have no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by 76:21 divine authority. Immaterial pleasure The sinless joy, - the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness 76:24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, - constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence 76:27 is scientific and intact, - a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of 76:30 existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears. The recognition of Spirit and of infinity comes not 77:1 suddenly here or hereafter. The pious Polycarp said: "I cannot turn at once from good to evil." Neither do 77:3 other mortals accomplish the change from error to truth at a single bound. Second death Existence continues to be a belief of corporeal sense 77:6 until the Science of being is reached. Error brings its own self-destruction both here and hereafter, for mortal mind creates its own physical con- 77:9 ditions. Death will occur on the next plane of existence as on this, until the spiritual understanding of Life is reached. Then, and not until then, will it be demon- 77:12 strated that "the second death hath no power." A dream vanishing The period required for this dream of material life, embracing its so-called pleasures and pains, to vanish 77:15 from consciousness, "knoweth no man . . . neither the Son, but the Father." This period will be of longer or shorter duration according to the 77:18 tenacity of error. Of what advantage, then, would it be to us, or to the departed, to prolong the material state and so prolong the illusion either of a soul inert or of a sinning, 77:21 suffering sense, - a so-called mind fettered to matter. Progress and purgatory Even if communications from spirits to mortal con- sciousness were possible, such communications would 77:24 grow beautifully less with every advanced stage of existence. The departed would gradually rise above ignorance and materiality, and Spiritualists 77:27 would outgrow their beliefs in material spiritualism. Spiritism consigns the so-called dead to a state resembling that of blighted buds, - to a wretched purgatory, where 77:30 the chances of the departed for improvement narrow into nothing and they return to their old standpoints of matter. Unnatural deflections 78:1 The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak, the ferocious beast, - like the discords of disease, sin, 78:3 and death, - are unnatural. They are the fal- sities of sense, the changing deflections of mor- tal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind. Absurd oracles 78:6 How unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing out life and hastening to death, and that at the same time we are communing with immortality! 78:9 If the departed are in rapport with mor- tality, or matter, they are not spiritual, but must still be mortal, sinning, suffering, and dying. Then why 78:12 look to them - even were communication possible - for proofs of immortality, and accept them as oracles? Com- munications gathered from ignorance are pernicious in 78:15 tendency. Spiritualism with its material accompaniments would destroy the supremacy of Spirit. If Spirit pervades all 78:18 space, it needs no material method for the transmission of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order to be omnipresent. Spirit intangible 78:21 Spirit is not materially tangible. How then can it communicate with man through electric, material effects? How can the majesty and omnipotence of 78:24 Spirit be lost? God is not in the medley where matter cares for matter, where spiritism makes many gods, and hypnotism and electricity are claimed 78:27 to be the agents of God's government. Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are 78:30 comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science. Thought regarding death 79:1 The act of describing disease - its symptoms, locality, and fatality - is not scientific. Warning people against 79:3 death is an error that tends to frighten into death those who are ignorant of Life as God. Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored 79:6 by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death. Fallacious hypotheses A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma- 79:9 nent health. Science must go over the whole ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow- ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy- 79:12 potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma- 79:15 terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro- duces the harmony of being. Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle 79:18 Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ. Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de- 79:21 scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels, but he healed disease. Mistaken methods The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your 79:24 brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is weak, and it must be strengthened. You have nervous prostration, and must be treated for it." 79:27 Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in- telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain. Divine strength Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary 79:30 in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing good. Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. 80:1 We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving 80:3 utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for the support of bodily endurance. A denial of immortality 80:6 A communication purporting to come from the late Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was, and there never will be, an immortal spirit." 80:9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen- tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica- tions are our only proofs of immortality. Mysticism unscientific 80:12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual- 80:15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the 80:18 realm of mysticism. Physical falsities It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know 80:21 that it is mind-power which moves both table and hand. Even planchette - the French toy which years ago pleased so many people - attested the con- 80:24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter. It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter. These movements arise from the volition of human belief, 80:27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec- 80:30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly, hence that matter is intelligent. Poor post-mortem evidence 81:1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni- cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there 81:3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the 81:6 Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish. No proof of immortality At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism can only prove that certain individuals have a continued 81:9 existence after death and maintain their affili- ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that 81:12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op- posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor- tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits 81:15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof of immortality. Mind's manifestations immortal Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can- 81:18 not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to wither and the flower to fade, they reappear. Erase the figures which express number, silence 81:21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on, - in the case of man as truly as in 81:24 the case of numbers and of music, - despite the so-called laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the 81:27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de- pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary 81:30 consequence of the immortality of good. Reading thoughts That somebody, somewhere, must have known the deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is 82:1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near. We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one 82:3 present. It is no more difficult to read the absent mind than it is to read the present. Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought 82:6 in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist- ence we may be in doubt? Impossible intercommunion 82:9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they cannot return to material existence, because different states of consciousness are involved, and one 82:12 person cannot exist in two different states of consciousness at the same time. In sleep we do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite 82:15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un- conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ- ent mazes of consciousness. 82:18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of existence as before the change we call death, that their 82:21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm in which we dwell. Communion between them and 82:24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as impossible as it would be between a mole and a human 82:27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be- token a differing consciousness. When wandering in Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their 82:30 snow huts? In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to 83:1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of 83:3 Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the work of wisdom. 83:6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter 83:9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such a belief hides Truth and builds on error. Natural wonders 83:12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani- festation of power is from the divine nature 83:15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in- cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but 83:18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, - this be- lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit. Conflicting standpoints 83:21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life is either material or organically spiritual. Between Christian Science and all forms of superstition 83:24 a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be- tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation 83:27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind- 83:30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs. 84:1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs. Scientific foreseeing 84:3 The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction, - predict- 84:6 ing the future from a groundwork of corpo- reality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men 84:9 become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit. It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and 84:12 of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future. Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to 84:15 commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired, - yea, to reach the range of fetter- 84:18 less Mind. The Mind unbounded To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for 84:21 sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind- science by which we discern man's nature and existence. 84:24 This true conception of being destroys the belief of spirit- ualism at its very inception, for without the concession of material personalities called spirits, spiritualism has no 84:27 basis upon which to build. Scientific foreknowing All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian 84:30 Science. If this Science has been thoroughly learned and properly digested, we can know the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read 85:1 the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of 85:3 the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the ca- pacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the 85:6 divine Mind. Value of intuition Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and per- petuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not 85:9 evil. You will reach the perfect Science of healing when you are able to read the human mind after this manner and discern the error you would 85:12 destroy. The Samaritan woman said: "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 85:15 It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his students, "knew their thoughts," - read them scientifi- cally. In like manner he discerned disease and healed 85:18 the sick. After the same method, events of great mo- ment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets. Our Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said: 85:21 "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Hypocrisy condemned Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal 85:24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek- ing the material more than the spiritual. His 85:27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation. He said: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other 85:30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never imparts error. Mental contact 86:1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone, 86:3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called 86:6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples' 86:9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples. Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce 86:12 unlike results. Images of thought Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste- 86:15 rious only because it is unusual to see thoughts, though we can always feel their influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual 86:18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing 86:21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one? Education alone determines the difference. In reality 86:24 there is none. Phenomena explained Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman- ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences, 86:27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and memory as readily as from objects cognizable by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as 86:30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it 87:1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce 87:3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind in which they are discoverable. Mental environment It is needless for the thought or for the person hold- 87:6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con- sciously present. Though individuals have passed away, their mental environment re- 87:9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten, their associations float in the general atmosphere of human 87:12 mind. Second sight The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents 87:15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables one to read the human mind, but not as a clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but 87:18 not as a mesmerist. Buried secrets The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns, 87:21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not 87:24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend- 87:27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind- readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions. Recollected friends Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We 87:30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise before us, which are thousands of miles away or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and 88:1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the 88:3 heart's desire, - the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still. 88:6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent salutes the nostrils. Illusions not ideas 88:9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il- lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, 88:12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be- liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs 88:15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another are called spirits. 88:18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea; but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven- 88:21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests profound adoration. Excite the opposite development, and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro- 88:24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena, for both arise from mortal belief. Trance speaking illusion Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love. 88:27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows the possibilities derived from divine Mind, though it is said to be a gift whose endowment 88:30 is obtained from books or received from the impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who 89:1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know- ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the 89:3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno- rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav- 89:6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she talks freely. 89:9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She says, "I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un- 89:12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip- tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with- 89:15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before was eloquent. Scientific improvisation 89:18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, 89:21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe- 89:24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips. Divine origination Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of 89:27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain very naturally concluded that if life was in the body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away. 89:30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was "a murderer from the beginning." If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to 90:1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another, how then can we account for their primal origin? How 90:3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of Galilee, - and that, too, without meal or monad from which loaf or fish could come? Mind is substance 90:6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the equator are not substance. The earth's motion and position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest 90:9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub- stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally 90:12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now some insist that death is the necessary prelude to 90:15 immortality. Mortal delusions In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend. The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed 90:18 inhabitant of that body carries it through the air and over the ocean. This shows the possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men- 90:21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and knowledge are. Scientific finalities 90:24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like- ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con- viction shuts the door on death, and opens it 90:27 wide towards immortality. The understanding and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being 90:30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know this when man reflects God. 91:1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and 91:3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom? Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated 91:6 from God, and obey only the divine principle, Life and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth. Man's genuine being 91:9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science, because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner error is reduced to its native nothingness, the 91:12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his genuine being will be understood. The destruction of error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but 91:15 is the acknowledgment of them. Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of 91:18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit- ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed 91:21 the material senses. Erroneous postulates Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered in order that the spiritual facts may be better 91:24 apprehended. The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance, life, and intelligence are something apart from God. 91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both mental and material. The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil 91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the medium of evil, for Mind is God. The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in- 92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part of himself. 92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also 92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of mortal bodies in what is termed death. 92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power of sinning now and forever. Knowledge of good and evil In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around 92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve. This represents the serpent in the act of commending to our first parents the knowl- 92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter, or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor- 92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of material sense. Opposing power 92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness - appears, the moral demand will not be met, 92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief 92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real, 92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in the superiority of error. The age's privilege Do you say the time has not yet come in which to 93:1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries 93:3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour 93:6 cometh, and _now is_, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold, _now_ is the accepted time; behold, _now_ is the day of sal- 93:9 vation," said Paul. Logic and revelation Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe otherwise, we may be sure that either our 93:12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught that can cause evil. 93:15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in- 93:18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the divine _Esse_, though human faith may clothe it with angelic vestments, is without foundation. Derivatives of spirit 93:21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being. 