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Miscellaneous Writings | Part 1

Miscellaneous Writings

1883-1896

by

Mary Baker Eddy

Author of Science and Health with Key to the

Scriptures


Published by the Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy

Boston, U.S.A.


Copyright, 1896

By Mary Baker G. Eddy

Copyright renewed, 1924

_______

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America




TO

LOYAL CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS

IN THIS AND EVERY LAND

I LOVINGLY DEDICATE THESE PRACTICAL TEACHINGS

INDISPENSABLE TO THE CULTURE AND ACHIEVEMENTS WHICH

CONSTITUTE THE SUCCESS OF A STUDENT

AND DEMONSTRATE THE ETHICS

OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

MARY BAKER EDDY


PRAY thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand,

To read it well; that is, to understand.

BEN JONSON: Epigram I

WHEN I would know thee . . . my thought looks

Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;

Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends

In making thy friends books, and thy books friends.

BEN JONSON: Epigram 86

-----

IF worlds were formed by matter,

And mankind from the dust;

Till time shall end more timely,

There's nothing here to trust.

Thenceforth to evolution's

Geology, we say, -

Nothing have we gained therefrom,

And nothing have to pray:

MY world has sprung from Spirit,

In everlasting day;

Whereof, I've more to glory,

Wherefor, have much to pay.

MARY BAKER EDDY

Page ix

Preface

1 A CERTAIN apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher
suits my sense of doing good. It reads thus: "The
3 noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting
charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a
man to dispense with alms."
6 In the early history of Christian Science, among my
thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian
Scientists are not indigent; and their comfortable fortunes
9 are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically,
spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures - once
fragmentary and faint - now rejuvenated by the touch
12 of God's right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap-
pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits
dove-like.
15 To preserve a long course of years still and uniform,
amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and
tempest, requires strength from above, - deep draughts
18 from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said:
There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never
grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is
21

ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however,
is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of

Page x

1 perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of
a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and
3

sincere in trial or in triumph.

The opportunity has at length offered itself for me to
comply with an oft-repeated request; namely, to collect

6 my miscellaneous writings published in The Christian
Science Journal
, since April, 1883, and republish them
in book form, - accessible as reference, and reliable as
9 old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my
time in the early pioneer days, most of these articles
were originally written in haste, without due preparation.
12 To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein
appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these
are most requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the
15

distance, - or the difference between then and now, -
in the opinions of men and the progress of our Cause.

My signature has been slightly changed from my

18 Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early
years caused me, as an author, to assume various noms
de plume
. After my first marriage, to Colonel Glover
21 of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of
Morse to retain my maiden name, - thinking that other-
wise the name would be too long.
24 In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American
Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary
Baker Eddy, and thereafter adopted that form of signa-
27

ture, except in connection with my published works.

Page xi

1 The first edition of Science and Health having been
copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name
3

of Glover, caused me to retain the initial "G" on my
subsequent books.

These pages, although a reproduction of what has

6 been written, are still in advance of their time; and are
richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for
the race. While no offering can liquidate one's debt of
9

gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are
not unknown to nor unrewarded by Him.

May this volume be to the reader a graphic guide-

12 book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling
him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored
fields of Science. At each recurring holiday the Christian
15

Scientist will find herein a "canny" crumb; and thus
may time's pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.

Realism will at length be found to surpass imagination,

18 and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of
religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be
no battledores to fling it back and forth. It is reason for
21 rejoicing that the vox populi is inclined to grant us peace,
together with pardon for the preliminary battles that
purchased it.
24

With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory,
through the dim corridors of years, on to old battle-
grounds, there sadly to survey the fields of the slain and
the enemy's losses. In compiling this work, I have tried

Page xii

1 to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to
retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace.
3 With armor on, I continue the march, command and
countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought
this afterpiece of battle. Supported, cheered, I take my
6

pen and pruning-hook, to "learn war no more," and with
strong wing to lift my readers above the smoke of conflict
into light and liberty. MARY BAKER EDDY

CONCORD, N. H.

January, 1897

Miscellaneous Writings

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY

PROSPECTUS

THE ancient Greek looked longingly for the Olym-

3 piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a
star; to him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome
of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heav-
6 ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers,
said, "Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye
not discern the signs of the times?" - for he forefelt
9

and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated
by sinners.

To kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the

12 new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs
to be understood. The seer of this age should be a
sage.
15 Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition
of Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and
strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops
18 the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes
only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness
reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled
21

up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of

Page 2

1 advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of
Truth and Love to heal the sick.
3 Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the
least wisdom or experience; and they steal from their
neighbor, because they have so little of their own.
6 The signs of these times portend a long and strong
determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the
flesh, and evil, causing great obscuration of Spirit.
9 When we remember that God is just, and admit the
total depravity of mortals, alias mortal mind, - and that
this Adam legacy must first be seen, and then must be
12 subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri-
bute of Truth, - the outlook demands labor, and the
laborers seem few. To-day we behold but the first
15 faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces
a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and
divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life,
18 Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin,
sickness, and death; when God, man's saving Principle,
and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed.
21 Man's probation after death is the necessity of his
immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc-
tive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed.
24 If man should not progress after death, but should re-
main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated.
Those upon whom "the second death hath no power"
27 are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil,
their mortal element, and into good that is immortal;
thus laying off the material beliefs that war against
30

Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine
Science.

While we entertain decided views as to the best method

Page 3

1 for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritu-
ally, and shall express these views as duty demands, we
3 shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no
supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural
than evil, and spiritual understanding - the true knowl-
6 edge of God - as imparting the only power to heal the
sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the
power of Truth and Love.
9 The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica-
ble to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this
very purpose; and his demonstration hath taught us
12 that "through his stripes" - his life-experience - and
divine Science, brought to the understanding through
Christ, the Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved.
15 No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this
line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are
needed to aid spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation,
18 and mesmerism are not Mind's medicine. The Prin-
ciple of all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind.
We have learned that the erring or mortal thought holds
21 in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these
states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind,
as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these
24

material elements of sin and death.

Because God is supreme and omnipotent, materia
medica, hygiene, and animal magnetism are impotent;

27 and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-
ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity.
The tendency of mental healing is to uplift mankind; but
30

this method perverted, is "Satan let loose." Hence the
deep demand for the Science of psychology to meet sin,
and uncover it; thus to annihilate hallucination.

Page 4

1 Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in-
structed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the
3 most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth.
At this period there is a marked tendency of mortal
mind to plant mental healing on the basis of hypnotism,
6 calling this method "mental science." All Science is
Christian Science; the Science of the Mind that is God,
and of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each
9

other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good,
not evil.

A TIMELY ISSUE

12 At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published
by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many
questions important to be disposed of come to the Col-
15 lege and to the practising students, yet but little time
has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight-
enment is necessary for the age, and a periodical de-
18 voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the
requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed
on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many
21 minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so
that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth
are not understood.
24 It is often said, "You must have a very strong will-
power to heal," or, "It must require a great deal of faith
to make your demonstrations." When it is answered
27 that there is no will-power required, and that something
more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression
of incredulity. It is not alone the mission of Christian
30

Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal

Page 5

1 thought. This work well done will elevate and purify
the race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best
3

energies to the work.

Science reveals man as spiritual, harmonious, and eter-
nal. This should be understood. Our College should

6 be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate
themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be
able to produce perfect health and perfect morals in their
9 children - and ministers, to heal the sick - by study-
ing this scientific method of practising Christianity.
Many say, "I should like to study, but have not suffi-
12 cient faith that I have the power to heal." The healing
power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the
greatest emergencies.
15 Materia medica says, "I can do no more. I have
done all that can be done. There is nothing to build
upon. There is no longer any reason for hope." Then
18 metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit,
not matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on
the stone that the builders have rejected, and is suc-
21

cessful.

Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a miracle and a
mystery to those only who do not understand the grand

24 reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge
an erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat-
ter. That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect
27 in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily
accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate-
rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid
30

substance to this thought. It is much easier for people
to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the
mind affects the body.

Page 6

1 We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a
discipline to bring man nearer to God, - even though
3 sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from
complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as
evil.
6 The most of our Christian Science practitioners have
plenty to do, and many more are needed for the ad-
vancement of the age. At present the majority of the
9 acute cases are given to the M. D.'s, and only those
cases that are pronounced incurable are passed over to
the Scientist. The healing of such cases should cer-
12 tainly prove to all minds the power of metaphysics over
physics; and it surely does, to many thinkers, as the
rapid growth of the work shows. At no distant day,
15 Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy
and homoeopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed
where error fails.
18 Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect,
there is no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and
Love must be perfect; and with that basic truth we con-
21 quer sickness, sin, and death. Frequently it requires
time to overcome the patient's faith in drugs and mate-
rial hygiene; but when once convinced of the uselessness
24

of such material methods, the gain is rapid.

It is a noticeable fact, that in families where laws
of health are strictly enforced, great caution is observed

27 in regard to diet, and the conversation chiefly confined
to the ailments of the body, there is the most sickness.
Take a large family of children where the mother has
30

all that she can attend to in keeping them clothed and
fed, and health is generally the rule; whereas, in small
families of one or two children, sickness is by no means

Page 7

1 the exception. These children must not be allowed to
eat certain food, nor to breathe the cold air, because
3 there is danger in it; when they perspire, they must be
loaded down with coverings until their bodies become
dry, - and the mother of one child is often busier than
6

the mother of eight.

Great charity and humility is necessary in this work
of healing. The loving patience of Jesus, we must

9 strive to emulate. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself" has daily to be exemplified; and, although
skepticism and incredulity prevail in places where
12 one would least expect it, it harms not; for if serving
Christ, Truth, of what can mortal opinion avail? Cast
not your pearls before swine; but if you cannot bring
15

peace to all, you can to many, if faithful laborers in His
vineyard.

Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally

18 reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease
seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to
many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon
21 the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to
some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper,
at the price at which we shall issue it, we shall be able
24 to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought.
A great work already has been done, and a greater work
yet remains to be done. Oftentimes we are denied the
27 results of our labors because people do not understand
the nature and power of metaphysics, and they think
that health and strength would have returned natu-
30

rally without any assistance. This is not so much from
a lack of justice, as it is that the mens populi is not suffi-
ciently enlightened on this great subject. More thought

Page 8

1 is given to material illusions than to spiritual facts. If
we can aid in abating suffering and diminishing sin,
3 we shall have accomplished much; but if we can bring
to the general thought this great fact that drugs do not,
cannot, produce health and harmony, since "in Him
6

[Mind] we live, and move, and have our being," we shall
have done more.

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

9

Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is
it a creature or a thing outside thine own creation?

Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this

12 enemy and then look upon the object of your own con-
ception? What is it that harms you? Can height, or
depth, or any other creature separate you from the
15

Love that is omnipresent good, - that blesses infinitely
one and all?

Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles,

18 defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should
reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates
human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in
21 the process. Shakespeare writes: "Sweet are the uses
of adversity." Jesus said: "Blessed are ye, when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
24 manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; . . .
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you."
27

The Hebrew law with its "Thou shalt not," its de-
mand and sentence, can only be fulfilled through the
gospel's benediction. Then, "Blessed are ye," inso-

Page 9

1 much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace,
comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified
3 by the purification it brings to the flesh, - to pride, self-
ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet,
indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the
6 Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod
into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them
refuge at last from the elements of earth.
9 "Love thine enemies" is identical with "Thou hast
no enemies." Wherein is this conclusion relative to
those who have hated thee without a cause? Simply, in
12 that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best
friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee
good far beyond the present sense which thou canst enter-
15

tain of good.

Whom we call friends seem to sweeten life's cup and
to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this cup

18 to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in frag-
ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its
tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar-
21 gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con-
tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost
its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and
24

unworthy of human aims.

And wherefore our failure longer to relish this fleet-
ing sense, with its delicious forms of friendship,

27 wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in
personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace?
Because it is the great and only danger in the path
30

that winds upward. A false sense of what consti-
tutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress
than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon

Page 10

1 the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements
wherewith to obstruct life's joys and enhance its sor-
3

rows.

We have no enemies. Whatever envy, hatred, revenge
- the most remorseless motives that govern mortal mind

6

- whatever these try to do, shall "work together for good
to them that love God."

Why?

9 Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped
them, and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their
God will not let them be lost; and if they fall they shall
12 rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good
cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble.
If they mistake the divine command, they will recover
15 it, countermand their order, retrace their steps, and
reinstate His orders, more assured to press on safely.
The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing
18 swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments
of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their
strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found
21

their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear
is self-immolated.

This destruction is a moral chemicalization, wherein

24 old things pass away and all things become new. The
worldly or material tendencies of human affections and
pursuits are thus annihilated; and this is the advent of
27 spiritualization. Heaven comes down to earth, and
mortals learn at last the lesson, "I have no enemies."

Even in belief you have but one (that, not in reality),
30

and this one enemy is yourself - your erroneous belief
that you have enemies; that evil is real; that aught but
good exists in Science. Soon or late, your enemy will

Page 11

1 wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent; to
find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold.
3 Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy,
and justice. I used to think it sufficiently just to abide
by our State statutes; that if a man should aim a ball at
6 my heart, and I by firing first could kill him and save
my own life, that this was right. I thought, also, that
if I taught indigent students gratuitously, afterwards
9 assisting them pecuniarily, and did not cease teach-
ing the wayward ones at close of the class term, but
followed them with precept upon precept; that if my
12

instructions had healed them and shown them the sure way
of salvation, - I had done my whole duty to students.

Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy.

15 If one's life were attacked, and one could save it only
in accordance with common law, by taking another's,
would one sooner give up his own? We must love our
18 enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby
we love our friends; must even try not to expose their
faults, but to do them good whenever opportunity
21 occurs. To mete out human justice to those who per-
secute and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribu-
tion to God and returning blessing for cursing. If special
24 opportunity for doing good to one's enemies occur not,
one can include them in his general effort to benefit the
race. Because I can do much general good to such as
27 hate me, I do it with earnest, special care-since they
permit me no other way, though with tears have I striven
for it. When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the
30

other: I have but two to present.

