Published by the Trustees under the Will of Mary
Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
By Mary Baker G. Eddy
| 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. |