93:24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex- clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word _spirit_ refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual. 93:27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal, and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi- 93:30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and of the reign of harmony in the Science of being. Scientific man 94:1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, - of Spirit, not of 94:3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and Love. The nature of man, thus understood, includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and 94:6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian and scientific statement of personality and of the relation of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa- 94:9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him, crucify him . . . by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." 94:12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov- ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent. Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, 94:15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse. Ingratitude and denial The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our 94:18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing- power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be- trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten 94:21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God thanks, - that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle which had healed him. Spiritual insight 94:24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts aright; but what would be said at this period of an in- 94:27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in- cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind. 94:30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading. 95:1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save, and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal 95:3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra- duced by the sinners of that period, as they would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul 95:6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel- ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all 95:9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them. Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God. 95:12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good- ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern 95:15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit- uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance, but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the 95:18 special characteristics thereof. Christ's reappearance We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end of error, because even human invention must have its 95:21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid- night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid 95:24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn 95:27 and describes its effulgence? Spiritual awakening Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. 95:30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances 96:1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen- 96:3 dom with chains. The darkest hours of all Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir- itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error 96:6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup- tions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, 96:9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn." Arena of contest 96:12 This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be 96:15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate- rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new 96:18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb- ances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth. 96:21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is 96:24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless. Millennial glory As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science 96:27 will endure to the end. As material knowl- edge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally 96:30 instead of materially. During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but 97:1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They 97:3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection. Dangerous resemblances In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and 97:6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac- cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce 97:9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science the flight of one and the blow of the other will become harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the 97:12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing 97:15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes for destruction. The more material the belief, the more 97:18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do- main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like- ness of Spirit, his original being. 97:21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth 97:24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in- articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion. "He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip- 97:27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit. Christianity still rejected Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is 97:30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos- tolic work of casting out error and healing the sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which 98:1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom- pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex- 98:3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love. Spiritual foreshadowings The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris- 98:6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error, and no other sign shall be given. Body can- not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris- 98:9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the healing influence of Spirit (not _spirits_) which the material senses cannot comprehend, which can only be spiritu- 98:12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses do not express Christian Science; much less can they demonstrate it. Revelation of Science 98:15 Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical 98:18 Science. It is imperious throughout all ages as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which remains inviolate for every man to understand and to 98:21 practise. Science as foreign to all religion For centuries - yea, always - natural science has not been considered a part of any religion, Christianity not 98:24 excepted. Even now multitudes consider that which they call _science_ has no proper con- nection with faith and piety. Mystery does 98:27 not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theo- retical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and being practical and complete, they are not deprived of 98:30 their essential vitality. Key to the kingdom The way through which immortality and life are learned is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine, 99:1 not physical but metaphysical, not material but scien- tifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and super- 99:3 stition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which mortals can escape from sin; yet to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work 99:6 out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good 99:9 pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Sci- ence has opened the door of the human understanding. 99:12 None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door. The ordinary teachings are material and not spiritual. Christian Science teaches only that which is spiritual and 99:15 divine, and not human. Christian Science is unerring and Divine; the human sense of things errs because it is human. 99:18 Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism, or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is 99:21 not with the individual, but with the false system. I love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure. The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the 99:24 manifestations of which are health, purity, and self- immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposi- 99:27 tion, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect man. CHAPTER V - ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man. - JESUS. Earliest investigations 100:1 MESMERISM or animal magnetism was first brought into notice by Mesmer in Germany in 1775. Ac- 100:3 cording to the American Cyclopaedia, he regarded this so-called force, which he said could be ex- erted by one living organism over another, as 100:6 a means of alleviating disease. His propositions were as follows: "There exists a mutual influence between the celestial 100:9 bodies, the earth, and animated things. Animal bodies are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminat- ing itself through the substance of the nerves." 100:12 In 1784, the French government ordered the medical faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory and to report upon it. Under this order a commission was 100:15 appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the com- missioners. This commission reported to the govern- ment as follows: 100:18 "In regard to the existence and utility of animal mag- netism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic 101:1 fluid; that the violent effects, which are observed in the public practice of magnetism, are due to manipula- 101:3 tions, or to the excitement of the imagination and the impressions made upon the senses; and that there is one more fact to be recorded in the history of the errors of 101:6 the human mind, and an important experiment upon the power of the imagination." Clairvoyance, magnetism In 1837, a committee of nine persons was appointed, 101:9 among whom were Roux, Bouillaud, and Clo- quet, which tested during several sessions the phenomena exhibited by a reputed clairvoyant. Their 101:12 report stated the results as follows: "The facts which had been promised by Monsieur Berna [the magnetizer] as conclusive, and as adapted to 101:15 throw light on physiological and therapeutical questions, are certainly not conclusive in favor of the doctrine of animal magnetism, and have nothing in common with 101:18 either physiology or therapeutics." This report was adopted by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris. Personal conclusions 101:21 The author's own observations of the workings of animal magnetism convince her that it is not a remedial agent, and that its effects upon 101:24 those who practise it, and upon their subjects who do not resist it, lead to moral and to physical death. If animal magnetism seems to alleviate or to cure dis- 101:27 ease, this appearance is deceptive, since error cannot remove the effects of error. Discomfort under error is preferable to comfort. In no instance is the effect of 101:30 animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other than the effect of illusion. Any seeming benefit derived from it is proportional to one's faith in esoteric magic. Mere negation 102:1 Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation, for God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and 102:3 His power is neither animal nor human. Its basis being a belief and this belief animal, in Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism is 102:6 a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power, nor reality, and in sense it is an unreal concept of the so- called mortal mind. 102:9 There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all- embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind. 102:12 The planets have no more power over man than over his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man, reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth 102:15 and its hosts. Hidden agents The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappear- ing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front. 102:18 The looms of crime, hidden in the dark re- cesses of mortal thought, are every hour weav- ing webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the 102:21 present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires. The following 102:24 is an extract from the Boston Herald: "Mesmerism is a problem not lending itself to an easy explanation and development. It implies the exercise 102:27 of despotic control, and is much more likely to be abused by its possessor, than otherwise employed, for the in- dividual or society." Mental despotism 102:30 Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so- called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently 103:1 promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore in the community. The Apostle Paul refers to the 103:3 personification of evil as "the god of this world," and further defines it as dishonesty and craftiness. Sin was the Assyrian moon-god. Liberation of mental powers 103:6 The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through Science, by which man can escape from sin and mortality, blesses the whole human fam- 103:9 ily. As in the beginning, however, this libera- tion does not scientifically show itself in a knowledge of both good and evil, for the latter is unreal. 103:12 On the other hand, Mind-science is wholly separate from any half-way impertinent knowledge, because Mind- science is of God and demonstrates the divine Principle, 103:15 working out the purposes of good only. The maximum of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all. Evil is a suppositional lie. The genus of error 103:18 As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and 103:21 is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one qual- ity of Truth. It is either ignorant or malicious. The 103:24 malicious form of hypnotism ultimates in moral idiocy. The truths of immortal Mind sustain man, and they anni- hilate the fables of mortal mind, whose flimsy and gaudy 103:27 pretensions, like silly moths, singe their own wings and fall into dust. Thought-transference In reality there is no _mortal_ mind, and conse- 103:30 quently no transference of mortal thought and will-power. Life and being are of God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for 104:1 scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God to man. 104:3 When Christian Science and animal magnetism are both comprehended, as they will be at no distant date, it will be seen why the author of this book has been 104:6 so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep's clothing. Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has 104:9 wisely said: "Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, 104:12 they say they have always believed it." Perfection of divine government Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action, and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of 104:15 all divine action, as the emanation of divine Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the opposite so-called action, - evil, occultism, 104:18 necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism. Adulteration of Truth The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty, sensuality, falsehood, revenge, malice, are animal pro- 104:21 pensities and by no means the mental quali- ties which heal the sick. The hypnotizer employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sick- 104:24 ness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground, 104:27 leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the stronger error. Motives considered Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as 104:30 well as the commission of a crime. Is it not clear that the human mind must move the body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the mur- 105:1 derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them, could not commit a murder. Mental crimes 105:3 Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order to restrain crime, to prevent deeds of violence or to punish them. To say that these tribunals have no 105:6 jurisdiction over the carnal or mortal mind, would be to contradict precedent and to admit that the power of human law is restricted to matter, while mortal 105:9 mind, evil, which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is recommended to mercy. Can matter commit a crime? Can matter be punished? Can you separate the men- 105:12 tality from the body over which courts hold jurisdiction? Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case; and human law rightly estimates crime, and courts rea- 105:15 sonably pass sentence, according to the motive. Important decision When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental crime and no longer apply legal rulings wholly to physical 105:18 offences, these words of Judge Parmenter of Boston will become historic: "I see no reason why metaphysics is not as important to medicine as to 105:21 mechanics or mathematics." Evil let loose Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es- caped felon to commit fresh atrocities as opportunity oc- 105:24 curs is never safe. God will arrest him. Di- vine justice will manacle him. His sins will be millstones about his neck, weighing him down to the 105:27 depths of ignominy and death. The aggravation of er- ror foretells its doom, and confirms the ancient axiom: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." The misuse of mental power 105:30 The distance from ordinary medical prac- tice to Christian Science is full many a league in the line of light; but to go in healing from the use of 106:1 inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will- power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood 106:3 into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against the current running heavenward. Proper self-government 106:6 Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration of Independence. God has endowed man with inalien- able rights, among which are self-government, 106:9 reason, and conscience. Man is properly self- governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love. 106:12 Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in- terfered with, and the mental trespasser incurs the divine penalty due this crime. Right methods 106:15 Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable in Truth and known by their fruit, and classify 106:18 all others as did St. Paul in his great epistle to the Galatians, when he wrote as follows: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are 106:21 these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, _witchcraft_, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, 106:24 revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But 106:27 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. - PAUL. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - JESUS. Christian Science discovered 107:1 In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and 107:3 named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab- 107:6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing. Mission of Christian Science This apodictical Principle points to the revelation of Immanuel, "God with us," - the sovereign ever-pres- 107:9 ence, delivering the children of men from every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through Christian Science, religion and medicine are 107:12 inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac- quaint themselves intelligently with God. Discontent with life 107:15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life inheres in the body, yet remembering that in reality God is our Life, we may well tremble 107:18 in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I have no pleasure in them." 108:1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, - a con- viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses? 108:3 According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power." It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me 108:6 the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen- sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the 108:9 price of learning love," establish the truism that the only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer. Demonstrable evidence 108:12 My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty and the lesser demonstration to prove the 108:15 greater, as the product of three multiplied by three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, - not 108:18 a fraction more, not a unit less. Light shining in darkness When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, 108:21 I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever- 108:24 present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense 108:27 evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names _matter_ thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit. New lines of thought 108:30 My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed _mind_ produces all the organism and action of the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels, 109:1 and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in 109:3 Mind-science. Scientific evidence Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind 109:6 and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen to be supported by sensible evidence, until its divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and 109:9 thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen, no other conclusion can be reached. Solitary research For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu- 109:12 tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip- tures and read little else, kept aloof from so- ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis- 109:15 covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, 109:18 and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute 109:21 conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem- onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand- ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine 109:24 power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: "Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be 109:27 called Wonderful." Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, 109:30 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.) God's allness learned The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni- 110:1 presence, omniscience, - Spirit possessing all power, filling all space, constituting all Science, - contradict 110:3 forever the belief that matter can be actual. These eternal verities reveal primeval exist- ence as the radiant reality of God's creation, 110:6 in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis- dom good. Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful 110:9 unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought to light another glorious proposition, - man's perfecti- bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on 110:12 earth. Scriptural foundations In following these leadings of scientific revelation, the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were 110:15 illumined; reason and revelation were recon- ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue 110:18 taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can over- throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti- 110:21 cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis- 110:24 cerned and demonstrated. The demonstration lost and found Jesus demonstrated the power of Christian Science to heal mortal minds and bodies. But this power was lost 110:27 sight of, and must again be spiritually dis- cerned, taught, and demonstrated according to Christ's command, with "signs following." 110:30 Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe on Christ and spiritually understand Truth. Mystical antagonists No analogy exists between the vague hypotheses of 111:1 agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris- 111:3 tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous reason of the human mind, to be opposed to the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science. Optical illustration of Science 111:6 Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The Science of God and man is no more supernatural than is the science of numbers, though departing 111:9 from the realm of the physical, as the Science of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics 111:12 is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza- tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon- strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted 111:15 and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex- planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted image and shows what this inverted image is meant to 111:18 represent. Pertinent proposal A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni- versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science, 111:21 - an essay calculated to offset the tendency of the age to attribute physical effects to physical causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, - is one of 111:24 many incidents which show that Christian Science meets a yearning of the human race for spirituality. Confirmatory tests After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its 111:27 demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi- dent to me, - that Mind governs the body, not partially but wholly. I submitted my 111:30 metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad- est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien- 112:1 tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent in medical practice. One school of Truth 112:3 Is there more than one school of Christian Science? Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there- fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de- 112:6 part from this method forfeit their claims to belong to its school, and they become adher- ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some 112:9 other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad- here to some particular system of human opinions. Al- though these opinions may have occasional gleams of 112:12 divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not 112:15 scientifically Christian. Unchanging Principle From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude 112:18 come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon- stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are 112:21 the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac- terized in the epistle to the Hebrews. On sandy foundations Any theory of Christian Science, which departs from 112:24 what has already been stated and proved to be true, af- fords no foundation upon which to establish a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any 112:27 so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it 112:30 inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal." Principle and practice God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there 113:1 is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon- 113:3 stration of this divine Principle. The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, 113:6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With- out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, - pulseless, cold, inanimate. Reversible propositions 113:9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics are summarized in the four following, to me, _self-evident_ propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi- 113:12 tions will be found to agree in statement and proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to 113:15 stand upon which is not purely metaphysical. 1. God is All-in-all. 2. God is good. Good is Mind. 113:18 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter. 4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease. - Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo- 113:21 tent God, Life. Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture, 113:24 I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a liar." Metaphysical inversions The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the 113:27 method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion. For example: There is no pain in Truth, and no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no 113:30 mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat- ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter in good, and no good in matter. Definition of mortal mind 114:1 Usage classes both evil and good together as _mind_; therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin- 114:3 ful humanity _mortal mind_, - meaning by this term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or 114:6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses, which makes minds many and calls _mind_ both human and 114:9 divine. In Science, Mind is _one_, including noumenon and phe- nomena, God and His thoughts. Imperfect terminology 114:12 Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an improper use of the word _mind_. As Mind is immortal, the phrase _mortal mind_ implies something un- 114:15 true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if 114:18 a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new 114:21 wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of the letter. Causation mental Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men- 114:24 tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities 114:27 of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni- ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed _mat- 114:30 ter_ is but the subjective state of what is termed by the author _mortal mind_. Philological inadequacy Apart from the usual opposition to everything new, 115:1 the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual- ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science 115:3 comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for metaphysical statements, and the consequent difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make 115:6 them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person- ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the 115:9 mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the right impression, when translating material terms back into the original spiritual tongue. 115:12 SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF IMMORTAL MIND Divine synonyms GOD: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind. Divine image 115:15 MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per- fect, eternal. Divine reflection IDEA: An image in Mind; the immediate 115:18 object of understanding. - _Webster_. SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF MORTAL MIND _First Degree:_ Depravity. Unreality 115:21 PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear, depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de- ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease, 115:24 death. _Second Degree:_ Evil beliefs disappearing. Transitional qualities MORAL. Humanity, honesty, affection, com- passion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance. 116:1 _Third Degree:_ Understanding. Reality SPIRITUAL. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, 116:3 spiritual power, love, health, holiness. Spiritual universe In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as God's image appears. Science so reverses the evidence 116:6 before the corporeal human senses, as to make this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts, "The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God 116:9 and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and must of necessity be, - all-inclusive. Aim of Science A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta- 116:12 tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen. Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. They never crown the power of 116:15 Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, - even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, - nor insist upon the fact 116:18 that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind. Divine personality Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that 116:21 God is not _corporeal_, but _incorporeal_, - that is, bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is incorporeal. 116:24 As the words _person_ and _personal_ are commonly and ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity 116:27 and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality, as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is infinite _Person_, - in the sense of infinite personality, but 116:30 not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form is an absolute impossibility. 117:1 The term _individuality_ is also open to objections, be- cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many, 117:3 as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God is _One_, - not one of a series, but one alone and without an equal. Spiritual language 117:6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi- cal nature and significance to the Supreme 117:9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir- 117:12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs following." The miracles of Jesus Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan- 117:15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili- tudes and parables. As a divine student he unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon- 117:18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles 117:21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty, crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the flesh. Opacity of the senses 117:24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates solely to human reason; and because of opaci- ty to the true light, human reason dimly re- 117:27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth is a revelation. Leaven of Truth Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the 117:30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de- fined as human doctrines. His parable of the "leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures 118:1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer- ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ 118:3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration. 118:6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi- 118:9 ble world? Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally 118:12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom. The divine and human contrasted In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit- 118:15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in- finite power and grace. The parable may import that these spiritual laws, perverted by 118:18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre- sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modes of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust 118:21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and modes of material motion are honored with the name of _laws_. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes 118:24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal. Certain contradictions The definitions of material law, as given by natural 118:27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against itself, because these definitions portray law as physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con- 118:30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in which nature and God are one and the natural order of heaven comes down to earth. Unescapable dilemma 119:1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we 119:3 cannot really endow matter with what it does not and cannot possess, - we disown the Al- mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They 119:6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con- 119:9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre- ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of 119:12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas- ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet- 119:15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural law. God and nature In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na- 119:18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law- giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal 119:21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre- sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature 119:24 of Spirit, God. The sun and Soul In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth 119:27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron- omy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re- 119:30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it 120:1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under- stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in 120:3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence. Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's 120:6 image. Reversal of testimony Science reverses the false testimony of the physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda- 120:9 mental facts of being. Then the question in- evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter 120:12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which health is normal and disease is abnormal. Health and the senses 120:15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub- ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing 120:18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There- fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi- 120:21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows 120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic. Any conclusion _pro_ or _con_, deduced from supposed sen- sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness 120:27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate and so leads to disease. Historic illustrations 120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the globe, ignorance and superstition chained the limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star- 121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor- 121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy. Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields 121:6 were incorrectly explored. Perennial beauty The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher 121:9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis- played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's 121:12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained 121:15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home." Astronomic unfoldings The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical 121:18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this 121:21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in- duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple 121:24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides 121:27 turning daily on its own axis. As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec- 121:30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe. Opposing testimony 122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, - 122:3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un- derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false 122:6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re- versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine- 122:9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus; yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such 122:12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure, from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status of happiness or misery. Testimony of the senses 122:15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet 122:18 and mingle. The barometer, - that little prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky 122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for himself. Spiritual sense of life 122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein takes away life; but to spiritual sense and in Science, Life goes on unchanged and 122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of existence. Ptolemaic and psychical error Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul 122:30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system. They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu- tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the 123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as 123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole- maic blunder could not affect the harmony of 123:6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes 123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in the universe. Seeming and being The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that 123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves _things_ into _thoughts_, and replaces the objects of 123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas. The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by the author to designate the scientific system of divine 123:18 healing. The revelation consists of two parts: 1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind- 123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the Master. 123:24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so- called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an 123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order and continuity of being. Scientific basis 123:30 Christian Science differs from material sci- ence, but not on that account is it less scien- tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi- 124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of all science. Physical science a blind belief 124:3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his strength. When this human belief lacks organ- 124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone. Having neither moral might, spiritual basis, nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect 124:9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter, thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death. In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material 124:12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which immortal Spirit silences forever. Right interpretation The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science 124:15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under- stood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to 124:18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma. All force mental Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of 124:21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the 124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther." Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and 124:27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this 124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification. Corporeal changes The elements and functions of the physical body and 125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition 125:3 for organic and functional health in the human body may no longer be found indispensable to health. Moral conditions will be found always har- 125:6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought, 125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than he was in the prior states which human belief created and sanctioned. 