I would enjoy taking by the hand all who love me not,
and saying to them, "I love you, and would not know-

Page 12

1 ingly harm you." Because I thus feel, I say to others:
Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads
3 its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us;
brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through-
out time and beyond the grave. If you have been badly
6 wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this
wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him
who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil;
9

and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged
when you have not been.

The present is ours; the future, big with events.

12 Every man and woman should be to-day a law to him-
self, herself, - a law of loyalty to Jesus' Sermon on the
Mount. The means for sinning unseen and unpunished
15 have so increased that, unless one be watchful and stead-
fast in Love, one's temptations to sin are increased a
hundredfold. Mortal mind at this period mutely works
18 in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least
understood; hence the need of watching, and the danger
of yielding to temptation from causes that at former
21 periods in human history were not existent. The action
and effects of this so-called human mind in its silent argu-
ments, are yet to be uncovered and summarily dealt with
24

by divine justice.

In Christian Science, the law of Love rejoices the heart;
and Love is Life and Truth. Whatever manifests aught

27 else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not Love.
We should measure our love for God by our love for man;
and our sense of Science will be measured by our obedience
30

to God, - fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all;
imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love
to all within the radius of our atmosphere of thought.

Page 13

1 The only justice of which I feel at present capable,
is mercy and charity toward every one, - just so far as
3

one and all permit me to exercise these sentiments toward
them, - taking special care to mind my own business.

The falsehood, ingratitude, misjudgment, and sharp

6 return of evil for good - yea, the real wrongs (if wrong
can be real) which I have long endured at the hands of
others - have most happily wrought out for me the law
9 of loving mine enemies. This law I now urge upon the
solemn consideration of all Christian Scientists. Jesus
said, "If ye love them which love you, what thank have
12

ye? for sinners also love those that love them."

CHRISTIAN THEISM

Scholastic theology elaborates the proposition that

15 evil is a factor of good, and that to believe in the reality
of evil is essential to a rounded sense of the existence of
good.
18 This frail hypothesis is founded upon the basis of mate-
rial and mortal evidence - only upon what the shifting
mortal senses confirm and frail human reason accepts.
21

The Science of Soul reverses this proposition, overturns
the testimony of the five erring senses, and reveals in
clearer divinity the existence of good only; that is, of
God and His idea.

This postulate of divine Science only needs to be con-
ceded, to afford opportunity for proof of its correctness

27

and the clearer discernment of good.

Seek the Anglo-Saxon term for God, and you will
find it to be good; then define good as God, and you

30

will find that good is omnipotence, has all power; it fills

Page 14

1 all space, being omnipresent; hence, there is neither place
nor power left for evil. Divest your thought, then, of
3 the mortal and material view which contradicts the ever-
presence and all-power of good; take in only the immor-
tal facts which include these, and where will you see or
6

feel evil, or find its existence necessary either to the origin
or ultimate of good?

It is urged that, from his original state of perfec-

9 tion, man has fallen into the imperfection that requires
evil through which to develop good. Were we to
admit this vague proposition, the Science of man could
12 never be learned; for in order to learn Science, we
begin with the correct statement, with harmony and
its Principle; and if man has lost his Principle and
15 its harmony, from evidences before him he is inca-
pable of knowing the facts of existence and its con-
comitants: therefore to him evil is as real and eternal
18 as good, God! This awful deception is evil's umpire
and empire, that good, God, understood, forcibly
destroys.
21 What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be
the necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites
to be without necessity. Good is the primitive Princi-
24 ple of man; and evil, good's opposite, has no Principle,
and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good.
Thus evil is neither a primitive nor a derivative, but
27

is suppositional; in other words, a lie that is incapable
of proof - therefore, wholly problematical.

The Science of Truth annihilates error, deprives evil

30

of all power, and thereby destroys all error, sin, sickness,
disease, and death. But the sinner is not sheltered from
suffering from sin: he makes a great reality of evil, iden-

Page 15

1 tifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it, and
will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure
3

the effects of his delusion until he awakes from it.

THE NEW BIRTH

St. Paul speaks of the new birth as "waiting for the

6 adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." The
great Nazarene Prophet said, "Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God." Nothing aside from the
9 spiritualization - yea, the highest Christianization - of
thought and desire, can give the true perception of God
and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and
12

holiness.

The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins
with moments, and goes on with years; moments of sur-

15 render to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption
of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration,
heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.
18 Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the
new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law
of infinity. Only through the sore travail of mortal mind
21 shall soul as sense be satisfied, and man awake in His
likeness. What a faith-lighted thought is this! that
mortals can lay off the "old man," until man is found
24

to be the image of the infinite good that we name God,
and the fulness of the stature of man in Christ appears.

In mortal and material man, goodness seems in em-

27 bryo. By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out
of the mortal and material sense of man, thought is de-
veloped into an infant Christianity; and, feeding at first
30

on the milk of the Word, it drinks in the sweet revealings

Page 16

1 of a new and more spiritual Life and Love. These nourish
the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor-
3 tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith:
In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down
to earth.
6 But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood
of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very
much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one
9 saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is
indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite
claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human;
12 and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being
His likeness and image, man must reflect the full
dominion of Spirit - even its supremacy over sin, sick-
15

ness, and death.

Here, then, is the awakening from the dream of life
in matter, to the great fact that God is the only Life;

18 that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both
God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely
more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that
21 God is a divine Whole, and All, an all-pervading in-
telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and
that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly
24 awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates
from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun
in Christian Science.
27 Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn-
estly to contemplate this new-born spiritual altitude; for
this statement demands demonstration.
30

Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite
Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible con-
flict between the flesh and Spirit. You stand before the

Page 17

1 awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the
thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to
3 the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as
opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om-
nipotent harmony and good, as opposed to any supposi-
6 titious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the
flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like
the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes-lay aside
9 your material appendages, human opinions and doc-
trines, give up your more material religion with its rites
and ceremonies, put off your materia medica and hygiene
12 as worse than useless - to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then,
you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea
that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal
15 and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first
time the divine Principle that redeems man from under
the curse of materialism, - sin, disease, and death.
18 This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand-
ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy
of Spirit, and of man as His likeness, whereby man reflects
21

the divine power to heal the sick.

A material or human birth is the appearing of a mor-
tal, not the immortal man. This birth is more or less

24 prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un-
timely circumstances, the normal or abnormal material
conditions attending it.
27 With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless,
spiritual existence dawns on human thought, - through
the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing
30

pleasure and accumulating pains of sense, - by which
one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of
Spirit and spiritual man.

Page 18

1 The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit,
develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man,
3 and efface the mark of the beast. "Whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth;" therefore rejoice in tribulation, and wel-
6

come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law
and gospel of Christ, Truth.

The prominent laws which forward birth in the divine

9 order of Science, are these: "Thou shalt have no other
gods before me;" "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
These commands of infinite wisdom, translated into
12 the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou
shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every God-
quality, even in substance; thou shalt recognize thy-
15 self as God's spiritual child only, and the true man
and true woman, the all-harmonious "male and female,"
as of spiritual origin, God's reflection, - thus as chil-
18 dren of one common Parent, - wherein and whereby
Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and
divine idea, even the divine "Us" - one in good, and
21

good in One.

With this recognition man could never separate him-
self from good, God; and he would necessarily entertain

24 habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting
evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil
thoughts, can we in belief separate one man's interests
27 from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt
to separate Life from God. This is the mistake that
causes much that must be repented of and overcome.
30

Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that
aught that God sends is unjust, - or that those whom
He commissions bring to you at His demand that which

Page 19

1 is unjust, - is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking,
evil speaking, covetousness, lust, hatred, malice, are
3 always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian
Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of
God, and the obedience demanded of His servants in
6

carrying out what He teaches them, - these are never
unmerciful, never unwise.

The task of healing the sick is far lighter than that

9 of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris-
tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men
to adopt them and bring them out in human lives. He
12 who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually
accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine
Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked
15 endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the
current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God,
its divine source.
18 But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover
iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit.
I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor,
21 one who abides by his statements and works upon as
high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could
or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental
24

malpractitioner.

Between the centripetal and centrifugal mental forces
of material and spiritual gravitations, we go into or we

27 go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and
its results. Which, then, shall be our choice, - the sin-
ful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving,
30

and eternal?

The spiritual sense of Life and its grand pursuits is
of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring. This

Page 20

1 sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of
divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and
3

physically, - exhaling the aroma of Jesus' own words,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest."

CHAPTER II

ONE CAUSE AND EFFECT

1 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE begins with the First Com-
mandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou
3 shalt have no other gods before me." It goes on in
perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and
in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John,
6 who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves,
beheld "a new heaven and a new earth," - the spiritual
universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony.
9 Our Master said, "The works that I do shall ye do
also," and, "The kingdom of God is within you." This
makes practical all his words and works. As the ages
12 advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen
to depart from the trend of other Christian denomina-
tions in no wise except by increase of spirituality.
15 My first plank in the platform of Christian Science
is as follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor
substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
18 manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is
21

God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man
is not material; he is spiritual." (1)

(1) The order of this sentence has been conformed to the text of

24

the 1908 edition of Science and Health.

Page 22

1 I am strictly a theist - believe in one God, one Christ
or Messiah.
3 Science is neither a law of matter nor of man. It is
the unerring manifesto of Mind, the law of God, its
divine Principle. Who dare say that matter or
6 mortals can evolve Science? Whence, then, is it, if not
from the divine source, and what, but the contempo-
rary of Christianity, so far in advance of human knowl-
9 edge that mortals must work for the discovery of even a
portion of it? Christian Science translates Mind, God,
to mortals. It is the infinite calculus defining the line,
12 plane, space, and fourth dimension of Spirit. It abso-
lutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorp-
tion, or annihilation of individuality. It shows the
15 impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one
individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve
in God's orbits: they come from God and return to
18 Him, - and untruths belong not to His creation, there-
fore these are null and void. It hath no peer, no com-
petitor, for it dwelleth in Him besides whom "there is
21

none other."

That Christian Science is Christian, those who have
demonstrated it, according to the rules of its divine

24 Principle, - together with the sick, the lame, the deaf, and
the blind, healed by it, - have proven to a waiting world.
He who has not tested it, is incompetent to condemn it;
27

and he who is a willing sinner, cannot demonstrate it.

A falling apple suggested to Newton more than the
simple fact cognized by the senses, to which it seemed

30

to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal
cause, or Mind-force, invisible to material sense, lay
concealed in the treasure-troves of Science. True,

Page 23

1 Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much;
but Science, demanding more, pushes the question:
3 Whence or what is the power back of gravitation, - the
intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true?
Does mind "sleep in the mineral, or dream in the
6 animal, and wake in man"? Christianity answers this
question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon-
strated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called
9 material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves,
obey this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake
in creation, "and it was done"? The answer is self-
12

evident, and the command remains, "Thou shalt have
no other gods before me."

It is plain that the Me spoken of in the First Com-

15 mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris-
tian's God, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even
talk; and the serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf,
18 lied. Reason and revelation declare that God is both
noumenon and phenomena, - the first and only cause.
The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic
21 action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust.
God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one
God, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image
24 and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris-
tian Science means by the word reflection. God is seen
only in that which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love -
27 yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats
precisely the looks and actions of the object in front of it.
30

All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to
natural science, God, Spirit, could not change its species
and evolve matter.

Page 24

1 These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and
knowledge of them makes man spiritually minded. St.
3 Paul writes: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace." This knowl-
edge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it
6 to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned
on the night of material sense. This knowledge is
practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from
9 an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal
by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called
for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I
12 read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and
the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after
was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That
15 short experience included a glimpse of the great fact
that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely,
Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of
18 existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub-
ective state which it names matter, thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit. Per contra, Mind and man
21 are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense
is illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it
cannot be true. A knowledge of both good and evil
24 (when good is God, and God is All) is impossible. Speak-
ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: "When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
27 and the father of it." God warned man not to believe
the talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing
it. The Nazarene Prophet declared that his followers
30

should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle falsi-
ties or illusions, and thus destroy any supposed effect
arising from false claims exercising their supposed power

Page 25

1 on the mind and body of man, against his holiness and
health.
3 That there is but one God or Life, one cause and
one effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science;
and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity,
6 the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In
divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of
error, and that neither one really exists, since God is
9 Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount,
in its direct application to human needs, confirms this
conclusion.
12 Science, understood, translates matter into Mind,
rejects all other theories of causation, restores the spir-
itual and original meaning of the Scriptures, and ex-
15 plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is religion's
"new tongue," with "signs following," spoken of by
St. Mark. It gives God's infinite meaning to mankind,
18 healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the spirit-
ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re-
iterates the word, repeats the works, and manifests the
21

spirit of Christ.

Jesus' only medicine was omnipotent and omniscient
Mind. As omni is from the Latin word meaning all,

24 this medicine is all-power; and omniscience means as
well, all-science. The sick are more deplorably situated
than the sinful, if the sick cannot trust God for help and
27 the sinful can. If God created drugs good, they cannot be
harmful; if He could create them otherwise, then they
are bad and unfit for man; and if He created drugs for
30

healing the sick, why did not Jesus employ them and
recommend them for that purpose?

No human hypotheses, whether in philosophy, medi-

Page 26

1 cine, or religion, can survive the wreck of time; but
whatever is of God, hath life abiding in it, and ulti-
3 mately will be known as self-evident truth, as demonstra-
ble as mathematics. Each successive period of progress
is a period more humane and spiritual. The only logical
6 conclusion is that all is Mind and its manifestation, from
the rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a potato-
patch.
9 The agriculturist ponders the history of a seed, and
believes that his crops come from the seedling and the
loam; even while the Scripture declares He made "every
12 plant of the field before it was in the earth." The Scien-
tist asks, Whence came the first seed, and what made
the soil? Was it molecules, or material atoms ? Whence
15 came the infinitesimals, - from infinite Mind, or from
matter? If from matter, how did matter originate ? Was
it self-existent? Matter is not intelligent, and thus able
18 to evolve or create itself: it is the very opposite of Spirit,
intelligent, self-creative, and infinite Mind. The belief
of mind in matter is pantheism. Natural history shows
21 that neither a genus nor a species produces its opposite.
God is All, in all. What can be more than All? Noth-
ing: and this is just what I call matter, nothing. Spirit,
24 God, has no antecedent; and God's consequent is the
spiritual cosmos. The phrase, "express image," in the
common version of Hebrews i. 3, is, in the Greek Tes-
27

tament, character.

