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3      History repeats itself. The Pharisees of old warned
         the people to beware of Jesus, and contemptuously called
         him “this fellow.” Jesus said, “For which of these
6      works do ye stone me?” as much as to ask, Is it the
         work most derided and envied that is most acceptable to
         God? Not that he would cease to do the will of his Father
9      on account of persecution, but he would repeat his work
         to the best advantage for mankind and the glory of his
         Father.

12    There are sinners in all societies, and it is vain to look
         for perfection in churches or associations. The life of
         Christ is the perfect example; and to compare mortal
15    lives with this model is to subject them to severe scrutiny.
         Without question, the subtlest forms of sin are trying to
         force the doors of Science and enter in; but this white
18    sanctuary will never admit such as come to steal and to
         rob. Through long ages people have slumbered over
         Christ’s commands, “Go ye into all the world, and preach
21    the gospel;” “Heal the sick, cast out devils;” and now
         the Church seems almost chagrined that by new discoveries
         of Truth sin is losing prestige and power.

24    The Rev. Dr. A.J. Gordon, a Boston Baptist clergyman,
         said in a sermon: “The prayer of faith shall save the
         sick, and it is doing it to-day; and as the faith of the Church

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1      increases, and Christians more and more learn their duty
         to believe all things written in the Scriptures, will such
3      manifestations of God’s power increase among us.” Such
         sentiments are wholesome avowals of Christian Science.
         God is not unable or unwilling to heal, and mortals are not
6      compelled to have other gods before Him, and employ
         material forms to meet a mental want. The divine Spirit
         supplies all human needs. Jesus said to the sick, “Thy
9      sins are forgiven thee; rise up and walk!” God’s pardon
         is the destruction of all “the ills that flesh is heir to.”

         All power belongs to God; and it is not in all the vain
12    power of dogma and philosophy to dispossess the divine
         Mind of healing power, or to cast out error with error,
         even in the name and for the sake of Christ, and so heal
15    the sick. While Science is engulfing error in bottomless
         oblivion, the material senses would enthrone error as om-
         nipotent and omnipresent, with power to determine the
18    fact and fate to being. It is said that the devil is the ape
         of God. The lie of evil holds its own by declaring itself
         both true and good. The path of Christian Science is be-
21    set with false claimants, aping its virtues, but cleaving to
         their own vices. Denial of the authorship of “Science
         and Health with Key to the Scriptures” would make a
24    lie the author of Truth, and so make Truth itself a lie.

         A distinguished clergyman came to be healed. He said:
         “I am suffering from nervous prostration, and have to eat
27    beefsteak and drink strong coffee to support me through
         a sermon.” Here a skeptic might well ask if the atone-

Page 43

1      ment had lost its efficacy for him, and if Christ’s power to
         heal was not equal to the power of daily meat and drink.
3      The power of Truth is not contingent on matter. Our
         Master said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
         heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Truth rebukes
6      error; and whether stall-fed or famishing, theology needs
         Truth to stimulate and sustain a good sermon.

         A lady said: “Only He who knows all things can esti-
9      mate the good your books are doing.”

         A distinguished Doctor of Divinity said: “Your book
         leavens my sermons.”

12    The following extract from a letter is a specimen of
         those received daily: “Your book Science and Health is
         healing the sick, binding up the broken-hearted, preach-
15    ing deliverance to the captive, convicting the infidel, alarm-
         ing the hypocrite, and quickening the Christian.”

         Christian Science Mind-healing is dishonored by those
18    who take it up from mercenary motives, for wealth and
         fame, or think to build a baseless fabric of their own on
         another’s foundation. They cannot put the “new wine
21    into old bottles;” they can never engraft Truth into error.
         Such students come to my College to learn a system which
         they go away to disgrace. Stealing or garbling my state-
24    ments of Mind-science will never prevent or reconstruct
         the wrecks of “isms” and help humanity.

         Science often suffers blame through the sheer ignorance
27    of people, while envy and hatred bark and bite at its heels.
         A man’s inability to heal, on the Principle of Christian

Page 44

1      Science, substantiates his ignorance of its Principle and
         practice, and incapacitates him for correct comment.
3      This failure should make him modest.