125:12 As human thought changes from one stage to an- other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand- 125:15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov- erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed. When subordinate 125:18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless. The time and tide 125:21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri- culturist will find that these changes cannot 125:24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed." The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great 125:27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, - he will look out from them upon the universe; and the 125:30 florist will find his flower before its seed. Mortal nothingness Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man 126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist- ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The 126:3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will be solved, and mortal mind will be without form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds 126:6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection in a glass. A lack of originality All Science is divine. Human thought never pro- 126:9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief has sought and interpreted in its own way the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have 126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive sound. Antagonistic questions 126:15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall Science explain cause and effect as being 126:18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative 126:21 hypotheses? Biblical basis I have set forth Christian Science and its application to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them. 126:24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern 126:27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au- 126:30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and narrow way" of Truth. Science and Christianity If Christendom resists the author's application of the 127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris- 127:3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything 127:6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity. Scientific terms 127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em- ploys interchangeably, according to the re- 127:12 quirements of the context. These synony- mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in- finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however, 127:15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re- veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death, 127:18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs, 127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor sensation. No physical science There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth 127:24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of 127:27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright. It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth. 127:30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science, in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con- 128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not 128:3 miraculous to itself. Practical Science The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, 128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and 128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human 128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl- 128:15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher 128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity. An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro- 128:21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere. So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from 128:24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi- mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter. Mathematics and scientific logic 128:27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation. The addition of two sums in mathematics must 128:30 always bring the same result. So is it with logic. If both the major and the minor propo- sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly 129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as 129:3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl- logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic. Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in 129:6 premise or conclusion. Truth by inversion If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis- cover it by reversing the material fable, be the 129:9 fable _pro_ or _con_, - be it in accord with your preconceptions or utterly contrary to them. Antagonistic theories Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli- 129:12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows. In those days there will be "great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the 129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth] come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos- 129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some other systems. Ontology needed 129:21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol- ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the out- 129:24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading 129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness. Reluctant guests 129:30 The generous liver may object to the author's small estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees, in the system taught in this book, that the demands of 130:1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con- stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis- 130:3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects. When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex- cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise, 130:6 and therefore they cannot accept. Excuses for ignorance It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate 130:9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle, - if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will 130:12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om- nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and its sweet concords have all-power. Children and adults 130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis- abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war against spiritual facts; and these material 130:18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's 130:21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, - an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har- monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's 130:24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as they belong to the heavenly kingdom. All evil unnatural If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science 130:27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su- premacy of good, ought we not, contrari- wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims 130:30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should 131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem 131:3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har- mony with God, the divine Principle of all being. The error of carnality 131:6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi- dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the opposition of sensuous man to the Science of 131:9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power. 131:12 THEOLOGY Churchly neglect Must Christian Science come through the Christian churches as some persons insist? This Science has come 131:15 already, after the manner of God's appoint- ing, but the churches seem not ready to re- ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came 131:18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise 131:21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore- time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere- 131:24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the hearts of men are made ready for it. John the Baptist, and the Messiah The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex- 131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra- tions which were not understood. Jesus' works 131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come," 132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this 132:3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an- swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the 132:6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And 132:9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In other words, he gave his benediction to any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine 132:12 Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principle which brings out all harmony. Christ rejected The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the 132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus' system of healing received no aid nor approval 132:18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener- ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the 132:21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin- ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal 132:24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the true idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi- cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man 132:27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" John's misgivings Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep- 132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned 133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?" Faith according to works 133:3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?" There was also a certain centurion of whose 133:6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from 133:9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed 133:12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers. In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true 133:15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and 133:18 in kings' palaces. Judaism antipathetic Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or 133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material system, carried out in special theories concern- ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus. 133:24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in- 133:27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli- gence, nor substance outside of God. Priestly learning The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah, 133:30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite given place to the true knowledge of God. Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of 134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re- peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth 134:3 is still opposed with sword and spear. Testimony of martyrs The word _martyr_, from the Greek, means _witness_; but those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted 134:6 unto death, that at length the word _martyr_ was narrowed in its significance and so has come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions. 134:9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted; 134:12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed by the gallows and the cross. Absence of Christ-power Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed 134:15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power, how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi- 134:18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century. Basis of miracles 134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not because this Science is supernatural or pre- 134:24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al- 134:27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of 134:30 spiritual power over material resistance. Lawful wonders A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than 135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, 135:3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the 135:6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law. 135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power. Fear and sickness identical The same power which heals sin heals also sickness. 135:12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth casts out the evil called disease, it heals the 135:15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating 135:18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" What cannot God do? The unity of Science and Christianity 135:21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the other is false and useless; but neither is unim- 135:24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon- stration. This proves the one to be identical with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not 135:27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick, 135:30 not merely in the _name_ of Christ, or Truth, but in demon- stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of divine light. The Christ-mission 136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught 136:3 his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli- 136:6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine power to save men both bodily and spiritually. Ancient spiritualism 136:9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the sick? His answer to this question the world rejected. He appealed to his students: "Whom do 136:12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some 136:15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that 136:18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium, controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias. This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself. 136:21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such 136:24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con- trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser- 136:27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher. Doubting disciples The disciples apprehended their Master better than 136:30 did others; but they did not comprehend all that he said and did, or they would not have questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in 137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu- dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil, 137:3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before 137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and the grave. Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated, 137:9 "But whom say _ye_ that I am?" This renewed inquiry meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the 137:12 answer already given and his renewal of the question, it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow opinion implied in their citation of the common report 137:15 about him. A divine response With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou 137:18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de- clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and 137:21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 137:24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath shown thee the way of Life! The true and living rock Before this the impetuous disciple had been called 137:27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir- itual name in these words: "And I say also 137:30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the meaning of the Greek word _petros_, or _stone_] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [_hades_, the _under_- 138:1 _world_, or the _grave_] shall not prevail against it." In other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not 138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God- power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true Messiah. Sublime summary 138:6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm 138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither 138:12 by corporeality, by _materia medica_, nor by hygiene, but by the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind. The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which 138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion of Love. New era in Jesus Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for 138:18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to 138:21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick- ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with 138:24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas- ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as readily is it was proved centuries ago. Healthful theology 138:27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . . Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as 138:30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which 139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas- 139:3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy. Marvels and reformations From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter. 139:6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and 139:9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re- 139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows inward. Science obscured 139:15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man- ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the 139:18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New, - these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole 139:21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen 139:24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be- 139:27 come "the head of the corner." Opponents benefited Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re- 139:30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris- tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de- 140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the 140:3 treatment of moral ailments. God invisible to the senses That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm. The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not 140:6 see My face; for there shall no man see Me and live." Not materially but spiritually we know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We 140:9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence 140:12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro- scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and 140:15 swallowing camels. The true worship We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris- 140:18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true 140:21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Anthropomorphism The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God, 140:24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness. The Christian Science God is universal, eter- nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus- 140:27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin- ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor- 140:30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal magnified? More than profession required 141:1 This indicates the distance between the theological and ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by 141:3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for Christian demonstration. Few understand or adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and 141:6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci- ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye, - that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs 141:9 and practices, to leave all for Christ. No ecclesiastical monopoly All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle- 141:12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect 141:15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical 141:18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover- eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and 141:21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there- fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power. 141:24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com- prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically understood. A change demanded 141:27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal- ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let 141:30 it have fair representation by the press. Give to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu- pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will 142:1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems, devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab- 142:3 lishment and propagation. Two claims omitted Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death; 142:6 but modern religions generally omit all but one of these powers, - the power over sin. We must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our 142:9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can furnish us with absolute evidence. Selfishness and loss If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi- 142:12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the gate, they at the same time shut the door on 142:15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine. Temple cleansed 142:18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci- ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of 142:21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet 142:24 dwelling-places for the Most High. MEDICINE Question of precedence Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was 142:27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have been the first medicine. God being All-in- all, He made medicine; but that medicine was 142:30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth 143:1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de- stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day, 143:3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the sick. Methods rejected It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene, 143:6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his heal- ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than 143:9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter _medicine_, and matter required a material and human be- 143:12 lief before it could be considered as medicine. Error not curative Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi- cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties, 143:15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the greater. On this basis it saves from starva- tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You 143:18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones, etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by 143:21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de- prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind. 143:24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative mind. Impossible coalescence Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power 143:27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the 143:30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will 144:1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make them do so, since no good can come of it? 144:3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind, which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if these so-called powers are real. 144:6 Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh; Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light. Soul and sense The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso- 144:9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter, and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth. The more material a belief, the more obstinately 144:12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul. Will-power detrimental Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs 144:15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con- demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but 144:18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in- fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually, and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and 144:21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to disease, "Peace, be still." Conservative antagonism Because divine Science wars with so-called physical 144:24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped. 144:27 When the Science of being is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea. Ancient healers 144:30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or 145:1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural musician catches the tones of harmony, without being 145:3 able to explain them. So divinely imbued were they with the spirit of Science, that the lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that 145:6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their practice. The struggle and victory The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not 145:9 between material methods, but between mortal minds and immortal Mind. The victory will be on the patient's side only as immortal Mind 145:12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in disease. It matters not what material method one may adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance 145:15 on some other minor curative. Mystery of godliness Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth- ods, - that in it Truth controls error. From this fact 145:18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef- fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery 145:21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness always presents to the ungodly, - the mystery always arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr- 145:24 ing Mind. Matter _versus_ matter Other methods undertake to oppose error with error, and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of 145:27 matter towards other forms of matter or error, and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con- 145:30 tinually weaken its own assumed power. How healing was lost The theology of Christian Science includes healing the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded 146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why 146:3 has this element of Christianity been lost? Because our systems of religion are governed more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol- 146:6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and 146:9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense is made the servant of Science and religion becomes 146:12 Christlike. Drugs and divinity Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body. 146:15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per- son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God, 146:18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem- acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates," 146:21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac- tically prove its divine origin and efficacy. Christian Science as old as God Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible, 146:24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through the holy influence of Truth in healing sick- ness and sin. This healing power of Truth 146:27 must have been far anterior to the period in which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout 146:30 all space. Reduction to system Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of 147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the learner to demonstrate the divine Principle, 147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of disease. 