The Scriptures name God as good, and the Saxon
term for God is also good. From this premise comes

30

the logical conclusion that God is naturally and divinely
infinite good. How, then, can this conclusion change,
or be changed, to mean that good is evil, or the creator

Page 27

1 of evil? What can there be besides infinity? Nothing!
Therefore the Science of good calls evil nothing. In
3 divine Science the terms God and good, as Spirit, are
synonymous. That God, good, creates evil, or aught
that can result in evil, - or that Spirit creates its oppo-
6 site, named matter, - are conclusions that destroy their
premise and prove themselves invalid. Here is where
Christian Science sticks to its text, and other systems
9 of religion abandon their own logic. Here also is found
the pith of the basal statement, the cardinal point in
Christian Science, that matter and evil (including all
12 inharmony, sin, disease, death) are unreal. Mortals
accept natural science, wherein no species ever pro-
duces its opposite. Then why not accept divine Sci-
15 ence on this ground? since the Scriptures maintain
this fact by parable and proof, asking, "Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" "Doth a
18

fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and
bitter?"

According to reason and revelation, evil and matter

21 are negation: for evil signifies the absence of good, God,
though God is ever present; and matter claims some-
thing besides God, when God is really All. Creation,
24 evolution, or manifestation, - being in and of Spirit,
Mind, and all that really is, - must be spiritual and
mental. This is Science, and is susceptible of proof.
27

But, say you, is a stone spiritual?

To erring material sense, No! but to unerring spiritual
sense, it is a small manifestation of Mind, a type of spirit-

30

ual substance, "the substance of things hoped for."
Mortals can know a stone as substance, only by first ad-
mitting that it is substantial. Take away the mortal sense

Page 28

1 of substance, and the stone itself would disappear, only
to reappear in the spiritual sense thereof. Matter can
3 neither see, hear, feel, taste, nor smell; having no sen-
sation of its own. Perception by the five personal senses
is mental, and dependent on the beliefs that mortals
6 entertain. Destroy the belief that you can walk, and
volition ceases; for muscles cannot move without mind.
Matter takes no cognizance of matter. In dreams, things
9 are only what mortal mind makes them; and the phe-
nomena of mortal life are as dreams; and this so-called
life is a dream soon told. In proportion as mortals turn
12 from this mortal and material dream, to the true sense
of reality, everlasting Life will be found to be the only
Life. That death does not destroy the beliefs of the flesh,
15 our Master proved to his doubting disciple, Thomas. Also,
he demonstrated that divine Science alone can overbear
materiality and mortality; and this great truth was shown
18

by his ascension after death, whereby he arose above
the illusion of matter.

The First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other

21 gods before me," suggests the inquiry, What meaneth
this Me, - Spirit, or matter? It certainly does not
signify a graven idol, and must mean Spirit. Then
24 the commandment means, Thou shalt recognize no
intelligence nor life in matter; and find neither pleasure
nor pain therein. The Master's practical knowledge
27 of this grand verity, together with his divine Love,
healed the sick and raised the dead. He literally
annulled the claims of physique and of physical law,
30

by the superiority of the higher law; hence his decla-
ration, "These signs shall follow them that believe; . . .
if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;

Page 29

1 they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re-
cover."
3 Do you believe his words? I do, and that his prom-
ise is perpetual. Had it been applicable only to his
immediate disciples, the pronoun would be you, not them.
6 The purpose of his life-work touches universal human-
ity. At another time he prayed, not for the twelve
only, but "for them also which shall believe on me through
9

their word."

The Christ-healing was practised even before the Chris-
tian era; "the Word was with God, and the Word was

12 God." There is, however, no analogy between Christian
Science and spiritualism, or between it and any specu-
lative theory.
15 In 1867, I taught the first student in Christian Science.
Since that date I have known of but fourteen deaths
in the ranks of my about five thousand students. The
18 census since 1875 (the date of the first publication of
my work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
tures") shows that longevity has increased. Daily letters
21 inform me that a perusal of my volume is healing the
writers of chronic and acute diseases that had defied medi-
cal skill.
24 Surely the people of the Occident know that esoteric
magic and Oriental barbarisms will neither flavor Chris-
tianity nor advance health and length of days.
27 Miracles are no infraction of God's laws; on the
contrary, they fulfil His laws; for they are the signs fol-
lowing Christianity, whereby matter is proven power-
30

less and subordinate to Mind. Christians, like students
in mathematics, should be working up to those higher
rules of Life which Jesus taught and proved. Do we

Page 30

1 really understand the divine Principle of Christianity
before we prove it, in at least some feeble demonstra-
3 tion thereof, according to Jesus' example in healing the
sick? Should we adopt the "simple addition" in Chris-
tian Science and doubt its higher rules, or despair of
6

ultimately reaching them, even though failing at first to
demonstrate all the possibilities of Christianity?

St. John spiritually discerned and revealed the sum

9 total of transcendentalism. He saw the real earth and
heaven. They were spiritual, not material; and they
were without pain, sin, or death. Death was not the
12 door to this heaven. The gates thereof he declared were
inlaid with pearl, - likening them to the priceless under-
standing of man's real existence, to be recognized here
15

and now.

The great Way-shower illustrated Life unconfined, un-
contaminated, untrammelled, by matter. He proved the

18 superiority of Mind over the flesh, opened the door to
the captive, and enabled man to demonstrate the law of
Life, which St. Paul declares "hath made me free from
21

the law of sin and death."

The stale saying that Christian Science "is neither
Christian nor science!" is to-day the fossil of wisdom-

24

less wit, weakness, and superstition. "The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God."

Take courage, dear reader, for any seeming mysti-

27

cism surrounding realism is explained in the Scripture,
"There went up a mist from the earth [matter];" and
the mist of materialism will vanish as we approach spirit-

30 uality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in Christ's
righteousness; bathe in the baptism of Spirit, and awake
in His likeness.

Page 31

CHAPTER III

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1

What do you consider to be mental malpractice?

MENTAL malpractice is a bland denial of Truth,

3 and is the antipode of Christian Science. To
mentally argue in a manner that can disastrously
affect the happiness of a fellow-being - harm him
6 morally, physically, or spiritually - breaks the Golden
Rule and subverts the scientific laws of being. This,
therefore, is not the use but the abuse of mental treat-
9 ment, and is mental malpractice. It is needless to
say that such a subversion of right is not scientific. Its
claim to power is in proportion to the faith in evil, and
12 consequently to the lack of faith in good. Such false
faith finds no place in, and receives no aid from, the
Principle or the rules of Christian Science; for it denies
15

the grand verity of this Science, namely, that God, good,
has all power.

This leaves the individual no alternative but to re-

18 linquish his faith in evil, or to argue against his own
convictions of good and so destroy his power to be or
to do good, because he has no faith in the omnipotence
21

of God, good. He parts with his understanding of good,
in order to retain his faith in evil and so succeed with his

Page 32

1 wrong argument, - if indeed he desires success in this
broad road to destruction.
3 How shall we demean ourselves towards the students
of disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's
remarks on "Christ and Christmas"?
6 From this question, I infer that some of my students
seem not to know in what manner they should act towards
the students of false teachers, or such as have strayed
9 from the rules and divine Principle of Christian Science.
The query is abnormal, when "precept upon precept;
line upon line" are to be found in the Scriptures, and in
12

my books, on this very subject.

In Mark, ninth chapter, commencing at the thirty-
third verse, you will find my views on this subject; love

15 alone is admissible towards friend and foe. My sym-
pathies extend to the above-named class of students more
than to many others. If I had the time to talk with all
18 students of Christian Science, and correspond with them,
I would gladly do my best towards helping those un-
fortunate seekers after Truth whose teacher is straying
21 from the straight and narrow path. But I have not mo-
ments enough in which to give to my own flock all the
time and attention that they need, - and charity must
24

begin at home.

Distinct denominational and social organizations and
societies are at present necessary for the individual,

27 and for our Cause. But all people can and should be
just, merciful; they should never envy, elbow, slander,
hate, or try to injure, but always should try to bless their
30

fellow-mortals.

To the query in regard to some clergyman's com-

Page 33

1 ments on my illustrated poem, I will say: It is the righteous
prayer that avails with God. Whatever is wrong will
3 receive its own reward. The high priests of old caused
the crucifixion of even the great Master; and thereby
they lost, and he won, heaven. I love all ministers and
6

ministries of Christ, Truth.

All clergymen may not understand the illustrations
in "Christ and Christmas;" or that these refer not to

9 personality, but present the type and shadow of Truth's
appearing in the womanhood as well as in the manhood
of God, our divine Father and Mother.
12

Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be
healed by it?

This is a question that is being asked every day. It

15 has not proved impossible to heal those who, when they
began treatment, had no faith whatever in the Science,
- other than to place themselves under my care, and
18 follow the directions given. Patients naturally gain con-
fidence in Christian Science as they recognize the help
they derive therefrom.
21

What are the advantages of your system of healing, over
the ordinary methods of healing disease?

Healing by Christian Science has the following ad-

24

vantages: -

First: It does away with all material medicines, and
recognizes the fact that, as mortal mind is the cause of

27 all "the ills that flesh is heir to," the antidote for sickness,
as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind's
opposite, - the divine Mind.
30

Second: It is more effectual than drugs; curing where

Page 34

1 these fail, and leaving none of the harmful "after effects"
of these in the system; thus proving that metaphysics
3

is above physics.

Third: One who has been healed by Christian Sci-
ence is not only healed of the disease, but is improved

6 morally. The body is governed by mind; and mortal
mind must be improved, before the body is renewed
and harmonious, - since the physique is simply thought
9

made manifest.

Is spiritualism or mesmerism included in Christian
Science?

12 They are wholly apart from it. Christian Science is
based on divine Principle; whereas spiritualism, so far
as I understand it, is a mere speculative opinion and
15 human belief. If the departed were to communicate
with us, we should see them as they were before death,
and have them with us; after death, they can no more
18 come to those they have left, than we, in our present state
of existence, can go to the departed or the adult can re-
turn to his boyhood. We may pass on to their state
21 of existence, but they cannot return to ours. Man is
im-mortal, and there is not a moment when he ceases to
exist. All that are called "communications from spirits,"
24 lie within the realm of mortal thought on this present plane
of existence, and are the antipodes of Christian Science;
the immortal and mortal are as direct opposites as light
27

and darkness.

Who is the Founder of mental healing?

The author of "Science and Health with Key to the

30

Scriptures," who discovered the Science of healing em-

Page 35

1 bodied in her works. Years of practical proof, through
homoeopathy, revealed to her the fact that Mind, in-
3 stead of matter, is the Principle of pathology; and
subsequently her recovery, through the supremacy of
Mind over matter, from a severe casualty pronounced
6 by the physicians incurable, sealed that proof with the
signet of Christian Science. In 1883, a million of peo-
ple acknowledge and attest the blessings of this mental
9 system of treating disease. Perhaps the following
words of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy,
afford the most concise, yet complete, summary of the
12

matter: -

"Mrs. Eddy's works are the outgrowths of her life.
I never knew so unselfish an individual."

15 Will the book Science and Health, that you offer for sale
at three dollars, teach its readers to heal the sick, - or is
one obliged to become a student under your personal in-
18

struction? And if one is obliged to study under you, of
what benefit is your book?

Why do we read the Bible, and then go to church to

21 hear it expounded? Only because both are important.
Why do we read moral science, and then study it at
college?
24 You are benefited by reading Science and Health, but
it is greatly to your advantage to be taught its Science
by the author of that work, who explains it in detail.
27

What is immortal Mind?

In reply, we refer you to "Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures,"(1) Vol. I. page 14: "That which

30

(1) See the sixth edition.

Page 36

1 is erring, sinful, sick, and dying, termed material or
mortal man, is neither God's man nor Mind; but to be
3 understood, we shall classify evil and error as mortal
mind, in contradistinction to good and Truth, or the
Mind which is immortal."
6

Do animals and beasts have a mind?

Beasts, as well as men, express Mind as their origin;
but they manifest less of Mind. The first and only

9 cause is the eternal Mind, which is God, and there is
but one God. The ferocious mind seen in the beast is
mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from
12 God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with
the lamb. Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety,
are the animal qualities of sinning mortals; and the
15 beasts that have these propensities express the lower
qualities of the so-called animal man; in other words,
the nature and quality of mortal mind, - not immortal
18

Mind.

What is the distinction between mortal mind and im-
mortal Mind?

21 Mortal mind includes all evil, disease, and death;
also, all beliefs relative to the so-called material laws,
and all material objects, and the law of sin and death.
24 The Scripture says, "The carnal mind [in other words,
mortal mind] is enmity against God; for it is not sub-
ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Mortal
27 mind is an illusion; as much in our waking moments
as in the dreams of sleep. The belief that intelligence,
Truth, and Love, are in matter and separate from God,
30

is an error; for there is no intelligent evil, and no power

Page 37

1 besides God, good. God would not be omnipotent if
there were in reality another mind creating or governing
3

man or the universe.

Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is made
manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw man-

6

kind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual
facts of being.

Jesus recognized this relation so clearly that he said,

9 "I and my Father are one." In proportion as we oppose
the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death,
and recognize ourselves under the control of God,
12 spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the
animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those
words of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world . . . heal the
15

sick."

Can your Science cure intemperance?

Christian Science lays the axe at the root of the tree.

18 Its antidote for all ills is God, the perfect Mind, which
corrects mortal thought, whence cometh all evil. God
can and does destroy the thought that leads to moral
21 or physical death. Intemperance, impurity, sin of every
sort, is destroyed by Truth. The appetite for alcohol
yields to Science as directly and surely as do sickness
24

and sin.

Does Mrs. Eddy take patients?

She now does not. Her time is wholly devoted to in-

27

struction, leaving to her students the work of healing;
which, at this hour, is in reality the least difficult of the
labor that Christian Science demands.