147:6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap- 147:9 plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu- manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen- 147:12 turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee. Perusal and practice Although this volume contains the complete Science of 147:15 Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple _perusal_ of this book. The book needs to be _studied_, 147:18 and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the 147:21 perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en- ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim. A definite rule discovered 147:24 Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal- ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to his students; but he left no definite rule for 147:27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good- 147:30 ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of goodness and demonstrates its rules. Jesus' own practice Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult 148:1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen- 148:3 eration," implying that the requisite power to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs, urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct 148:6 disobedience to them. The man of anatomy and of theology Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man as created by Spirit, - as God's man. The former ex- 148:9 plains the men of _men_, or the "children of men," as created corporeally instead of spir- itually and as emerging from the lowest, in- 148:12 stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both anatomy and theology define man as both physical and mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every 148:15 function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the- 148:18 ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo- nious man, and deal - the one wholly, the other primarily - with matter, calling that _man_ which is not the counter- 148:21 part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, - how from this basis of division and discord to produce the con- 148:24 cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness. Physiology deficient Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When 148:27 physiology fails to give health or life by this process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable or unwilling to render help in time of physical need. 148:30 When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great 149:1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness as well as from sin. Blunders and blunderers 149:3 Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine Science in every case. Is _materia medica_ a 149:6 science or a bundle of speculative human theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in- stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different 149:9 mental states of the patient. These states are not com- prehended and they are left without explanation except in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera- 149:12 tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of Christ, Truth, more in your own life, - because you have 149:15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine Science. Old-school physician A physician of the old school remarked with great 149:18 gravity: "We know that mind affects the body some- what, and advise our patients to be hopeful and cheerful and to take as little medicine as 149:21 possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties." The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she 149:24 has cured purely functional disease, and with no power but the divine Mind. Tests in our day Since God, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but 149:27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics. Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits mind and body. We need to understand the 149:30 affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to 150:1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian 150:3 system of healing disease. The main purpose To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon- strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a 150:6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace, good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised 150:9 by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, 150:12 is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal- ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon- 150:15 strate its divine origin, - to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world. Exploded doctrine 150:18 The science (so-called) of physics would have one be- lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease, and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro- 150:21 test and contrary to the law of divine Mind. This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to 150:24 all others at some future day, as the practically rejected doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov- 150:27 erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of matter, - even the doctrine of the superiority of matter 150:30 over Mind, - is fading out. Disease mental The hosts of AEsculapius are flooding the world with diseases, because they are ignorant that the human mind 151:1 and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but 151:3 this one factor they represent to be body, not mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind 151:6 has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its redemption and healing. Intentions respected Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of 151:9 the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un- derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were in possession of the enlarged power it confers 151:12 to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres- 151:15 sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which multitudes would gladly escape. Man governed by Mind Mortal belief says that death has been occasioned by 151:18 fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing to do with Life, God. Every function of the 151:21 real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no con- trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man 151:24 maintains 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 impracticible as to arrange the fleeting vapors around us, or to reconcile the fixed and repulsive antipathies of nature. Dark and 164:1 perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of Homer's Cyclops around his cave." 164:3 Sir John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, said: "No systematic or theoretical classification of diseases 164:6 or of therapeutic agents, ever yet promulgated, is true, or anything like the truth, and none can be adopted as a safe guidance in practice." 164:9 It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medi- cal practitioners are grand men and women, therefore they are more scientific than are false claimants to Chris- 164:12 tian Science. But all human systems based on material premises are minus the unction of divine Science. Much yet remains to be said and done before all mankind is 164:15 saved and all the mental microbes of sin and all diseased thought-germs are exterminated. If you or I should appear to die, we should not be 164:18 dead. The seeming decease, caused by a majority of human beliefs that man must die, or produced by mental assassins, does not in the least disprove Christian Science; 164:21 rather does it evidence the truth of its basic proposition that mortal thoughts in belief rule the materiality mis- called life in the body or in matter. But the forever fact 164:24 remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from sin, disease, and death. "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on 164:27 immortality [divine Science], then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (St. Paul). CHAPTER VII - PHYSIOLOGY Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? - JESUS. He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. - PSALMS. 165:1 PHYSIOLOGY is one of the apples from "the tree of knowledge." Evil declared that eating this fruit 165:3 would open man's eyes and make him as a god. Instead of so doing, it closed the eyes of mortals to man's God- given dominion over the earth. Man not structural 165:6 To measure intellectual capacity by the size of the brain and strength by the exercise of muscle, is to subjugate intelligence, to make mind mor- 165:9 tal, and to place this so-called mind at the mercy of material organization and non-intelligent matter. 165:12 Obedience to the so-called physical laws of health has not checked sickness. Diseases have multiplied, since man-made material theories took the place of spiritual 165:15 truth. Causes of sickness You say that indigestion, fatigue, sleeplessness, cause distressed stomachs and aching heads. Then 165:18 you consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting 166:1 the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain. 166:3 As a man thinketh, so is he. Mind is all that feels, acts, or impedes action. Ignorant of this, or shrinking from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made 166:6 on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the body is lost. Delusions pagan and medical The Mohammedan believes in a pilgrimage to Mecca 166:9 for the salvation of his soul. The popular doctor believes in his prescription, and the pharmacist believes in the power of his drugs to save a man's 166:12 life. The Mohammedan's belief is a religious delusion; the doctor's and pharmacist's is a medical mistake. Health from reliance on spirituality 166:15 The erring human mind is inharmonious in itself. From it arises the inharmonious body. To ignore God as of little use in sickness is a mistake. 166:18 Instead of thrusting Him aside in times of bodily trouble, and waiting for the hour of strength in which to acknowledge Him, we should learn 166:21 that He can do all things for us in sickness as in health. Failing to recover health through adherence to physi- 166:24 ology and hygiene, the despairing invalid often drops them, and in his extremity and only as a last resort, turns to God. The invalid's faith in the divine Mind is less 166:27 than in drugs, air, and exercise, or he would have resorted to Mind first. The balance of power is conceded to be with matter by most of the medical systems; but when 166:30 Mind at last asserts its mastery over sin, disease, and death, then is man found to be harmonious and immortal. 167:1 Should we implore a corporeal God to heal the sick out of His personal volition, or should we understand the 167:3 infinite divine Principle which heals? If we rise no higher than blind faith, the Science of healing is not attained, and Soul-existence, in the place of sense-existence, is not com- 167:6 prehended. We apprehend Life in divine Science only as we live above corporeal sense and correct it. Our pro- portionate admission of the claims of good or of evil de- 167:9 termines the harmony of our existence, - our health, our longevity, and our Christianity. The two masters We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Sci- 167:12 ence with the material senses. Drugs and hygiene cannot successfully usurp the place and power of the divine source of all health and perfection. If 167:15 God made man both good and evil, man must remain thus. What can improve God's work? Again, an error in the premise must appear in the conclusion. To have 167:18 one God and avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you must love God supremely. Half-way success The "flesh lusteth against the Spirit." The flesh and 167:21 Spirit can no more unite in action, than good can coin- cide with evil. It is not wise to take a halt- ing and half-way position or to expect to work 167:24 equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error. There, is but one way - namely, God and His idea - which leads to spiritual being. The scientific government of the 167:27 body must be attained through the divine Mind. It is im- possible to gain control over the body in any other way. On this fundamental point, timid conservatism is abso- 167:30 lutely inadmissible. Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized. Substituting good words for a good life, fair seeming 168:1 for straightforward character, is a poor shift for the weak and worldly, who think the standard of Christian Science 168:3 too high for them. Belief on the wrong side If the scales are evenly adjusted, the removal of a single weight from either scale gives preponderance to the oppo- 168:6 site. Whatever influence you cast on the side of matter, you take away from Mind, which would otherwise outweigh all else. Your belief militates 168:9 against your health, when it ought to be enlisted on the side of health. When sick (according to belief) you rush after drugs, search out the material so-called laws of 168:12 health, and depend upon them to heal you, though you have already brought yourself into the slough of disease through just this false belief. The divine authority 168:15 Because man-made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are 168:18 we to believe an authority which denies God's spiritual command relating to perfection, - an authority which Jesus proved to be false? He did the will of the 168:21 Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law of Mind. Disease foreseen 168:24 I have discerned disease in the human mind, and rec- ognized the patient's fear of it, months before the so-called disease made its appearance in the body. Dis- 168:27 ease being a belief, a latent illusion of mortal mind, the sensation would not appear if the error of belief was met and destroyed by truth. Changed mentality 168:30 Here let a word be noticed which will be better understood hereafter, - _chemicalization_. By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal 169:1 mind and body undergo in the change of belief from a material to a spiritual basis. Scientific foresight 169:3 Whenever an aggravation of symptoms has occurred through mental chemicalization, I have seen the mental signs, assuring me that danger was over, before 169:6 the patient felt the change; and I have said to the patient, "You are healed," - sometimes to his dis- comfiture, when he was incredulous. But it always came 169:9 about as I had foretold. I name these facts to show that disease has a mental, mortal origin, - that faith in rules of health or in drugs 169:12 begets and fosters disease by attracting the mind to the subject of sickness, by exciting fear of disease, and by dos- ing the body in order to avoid it. The faith reposed in 169:15 these things should find stronger supports and a higher home. If we understood the control of Mind over body, we should put no faith in material means. Mind the only healer 169:18 Science not only reveals the origin of all disease as mental, but it also declares that all disease is cured by divine Mind. There can be no healing ex- 169:21 cept by this Mind, however much we trust a drug or any other means towards which human faith or endeavor is directed. It is mortal mind, not mat- 169:24 ter, which brings to the sick whatever good they may seem to receive from materiality. But the sick are never really healed except by means of the divine power. 169:27 Only the action of Truth, Life, and Love can give harmony. Modes of matter Whatever teaches man to have other laws and to 169:30 acknowledge other powers than the divine Mind, is anti-Christian. The good that a poisonous drug seems to do is evil, for it robs man of 170:1 reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to be- lief, poisons the human system. Truth is not the basis of 170:3 theogony. Modes of matter form neither a moral nor a spiritual system. The discord which calls for material methods is the result of the exercise of faith in material 170:6 modes, - faith in matter instead of in Spirit. Physiology unscientific Did Jesus understand the economy of man less than Graham or Cutter? Christian ideas certainly present 170:9 what human theories exclude - the Principle of man's harmony. The text, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die," not only con- 170:12 tradicts human systems, but points to the self-sustaining and eternal Truth. The demands of Truth are spiritual, and reach the 170:15 body through Mind. The best interpreter of man's needs said: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink." 170:18 If there are material laws which prevent disease, what then causes it? Not divine law, for Jesus healed the sick and cast out error, always in opposition, never in 170:21 obedience, to physics. Causation considered Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to 170:24 human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem 170:27 of Truth's garment. The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual, - but in either case dependent 170:30 upon his physical organization, - is the Pandora box, from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair. Matter, which takes divine power into its own hands and 171:1 claims to be a creator, is a fiction, in which paganism and lust are so sanctioned by society that mankind has caught 171:3 their moral contagion. Paradise regained Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of ma- teriality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will 171:6 reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, 171:9 not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brain- ology to learn how much of a man he is. A closed question 171:12 Mind's control over the universe, including man, is no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science. Jesus illustrated the divine Principle and the 171:15 power of immortal Mind by healing sickness and sin and destroying the foundations of death. Matter _versus_ Spirit Mistaking his origin and nature, man believes himself to 171:18 be combined matter and Spirit. He believes that Spirit is sifted through matter, carried on a nerve, ex- posed to ejection by the operation of matter. 171:21 The intellectual, the moral, the spiritual, - yea, the image of infinite Mind, - subject to non-intelligence! No more sympathy exists between the flesh and Spirit 171:24 than between Belial and Christ. The so-called laws of matter are nothing but false be- liefs that intelligence and life are present where Mind 171:27 is not. These false beliefs are the procuring cause of all sin and disease. The opposite truth, that intelligence and life are spiritual, never material, destroys sin, sickness, 171:30 and death. The fundamental error lies in the supposition that man is a material outgrowth and that the cognizance of good 172:1 or evil, which he has through the bodily senses, con- stitutes his happiness or misery. Godless Evolution 172:3 Theorizing about man's development from mushrooms to monkeys and from monkeys into men amounts to nothing in the right direction and 172:6 very much in the wrong. Materialism grades the human species as rising from matter upward. How then is the material species main- 172:9 tained, if man passes through what we call death and death is the Rubicon of spirituality? Spirit can form no real link in this supposed chain of material being. 172:12 But divine Science reveals the eternal chain of existence as uninterrupted and wholly spiritual; yet this can be realized only as the false sense of being disappears. Degrees of development 172:15 If man was first a material being, he must have passed through all the forms of matter in order to become man. If the material body is man, he is a portion of 172:18 matter, or dust. On the contrary, man is the image and likeness of Spirit; and the belief that there is Soul in sense or Life in matter obtains in mortals, _alias_ 172:21 mortal mind, to which the apostle refers when he says that we must "put off the old man." Identity not lost What is man? Brain, heart, blood, bones, etc., the 172:24 material structure? If the real man is in the material body, you take away a portion of the man when you amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys 172:27 manhood, and worms annihilate it. But the loss of a limb or injury to a tissue is sometimes the quickener of manli- ness; and the unfortunate cripple may present more no- 172:30 bility than the statuesque athlete, - teaching us by his very deprivations, that "a man's a man, for a' that." When man is man When we admit that matter (heart, blood, brain, acting 173:1 through the five physical senses) constitutes man, we fail to see how anatomy can distinguish between 173:3 humanity and the brute, or determine when man is really _man_ and has progressed farther than his animal progenitors. Individualization 173:6 When the supposition, that Spirit is within what it creates and the potter is subject to the clay, is individualized, Truth is reduced to the level 173:9 of error, and the sensible is required to be made manifest through the insensible. What is termed matter manifests nothing but a material 173:12 mentality. Neither the substance nor the manifestation of Spirit is obtainable through matter. Spirit is positive. Matter is Spirit's contrary, the absence of Spirit. For 173:15 positive Spirit to pass through a negative condition would be Spirit's destruction. Man not structural Anatomy declares man to be structural. Physiology 173:18 continues this explanation, measuring human strength by bones and sinews, and human life by material law. Man is spiritual, individual, and eter- 173:21 nal; material structure is mortal. Phrenology makes man knavish or honest according to the development of the cranium; but anatomy, physiology, 173:24 phrenology, do not define the image of God, the real im- mortal man. Human reason and religion come slowly to the recogni- 173:27 tion of spiritual facts, and so continue to call upon matter to remove the error which the human mind alone has created. 173:30 The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health and longevity than are the idols of barbarism. The idols of civilization call into action less faith than Buddhism 174:1 in a supreme governing intelligence. The Esquimaux restore health by incantations as consciously as do civi- 174:3 lized practitioners by their more studied methods. Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to 174:6 baths, diet, exercise, and air? Nothing save divine power is capable of doing so much for man as he can do for himself. Rise of thought 174:9 The footsteps of thought, rising above material stand- points, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller; but the angels of His presence - the spiritual 174:12 intuitions that tell us when "the night is far spent, the day is at hand" - are our guardians in the gloom. Whoever opens the way in Christian Science is 174:15 a pilgrim and stranger, marking out the path for gen- erations yet unborn. The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount 174:18 are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth. Truth is revealed. It needs only to 174:21 be practised. Medical errors Mortal belief is all that enables a drug to cure mortal ailments. Anatomy admits that mind is somewhere in 174:24 man, though out of sight. Then, if an indi- vidual is sick, why treat the body alone and administer a dose of despair to the mind? Why declare 174:27 that the body is diseased, and picture this disease to the mind, rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel and holding it before the thought of both physician and pa- 174:30 tient? We should understand that the cause of disease obtains in the mortal human mind, and its cure comes from the immortal divine Mind. We should prevent the 175:1 images of disease from taking form in thought, and we should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in 175:3 the minds of mortals. Novel Diseases When there are fewer prescriptions, and less thought is given to sanitary subjects, there will be better 175:6 constitutions and less disease. In old times who ever heard of dyspepsia, cerebro-spinal meningitis, hay-fever, and rose-cold? 175:9 What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose, the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the 175:12 thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever. It is profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation, 175:15 sneezing, and nasal pangs. No ancestral dyspepsia If a random thought, calling itself dyspepsia, had tried to tyrannize over our forefathers, it would have 175:18 been routed by their independence and in- dustry. Then people had less time for self- ishness, coddling, and sickly after-dinner talk. The ex- 175:21 act amount of food the stomach could digest was not discussed according to Cutter nor referred to sanitary laws. A man's belief in those days was not so severe 175:24 upon the gastric juices. Beaumont's "Medical Experi- ments" did not govern the digestion. Pulmonary misbeliefs Damp atmosphere and freezing snow empurpled the 175:27 plump cheeks of our ancestors, but they never indulged in the refinement of inflamed bronchial tubes. They were as innocent as Adam, before he ate 175:30 the fruit of false knowledge, of the existence of tubercles and troches, lungs and lozenges. Our modern Eves "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," says 176:1 the English poet, and there is truth in his sentiment. The action of mortal mind on the body was not so injurious 176:3 before inquisitive modern Eves took up the study of medical works and unmanly Adams attributed their own downfall and the fate of their off- 176:6 spring to the weakness of their wives. The primitive custom of taking no thought about food left the stomach and bowels free to act in obedi- 176:9 ence to nature, and gave the gospel a chance to be seen in its glorious effects upon the body. A ghastly array of diseases was not paraded before the imagination. There 176:12 were fewer books on digestion and more "sermons in stones, and good in everything." When the mechanism of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, self- 176:15 ishness and sin, disease and death, will lose their foothold. Human fear of miasma would load with disease the 176:18 air of Eden, and weigh down mankind with superimposed and conjectural evils. Mortal mind is the worst foe of the body, while divine Mind is its best friend. Diseases not to be classified 176:21 Should all cases of organic disease be treated by a regular practitioner, and the Christian Scientist try truth only in cases of hysteria, hypochon- 176:24 dria, and hallucination? One disease is no more real than another. All disease is the result of education, and disease can carry its ill-effects 176:27 no farther than mortal mind maps out the way. The human mind, not matter, is supposed to feel, suffer, en- joy. Hence decided types of acute disease are quite as 176:30 ready to yield to Truth as the less distinct type and chronic form of disease. Truth handles the most malignant con- tagion with perfect assurance. One basis for all sickness 177:1 Human mind produces what is termed organic dis- ease as certainly as it produces hysteria, and it must re- 177:3 linquish all its errors, sicknesses, and sins. I have demonstrated this beyond all cavil. The evidence of divine Mind's healing power and abso- 177:6 lute control is to me as certain as the evidence of my own existence. Mental and physical oneness Mortal mind and body are one. Neither exists without 177:9 the other, and both must be destroyed by immortal Mind. Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mor- tal mind. This so-called mind builds its own 177:12 superstructure, of which the material body is the grosser portion; but from first to last, the body is a sensuous, human concept. The effect of names 177:15 In the Scriptural allegory of the material creation, Adam or error, which represents the erroneous theory of life and intelligence in matter, had the 177:18 naming of all that was material. These names indicated matter's properties, qualities, and forms. But a lie, the opposite of Truth, cannot name the qualities and 177:21 effects of what is termed matter, and create the so-called laws of the flesh, nor can a lie hold the preponderance of power in any direction against God, Spirit and 177:24 Truth. Poison defined mentally If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and the patient dies even though physician and 177:27 patient are expecting favorable results, does human belief, you ask, cause this death? Even so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally 177:30 taken. In such cases a few persons believe the potion swal- lowed by the patient to be harmless, but the vast ma- 178:1 jority of mankind, though they know nothing of this par- ticular case and this special person, believe the arsenic, 178:3 the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poi- sonous, for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind. Consequently, the result is controlled by the majority of 178:6 opinions, not by the infinitesimal minority of opinions in the sick-chamber. Heredity is not a law. The remote cause or belief 178:9 of disease is not dangerous because of its priority and the connection of past mortal thoughts with present. The predisposing cause and the exciting cause are 178:12 mental. Perhaps an adult has a deformity produced prior to his birth by the fright of his mother. When wrested from 178:15 human belief and based on Science or the divine Mind, to which all things are possible, that chronic case is not difficult to cure. Animal magnetism destroyed 178:18 Mortal mind, acting from the basis of sensation in matter, is animal magnetism; but this so-called mind, from which comes all evil, contradicts itself, 178:21 and must finally yield to the eternal Truth, or the divine Mind, expressed in Science. In pro- portion to our understanding of Christian Science, we are 178:24 freed from the belief of heredity, of mind in matter or ani- mal magnetism; and we disarm sin of its imaginary power in proportion to our spiritual understanding of the status 178:27 of immortal being. Ignorant of the methods and the basis of metaphysical healing, you may attempt to unite with it hypnotism, 178:30 spiritualism, electricity; but none of these methods can be mingled with metaphysical healing. Whoever reaches the understanding of Christian Science 179:1 in its proper signification will perform the sudden cures of which it is capable; but this can be done only by 179:3 taking up the cross and following Christ in the daily life. Absent patients Science can heal the sick, who are absent from their 179:6 healers, as well as those present, since space is no ob- stacle to Mind. Immortal Mind heals what eye hath not seen; but the spiritual capacity to ap- 179:9 prehend thought and to heal by the Truth-power, is won only as man is found, not in self-righteousness, but re- flecting the divine nature. Horses mistaught 179:12 Every medical method has its advocates. The prefer- ence of mortal mind for a certain method creates a demand for that method, and the body then seems to re- 179:15 quire such treatment. You can even educate a healthy horse so far in physiology that he will take cold without his blanket, whereas the wild animal, left to his 179:18 instincts, sniffs the wind with delight. The epizootic is a humanly evolved ailment, which a wild horse might never have. Medical works objectionable 179:21 Treatises on anatomy, physiology, and health, sustained by what is termed material law, are the pro- moters of sickness and disease. It should not 179:24 be proverbial, that so long as you read medical works you will be sick. The sedulous matron - studying her Jahr with homoe- 179:27 opathic pellet and powder in hand, ready to put you into a sweat, to move the bowels, or to produce sleep - is unwittingly sowing the seeds of reliance on matter, 179:30 and her household may erelong reap the effect of this mistake. Descriptions of disease given by physicians and adver- 180:1 tisements of quackery are both prolific sources of sickness. As mortal mind is the husbandman of error, it should be 180:3 taught to do the body no harm and to uproot its false sowing. The invalid's outlook The patient sufferer tries to be satisfied when he sees 180:6 his would-be healers busy, and his faith in their efforts is somewhat helpful to them and to himself; but in Science one must understand the resusci- 180:9 tating law of Life. This is the seed within itself bearing fruit after its kind, spoken of in Genesis. Physicians should not deport themselves as if Mind 180:12 were non-existent, nor take the ground that all causation is matter, instead of Mind. Ignorant that the human mind governs the body, its phenomenon, the invalid may 180:15 unwittingly add more fear to the mental reservoir already overflowing with that emotion. Wrong and right way Doctors should not implant disease in the thoughts of 180:18 their patients, as they so frequently do, by declaring dis- ease to be a fixed fact, even before they go to work to eradicate the disease through the ma- 180:21 terial faith which they inspire. Instead of furnishing thought with fear, they should try to correct this turbulent element of mortal mind by the influence of divine Love 180:24 which casteth out fear. When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with 180:27 God all things are possible. The only way to this living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ 180:30 Jesus. The important decision To reduce inflammation, dissolve a tumor, or cure or- ganic disease, I have found divine Truth more potent than 181:1 all lower remedies. And why not, since Mind, God, is the source and condition of all existence? Before decid- 181:3 ing that the body, matter, is disordered, one should ask, "Who art thou that repliest to Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or does 181:6 it hold the issues of life?" Matter, which can neither suffer nor enjoy, has no partnership with pain and pleas- ure, but mortal belief has such a partnership. Manipulation unscientific 181:9 When you manipulate patients, you trust in electricity and magnetism more than in Truth; and for that reason, you employ matter rather than 181:12 Mind. You weaken or destroy your power when you re- sort to any except spiritual means. It is foolish to declare that you manipulate patients but 181:15 that you lay no stress on manipulation. If this be so, why manipulate? In reality you manipulate because you are ignorant of the baneful effects of magnetism, or are not 181:18 sufficiently spiritual to depend on Spirit. In either case you must improve your mental condition till you finally attain the understanding of Christian Science. Not words but deeds 181:21 If you are too material to love the Science of Mind and are satisfied with good words instead of effects, if you adhere to error and are afraid to trust Truth, 181:24 the question then recurs, "Adam, where art thou?" It is unnecessary to resort to aught besides Mind in order to satisfy the sick that you are doing some- 181:27 thing for them, for if they are cured, they generally know it and are satisfied. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 181:30 If you have more faith in drugs than in Truth, this faith will incline you to the side of matter and error. Any hypnotic power you may exercise will diminish your 182:1 ability to become a Scientist, and _vice versa._ The act of healing the sick through divine Mind alone, of casting 182:3 out error with Truth, shows your position as a Christian Scientist. Physiology or Spirit The demands of God appeal to thought only; but the 182:6 claims of mortality, and what are termed laws of nature, appertain to matter. Which, then, are we to accept as legitimate and capable of producing 182:9 the highest human good? We cannot obey both physi- ology and Spirit, for one absolutely destroys the other, and one or the other must be supreme in the affections. 182:12 It is impossible to work from two standpoints. If we attempt it, we shall presently "hold to the one, and despise the other." 182:15 The hypotheses of mortals are antagonistic to Science and cannot mix with it. This is clear to those, who heal the sick on the basis of Science. No material law 182:18 Mind's government of the body must supersede the so- called laws of matter. Obedience to material law pre- vents full obedience to spiritual law, - the law 182:21 which overcomes material conditions and puts matter under the feet of Mind. Mortals entreat the di- vine Mind to heal the sick, and forthwith shut out the aid 182:24 of Mind by using material means, thus working against themselves and their prayers and denying man's God- given ability to demonstrate Mind's sacred power. Pleas 182:27 for drugs and laws of health come from some sad incident, or else from ignorance of Christian Science and its tran- scendent power. 182:30 To admit that sickness is a condition over which God has no control, is to presuppose that omnipotent power is powerless on some occasions. The law of Christ, or 183:1 Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so- called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and 183:3 demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing from the basis of one God, one lawmaker. To suppose that God constitutes laws of inharmony is a mistake; dis- 183:6 cords have no support from nature or divine law, however much is said to the contrary. Can the agriculturist, according to belief, produce a 183:9 crop without sowing the seed and awaiting its germina- tion according to the laws of nature? The answer is no, and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first 183:12 caused the condemnation of man to till the ground, and indicate that obedience to God will remove this necessity. Truth never made error necessary, nor devised a law to 183:15 perpetuate error. Laws of nature spiritual The supposed laws which result in weariness and dis- ease are not His laws, for the legitimate and only possible 183:18 action of Truth is the production of harmony. Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but mortals commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of 183:21 Spirit. Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obe- dience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man 183:24 power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power. Belief and understanding Truth casts out all evils and materialistic methods 183:27 with the actual spiritual law, - the law which gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, voice to the dumb, feet to the lame. If Christian 183:30 Science dishonors human belief, it honors spir- itual understanding; and the one Mind only is entitled to honor. 184:1 The so-called laws of health are simply laws of mortal belief. The premises being erroneous, the conclusions 184:3 are wrong. Truth makes no laws to regulate sickness, sin, and death, for these are unknown to Truth and should not be recognized as reality. 184:6 Belief produces the results of belief, and the penal- ties it affixes last so long as the belief and are insepara- ble from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble 184:9 to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yield- 184:12 ing obedience to it. Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine 184:15 statutes. Laws of human belief Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmoni- ous and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief 184:18 is discordant and mortal. We say man suffers from the effects of cold, heat, fatigue. This is human belief, not the truth of being, for matter cannot 184:21 suffer. Mortal mind alone suffers, - not because a law of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this so-called mind has been disobeyed. I have demonstrated 184:24 this as a rule of divine Science by destroying the delusion of suffering from what is termed a fatally broken physical law. 184:27 A woman, whom I cured of consumption, always breathed with great difficulty when the wind was from the east. I sat silently by her side a few moments. Her 184:30 breath came gently. The inspirations were deep and nat- ural. I then requested her to look at the weather-vane. She looked and saw that it pointed due east. The wind 185:1 had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her diffi- culty in breathing had gone. The wind had not produced 185:3 the difficulty. My metaphysical treatment changed the action of her belief on the lungs, and she never suffered again from east winds, but was restored to health. A so-called mind-cure 185:6 No system of hygiene but Christian Science is purely mental. Before this book was published, other books were in circulation, which discussed "mental 185:9 medicine" and "mind-cure," operating through the power of the earth's magnetic currents to regulate life and health. Such theories and such systems of so-called 185:12 mind-cure, which have sprung up, are as material as the prevailing systems of medicine. They have their birth in mortal mind, which puts forth a human conception 185:15 in the name of Science to match the divine Science of im- mortal Mind, even as the necromancers of Egypt strove to emulate the wonders wrought by Moses. Such theories 185:18 have no relationship to Christian Science, which rests on the conception of God as the only Life, substance, and intelligence, and excludes the human mind as a spiritual 185:21 factor in the healing work. Jesus and hypnotism Jesus cast out evil and healed the sick, not only with- out drugs, but without hypnotism, which is 185:24 the reverse of ethical and pathological Truth- power. Erroneous mental practice may seem for a time to bene- 185:27 fit the sick, but the recovery is not permanent. This is because erroneous methods act on and through the ma- terial stratum of the human mind, called brain, which is 185:30 but a mortal consolidation of material mentality and its suppositional activities. False stimulus A patient under the influence of mortal mind is healed 186:1 only by removing the influence on him of this mind, by emptying his thought of the false stimulus 186:3 and reaction of will-power and filling it with the divine energies of Truth. Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the 186:6 understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work determines health. Erring human mind-forces can work only evil under whatever name or pretence they are em- 186:9 ployed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness, cannot mingle. Evil negative and self-destructive Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth. 186:12 It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It is unreal, because it presupposes the absence of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent. 186:15 Every mortal must learn that there is neither power nor reality in evil. Evil is self-assertive. It says: "I am a real entity, over- 186:18 mastering good." This falsehood should strip evil of all pretensions. The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It can never destroy one iota of good. Every attempt of evil 186:21 to destroy good is a failure, and only aids in peremptorily punishing the evil-doer. If we concede the same reality to discord as to harmony, discord has as lasting a claim upon 186:24 us as has harmony. If evil is as real as good, evil is also as immortal. If death is as real as Life, immortality is a myth. If pain is as real as the absence of pain, both must be im- 186:27 mortal; and if so, harmony cannot be the law of being. Ignorant idolatry Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be self-deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it 186:30 would be better. Since it must believe in some- thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity. The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning, 187:1 having other gods and believing in more than the one Mind. 187:3 As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence, how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and of His creations. 187:6 Here you may see how so-called material sense creates its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness, 187:9 it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability beyond itself. The beliefs of the human mind rob and enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive 187:12 personification, named Satan. Action of mortal mind The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the pas- sage of the blood, obey the mandate of mor- 187:15 tal mind as directly as does the hand, ad- mittedly moved by the will. Anatomy allows the mental cause of the latter action, but not of the former. 187:18 We say, "My hand hath done it." What is this _my_ but mortal mind, the cause of all materialistic action? All voluntary, as well as miscalled _involuntary_, action of the 187:21 mortal body is governed by this so-called mind, not by matter. There is no involuntary action. The divine Mind includes all action and volition, and man in Science is gov- 187:24 erned by this Mind. The human mind tries to classify action as voluntary and involuntary, and suffers from the attempt. Death and the body 187:27 If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material body loses all appearance of life or action, and this so- called mind then calls itself dead; but the hu- 187:30 man mind still holds in belief a body, through which it acts and which appears to the human mind to live, - a body like the one it had before death. This body 188:1 is put off only as the mortal, erring mind yields to God, immortal Mind, and man is found in His image. Embryonic sinful thoughts 188:3 What is termed disease does not exist. It is neither mind nor matter. The belief of sin, which has grown terrible in strength and influence, is an uncon- 188:6 scious error in the beginning, - an embryonic thought without motive; but afterwards it governs the so-called man. Passion, depraved appetites, 188:9 dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into action, only to pass from shame and woe to their final punishment. Disease a dream Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in 188:12 matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of 188:15 mind. In both the waking, and the sleeping dream, the dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering is in that body. 188:18 The smile of the sleeper indicates the sensation pro- duced physically by the pleasure of a dream. In the same way pain and pleasure, sickness and care, are 188:21 traced upon mortals by unmistakable signs. Sickness is a growth of error, springing from mortal ignorance or fear. Error rehearses error. What causes 188:24 disease cannot cure it. The soil of disease is mortal mind, and you have an abundant or scanty crop of disease, according to the seedlings of fear. Sin and the fear of 188:27 disease must be uprooted and cast out. Sense yields to understanding When darkness comes over the earth, the physical senses have no immediate evidence of a sun. 188:30 The human eye knows not where the orb of day is, nor if it exists. Astronomy gives the desired information regarding the sun. The human or 189:1 material senses yield to the authority of this science, and they are willing to leave with astronomy the explanation of 189:3 the sun's influence over the earth. If the eyes see no sun for a week, we still believe that there is solar light and heat. Science (in this instance named natural) raises 189:6 the human thought above the cruder theories of the human mind, and casts out a fear. In like manner mortals should no more deny the power 189:9 of Christian Science to establish harmony and to explain the effect of mortal mind on the body, though the cause be unseen, than they should deny the existence of the sun- 189:12 light when the orb of day disappears, or doubt that the sun will reappear. The sins of others should not make good men suffer. Ascending the scale 189:15 We call the body material; but it is as truly mortal mind, according to its degree, as is the material brain which is supposed to furnish the evidence 189:18 of all mortal thought or things. The human mortal mind, by an inevitable perversion, makes all things start from the lowest instead of from the highest 189:21 mortal thought. The reverse is the case with all the formations of the immortal divine Mind. They proceed from the divine source; and so, in tracing them, we con- 189:24 stantly ascend in infinite being. Human reproduction From mortal mind comes the reproduction of the species, - first the belief of inanimate, and then of ani- 189:27 mate matter. According to mortal thought, the development of embryonic mortal mind commences in the lower, basal portion of the brain, and 189:30 goes on in an ascending scale by evolution, keeping always in the direct line of matter, for matter is the subjective condition of mortal mind. 190:1 Next we have the formation of so-called embryonic mortal mind, afterwards mortal men or mortals, - all this 190:3 while matter is a belief, ignorant of itself, ignorant of what it is supposed to produce. The mortal says that an inani- mate unconscious seedling is producing mortals, both body 190:6 and mind; and yet neither a mortal mind nor the immortal Mind is found in brain or elsewhere in matter or in mortals. Human stature This embryonic and materialistic human belief called 190:9 mortal man in turn fills itself with thoughts of pain and pleasure, of life and death, and arranges itself into five so-called senses, which presently 190:12 measure mind by the size of a brain and the bulk of a body, called man. Human frailty Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the 190:15 grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades, afterwards to wither and return to its native nothingness. This mortal seeming is temporal; 190:18 it never merges into immortal being, but finally disap- pears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found to be the real man. 190:21 The Hebrew bard, swayed by mortal thoughts, thus swept his lyre with saddening strains on human existence: As for man, his days are as grass: 190:24 As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; And the place thereof shall know it no more. 190:27 When hope rose higher in the human heart, he sang: As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness. . . . . . 190:30 For with Thee is the fountain of life; In Thy light shall we see light. 191:1 The brain can give no idea of God's man. It can take no cognizance of Mind. Matter is not the organ of infi- 191:3 nite Mind. As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than one Mind, more than one God, man in God's likeness will 191:6 appear, and this eternal man will include in that likeness no material element. The immortal birth As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a 191:9 misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to "where the young child was," 191:12 - even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus 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 mortal belief loses some portion of its error. Harm done by physicians 197:30 The doctor's mind reaches that of his patient. The doctor should suppress his fear of disease, else his belief in its reality and fatality will harm his patients even more 198:1 than his calomel and morphine, for the higher stratum of mortal mind has in belief more power to harm man than 198:3 the substratum, matter. A patient hears the doctor's verdict as a criminal hears his death- sentence. The patient may seem calm under it, but he is 198:6 not. His fortitude may sustain him, but his fear, which has already developed the disease that is gaining the mastery, is increased by the physician's words. Disease depicted 198:9 The materialistic doctor, though humane, is an art- ist who outlines his thought relative to disease, and then fills in his delineations with sketches from text- 198:12 books. It is better to prevent disease from forming in mortal mind afterwards to appear on the body; but to do this requires attention. The thought of 198:15 disease is formed before one sees a doctor and before the doctor undertakes to dispel it by a counter-irritant, - perhaps by a blister, by the application of caustic or 198:18 croton oil, or by a surgical operation. Again, giving an- other direction to faith, the physician prescribes drugs, until the elasticity of mortal thought haply causes a 198:21 vigorous reaction upon itself, and reproduces a picture of healthy and harmonious formations. A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed 198:24 by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the 198:27 weaker. Hence the importance that doctors be Christian Scientists. Mind over matter Because the muscles of the blacksmith's arm are 198:30 strongly developed, it does not follow that exercise has produced this result or that a less used arm must be weak. If matter were the cause 199:1 of action, and if muscles, without volition of mortal mind, could lift the hammer and strike the anvil, it 199:3 might be thought true that hammering would enlarge the muscles. The trip-hammer is not increased in size by exercise. Why not, since muscles are as material as 199:6 wood and iron? Because nobody believes that mind is producing such a result on the hammer. Muscles are not self-acting. If mind does not move 199:9 them, they are motionless. Hence the great fact that Mind alone enlarges and empowers man through its mandate, - by reason of its demand for and supply of 199:12 power. Not because of muscular exercise, but by rea- son of the blacksmith's faith in exercise, his arm becomes stronger. Latent fear subdued 199:15 Mortals develop their own bodies or make them sick, according as they influence them through mortal mind. To know whether this development is produced 199:18 consciously or unconsciously, is of less impor- tance than a knowledge of the fact. The feats of the gym- nast prove that latent mental fears are subdued by him. 199:21 The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible. Exceptions only confirm this rule, proving that failure is occasioned by a too feeble 199:24 faith. Had Blondin believed it impossible to walk the rope over Niagara's abyss of waters, he could never have 199:27 done it. His belief that he could do it gave his thought- forces, called muscles, their flexibility and power which the unscientific might attribute to a lubricating oil. His 199:30 fear must have disappeared before his power of putting resolve into action could appear. Homer and Moses When Homer sang of the Grecian gods, Olympus was 200:1 dark, but through his verse the gods became alive in a nation's belief. Pagan worship began with muscularity, 200:3 but the law of Sinai lifted thought into the song of David. Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and il- 200:6 lustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind. A mortal not man Whoever is incompetent to explain Soul would be wise 200:9 not to undertake the explanation of body. Life is, always has been, and ever will be independent of matter; for life is God, and man is the idea 200:12 of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not subject to decay and dust. The Psalmist said: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy 200:15 hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet." The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; 200:18 for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike. The suppositional antipode of divine infinite Spirit 200:21 is the so-called human soul or spirit, in other words the five senses, - the flesh that warreth against Spirit. These so called material senses must yield to the infinite 200:24 Spirit, named God. St. Paul said: "For I determined not to know any- thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 200:27 (I Cor. ii. 2.) Christian Science says: I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him glorified. CHAPTER VIII - FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine anointed. - PSALMS. Practical preaching 201:1 THE best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, 201:3 and death. Knowing this and knowing too that one affection would be supreme in us and take the lead in our lives, Jesus said, "No man can serve 201:6 two masters." We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away 201:9 and "all things are become new." Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirit- uality, and the superabundance of being is on the side 201:12 of God, good. The uses of truth We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when 201:15 the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us. The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour 201:18 in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfec- tion is won on no other basis. Grafting holiness upon unholiness, supposing that sin 202:1 can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as straining out gnats and swallowing camels. 202:3 The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must be universally done. Divine study 202:6 If men would bring to bear upon the study of the Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so- called pains and pleasures of material sense, 202:9 they would not go on from bad to worse, until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but the whole human family would be redeemed through 202:12 the merits of Christ, - through the perception and ac- ceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding. Harmonious life-work 202:15 Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal man, in accord with the divine Principle of His being, God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days 202:18 of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di- minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the true way leads to life instead of to death, and earthly 202:21 experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion over all the earth. Belief and practice 202:24 Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict the practice growing out of them. Error abounds where Truth should "much more abound." We 202:27 admit that God has almighty power, is "a very present help in trouble;" and yet we rely on a drug or hypnotism to heal disease, as if senseless matter or err- 202:30 ing mortal mind had more power than omnipotent Spirit. Sure reward of righteousness Common opinion admits that a man may take cold in the act of doing good, and that this cold may produce 203:1 fatal pulmonary disease; as though evil could overbear the law of Love, and check the reward for do- 203:3 ing good. In the Science of Christianity, Mind - omnipotence - has all-power, assigns sure rewards to righteousness, and shows that matter can 203:6 neither heal nor make sick, create nor destroy. Our belief and understanding If God were understood instead of being merely be- lieved, this understanding would establish health. The 203:9 accusation of the rabbis, "He made himself the Son of God," was really the justification of Jesus, for to the Christian the only true 203:12 spirit is Godlike. This thought incites to a more exalted worship and self-abnegation. Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught 203:15 but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth. Suicide and sin We are prone to believe either in more than one Su- 203:18 preme Ruler or in some power less than God. We im- agine that Mind can be imprisoned in a sensuous body. When the material body has gone to ruin, when evil has 203:21 overtaxed the belief of life in matter and destroyed it, then mortals believe that the deathless Principle, or Soul, escapes from matter and lives on; but this is not 203:24 true. Death is not a stepping-stone to life, immortality, and bliss. The so-called sinner is a suicide. Sin kills the sinner and will continue to kill 203:27 him so long as he sins. The foam and fury of illegiti- mate living and of fearful and doleful dying should disappear on the shore of time; then the waves of sin, 203:30 sorrow, and death beat in vain. God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give him eternal Life, for God alone is man's life. God is at 204:1 once the centre and circumference of being. It is evil that dies; good dies not. Spirit the only intelligence and substance 204:3 All forms of error support the false conclusions that there is more than one Life; that material history is as real and living as spiritual history; that mortal 204:6 error is as conclusively mental as immortal Truth; and that there are two separate, an- tagonistic entities and beings, two powers, - namely, 204:9 Spirit and matter, - resulting in a third person (mortal man) who carries out the delusions of sin, sickness, and death. 204:12 The first power is admitted to be good, an intelligence or Mind called God. The so-called second power, evil, is the unlikeness of good. It cannot therefore be mind, though 204:15 so called. The third power, mortal man, is a supposed mixture of the first and second antagonistic powers, in- telligence and non-intelligence, of Spirit and matter. Unscientific theories 204:18 Such theories are evidently erroneous. They can never stand the test of Science. Judging them by their fruits, they are corrupt. When will the ages under- 204:21 stand the Ego, and realize only one God, one Mind or intelligence? False and self-assertive theories have given sinners the 204:24 notion that they can create what God cannot, - namely, sinful mortals in God's image, thus usurping the name without the nature of the image or reflection of divine 204:27 Mind; but in Science it can never be said that man has a mind of his own, distinct from God, the _all_ Mind. 204:30 The belief that God lives in matter is pantheistic. The error, which says that Soul is in body, Mind is in matter, and good is in evil, must unsay it and cease from such 205:1 utterances; else God will continue to be hidden from hu- manity, and mortals will sin without knowing that they 205:3 are sinning, will lean on matter instead of Spirit, stumble with lameness, drop with drunkenness, consume with dis- case, - all because of their blindness, their false sense 205:6 concerning God and man. Creation perfect When will the error of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of 205:9 God, be unmasked? When will it be under- stood that matter has neither intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific 205:12 source of all suffering? God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and eternal. Where then is the necessity for recreation or procreation? Perceiving the divine image 205:15 Befogged in error (the error of believing that matter can be intelligent for good or evil), we can catch clear glimpses of God only as the mists disperse, 205:18 or as they melt into such thinness that we per- ceive the divine image in some word or deed which indicates the true idea, - the supremacy and real- 205:21 ity of good, the nothingness and unreality of evil. Redemption from selfishness When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded; 205:24 whereas a belief in many ruling minds hinders man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one God, and leads human thought into opposite channels 205:27 where selfishness reigns. Selfishness tips the beam of human existence towards the side of error, not towards Truth. Denial of the one- 205:30 ness of Mind throws our weight into the scale, not of Spirit, God, good, but of matter. When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, 206:1 we can have no other Mind but His, - no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no con- 206:3 sciousness of the existence of matter or error. Will-power unrighteous The power of the human will should be exercised only in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judg- 206:6 ment and free the lower propensities. It is the province of spiritual sense to govern man. Material, erring, human thought acts injuriously both 206:9 upon the body and through it. Will-power is capable of all evil. It can never heal the sick, for it is the prayer of the unrighteous; while 206:12 the exercise of the sentiments - hope, faith, love - is the prayer of the righteous. This prayer, governed by Science instead of the senses, heals the sick. 206:15 In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes, - Spirit, not matter, being the 206:18 source of supply. Birth and death unreal Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away 206:21 by death? Is God creating anew what He has already created? The Scriptures are defi- nite on this point, declaring that His work was_ finished_, 206:24 nothing is new to God, and that it was _good_. Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending 206:27 sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes 206:30 and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die. No evil in Spirit There are evil beliefs, often called evil spirits; but 207:1 these evils are not Spirit, for there is no evil in Spirit. Because God is Spirit, evil becomes more apparent and 207:3 obnoxious proportionately as we advance spir- itually, until it disappears from our lives. This fact proves our position, for every scientific state- 207:6 ment in Christianity has its proof. Error of statement leads to error in action. Subordination of evil God is not the creator of an evil mind. Indeed, evil 207:9 is not Mind. We must learn that evil is the awful decep- tion and unreality of existence. Evil is not supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the 207:12 so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit secondary. Without this lesson, we lose sight of the per- fect Father, or the divine Principle of man. Evident impossibilities 207:15 Body is not first and Soul last, nor is evil mightier than good. The Science of being repudiates self- evident impossibilities, such as the amalgama- 207:18 tion of Truth and error in cause or effect. Science sepa- rates the tares and wheat in time of harvest. One primal cause There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can 207:21 be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause. Sin, sickness, dis- 207:24 ease, and death belong not to the Science of being. They are the errors, which presuppose the absence of Truth, Life, or Love. 207:27 The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth. 207:30 Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real. The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from 208:1 suppositional error, which affords no proof of God, Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense de- 208:3 fines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the infinite. Seemingly independent authority The Scriptures say, "In Him we live, and move, and 208:6 have our being." What then is this seeming power, in- dependent of God, which causes disease and cures it? What is it but an error of belief, - 208:9 a law of mortal mind, wrong in every sense, embracing sin, sickness, and death? It is the very anti- pode of immortal Mind, of Truth, and of spiritual law. 208:12 It is not in accordance with the goodness of God's char- acter that He should make man sick, then leave man to heal himself; it is absurd to suppose that matter can both 208:15 cause and cure disease, or that Spirit, God, produces disease and leaves the remedy to matter. John Young of Edinburgh writes: "God is the father 208:18 of mind, and of nothing else." Such an utterance is "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" of human beliefs and preparing the way of Science. Let us learn 208:21 of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, - the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain 208:24 forever unseen. Sickness as only thought Mind, not matter, is causation. A material body only expresses a material and mortal mind. A mortal 208:27 man possesses this body, and he makes it harmonious or discordant according to the images of thought impressed upon it. You embrace 208:30 your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness. You should banish all thoughts of disease and sin and of other beliefs 209:1 included in matter. Man, being immortal, has a perfect indestructible life. It is the mortal belief which makes 209:3 the body discordant and diseased in proportion as igno- rance, _fear_, or human will governs mortals. Allness of Truth Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing 209:6 them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind. The 209:9 material and mortal body or mind is not the man. The world would collapse without Mind, without the in- telligence which holds the winds in its grasp. Neither 209:12 philosophy nor skepticism can hinder the march of the Science which reveals the supremacy of Mind. The im- manent sense of Mind-power enhances the glory of Mind. 209:15 Nearness, not distance, lends enchantment to this view. Spiritual translation The compounded minerals or aggregated substances composing the earth, the relations which constituent 209:18 masses hold to each other, the magnitudes, distances, and revolutions of the celestial bodies, are of no real importance, when we remember 209:21 that they all must give place to the spiritual fact by the translation of man and the universe back into Spirit. In proportion as this is done, man and the universe will be 209:24 found harmonious and eternal. Material substances or mundane formations, astro- nomical calculations, and all the paraphernalia of specu- 209:27 lative theories, based on the hypothesis of material law or life and intelligence resident in matter, will ulti- mately vanish, swallowed up in the infinite calculus of 209:30 Spirit. Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to un- derstand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works 210:1 over faith in words. Its ideas are expressed only in "new tongues;" and these are interpreted by the translation of 210:3 the spiritual original into the language which human thought can comprehend. Jesus' disregard of matter The Principle and proof of Christianity are discerned 210:6 by spiritual sense. They are set forth in Jesus' demon- strations, which show - by his healing the sick, casting out evils, and destroying death, 210:9 "the last enemy that shall be destroyed," - his disregard of matter and its so-called laws. Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever manifested through man, the Master healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame, thus bringing to light the scientific action of the 210:15 divine Mind on human minds and bodies and giving a better understanding of Soul and salvation. Jesus healed sickness and sin by one and the same metaphysical 210:18 process. Mind not mortal The expression _mortal mind_ is really a solecism, for Mind is immortal, and Truth pierces the error of mortality 210:21 as a sunbeam penetrates the cloud. Because, in obedience to the immutable law of Spirit, this so-called mind is self-destructive, I name it mortal. 210:24 Error soweth the wind and reapeth the whirlwind. Matter mindless What is termed matter, being unintelligent, cannot say, "I suffer, I die, I am sick, or I am well." It is the so- 210:27 called mortal mind which voices this and ap- pears to itself to make good its claim. To mortal sense, sin and suffering are real, but immortal 210:30 sense includes no evil nor pestilence. Because immortal sense has no error of sense, it has no sense of error; there fore it is without a destructive element. 211:1 If brain, nerves, stomach, are intelligent, - if they talk to us, tell us their condition, and report how they feel, - 211:3 then Spirit and matter, Truth and error, commingle and produce sickness and health, good and evil, life and death; and who shall say whether Truth or error is the 211:6 greater? Matter sensationless The sensations of the body must either be the sensa- tions of a so-called mortal mind or of matter. Nerves 211:9 are not mind. Is it not provable that Mind is not _mortal_ and that matter has no sensation? Is it not equally true that matter does not appear in the 211:12 spiritual understanding of being? The sensation of sickness and the impulse to sin seem to obtain in mortal mind. When a tear starts, does not 211:15 this so-called mind produce the effect seen in the lachry- mal gland? Without mortal mind, the tear could not appear; and this action shows the nature of all so-called 211:18 material cause and effect. It should no longer be said in Israel that "the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set 211:21 on edge." Sympathy with error should disappear. The transfer of the thoughts of one erring mind to another, Science renders impossible. Nerves painless 211:24 If it is true that nerves have sensation, that matter has intelligence, that the material organism causes the eyes to see and the ears to hear, then, when the body 211:27 is dematerialized, these faculties must be lost, for their immortality is not in Spirit; whereas the fact is that only through dematerialization and spiritualiza- 211:30 tion of thought can these faculties be conceived of as immortal. Nerves are not the source of pain or pleasure. We 212:1 suffer or enjoy in our dreams, but this pain or pleasure is not communicated through a nerve. A tooth which has 212:3 been extracted sometimes aches again in belief, and the pain seems to be in its old place. A limb which has been amputated has continued in belief to pain the owner. If 212:6 the sensation of pain in the limb can return, can be pro- longed, why cannot the limb reappear? Why need pain, rather than pleasure, come to this mor- 212:9 tal sense? Because the memory of pain is more vivid than the memory of pleasure. I have seen an unwitting attempt to scratch the end of a finger which had been cut 212:12 off for months. When the nerve is gone, which we say was the occasion of pain, and the pain still remains, it proves sensation to be in the mortal mind, not in matter. 212:15 Reverse the process; take away this so-called mind instead of a piece of the flesh, and the nerves have no sensation. Human falsities Mortals have a modus of their own, undirected and un- 212:18 sustained by God. They produce a rose through seed and soil, and bring the rose into contact with the olfactory nerves that they may smell it. In 212:21 legerdemain and credulous frenzy, mortals believe that unseen spirits produce the flowers. God alone makes and clothes the lilies of the field, and this He does by 212:24 means of Mind, not matter. No miracles in Mind-methods Because all the methods of Mind are not understood, we say the lips or hands must move in order to convey 212:27 thought, that the undulations of the air convey sound, and possibly that other methods involve so-called miracles. The realities of being, its 212:30 normal action, and the origin of all things are unseen to mortal sense; whereas the unreal and imitative move- ments of mortal belief, which would reverse the immortal 213:1 modus and action, are styled the real. Whoever con- tradicts this mortal mind supposition of reality is called 213:3 a deceiver, or is said to be deceived. Of a man it has been said, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he;" hence as a man spiritually _understandeth_, so is he in truth. Good indefinable 213:6 Mortal mind conceives of something as either liquid or solid, and then classifies it materially. Immortal and spiritual facts exist apart from this mortal and 213:9 material conception. God, good, is self-exist- ent and self-expressed, though indefinable as a whole. Every step towards goodness is a departure from materi- 213:12 ality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit. Material theories partially paralyze this attraction towards infinite and eternal good by an opposite attraction towards the 213:15 finite, temporary, and discordant. Sound is a mental impression made on mortal belief. The ear does not really hear. Divine Science reveals 213:18 sound as communicated through the senses of Soul - through spiritual understanding. Music, rhythm of head and heart Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The 213:21 rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He was a musician beyond what the world knew. This was even more strikingly true of Beet- 213:24 hoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Men- tal melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede con- scious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart. 213:27 Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine. 213:30 Before human knowledge dipped to its depths into a false sense of things, - into belief in material origins which discard the one Mind and true source of being, - 214:1 it is possible that the impressions from Truth were as distinct as sound, and that they came as sound to the 214:3 primitive prophets. If the medium of hearing is wholly spiritual, it is normal and indestructible. If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence 214:6 before his material senses, he could never have "walked with God," nor been guided into the demonstration of life eternal. Adam and the senses 214:9 Adam, represented in the Scriptures as formed from dust, is an object-lesson for the human mind. The mate- rial senses, like Adam, originate in matter and 214:12 return to dust, - are proved non-intelligent. They go out as they came in, for they are still the error, not the truth of being. When it is learned that the spirit- 214:15 ual sense, and not the material, conveys the impressions of Mind to man, then being will be understood and found to be harmonious. Idolatrous illusions 214:18 We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material 214:21 body more than they do a spiritual God. All material knowledge, like the original "tree of knowledge," multiplies their pains, for mortal illusions would rob God, 214:24 slay man, and meanwhile would spread their table with cannibal tidbits and give thanks. The senses of Soul How transient a sense is mortal sight, when a wound on 214:27 the retina may end the power of light and lens! But the real sight or sense is not lost. Neither age nor accident can interfere with the senses of Soul, 214:30 and there are no other real senses. It is evident that the body as matter has no sensation of its own, and there is no oblivion for Soul and its faculties. Spirit's senses are with- 215:1 out pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide from them the harmony of all things and the might and 215:3 permanence of Truth. Real being never lost If Spirit, Soul, could sin or be lost, then being and im- mortality would be lost, together with all the faculties of 215:6 Mind; but being cannot be lost while God ex- ists. Soul and matter are at variance from the very necessity of their opposite natures. Mortals are 215:9 unacquainted with the reality of existence, because matter and mortality do not reflect the facts of Spirit. Spiritual vision is not subordinate to geometric alti- 215:12 tudes. Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life. Light and darkness 215:15 We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of 215:18 which darkness loses the appearance of reality. So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before 215:21 truth and love. With its divine proof, Science reverses the evidence of material sense. Every quality and condition of mortality 215:24 is lost, swallowed up in immortality. Mortal man is the antipode of immortal man in origin, in existence, and in his relation to God. Faith of Socrates 215:27 Because he understood the superiority and immor- tality of good, Socrates feared not the hemlock poison. Even the faith of his philosophy spurned phys- 215:30 ical timidity. Having sought man's spiritual state, he recognized the immortality of man. The igno- rance and malice of the age would have killed the vener- 216:1 able philosopher because of his faith in Soul and his in- difference to the body. The serpent of error 216:3 Who shall say that man is alive to-day, but may be dead to-morrow? What has touched Life, God, to such strange issues? Here theories cease, and Sci- 216:6 ence unveils the mystery and solves the prob- lem of man. Error bites the heel of truth, but cannot kill truth. Truth bruises the head of error - destroys error. 216:9 Spirituality lays open siege to materialism. On which side are we fighting? Servants and masters The understanding that the Ego is Mind, and that 216:12 there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to destroy the errors of mortal sense and to supply the truth of immortal sense. This understand- 216:15 ing makes the body harmonious; it makes the nerves, bones, brain, etc., servants, instead of masters. If man is governed by the law of divine Mind, his body is in sub- 216:18 mission to everlasting Life and Truth and Love. The great mistake of mortals is to suppose that man, God's image and likeness, is both matter and Spirit, both good 216:21 and evil. If the decision were left to the corporeal senses, evil would appear to be the master of good, and sickness to 216:24 be the rule of existence, while health would seem the exception, death the inevitable, and life a paradox. Paul asked: "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor- 216:27 inthians vi. 15.) Personal identity When you say, "Man's body is material," I say with Paul: Be "willing rather to be absent from the body, 216:30 and to be present with the Lord." Give up your material belief of mind in matter, and have but one Mind, even God; for this Mind forms its 217:1 own likeness. The loss of man's identity through the understanding which Science confers is impossible; and 217:3 the notion of such a possibility is more absurd than to conclude that individual musical tones are lost in the origin of harmony. Paul's experience 217:6 Medical schools may inform us that the healing work of Christian Science and Paul's peculiar Christian con- version and experience, - which prove Mind 217:9 to be scientifically distinct from matter, - are indications of unnatural mental and bodily conditions, even of catalepsy and hysteria; yet if we turn to the Scrip- 217:12 tures, what do we read? Why, this: "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death!" and "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh!" Fatigue is mental 217:15 That scientific methods are superior to others, is seen by their effects. When you have once conquered a diseased condition of the body through 217:18 Mind, that condition never recurs, and you have won a point in Science. When mentality gives rest to the body, the next toil will fatigue you less, for 217:21 you are working out the problem of being in divine meta- physics; and in proportion as you understand the con- trol which Mind has over so-called matter, you will be 217:24 able to demonstrate this control. The scientific and permanent remedy for fatigue is to learn the power of Mind over the body or any illusion of physical weariness, 217:27 and so destroy this illusion, for matter cannot be weary and heavy-laden. You say, "Toil fatigues me." But what is this _me_! 217:30 Is it muscle or mind? Which is tired and so speaks? Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non- 218:1 intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that which affirms weariness, made that weariness. Mind never weary 218:3 You do not say a wheel is fatigued; and yet the body is as material as the wheel. If it were not for what the human mind says of the body, the body, like 218:6 the inanimate wheel, would never be weary. The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness. Coalition of sin and sickness 218:9 The body is supposed to say, "I am ill." The reports of sickness may form a coalition with the reports of sin, and say, "I am malice, lust, appetite, envy, 218:12 hate." What renders both sin and sickness difficult of cure is, that the human mind is the sinner, disinclined to self-correction, and believing that 218:15 the body can be sick independently of mortal mind and that the divine Mind has no jurisdiction over the body. Sickness akin to sin Why pray for the recovery of the sick, if you are with- 218:18 out faith in God's willingness and ability to heal them? If you do believe in God, why do you sub- stitute drugs for the Almighty's power, and 218:21 employ means which lead only into material ways of obtaining help, instead of turning in time of need to God, divine Love, who is an ever-present help? 218:24 Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as intelligent, as having sensation or power. 218:27 The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon the Lord . . . shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The meaning of that passage is not 218:30 perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue, for the moral and physical are as one in their results. When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, 219:1 pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease. My 219:3 method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments, since Mind should be, and is, supreme, absolute, and final. Affirmation and result 219:6 In mathematics, we do not multiply when we should subtract, and then say the product is correct. No more can we say in Science that muscles give strength, 219:9 that nerves give pain or pleasure, or that matter governs, and then expect that the result will be harmony. Not muscles, nerves, nor bones, but mortal mind makes 219:12 the whole body "sick, and the whole heart faint;" whereas divine Mind heals. When this is understood, we shall never affirm concern- 219:15 ing the body what we do not wish to have manifested. We shall not call the body weak, if we would have it strong; for the belief in feebleness must obtain in the human 219:18 mind before it can be made manifest on the body, and the destruction of the belief will be the removal of its effects. Science includes no rule of discord, but governs 219:21 harmoniously. "The wish," says the poet, "is ever father to the thought." Scientific beginning We may hear a sweet melody, and yet misunderstand 219:24 the science that governs it. Those who are healed through metaphysical Science, not compre- hending the Principle of the cure, may misun- 219:27 derstand it, and impute their recovery to change of air or diet, not rendering to God the honor due to Him alone. Entire immunity from the belief in sin, suffering, and 219:30 death may not be reached at this period, but we may look for an abatement of these evils; and this scientific begin- ning is in the right direction. Hygiene ineffectual 220:1 We hear it said: "I exercise daily in the open air. I take cold baths, in order to overcome a predisposition to 220:3 take cold; and yet I have continual colds, catarrh, and cough." Such admissions ought to open people's eyes to the inefficacy of material hygiene, 220:6 and induce sufferers to look in other directions for cause and cure. Instinct is better than misguided reason, as even na- 220:9 ture declares. The violet lifts her blue eye to greet the early spring. The leaves clap their hands as nature's untired worshippers. The snowbird sings and soars 220:12 amid the blasts; he has no catarrh from wet feet, and procures a summer residence with more ease than a na- bob. The atmosphere of the earth, kinder than the at- 220:15 mosphere of mortal mind, leaves catarrh to the latter. Colds, coughs, and contagion are engendered solely by human theories. The reflex phenomena 220:18 Mortal mind produces its own phenomena, and then charges them to something else, - like a kitten glancing into the mirror at itself and thinking 220:21 it sees another kitten. A clergyman once adopted a diet of bread and water to increase his spirituality. Finding his health failing, 220:24 he gave up his abstinence, and advised others never to try dietetics for growth in grace. Volition far-reaching The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men 220:27 better morally or physically is one of the fruits of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," con- cerning which God said, "Thou shalt not eat 220:30 of it." Mortal mind forms all conditions of the mortal body, and controls the stomach, bones, lungs, heart, blood, etc., as directly as the volition or will moves the hand. 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 apathy 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. CHAPTER IX - CREATION 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, o