Page 38

1 Why do you charge for teaching Christian Science, when
all the good we can do must be done freely?
3 When teaching imparts the ability to gain and main-
tain health, to heal and elevate man in every line of
life, - as this teaching certainly does, - is it un-
6 reasonable to expect in return something to support
one's self and a Cause? If so, our whole system
of education, secular and religious, is at fault, and the
9 instructors and philanthropists in our land should ex-
pect no compensation. "If we have sown unto you
spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your
12

carnal things ?"

How happened you to establish a college to instruct in
metaphysics, when other institutions find little interest in

15

such a dry and abstract subject?

Metaphysics, as taught by me at the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, is far from dry and abstract. It

18 is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical
application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten
and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics need-
21 ful, indispensable. Teaching metaphysics at other col-
leges means, mainly, elaborating a man-made theory,
or some speculative view too vapory and hypothetical
24

for questions of practical import.

Is it necessary to study your Science in order to be healed
by it and keep well?

27

It is not necessary to make each patient a student
in order to cure his present disease, if this is what
you mean. Were it so, the Science would be of less

Page 39

1 practical value. Many who apply for help are not
prepared to take a course of instruction in Christian
3

Science.

To avoid being subject to disease, would require the
understanding of how you are healed. In 1885, this

6 knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad
at this early date some grossly incorrect and false
9 teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such
beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim;
whereas the Founder of genuine Christian Science has
12

been all her years in giving it birth. .

Can you take care of yourself ?

God giveth to every one this puissance; and I have

15 faith in His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway" -
all the way. Unlike the M. D.'s, Christian Scientists
are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this
18 medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, ex-
haustless source they intend to fill the human mind with
enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump.
21 There may be exceptional cases, where one Christian
Scientist who has more to meet than others needs support
at times; then, it is right to bear "one another's burdens,
24

and so fulfil the law of Christ."

In what way is a Christian Scientist an instrument by
which God reaches others to heal them, and what most

27

obstructs the way?

A Christian, or a Christian Scientist, assumes no more
when claiming to work with God in healing the sick,

30

than in converting the sinner. Divine help is as neces-

Page 40

1 sary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Prin-
ciple of healing demands such cooperation; but this
3 unison and its power would be arrested if one were to
mix material methods with the spiritual, - were to min-
gle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same pro-
6 cess, - and thus serve "other gods." Truth is as
effectual in destroying sickness as in the destruction
of sin.
9 It is often asked, "If Christian Science is the same
method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used,
why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures
12

as did those in the first century of the Christian era?"

In some instances the students of Christian Science
equal the ancient prophets as healers. All true healing

15 is governed by, and demonstrated on, the same Princi-
ple as theirs; namely, the action of the divine Spirit,
through the power of Truth to destroy error, discord
18 of whatever sort. The reason that the same results fol-
low not in every case, is that the student does not in
every case possess sufficiently the Christ-spirit and its
21 power to cast out the disease. The Founder of Chris-
tian Science teaches her students that they must possess
the spirit of Truth and Love, must gain the power
24

over sin in themselves, or they cannot be instantaneous
healers.

In this Christian warfare the student or practitioner

27 has to master those elements of evil too common to other
minds. If it is hate that is holding the purpose to kill
his patient by mental means, it requires more divine
30

understanding to conquer this sin than to nullify either
the disease itself or the ignorance by which one unin-
tentionally harms himself or another. An element of

Page 41

1 brute-force that only the cruel and evil can send forth, is
given vent in the diabolical practice of one who, having
3 learned the power of liberated thought to do good, per-
verts it, and uses it to accomplish an evil purpose. This
mental malpractice would disgrace Mind-healing, were it
6 not that God overrules it, and causes "the wrath of man"
to praise Him. It deprives those who practise it of the
power to heal, and destroys their own possibility of
9

progressing.

The honest student of Christian Science is purged
through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in

12 the ennobling strife. The good fight must be fought by
those who keep the faith and finish their course. Mental
purgation must go on: it promotes spiritual growth,
15

scales the mountain of human endeavor, and gains the
summit in Science that otherwise could not be reached,
- where the struggle with sin is forever done.

18 Can all classes of disease be healed by your method?

We answer, Yes. Mind is the architect that builds
its own idea, and produces all harmony that appears.

21 There is no other healer in the case. If mortal mind,
through the action of fear, manifests inflammation and a
belief of chronic or acute disease, by removing the cause
24 in that so-called mind the effect or disease will disappear
and health will be restored; for health, alias harmony,
is the normal manifestation of man in Science. The
27 divine Principle which governs the universe, including
man, if demonstrated, is sufficient for all emergencies.
But the practitioner may not always prove equal to
30

bringing out the result of the Principle that he knows to
be true.

Page 42

1 After the change called death takes place, do we meet
those gone before? - or does life continue in thought only
3

as in a dream?

Man is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity,
by passing through the belief called death. After the

6 momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this
mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the in-
dividual has but passed through a moment of extreme
9 mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as
material as before. Science and Health clearly states
that spiritualization of thought is not attained by the death
12 of the body, but by a conscious union with God. When
we shall have passed the ordeal called death, or destroyed
this last enemy, and shall have come upon the same plane
15

of conscious existence with those gone before, then we
shall be able to communicate with and to recognize them.

If, before the change whereby we meet the dear de-

18 parted, our life-work proves to have been well done, we
shall not have to repeat it; but our joys and means of ad-
vancing will be proportionately increased.
21 The difference between a belief of material existence
and the spiritual fact of Life is, that the former is a dream
and unreal, while the latter is real and eternal. Only
24 as we understand God, and learn that good, not evil,
lives and is immortal, that immortality exists only in
spiritual perfection, shall we drop our false sense of Life
27

in sin or sense material, and recognize a better state of
existence.

Can I be treated without being present during treatment?

30

Mind is not confined to limits; and nothing but our
own false admissions prevent us from demonstrating this

Page 43

1 great fact. Christian Science, recognizing the capabili-
ties of Mind to act of itself, and independent of matter,
3 enables one to heal cases without even having seen the
individual, - or simply after having been made ac-
quainted with the mental condition of the patient.
6

Do all who at present claim to be teaching Christian
Science, teach it correctly?

By no means: Christian Science is not sufficiently un-

9 derstood for that. The student of this Science who under-
stands it best, is the one least likely to pour into other
minds a trifling sense of it as being adequate to make safe
12 and successful practitioners. The simple sense one gains
of this Science through careful, unbiased, contemplative
reading of my books, is far more advantageous to the
15 sick and to the learner than is or can be the spurious
teaching of those who are spiritually unqualified. The
sad fact at this early writing is, that the letter is gained
18 sooner than the spirit of Christian Science: time is re-
quired thoroughly to qualify students for the great ordeal
of this century.
21 If one student tries to undermine another, such sinister
rivalry does a vast amount of injury to the Cause. To
fill one's pocket at the expense of his conscience, or to
24 build on the downfall of others, incapacitates one to
practise or teach Christian Science. The occasional tem-
porary success of such an one is owing, in part, to the im-
27 possibility for those unacquainted with the mighty Truth
of Christian Science to recognize, as such, the barefaced
errors that are taught - and the damaging effects these
30

leave on the practice of the learner, on the Cause, and
on the health of the community.

Page 44

1 Honest students speak the truth "according to the
pattern showed to thee in the mount," and live it: these
3 are not working for emoluments, and may profitably
teach people, who are ready to investigate this subject,
the rudiments of Christian Science.
6

Can Christian Science cure acute cases where there is
necessity for immediate relief, as in membranous croup?

The remedial power of Christian Science is positive,

9 and its application direct. It cannot fail to heal in
every case of disease, when conducted by one who un-
derstands this Science sufficiently to demonstrate its
12

highest possibilities.

If I have the toothache, and nothing stops it until I
have the tooth extracted, and then the pain ceases, has

15

the mind, or extracting, or both, caused the pain to
cease?

What you thought was pain in the bone or nerve, could

18 only have been a belief of pain in matter; for matter
has no sensation. It was a state of mortal thought made
manifest in the flesh. You call this body matter, when
21 awake, or when asleep in a dream. That matter can re-
port pain, or that mind is in matter, reporting sensa-
tions, is but a dream at all times. You believed that if
24 the tooth were extracted, the pain would cease: this de-
mand of mortal thought once met, your belief assumed
a new form, and said, There is no more pain. When
27

your belief in pain ceases, the pain stops; for matter
has no intelligence of its own. By applying this men-
tal remedy or antidote directly to your belief, you scien-

Page 45

1 tifically prove the fact that Mind is supreme. This is not
done by will-power, for that is not Science but mesmerism.
3 The full understanding that God is Mind, and that mat-
ter is but a belief, enables you to control pain. Chris-
tian Science, by means of its Principle of metaphysical
6 healing, is able to do more than to heal a toothache;
although its power to allay fear, prevent inflammation,
and destroy the necessity for ether - thereby avoiding
9 the fatal results that frequently follow the use of that
drug - render this Science invaluable in the practice
of dentistry.
12

Can an atheist or a profane man be cured by metaphysics,
or Christian Science?

The moral status of the man demands the remedy of

15 Truth more in this than in most cases; therefore, under
the deific law that supply invariably meets demand, this
Science is effectual in treating moral ailments. Sin is
18 not the master of divine Science, but vice versa; and
when Science in a single instance decides the conflict,
the patient is better both morally and physically.
21

If God made all that was made, and it was good, where
did evil originate?

It never originated or existed as an entity. It is but a

24 false belief; even the belief that God is not what the
Scriptures imply Him to be, All-in-all, but that there
is an opposite intelligence or mind termed evil. This
27

error of belief is idolatry, having "other gods before me."
In John i. 3 we read, "All things were made by Him;
and without Him was not anything made that was made. "

Page 46

1 The admission of the reality of evil perpetuates the belief
or faith in evil. The Scriptures declare, "To whom ye
3 yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are."
The leading self-evident proposition of Christian Science
is: good being real, evil, good's opposite, is unreal. This
6 truism needs only to be tested scientifically to be found
true, and adapted to destroy the appearance of evil to an
extent beyond the power of any doctrine previously
9

entertained.

Do you teach that you are equal with God?

A reader of my writings would not present this ques-

12 tion. There are no such indications in the premises or
conclusions of Christian Science, and such a misconcep-
tion of Truth is not scientific. Man is not equal with
15 his Maker; that which is formed is not cause, but effect,
and has no power underived from its creator. It is pos-
sible, and it is man's duty, so to throw the weight of his
18 thoughts and acts on the side of Truth, that he be ever
found in the scale with his creator; not weighing
equally with Him, but comprehending at every point, in
21 divine Science, the full significance of what the apostle
meant by the declaration, "The Spirit itself beareth wit-
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and
24 if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ." In Science, man represents his divine Prin-
ciple, - the Life and Love that are God, - even as the
27 idea of sound, in tones, represents harmony; but thought
has not yet wholly attained unto the Science of being,
wherein man is perfect even as the Father, his divine
30

Principle, is perfect.

Page 47

1 How can I believe that there is no such thing as matter,
when I weigh over two hundred pounds and carry about
3

this weight daily?

By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind.
You entertain an adipose belief of your self as substance;

6 whereas, substance means more than matter: it is the
glory and permanence of Spirit: it is that which is
hoped for but unseen, that which the material senses
9 cannot take in. Have you never been so preoccupied in
thought when moving your body, that you did this with-
out consciousness of its weight? If never in your waking
12 hours, you have been in your night-dreams; and these
tend to elucidate your day-dream, or the mythical nature
of matter, and the possibilities of mind when let loose
15 from its own beliefs. In sleep, a sense of the body ac-
companies thought with less impediment than when
awake, which is the truer sense of being. In Science,
18 body is the servant of Mind, not its master: Mind is
supreme. Science reverses the evidence of material
sense with the spiritual sense that God, Spirit, is the only
21 substance; and that man, His image and likeness, is
spiritual, not material. This great Truth does not de-
stroy but substantiates man's identity, - together with
24 his immortality and preexistence, or his spiritual co-
existence with his Maker. That which has a beginning
must have an ending.
27

What should one conclude as to Professor Carpenter's
exhibitions of mesmerism?

That largely depends upon what one accepts as either

30

useful or true. I have no knowledge of mesmerism,

Page 48

1 practically or theoretically, save as I measure its demon-
strations as a false belief, and avoid all that works ill. If
3 mesmerism has the power attributed to it by the gentle-
man referred to, it should neither be taught nor practised,
but should be conscientiously condemned. One thing
6 is quite apparent; namely, that its so-called power is
despotic, and Mr. Carpenter deserves praise for his public
exposure of it. If such be its power, I am opposed to it,
9 as to every form of error, - whether of ignorance or
fanaticism, prompted by money-making or malice. It
is enough for me to know that animal magnetism is neither
12

of God nor Science.

It is alleged that at one of his recent lectures in Bos-
ton Mr. Carpenter made a man drunk on water, and

15 then informed his audience that he could produce the
effect of alcohol, or of any drug, on the human system,
through the action of mind alone. This honest declara-
18 tion as to the animus of animal magnetism and the pos-
sible purpose to which it can be devoted, has, we trust,
been made in season to open the eyes of the people to the
21

hidden nature of some tragic events and sudden deaths
at this period.

Was ever a person made insane by studying meta-

24

physics?

Such an occurrence would be impossible, for the
proper study of Mind-healing would cure the insane.

27 That persons have gone away from the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College "made insane by Mrs. Eddy's
teachings," like a hundred other stories, is a baseless
30

fabrication offered solely to injure her or her school.
The enemy is trying to make capital out of the follow-

Page 49

1 ing case. A young lady entered the College class who,
I quickly saw, had a tendency to monomania, and re-
3 quested her to withdraw before its close. We are cred-
ibly informed that, before entering the College, this
young lady had manifested some mental unsoundness,
6 and have no doubt she could have been restored by
Christian Science treatment. Her friends employed a
homoeopathist, who had the skill and honor to state, as his
9 opinion given to her friends, that "Mrs. Eddy's teach-
ings had not produced insanity." This is the only case
that could be distorted into the claim of insanity ever
12 having occurred in a class of Mrs. Eddy's; while ac-
knowledged and notable cases of insanity have been
cured in her class.
15 If all that is mortal is a dream or error, is not
our capacity for formulating a dream, real; is it not
God-made; and if God-made, can it be wrong, sinful, or
18

an error?

The spirit of Truth leads into all truth, and enables
man to discern between the real and the unreal. Enter-

21 taining the common belief in the opposite of goodness,
and that evil is as real as good, opposes the leadings of
the divine Spirit that are helping man Godward: it pre-
24 vents a recognition of the nothingness of the dream, or
belief, that Mind is in matter, intelligence in non-intel-
ligence, sin, and death. This belief presupposes not
27 only a power opposed to God, and that God is not All-
in-all, as the Scriptures imply Him to be, but that the
capacity to err proceeds from God.
30

That God is Truth, the Scriptures aver; that Truth
never created error, or such a capacity, is self-evident;

Page 50

1 that God made all that was made, is again Scriptural;
therefore your answer is, that error is an illusion of
3

mortals; that God is not its author, and it cannot be
real.

Does "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"

6 explain the entire method of metaphysical healing, or is
there a secret back of what is contained in that book, as
some say?
9 "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"
is a complete textbook of Christian Science; and its
metaphysical method of healing is as lucid in presenta-
12 tion as can be possible, under the necessity to express
the metaphysical in physical terms. There is absolutely
no additional secret outside of its teachings, or that gives
16 one the power to heal; but it is essential that the student
gain the spiritual understanding of the contents of this
book, in order to heal.
18

Do you believe in change of heart?

We do believe, and understand - which is more -
that there must be a change from human affections, de-

21 sires, and aims, to the divine standard, "Be ye therefore
perfect;" also, that there must be a change from the be-
lief that the heart is matter and sustains life, to the
24 understanding that God is our Life, that we exist in
Mind, live thereby, and have being. This change of
heart would deliver man from heart-disease, and ad-
27 vance Christianity a hundredfold. The human affections
need to be changed from self to benevolence and love
for God and man; changed to having but one God and
30

loving Him supremely, and helping our brother man.

Page 51

1 This change of heart is essential to Christianity, and
will have its effect physically as well as spiritually,
3

healing disease. Burnt offerings and drugs, God does
not require.

Is a belief of nervousness, accompanied by great mental

6

depression, mesmerism?

All mesmerism is of one of three kinds; namely, the
ignorant, the fraudulent, or the malicious workings of

9 error or mortal mind. We have not the particulars of
the case to which you may refer, and for this reason can-
not answer your question professionally.
12

How can I govern a child metaphysically? Doesn't the
use of the rod teach him life in matter?

The use of the rod is virtually a declaration to the

15 child's mind that sensation belongs to matter. Motives
govern acts, and Mind governs man. If you make clear
to the child's thought the right motives for action, and
18 cause him to love them, they will lead him aright: if you
educate him to love God, good, and obey the Golden
Rule, he will love and obey you without your having to
21

resort to corporeal punishment.

"When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath
Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze

24 The whole dark pile of human mockeries;
Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth,
And starting fresh, as from a second birth,
27

Man in the sunshine of the world's new spring,
Shall walk transparent like some holy thing."

Are both prayer and drugs necessary to heal?

30

The apostle James said, "Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your

Page 52

1 lusts." This text may refer to such as seek the material
to aid the spiritual, and take drugs to support God's
3 power to heal them. It is difficult to say how much
one can do for himself, whose faith is divided be-
tween catnip and Christ; but not so difficult to know
6 that if he were to serve one master, he could do vastly
more. Whosoever understands the power of Spirit, has
no doubt of God's power, - even the might of Truth, -
9

to heal, through divine Science, beyond all human means

and methods.

What do you think of marriage?

12 That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and
occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of
many definitions. It sometimes presents the most
15 wretched condition of human existence. To be normal,
it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift
mortals higher.
18 If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed,
by death, - if one gets tired of it, why not commit
suicide?
21 Man's existence is a problem to be wrought in divine
Science. What progress would a student of science
make, if, when tired of mathematics or failing to dem-
24 onstrate one rule readily, he should attempt to work
out a rule farther on and more difficult - and this,
because the first rule was not easily demonstrated? In
27 that case he would be obliged to turn back and work
out the previous example, before solving the advanced
problem. Mortals have the sum of being to work out,
30

and up, to its spiritual standpoint. They must work

Page 53

1 out of this dream or false claim of sensation and life
in matter, and up to the spiritual realities of existence,
3 before this false claim can be wholly dispelled. Com-
mitting suicide to dodge the question is not working
it out. The error of supposed life and intelligence in
6 matter, is dissolved only as we master error with Truth.
Not through sin or suicide, but by overcoming tempta-
tion and sin, shall we escape the weariness and wicked-
9

ness of mortal existence, and gain heaven, the harmony
of being.

Do you sometimes find it advisable to use medicine to

12

assist in producing a cure, when it is difficult to start the
patient's recovery?

You only weaken your power to heal through Mind,

15 by any compromise with matter; which is virtually ac-
knowledging that under difficulties the former is not equal
to the latter. He that resorts to physics, seeks what is
18 below instead of above the standard of metaphysics;
showing his ignorance of the meaning of the term and
of Christian Science.
21

If Christian Science is the same as Jesus taught, why is
it not more simple, so that all can readily understand it?

The teachings of Jesus were simple; and yet he found

24 it difficult to make the rulers understand, because of
their great lack of spirituality. Christian Science is
simple, and readily understood by the children; only
27 the thought educated away from it finds it abstract or
difficult to perceive. Its seeming abstraction is the
mystery of godliness; and godliness is simple to the
30

godly; but to the unspiritual, the ungodly, it is dark

Page 54

1 and difficult. The carnal mind cannot discern spiritual
things.
3

Has Mrs. Eddy lost her power to heal?

Has the sun forgotten to shine, and the planets to
revolve around it? Who is it that discovered, dem-

6 onstrated, and teaches Christian Science? That one,
whoever it be, does understand something of what can-
not be lost. Thousands in the field of metaphysical
9 healing, whose lives are worthy testimonials, are her
students, and they bear witness to this fact. Instead
of losing her power to heal, she is demonstrating the
12 power of Christian Science over all obstacles that envy
and malice would fling in her path. The reading of her
book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"
15

is curing hundreds at this very time; and the sick, un-
asked, are testifying thereto.

Must I study your Science in order to keep well all my

18

life? I was healed of a chronic trouble after one month's
treatment by one of your students.

When once you are healed by Science, there is no rea-

21 son why you should be liable to a return of the disease
that you were healed of. But not to be subject again to
any disease whatsoever, would require an understanding
24

of the Science by which you were healed.

Because none of your students have been able to perform
as great miracles in healing as Jesus and his disciples did,

27

does it not suggest the possibility that they do not heal on
the same basis?

You would not ask the pupil in simple equations to

30

solve a problem involving logarithms; and then, because

Page 55

1 he failed to get the right answer, condemn the pupil
and the science of numbers. The simplest problem
3 in Christian Science is healing the sick, and the least
understanding and demonstration thereof prove all its
possibilities. The ability to demonstrate to the extent
6 that Jesus did, will come when the student possesses as
much of the divine Spirit as he shared, and utilizes its
power to overcome sin.
9 Opposite to good, is the universal claim of evil that
seeks the proportions of good. There may be those
who, having learned the power of the unspoken thought,
12 use it to harm rather than to heal, and who are using
that power against Christian Scientists. This giant sin
is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of in Matt.
15

xii. 31, 32.

Is Christian Science based on the facts of both Spirit
and matter?

18 Christian Science is based on the facts of Spirit and
its forms and representations, but these facts are the
direct antipodes of the so-called facts of matter; and
21 the eternal verities of Spirit assert themselves over their
opposite, or matter, in the final destruction of all that
is unlike Spirit.
24 Man knows that he can have one God only, when
he regards God as the only Mind, Life, and substance.
If God is Spirit, as the Scriptures declare, and All-in-
27

all, matter is mythology, and its laws are mortal
beliefs.

If Mind is in matter and beneath a skull bone, it is

30

in something unlike Him; hence it is either a godless and
material Mind, or it is God in matter, - which are theo-

Page 56

1 ries of agnosticism and pantheism, the very antipodes
of Christian Science.
3

What is organic life?

Life is inorganic, infinite Spirit; if Life, or Spirit,
were organic, disorganization would destroy Spirit and

6

annihilate man.

If Mind is not substance, form, and tangibility, God
is substanceless; for the substance of Spirit is divine

9

Mind. Life is God, the only creator, and Life is im-
mortal Mind, not matter.

Every indication of matter's constituting life is mortal,

12 the direct opposite of immortal Life, and infringes the
rights of Spirit. Then, to conclude that Spirit consti-
tutes or ever has constituted laws to that effect, is a mor-
15 tal error, a human conception opposed to the divine
government. Mind and matter mingling in perpetual
warfare is a kingdom divided against itself, that shall be
18 brought to desolation. The final destruction of this
false belief in matter will appear at the full revelation
of Spirit, - one God, and the brotherhood of man.
21 Organic life is an error of statement that Truth destroys.
The Science of Life needs only to be understood; its dem-
onstration proves the correctness of my statements, and
24

brings blessings infinite.

Why did God command, "Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth," if all minds (men) have existed

27

from the beginning, and have had successive stages of
existence to the present time?

Your question implies that Spirit, which first spirit-

30

ually created the universe, including man, created man

Page 57

1 over again materially; and, by the aid of mankind, all
was later made which He had made. If the first record
3 is true, what evidence have you - apart from the evi-
dence of that which you admit cannot discern spiritual
things - of any other creation? The creative "Us"
6 made all, and Mind was the creator. Man originated
not from dust, materially, but from Spirit, spiritually.
This work had been done; the true creation was finished,
9

and its spiritual Science is alluded to in the first chapter
of Genesis.

Jesus said of error, "That thou doest, do quickly."

12 By the law of opposites, after the truth of man had been
demonstrated, the postulate of error must appear. That
this addendum was untrue, is seen when Truth, God,
15 denounced it, and said: "I will greatly multiply thy
sorrow." "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die." The opposite error said, "I am true," and
18 declared, "God doth know . . . that your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods," creators. This was false;
and the Lord God never said it. This history of a falsity
21 must be told in the name of Truth, or it would have no
seeming. The Science of creation is the universe with man
created spiritually. The false sense and error of creation
24

is the sense of man and the universe created materially.

Why does the record make man a creation of the sixth
and last day, if he was coexistent with God?

27 In its genesis, the Science of creation is stated in mathe-
matical order, beginning with the lowest form and ascend-
ing the scale of being up to man. But all that really is,
30

always was and forever is; for it existed in and of the Mind
that is God, wherein man is foremost.

Page 58

1 If one has died of consumption, and he has no remem-
brence of that disease or dream, does that disease have any
3

more power over him?

Waking from a dream, one learns its unreality; then
it has no power over one. Waking from the dream of

6 death, proves to him who thought he died that it was a
dream, and that he did not die; then he learns that con-
sumption did not kill him. When the belief in the power
9

of disease is destroyed, disease cannot return.

How does Mrs. Eddy know that she has read and studied
correctly, if one must deny the evidences of the senses?

12

She had to use her eyes to read.

Jesus said, "Having eyes, see ye not?" I read the in-
spired page through a higher than mortal sense. As

15 matter, the eye cannot see; and as mortal mind, it is a
belief that sees. I may read the Scriptures through a
belief of eyesight; but I must spiritually understand
18

them to interpret their Science.

Does the theology of Christien Science aid its heal-
ing?

21 Without its theology there is no mental science, no
order that proceeds from God. All Science is divine,
not human, in origin and demonstration. If God does
24 not govern the action of man, it is inharmonious: if He
does govern it, the action is Science. Take away the
theology of mental healing and you take away its science,
27

leaving it a human "mind-cure," nothing more nor less,
- even one human mind governing another; by which,
if you agree that God is Mind, you admit that there is

Page 59

1 more than one government and God. Having no true
sense of the healing theology of Mind, you can neither
3 understand nor demonstrate its Science, and will prac-
tise your belief of it in the name of Truth. This is the
mortal "mind-cure" that produces the effect of mes-
6 merism. It is using the power of human will, instead
of the divine power understood, as in Christian Science;
and without this Science there had better be no "mind-
9

cure," - in which the last state of patients is worse than
the first.

Is it wrong to pray for the recovery of the sick?

12 Not if we pray Scripturally, with the understanding
that God has given all things to those who love Him;
but pleading with infinite Love to love us, or to restore
15 health and harmony, and then to admit that it has been
lost under His government, is the prayer of doubt and
mortal belief that is unavailing in divine Science.
18

Is not all argument mind over mind?

The Scriptures refer to God as saying, "Come now, and
let us reason together." There is but one right Mind, and

21 that one should and does govern man. Any copartnership
with that Mind is impossible; and the only benefit in
speaking often one to another, arises from the success that
24 one individual has with another in leading his thoughts
away from the human mind or body, and guiding them
with Truth. That individual is the best healer who as-
27

serts himself the least, and thus becomes a transparency
for the divine Mind, who is the only physician; the divine
Mind is the scientific healer.

Page 60

1 How can you believe there is no sin, and that God does
not recognize any, when He sent His Son to save from
3 sin, and the Bible is addressed to sinners? How can you
believe there is no sickness, when Jesus came healing the
sick?
6 To regard sin, disease, and death with less deference,
and only as the woeful unrealities of being, is the only
way to destroy them; Christian Science is proving this by
9 healing cases of disease and sin after all other means have
failed. The Nazarene Prophet could make the unreality
of both apparent in a moment.
12 Does it not limit the power of Mind to deny the possi-
bility of communion with departed friends - dead only in
belief ?
15 Does it limit the power of Mind to say that addition
is not subtraction in mathematics ? The Science of Mind
reveals the impossibility of two individual sleepers, in
18 different phases of thought, communicating, even if touch-
ing each other corporeally; or for one who sleeps to
communicate with another who is awake. Mind's possi-
21

bilities are not lessened by being confined and conformed
to the Science of being.

If mortal mind and body are myths, what is the con-

24

nection between them and real identity, and why are there
as many identities as mortal bodies?

Evil in the beginning claimed the power, wisdom, and

27 utility of good; and every creation or idea of Spirit has
its counterfeit in some matter belief. Every material be-
lief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals
30

are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that ma-

Page 61

1 terial belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be
found the type and representative of verities priceless,
3

eternal, and just at hand.

The education of the future will be instruction, in spir-
itual Science, against the material symbolic counterfeit

6 sciences. All the knowledge and vain strivings of mortal
mind, that lead to death, - even when aping the wisdom
and magnitude of immortal Mind, - will be swallowed
9

up by the reality and omnipotence of Truth over error,
and of Life over death.

"Dear Mrs. Eddy: - In the October Journal I read

12 the following: 'But the real man, who was created in the
image of God, does not commit sin.' What then does sin?
What commits theft? Or who does murder?
For instance,
15 the man is held responsible for the crime; for I went once
to a place where a man was said to be 'hanged for mur-
der' - and certainly I saw him, or his effigy, dangling
18

at the end of a rope. This 'man' was held responsible
for the 'sin.' "

What sins?

21 According to the Word, man is the image and likeness
of God. Does God's essential likeness sin, or dangle at
the end of a rope? If not, what does? A culprit, a sinner,
24

- anything but a man! Then, what is a sinner? A
mortal; but man is immortal.

Again: mortals are the embodiments (or bodies, if

27 you please) of error, not of Truth; of sickness, sin, and
death. Naming these His embodiment, can neither make
them so nor overthrow the logic that man is God's like-
30

ness. Mortals seem very material; man in the likeness

Page 62

1 of Spirit is spiritual. Holding the right idea of man in my
mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individ-
3 uality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image
of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more
improve health or morals, than holding in thought the
6

form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a
landscape.

Man is seen only in the true likeness of his Maker.

9 Believing a lie veils the truth from our vision; even as
in mathematics, in summing up positive and negative
quantities, the negative quantity offsets an equal positive
12

quantity, making the aggregate positive, or true quantity,
by that much, less available.

Why do Christian Scientists hold that their theology is

15

essential to heal the sick, when the mind-cure claims to heal
without it?

The theology of Christian Science is Truth; opposed

18

to which is the error of sickness, sin, and death, that
Truth destroys.

A "mind-cure" is a matter-cure. An adherent to this

21 method honestly acknowledges this fact in her work
entitled "Mind-cure on a Material Basis." In that
work the author grapples with Christian Science, attempts
24 to solve its divine Principle by the rule of human mind,
fails, and ends in a parody on this Science which is amus-
ing to astute readers, - especially when she tells them
27

that she is practising this Science.

The theology of Christian Science is based on the action
of the divine Mind over the human mind and body;

30

whereas, "mind-cure" rests on the notion that the human
mind can cure its own disease, or that which it causes,

Page 63

1 and the sickness of matter, - which is infidel in the one
case, and anomalous in the other. It was said of old by
3 Truth-traducers, that Jesus healed through Beelzebub;
but the claim that one erring mind cures another one was
at first gotten up to hinder his benign influence and to hide
6

his divine power.

Our Master understood that Life, Truth, Love are the
triune Principle of all pure theology; also, that this divine

9

trinity is one infinite remedy for the opposite triad, sick-
ness, sin, and death.

If there is no sin, why did Jesus come to save sinners?

12 If there is no reality in sickness, why does a Chris-
tian Scientist go to the bedside and address himself to
the healing of disease, on the basis of its unreality?
15 Jesus came to seek and to save such as believe in the
reality of the unreal; to save them from this false belief;
that they might lay hold of eternal Life, the great reality
18 that concerns man, and understand the final fact, - that
God is omnipotent and omnipresent; yea, "that the Lord
He is God; there is none else beside Him," as the Scrip-
21

tures declare.

If Christ was God, why did Jesus cry out, "My God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"

24 Even as the struggling heart, reaching toward a higher
goal, appeals to its hope and faith, Why failest thou
me? Jesus as the son of man was human: Christ as
27 the Son of God was divine. This divinity was reaching
humanity through the crucifixion of the human, - that
momentous demonstration of God, in which Spirit proved
30

its supremacy over matter. Jesus assumed for mortals the

Page 64

1 weakness of flesh, that Spirit might be found "All-in-all."
Hence, the human cry which voiced that struggle;
3 thence, the way he made for mortals' escape. Our
Master bore the cross to show his power over death;
then relinquished his earth-task of teaching and dem-
6 onstrating the nothingness of sickness, sin, and death,
and rose to his native estate, man's indestructible eternal
life in God.
9 What can prospective students of the College take for
preliminary studies? Do you regard the study of litera-
ture and languages as objectionable?
12 Persons contemplating a course at the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, can prepare for it through no
books except the Bible, and "Science and Health with
15 Key to the Scriptures." Man-made theories are nar-
row, else extravagant, and are always materialistic.
The ethics which guide thought spiritually must bene-
18 fit every one; for the only philosophy and religion that
afford instruction are those which deal with facts and
resist speculative opinions and fables.
21 Works on science are profitable; for science is not
human. It is spiritual, and not material. Literature
and languages, to a limited extent, are aids to a student
24

of the Bible and of Christian Science.

Is it possible to know why we are put into this condition
of mortality?

27 It is quite as possible to know wherefore man is thus
conditioned, as to be certain that he is in a state of
mortality. The only evidence of the existence of a mor-
30

tal man, or of a material state and universe, is gathered

Page 65

1 from the five personal senses. This delusive evidence,
Science has dethroned by repeated proofs of its falsity.
3 We have no more proof of human discord, - sin,
sickness, disease, or death, - than we have that the
earth's surface is flat, and her motions imaginary. If
6 man's ipse dixit as to the stellar system is correct, this
is because Science is true, and the evidence of the senses
is false. Then why not submit to the affirmations of
9 Science concerning the greater subject of human weal
and woe? Every question between Truth and error,
Science must and will decide. Left to the decision of
12 Science, your query concerns a negative which the posi-
tive Truth destroys; for God's universe and man are
immortal. We must not consider the false side of exist-
15

ence in order to gain the true solution of Life and its
great realities.

Have you changed your instructions as to the right way

18

of treating disease?

I have not; and this important fact must be, and al-
ready is, apprehended by those who understand my in-

21 structions on this question. Christian Science demands
both law and gospel, in order to demonstrate healing,
and I have taught them both in its demonstration, and
24 with signs following. They are a unit in restoring the
equipoise of mind and body, and balancing man's ac-
count with his Maker. The sequence proves that strict
27 adherence to one is inadequate to compensate for the
absence of the other, since both constitute the divine law
of healing.
30

The Jewish religion demands that "whoso sheddeth
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." But this

Page 66

1 law is not infallible in wisdom; and obedience thereto
may be found faulty, since false testimony or mistaken
3 evidence may cause the innocent to suffer for the guilty.
Hence the gospel that fulfils the law in righteousness,
the genius whereof is displayed in the surprising wisdom
6 of these words of the New Testament: "Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." No possible
injustice lurks in this mandate, and no human mis-
9 judgment can pervert it; for the offender alone suffers,
and always according to divine decree. This sacred,
solid precept is verified in all directions in Mind-
12

healing, and is supported in the Scripture by parallel
proof.

The law and gospel of Truth and Love teach, through

15 divine Science, that sin is identical with suffering, and
that suffering is the lighter affliction. To reach the sum-
mit of Science, whence to discern God's perfect ways
18 and means, the material sense must be controlled by
the higher spiritual sense, and Truth be enthroned,
while "we look not at the things which are seen, but at
21

the things which are not seen."

Cynical critics misjudge my meaning as to the sci-
entific treatment of the sick. Disease that is superin-

24 duced by sin is not healed like the more physical
ailment. The beginner in sin-healing must know this, or
he never can reach the Science of Mind-healing, and
27 so "overcome evil with good." Error in premise is met
with error in practice; yea, it is "the blind leading the
blind." Ignorance of the cause of disease can neither
30

remove that cause nor its effect.

I endeavor to accommodate my instructions to the
present capability of the learner, and to support the

Page 67

1 liberated thought until its altitude reaches beyond the
mere alphabet of Mind-healing. Above physical wants,
3

lie the higher claims of the law and gospel of healing.
First is the law, which saith: -

"Thou shalt not commit adultery;" in other words,

6 thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love, - men-
tally, morally, or physically. "Thou shalt not steal;"
that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but
9 trash, compared with his rights of mind and character.
"Thou shalt not kill;" that is, thou shalt not strike at the
eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt
12 know that by doing thus thine own sense of Life shall be
forfeited. "Thou shalt not bear false witness;" that is,
thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor
15 cause it to be thought. Obedience to these command-
ments is indispensable to health, happiness, and length
of days.
18 The gospel of healing demonstrates the law of Love.
Justice uncovers sin of every sort; and mercy demands
that if you see the danger menacing others, you shall,
21 Deo volente, inform them thereof. Only thus is the right
practice of Mind-healing achieved, and the wrong prac-
tice discerned, disarmed, and destroyed.
24

Do you believe in translation?

If your question refers to language, whereby one ex-
presses the sense of words in one language by equiva-

27 lent words in another, I do. If you refer to the removal
of a person to heaven, without his subjection to death,
I modify my affirmative answer. I believe in this
30

removal being possible after all the footsteps requisite
have been taken up to the very throne, up to the

Page 68

1 spiritual sense and fact of divine substance, intelligence,
Life, and Love. This translation is not the work of mo-
3 ments; it requires both time and eternity. It means more
than mere disappearance to the human sense; it must
include also man's changed appearance and diviner form
6

visible to those beholding him here.

The Rev. - said in a sermon: A true Christian
would protest against metaphysical healing being called

9 Christian Science. He also maintained that pain and
disease are not illusions but realities; and that it is not
Christian to believe they are illusions. Is this so?
12 It is unchristian to believe that pain and sickness are
anything but illusions. My proof of this is, that the
penalty for believing in their reality is the very pain and
15 disease. Jesus cast out a devil, and the dumb spake;
hence it is right to know that the works of Satan are the
illusion and error which Truth casts out.
18 Does the gentleman above mentioned know the
meaning of divine metaphysics, or of metaphysical
theology?
21 According to Webster, metaphysics is defined thus:
"The science of the conceptions and relations which are
necessary to thought and knowledge; science of the
24 mind." Worcester defines it as "the philosophy of mind,
as distinguished from that of matter; a science of which
the object is to explain the principles and causes of
27 all things existing." Brande calls metaphysics "the
science which regards the ultimate grounds of being, as
distinguished from its phenomenal modifications." "A
30

speculative science, which soars beyond the bounds of
experience," is a further definition.

Page 69

1 Divine metaphysics is that which treats of the exist-
ence of God, His essence, relations, and attributes. A
3

sneer at metaphysics is a scoff at Deity; at His goodness,
mercy, and might.

Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics;

6 that is, of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests
on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Chris-
tian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize
9

the divine power.

In Genesis i. 26, we read: "Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness: and let them have

12

dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air."

I was once called to visit a sick man to whom the

15 regular physicians had given three doses of Croton
oil, and then had left him to die. Upon my arrival I
found him barely alive, and in terrible agony. In one
18 hour he was well, and the next day he attended to his
business. I removed the stoppage, healed him of en-
teritis, and neutralized the bad effects of the poison-
21 ous oil. His physicians had failed even to move his
bowels, - though the wonder was, with the means
used in their effort to accomplish this result, that
24 they had not quite killed him. According to their
diagnosis, the exciting cause of the inflammation and
stoppage was - eating smoked herring. The man is
27 living yet; and I will send his address to any one
who may wish to apply to him for information about
his case.
30

Now comes the question: Had that sick man dominion
over the fish in his stomach?

His want of control over "the fish of the sea" must

Page 70

1 have been an illusion, or else the Scriptures misstate
man's power. That the Bible is true I believe, not
3 only, but I demonstrated its truth when I exercised
my power over the fish, cast out the sick man's illu-
sion, and healed him. Thus it was shown that the
6 healing action of Mind upon the body has its only ex-
planation in divine metaphysics. As a man "thinketh
in his heart, so is he." When the mortal thought, or be-
9 lief, was removed, the man was well.

What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief,
"To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise"?
12 Paradisaical rest from physical agony would come to
the criminal, if the dream of dying should startle him
from the dream of suffering. The paradise of Spirit
15 would come to Jesus, in a spiritual sense of Life and
power. Christ Jesus lived and reappeared. He was too
good to die; for goodness is immortal. The thief was
18 not equal to the demands of the hour; but sin was de-
stroying itself, and had already begun to die, - as
the poor thief's prayer for help indicated. The dy-
21 ing malefactor and our Lord were inevitably sepa-
rated through Mind. The thief's body, as matter,
must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the
24 body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal. That
day the thief would be with Jesus only in a finite
and material sense of relief; while our Lord would
27 soon be rising to the supremacy of Spirit, working
out, even in the silent tomb, those wonderful demon-
strations of divine power, in which none could equal his
30

glory.

Page 71

1 Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely
well myself ?
3 The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from
an appetite for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he
saved many a drunkard from this fatal appetite. Paul
6 had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was
troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore
eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were
9 sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and heal-
ing the sick is a very right thing to do.

Does Christian Science set aside the law of transmission,
12 prenatal desires, and good or bad influences on the unborn
child?

Science never averts law, but supports it. All actual
15 causation must interpret omnipotence, the all-knowing
Mind. Law brings out Truth, not error; unfolds divine
Principle, - but neither human hypothesis nor matter.
18 Errors are based on a mortal or material formation; they
are suppositional modes, not the factors of divine presence
and power.
21 Whatever is humanly conceived is a departure from
divine law; hence its mythical origin and certain end.
According to the Scriptures, - St. Paul declares astutely,
24 "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things," - man is incapable of originating: nothing can
be formed apart from God, good, the all-knowing Mind.
27 What seems to be of human origin is the counterfeit
of the divine, - even human concepts, mortal shadows
flitting across the dial of time.
30

Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the im-
mutable and just law of Science, that God is good only,

Page 72

1 and can transmit to man and the universe nothing evil,
or unlike Himself. For the innocent babe to be born a
3 lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins,
were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator,
and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and
6

true origin, God.

According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and
bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their help-

9 less offspring, and God is supposed to impart to man
this fatal power. It is cause for rejoicing that this belief
is as false as it is remorseless. The immutable Word
12 saith, through the prophet Ezekiel, "What mean ye, that
ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
15 teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God,
ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb
in Israel."
18 Are material things real when they are harmonious, and
do they disappear only to the natural sense? Does this
Scripture, "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
21

need of all these things," imply that Spirit takes note of
matter?

The Science of Mind, as well as the material uni-

24 verse, shows that nothing which is material is in
perpetual harmony. Matter is manifest mortal mind,
and it exists only to material sense. Real sensation
27 is not material; it is, and must be, mental: and Mind
is not mortal, it is immortal. Being is God, infinite
Spirit; therefore it cannot cognize aught material, or
30

outside of infinity.

The Scriptural passage quoted affords no evidence of

Page 73

1 the reality of matter, or that God is conscious of it.
The so-called material body is said to suffer, but this
3 supposition is proven erroneous when Mind casts out
the suffering. The Scripture saith, "Whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth;" and again, "He doth not
6 afflict willingly." Interpreted materially, these pas-
sages conflict; they mingle the testimony of immor-
tal Science with mortal sense; but once discern their
9 spiritual meaning, and it separates the false sense from
the true, and establishes the reality of what is spiritual,
and the unreality of materiality.
12 Law is never material: it is always mental and moral,
and a commandment to the wise. The foolish disobey
moral law, and are punished. Human wisdom therefore
15 an get no farther than to say, He knoweth that we have
need of experience. Belief fulfils the conditions of a be-
lief, and these conditions destroy the belief. Hence the
18 verdict of experience: We have need of these things; we
have need to know that the so-called pleasures and pains
of matter - yea, that all subjective states of false sensa-
21

tion - are unreal.

"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when

24 the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel."
(Matt. xix. 28.) What is meant
27

by regeneration?

It is the appearing of divine law to human under-
standing; the spiritualization that comes from spiritual

30

sense in contradistinction to the testimony of the so-
called material senses. The phenomena of Spirit in

Page 74

1 Christian Science, and the divine correspondence of
noumenon and phenomenon understood, are here signi-
3 fied. This new-born sense subdues not only the false
sense of generation, but the human will, and the un-
natural enmity of mortal man toward God. It quickly
6 imparts a new apprehension of the true basis of being,
and the spiritual foundation for the affections which en-
throne the Son of man in the glory of his Father; and
9

judges, through the stern mandate of Science, all human
systems of etiology and teleology.

If God does not recognize matter, how did Jesus, who was

12

"the way, the truth, and the life," cognize it?

Christ Jesus' sense of matter was the opposite of that
which mortals entertain: his nativity was a spiritual and

15 immortal sense of the ideal world. His earthly mission
was to translate substance into its original meaning,
Mind. He walked upon the waves; he turned the water
18 into wine; he healed the sick and the sinner; he raised
the dead, and rolled away the stone from the door of his
own tomb. His demonstration of Spirit virtually van-
21 quished matter and its supposed laws. Walking the
wave, he proved the fallacy of the theory that matter is
substance; healing through Mind, he removed any sup-
24 position that matter is intelligent, or can recognize or
express pain and pleasure. His triumph over the grave
was an everlasting victory for Life; it demonstrated the
27 lifelessness of matter, and the power and permanence
of Spirit. He met and conquered the resistance of the
world.
30

If you will admit, with me, that matter is neither
substance, intelligence, nor Life, you may have all that

Page 75

1 is left of it; and you will have touched the hem of the
garment of Jesus' idea of matter. Christ was "the way; "
3 since Life and Truth were the way that gave us, through
a human person, a spiritual revelation of man's possible
earthly development.
6

Why do you insist that there is but one Soul, and that
Soul is not in the body?

First: I urge this fundamental fact and grand verity

9 of Christian Science, because it includes a rule that must
be understood, or it is impossible to demonstrate the Sci-
ence. Soul is a synonym of Spirit, and God is Spirit.
12 There is but one God, and the infinite is not within the
finite; hence Soul is one, and is God; and God is not in
matter or the mortal body.
15 Second: Because Soul is a term for Deity, and this
term should seldom be employed except where the word
God can be used and make complete sense. The word
18 Soul may sometimes be used metaphorically; but if this
term is warped to signify human quality, a substitution
of sense for soul clears the meaning, and assists one to
21 understand Christian Science. Mary's exclamation,
"My soul doth magnify the Lord," is rendered in Sci-
ence, "My spiritual sense doth magnify the Lord;"
24 for the name of Deity used in that place does not bring
out the meaning of the passage. It was evidently an
illuminated sense through which she discovered the
27 spiritual origin of man. "The soul that sinneth, it shall
die," means, that mortal man (alias material sense) that
sinneth, shall die; and the commonly accepted view is
30

that soul is deathless. Soul is the divine Mind, - for
Soul cannot be formed or brought forth by human

Page 76

1 thought, - and must proceed from God; hence it must
be sinless, and destitute of self-created or derived capacity
3

to sin.

Third: Jesus said, "If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death." This statement of our Master

6 is true, and remains to be demonstrated; for it is the
ultimatum of Christian Science; but this immortal saying
can never be tested or proven true upon a false premise,
9 such as the mortal belief that soul is in body, and life
and intelligence are in matter. That doctrine is not
theism, but pantheism. According to human belief the
12 bodies of mortals are mortal, but they contain immortal
souls! hence these bodies must die for these souls to
escape and be immortal. The theory that death must
15 occur, to set a human soul free from its environments,
is rendered void by Jesus' divine declaration, who spake
as never man spake, - and no man can rationally reject
18

his authority on this subject and accept it on other topics
less important.

Now, exchange the term soul for sense whenever this

21 word means the so-called soul in the body, and you will
find the right meaning indicated. The misnamed human
soul is material sense, which sinneth and shall die; for
24 it is an error or false sense of mentality in matter, and
matter has no sense. You will admit that Soul is the
Life of man. Now if Soul sinned, it would die; for "the
27 wages of sin is death." The Scripture saith, "When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory." The Science of Soul, Spirit,
30

involves this appearing, and is essential to the fulfilment
of this glorious prophecy of the master Metaphysician,
who overcame the last enemy, death.

Page 77

1 Did the salvation of the eunuch depend merely on his
believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God?
3 It did; but this believing was more than faith in the
fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Here the verb believe
took its original meaning, namely, to be firm, - yea, to
6 understand those great truths asserted of the Messiah:
it meant to discern and consent to that infinite demand
made upon the eunuch in those few words of the apostle.
9 Philip's requirement was, that he should not only ac-
knowledge the incarnation, - God made manifest through
man, - but even the eternal unity of man and God, as
12 the divine Principle and spiritual idea; which is the in-
dissoluble bond of union, the power and presence, in
divine Science, of Life, Truth, and Love, to support their
15 ideal man. This is the Father's great Love that He
hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless
Life and one eternal round of harmonious being. It
18 guides him by Truth that knows no error, and with
supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love. To
believe is to be firm. In adopting all this vast idea of
21 Christ Jesus, the eunuch was to know in whom he be-
lieved. To believe thus was to enter the spiritual sanctuary
of Truth, and there learn, in divine Science, somewhat
24 of the All-Father-Mother God. It was to understand
God and man: it was sternly to rebuke the mortal
belief that man has fallen away from his first estate; that
27 man, made in God's own likeness, and reflecting Truth,
could fall into mortal error; or, that man is the father
of man. It was to enter unshod the Holy of Holies, where
30

the miracle of grace appears, and where the miracles of
Jesus had their birth, - healing the sick, casting out
evils, and resurrecting the human sense to the belief

Page 78

1 that Life, God, is not buried in matter. This is the spirit-
ual dawn of the Messiah, and the overture of the
3 angels. This is when God is made manifest in the
flesh, and thus it destroys all sense of sin, sickness, and
death, - when the brightness of His glory encompasseth
6

all being.

Can Christian Science Mind-healing be taught to those
who are absent?

9 The Science of Mind-healing can no more be taught
thus, than can science in any other direction. I know
not how to teach either Euclid or the Science of Mind
12 silently; and never dreamed that either of these partook
of the nature of occultism, magic, alchemy, or necro-
mancy. These "ways that are vain" are the inventions
15 of animal magnetism, which would deceive, if possible,
the very elect. We will charitably hope, however, that
some people employ the et cetera of ignorance and self-
18 conceit unconsciously, in their witless ventilation of false
statements and claims. Misguiding the public mind and
taking its money in exchange for this abuse, has become
21 too common: we will hope it is the froth of error passing
off; and that Christian Science will some time appear all
the clearer for the purification of the public thought con-
24

cerning it.

Has man fallen from a state of perfection?

If God is the Principle of man (and He is), man is the

27 idea of God; and this idea cannot fail to express the ex-
act nature of its Principle, - any more than goodness,
to present the quality of good. Human hypotheses are
30

always human vagaries, formulated views antagonistic

Page 79

1 to the divine order and the nature of Deity. All these
mortal beliefs will be purged and dissolved in the cru-
3 cible of Truth, and the places once knowing them will
know them no more forever, having been swept clean
by the winds of history. The grand verities of Science
6 will sift the chaff from the wheat, until it is clear to hu-
man comprehension that man was, and is, God's perfect
likeness, that reflects all whereby we can know God. In
9 Him we live, move, and have being. Man's origin and
existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of per-
fection, and by no means the medium of imperfection.
12 Immortal man is the eternal idea of Truth, that cannot
lapse into a mortal belief or error concerning himself
and his origin: he cannot get out of the focal distance of
15 infinity. If God is upright and eternal, man as His like-
ness is erect in goodness and perpetual in Life, Truth,
and Love. If the great cause is perfect, its effect is per-
18 fect also; and cause and effect in Science are immutable
and immortal. A mortal who is sinning, sick, and dying,
is not immortal man; and never was, and never can be,
21 God's image and likeness, the true ideal of immortal
man's divine Principle. The spiritual man is that per-
fect and unfallen likeness, coexistent and coeternal with
24

God. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive."

What course should Christian Scientists take in regard

27

to aiding persons brought before the courts for violation of
medical statutes?

Beware of joining any medical league which in any

30

way obligates you to assist - because they chance to be
under arrest - vendors of patent pills, mesmerists,

Page 80

1 occultists, sellers of impure literature, and authors of
spurious works on mental healing. By rendering error
3 such a service, you lose much more than can be gained
by mere unity on the single issue of opposition to unjust
medical laws.
6 A league which obligates its members to give money
and influence in support and defense of medical char-
latans in general, and possibly to aid individual rights
9 in a wrong direction - which Christian Science eschews
- should be avoided. Anybody and everybody, who
will fight the medical faculty, can join this league. It is
12 better to be friendly with cultured and conscientious
medical men, who leave Christian Science to rise or fall
on its own merit or demerit, than to affiliate with a wrong
15

class of people.

Unconstitutional and unjust coercive legislation and
laws, infringing individual rights, must be "of few days,

18 and full of trouble." The vox populi, through the provi-
dence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and,
at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injus-
21 tice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Govern-
ment. God reigns, and will "turn and overturn" until
right is found supreme.
24 In a certain sense, we should commiserate the lot of
regular doctors, who, in successive generations for cen-
turies, have planted and sown and reaped in the fields
27 of what they deem pathology, hygiene, and therapeutics,
but are now elbowed by a new school of practitioners,
outdoing the healing of the old. The old will not patronize
30

the new school, at least not until it shall come to under-
stand the medical system of the new.

Christian Science Mind-healing rests demonstrably on

Page 81

1 the broad and sure foundation of Science; and this is
not the basis of materia medica, as some of the most skil-
3

ful and scholarly physicians openly admit.

To prevent all unpleasant and unchristian action - as
we drift, by right of God's dear love, into more spiritual

6 lines of life - let each society of practitioners, the matter-
physicians and the metaphysicians, agree to disagree, and
then patiently wait on God to decide, as surely He will,
9

which is the true system of medicine.

Do we not see in the commonly accepted teachings of the
day, the Christ-idea mingled with the teachings of John

12 the Baptist? or, rather, Are not the last eighteen centuries
but the footsteps of Truth being baptized of John, and com-
ing up straightway out of the ceremonial (or ritualistic)
15 waters to receive the benediction of an honored Father, and
afterwards to go up into the wilderness, in order to over-
come mortal sense, before it shall go forth into all the cities
18 and towns of Judea, or see many of the people from beyond
Jordan? Now, if all this be a fair or correct view of this
question, why does not John hear this voice, or see the
21

dove, - or has not Truth yet reached the shore?

Every individual character, like the individual John
the Baptist, at some date must cry in the desert of

24 earthly joy; and his voice be heard divinely and
humanly. In the desolation of human understanding,
divine Love hears and answers the human call for help;
27 and the voice of Truth utters the divine verities of being
which deliver mortals out of the depths of ignorance
and vice. This is the Father's benediction. It gives
30

lessons to human life, guides the understanding, peoples

Page 82

1 the mind with spiritual ideas, reconstructs the Judean
religion, and reveals God and man as the Principle and
3

idea of all good.

Understanding this fact in Christian Science, brings
the peace symbolized by a dove; and this peace floweth

6 as a river into a shoreless eternity. He who knew the
foretelling Truth, beheld the forthcoming Truth, as it
came up out of the baptism of Spirit, to enlighten and
9 redeem mortals. Such Christians as John cognize the
symbols of God, reach the sure foundations of time, stand
upon the shore of eternity, and grasp and gather - in all
12

glory - what eye hath not seen.

Is there infinite progression with man after the destruc-
tion of mortal mind?

15 Man is the offspring and idea of the Supreme Being,
whose law is perfect and infinite. In obedience to this
law, man is forever unfolding the endless beatitudes of
18

Being; for he is the image and likeness of infinite Life,
Truth, and Love.

Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite

21 mortals see and comprehend only as abstract glory. As
mortal mind, or the material sense of life, is put off,
the spiritual sense and Science of being is brought to
24

light.

Mortal mind is a myth; the one Mind is immortal.
A mythical or mortal sense of existence is consumed

27 as a moth, in the treacherous glare of its own flame -
the errors which devour it. Immortal Mind is God,
immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith "we live,
30

and move, and have our being." This Mind, then, is not
subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine

Page 83

1 intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding
man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss,
3

as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible
good.

In your book, Science and Health,(1) page 181, you

6 say: "Every sin is the author of itself, and every
invalid the cause of his own suferings." On page
182 you say: "Sickness is a growth of illusion, spring-
9 ing from a seed of thought, - either your own thought
or another's." Will you please explain this seeming
contradiction?
12 No person can accept another's belief, except it be
with the consent of his own belief. If the error which
knocks at the door of your own thought originated in
15 another's mind, you are a free moral agent to reject or
to accept this error; hence, you are the arbiter of your
own fate, and sin is the author of sin. In the words
18

of our Master, you are "a liar, and the father of it
[the lie]."

Why did Jesus call himself "the Son of man"?

21 In the life of our Lord, meekness was as conspicuous
as might. In John xvii. he declared his sonship with
God: "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
24 eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee."
The hour had come for the avowal of this great truth,
27

and for the proof of his eternal Life and sonship. Jesus'

(1) Quoted from the sixteenth edition.

Page 84

1 wisdom ofttimes was shown by his forbearing to speak,
as well as by speaking, the whole truth. Haply he waited
3 for a preparation of the human heart to receive start-
ling announcements. This wisdom, which character-
ized his sayings, did not prophesy his death, and thereby
6

hasten or permit it.

The disciples and prophets thrust disputed points on
minds unprepared for them. This cost them their lives,

9 and the world's temporary esteem; but the prophecies
were fulfilled, and their motives were rewarded by
growth and more spiritual understanding, which dawns
12 by degrees on mortals. The spiritual Christ was infal-
lible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ. The
"man of sorrows" knew that the man of joys, his spiritual
15 self, or Christ, was the Son of God; and that the mor-
tal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human
manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of
18

man, or Mary's son.

Please explain Paul's meaning in the text, "For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

21 The Science of Life, overshadowing Paul's sense of
life in matter, so far extinguished the latter as forever
to quench his love for it. The discipline of the flesh is
24 designed to turn one, like a weary traveller, to the home
of Love. To lose error thus, is to live in Christ, Truth.
A true sense of the falsity of material joys and sorrows,
27 pleasures and pains, takes them away, and teaches Life's
lessons aright. The transition from our lower sense of
Life to a new and higher sense thereof, even though it be
30

through the door named death, yields a clearer and
nearer sense of Life to those who have utilized the present,

Page 85

1 and are ripe for the harvest-home. To the battle-
worn and weary Christian hero, Life eternal brings
3

blessings.

Is a Christian Scientist ever sick, and has he who is
sick been regenerated?

6 The Christian Scientist learns spiritually all that he
knows of Life, and demonstrates what he understands.
God is recognized as the divine Principle of his being,
9 and of every thought and act leading to good. His pur-
pose must be right, though his power is temporarily lim-
ited. Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a
12 moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual,
for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in
Science: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
15

which is in heaven is perfect."

The last degree of regeneration rises into the rest of
perpetual, spiritual, individual existence. The first

18 feeble flutterings of mortals Christward are infantile
and more or less imperfect. The new-born Christian
Scientist must mature, and work out his own salvation.
21 Spirit and flesh antagonize. Temptation, that mist of
mortal mind which seems to be matter and the environ-
ment of mortals, suggests pleasure and pain in matter;
24 and, so long as this temptation lasts, the warfare is not
ended and the mortal is not regenerated. The pleas-
ures - more than the pains - of sense, retard regenera-
27 tion; for pain compels human consciousness to escape
from sense into the immortality and harmony of Soul.
Disease in error, more than ease in it, tends to destroy
30

error: the sick often are thereby led to Christ, Truth,
and to learn their way out of both sickness and sin.

Page 86

1 The material and physical are imperfect. The in-
dividual and spiritual are perfect; these have no fleshly
3 nature. This final degree of regeneration is saving, and
the Christian will, must, attain it; but it doth not yet
appear. Until this be attained, the Christian Scientist
6 must continue to strive with sickness, sin, and death -
though in lessening degrees - and manifest growth at
every experience.
9

Is it correct to say of material objects, that they are noth-
ing and exist only in imagination?

Nothing and something are words which need correct

12 definition. They either mean formations of indefinite
and vague human opinions, or scientific classifications
of the unreal and the real. My sense of the beauty of
15 the universe is, that beauty typifies holiness, and is some-
thing to be desired. Earth is more spiritually beautiful
to my gaze now than when it was more earthly to the
18 eyes of Eve. The pleasant sensations of human belief,
of form and color, must be spiritualized, until we gain the
glorified sense of substance as in the new heaven and
21

earth, the harmony of body and Mind.

Even the human conception of beauty, grandeur, and
utility is something that defies a sneer. It is more than

24 imagination. It is next to divine beauty and the gran-
deur of Spirit. It lives with our earth-life, and is
the subjective state of high thoughts. The atmos-
27 phere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal envi-
ronment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell,
constitutes their present earth and heaven: but we must
30

grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings
to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall

Page 87

1 soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue tem-
poral sky.
3 To take all earth's beauty into one gulp of vacuity
and label beauty nothing, is ignorantly to caricature
God's creation, which is unjust to human sense and
6 to the divine realism. In our immature sense of spirit-
ual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous
universe: "I love your promise; and shall know, some
9 time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light,
and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and
knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail con-
12 ception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer
representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the
immortal Mind."
15 Please inform us, through your Journal, if you sent
Mrs. - to - . She said that you sent her there to look
after the students; and also, that no one there was working
18

in Science, - which is certainly a mistake.

I never commission any one to teach students of mine.
After class teaching, he does best in the investigation of

21 Christian Science who is most reliant on himself and
God. My students are taught the divine Principle and
rules of the Science of Mind-healing. What they need
24 hereafter is to study thoroughly the Scriptures and
"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." To
watch and pray, to be honest, earnest, loving, and truth-
27

ful, is indispensable to the demonstration of the truth
they have been taught.

If they are haunted by obsequious helpers, who, un-

30

called for, imagine they can help anybody and steady
God's altar - this interference prolongs the struggle

Page 88

1 and tends to blight the fruits of my students. A faith-
ful student may even sometimes feel the need of
3 physical help, and occasionally receive it from others;
but the less this is required, the better it is for that
student.
6 Please give us, through your Journal, the name of
the author of that genuine critique in the September
number, "What Quibus Thinks."
9 I am pleased to inform this inquirer, that the author
of the article in question is a Boston gentleman whose
thought is appreciated by many liberals. Patience, ob-
12 servation, intellectual culture, reading, writing, exten-
sive travel, and twenty years in the pulpit, have equipped
him as a critic who knows whereof he speaks. His allu-
15 sion to Christian Science in the following paragraph,
glows in the shadow of darkling criticism like a mid-
night sun. Its manly honesty follows like a benediction
18

after prayer, and closes the task of talking to deaf ears
and dull debaters.

"We have always insisted that this Science is natural,

21 spiritually natural; that Jesus was the highest type of
real nature; that Christian healing is supernatural, or
extra-natural, only to those who do not enter into its
24 sublimity or understand its modes - as imported ice
was miraculous to the equatorial African, who had never
seen water freeze."
27

Is it right for a Scientist to treat with a doctor?

This depends upon what kind of a doctor it is. Mind-
healing, and healing with drugs, are opposite modes of

30

medicine. As a rule, drop one of these doctors when you

Page 89

1 employ the other. The Scripture saith, "No man can
serve two masters;" and, "Every kingdom divided
3

against itself is brought to desolation."

If Scientists are called upon to care for a member of
the family, or a friend in sickness, who is employing a

6 regular physician, would it be right to treat this patient
at all; and ought the patient to follow the doctor's
directions?
9 When patients are under material medical treatment,
it is advisable in most cases that Scientists do not treat
them, or interfere with materia medica. If the patient
12 is in peril, and you save him or alleviate his sufferings,
although the medical attendant and friends have no
faith in your method, it is humane, and not unchristian,
15 to do him all the good you can; but your good will gen-
erally "be evil spoken of." The hazard of casting "pearls
before swine" caused our Master to refuse help to some
18

who sought his aid; and he left this precaution for
others.

If mortal man is unreal, how can he be saved, and why

21

does he need to be saved? I ask for information, not for
controversy, for I am a seeker after Truth.

You will find the proper answer to this question in

24 my published works. Man is immortal. Mortal man
is a false concept that is not spared or prolonged by being
saved from itself, from whatever is false. This salva-
27 tion means: saved from error, or error overcome. Im-
mortal man, in God's likeness, is safe in divine Science.
Mortal man is saved on this divine Principle, if he will
30

only avail himself of the efficacy of Truth, and recog-

Page 90

1 nize his Saviour. He must know that God is omnipo-
tent; hence, that sin is impotent. He must know that
3 the power of sin is the pleasure in sin. Take away this
pleasure, and you remove all reality from its power. Jesus
demonstrated sin and death to be powerless. This
6

practical Truth saves from sin, and will save all who
understand it.

Is it wrong for a wife to have a husband treated for

9

sin, when she knows he is sinning, or for drinking and
smoking?

It is always right to act rightly; but sometimes, under

12 circumstances exceptional, it is inexpedient to attack
evil. This rule is forever golden: "As ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Do you
15 desire to be freed from sin? Then help others to be free;
but in your measures, obey the Scriptures, "Be ye wise
as serpents." Break the yoke of bondage in every wise
18 way. First, be sure that your means for doing good
are equal to your motives; then judge them by their
fruits.
21 If not ordained, shall the pastor of the Church of
Christ, Scientist, administer the communion, - and
shall members of a church not organized receive the
24

communion?

Our great Master administered to his disciples the
Passover, or last supper, without this prerogative being

27 conferred by a visible organization and ordained priest-
hood. His spiritually prepared breakfast, after his
resurrection, and after his disciples had left their nets
30

to follow him, is the spiritual communion which Chris-

Page 91

1 tian Scientists celebrate in commemoration of the Christ.
This ordinance is significant as a type of the true worship,
3

and it should be observed at present in our churches.

It is not indispensable to organize materially Christ's
church. It is not absolutely necessary to ordain pas-

6 tors and to dedicate churches; but if this be done,
let it be in concession to the period, and not as a per-
petual or indispensable ceremonial of the church. If
9 our church is organized, it is to meet the demand,
"Suffer it to be so now." The real Christian compact
is love for one another. This bond is wholly spiritual
12

and inviolate.

It is imperative, at all times and under every cir-
cumstance, to perpetuate no ceremonials except as

15 types of these mental conditions, - remembrance and
love; a real affection for Jesus' character and example.
Be it remembered, that all types employed in the ser-
18 vice of Christian Science should represent the most spir-
itual forms of thought and worship that can be made
visible.
21 Should not the teacher of Christian Science have our
textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"
in his schoolroom and teach from it?
24 I never dreamed, until informed thereof, that a loyal
student did not take his textbook with him into the class-
room, ask questions from it, answer them according to
27 it, and, as occasion required, read from the book as au-
thority for what he taught. I supposed that students
had followed my example, and that of other teachers,
30

sufficiently to do this, and also to require their pupils to
study the lessons before recitations.

Page 92

1 To omit these important points is anomalous, con-
sidering the necessity for understanding Science, and
3 the present liability of deviating from Christian Science.
Centuries will intervene before the statement of the inex-
haustible topics of that book become sufficiently under-
6 stood to be absolutely demonstrated. The teacher of
Christian Science needs continually to study this textbook.
His work is to replenish thought, and to spiritualize human
9

life, from this open fount of Truth and Love.

He who sees most clearly and enlightens other minds
most readily, keeps his own lamp trimmed and burning.

12 He will take the textbook of Christian Science into his
class, repeat the questions in the chapter on Recapitula-
tion, and his students will answer them from the same
15 source. Throughout his entire explanations, the teacher
should strictly adhere to the questions and answers con-
tained in that chapter of "Science and Health with Key
18 to the Scriptures." It is important to point out the
lesson to the class, and to require the students thor-
oughly to study it before the recitations; for this spirit-
21 ualizes their thoughts. When closing his class, the
teacher should require each member to own a copy of
the above-named book and to continue the study of this
24

textbook.

The opinions of men cannot be substituted for God's
revelation. It must not be forgotten that in times past,

27 arrogant ignorance and pride, in attempting to steady
the ark of Truth, have dimmed the power and glory of
the Scriptures, to which this Christian Science textbook
30

is the Key.

That teacher does most for his students who most
divests himself of pride and self, spiritualizes his own

Page 93

1 thought, and by reason thereof is able to empty his stu-
dents' minds, that they may be filled with Truth.
3 Beloved students, so teach that posterity shall call
you blessed, and the heart of history shall be made
glad!
6

Can fear or sin bring back old beliefs of disease that have
been healed by Christian Science?

The Scriptures plainly declare the allness and oneness

9 of God to be the premises of Truth, and that God is
good: in Him dwelleth no evil. Christian Science au-
thorizes the logical conclusion drawn from the Scriptures,
12 that there is in reality none besides the eternal, infinite
God, good. Evil is temporal: it is the illusion of time
and mortality.
15 This being true, sin has no power; and fear, its coeval,
is without divine authority. Science sanctions only what
is supported by the unerring Principle of being. Sin can
18 do nothing: all cause and effect are in God. Fear is a
belief of sensation in matter: this belief is neither main-
tained by Science nor supported by facts, and exists only
21 as fable. Your answer is, that neither fear nor sin can
bring on disease or bring back disease, since there is in
reality no disease.
24 Bear in mind, however, that human consciousness does
not test sin and the fact of its nothingness, by believing
that sin is pardoned without repentance and reforma-
27 tion. Sin punishes itself, because it cannot go unpun-
ished either here or hereafter. Nothing is more fatal than
to indulge a sinning sense or consciousness for even one
30

moment. Knowing this, obey Christ's Sermon on the
Mount, even if you suffer for it in the first instance, -

Page 94

1 are misjudged and maligned; in the second, you will
reign with him.
3 I never knew a person who knowingly indulged evil,
to be grateful; to understand me, or himself. He must
first see himself and the hallucination of sin; then he
6 must repent, and love good in order to understand God.
The sinner and the sin are the twain that are one flesh, -
but which God hath not joined together.

Part Two   Table of Contents

 

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