         Christian Science involves a new language, and a higher
         demonstration of medicine and religion. It is the “new
6      tongue” of Truth, having its best interpretation in the
         power of Christianity to heal. My system of Mind-heal-
         ing swerves not from the highest ethics and from the spirit-
9      ual goal. To climb up by some other way than Truth is
         to fall. Error has no hobby, however boldly ridden or
         brilliantly caparisoned, that can leap into the sanctum
12    of Christian Science.

         In Queen Elizabeth’s time Protestantism could sentence
         men to the dungeon or stake for their religion, and so
15    abrogate the rights of conscience and choke the channels
         of God. Ecclesiastical tyranny muzzled the mouth lisping
         God’s praise; and instead of healing, it palsied the weak
18    hand outstretched to God. Progress, legitimate to the
         human race, pours the healing balm of Truth and Love
         into every wound. It reassures us that no Reign of Terror
21    or rule of error will again unite Church and State, or re-
         enact, through the civil arm of government, the horrors of
         religious persecution.

24    The Rev. S. E. Herrick, a Congregational clergyman of
         Boston, says: “Heretics of yesterday are martyrs to-day.”

         In every age and clime, “On earth peace, good will to-
27    ward men” must be the watchword of Christianity.
         Jesus said: “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven

Page 45

1      and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
         and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

3      St. Paul said that without charity we are “as sound-
         ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal;” and he added: “Charity
         suffereth long, and is kind; . . . doth not behave itself
6      unseemly, . . . thinketh no evil, . . . but rejoiceth in the
         truth.”

         To hinder the unfolding truth, to ostracize whatever
9      uplifts mankind, is of course out of the question. Such an
         attempt indicates weakness, fear, or malice; and such
         efforts arise from a spiritual lack, felt, though unacknowl-
12    edged.

         Let it not be heard in Boston that woman, “last at the
         cross and first at the sepulchre,” has no rights which man
15    is bound to respect. In natural law and in religion the
         right of woman to fill the highest measure of enlightened
         understanding and the highest places in government, is
18    inalienable, and these rights are ably vindicated by the
         noblest of both sexes. This is woman’s hour, with all its
         sweet amenities and its moral and religious reforms.

21    Drifting into intellectual wrestlings, we should agree to
         disagree; and this harmony would anchor the Church in
         more spiritual latitudes, and so fulfil her destiny.

24    Let the Word have free course and be glorified. The
         people clamor to leave cradle and swaddling-clothes. The
         spiritual status is urging its highest demands on mortals,
27    and material history is drawing to a close. Truth cannot
         be stereotyped; it unfoldeth forever. “One on God’s

Page 46

1      side is a majority;” and “Lo, I am with you alway,” is
         the pledge of the Master.

3      The question now at issue is: Shall we have a prac-
         tical, spiritual Christianity, with its healing power, or
         shall we have material medicine and superficial religion?
6      The advancing hope of the race, craving health and holi-
         ness, halts for a reply; and the reappearing Christ, whose
         life-giving understanding Christian Science imparts, must
9      answer the constant inquiry: “Art thou he that should
         come?” Woman should not be ordered to the rear, or
         laid on the rack, for joining the overture of angels. Theo-
12    logians descant pleasantly upon free moral agency; but
         they should begin by admitting individual rights.

         The author’s ancestors were among the first settlers of
15    New Hampshire. They reared there the Puritan standard
         of undefiled religion. As dutiful descendants of Puritans,
         let us lift their standard higher, rejoicing, as Paul did,
18    that we are free born.

         Man has a noble destiny; and the full-orbed significance
         of this destiny has dawned on the sick-bound and sin-
21    enslaved. For the unfolding of this upward tendency to
         health, greatness, and goodness, I shall continue to labor
         and wait.

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         All prayer that is desire is intercessory; but kindling
         desire loses a part of its purest spirituality if the lips try to

Page 39

1      express it. It is a truism that we can think more lucidly
         and profoundly than we can write or speak. The silent
3      intercession and unvoiced imploring is an honest and po-
         tent prayer to heal and save. The audible prayer may be
         offered to be heard of men, though ostensibly to catch
6      God’s ear, — after the fashion of Baal’s prophets, — by
         speaking loud enough to be heard; but when the heart
         prays, and not the lips, no dishonesty or vanity influences
9      the petition.

         Prophet and apostle have glorified God in secret prayer,
         and He has rewarded them openly. Prayer can neither
12    change God, nor bring His designs into mortal modes; but
         it can and does change our modes and our false sense of
         Life, Love, and Truth, uplifting us to Him. Such prayer
15    humiliates, purifies, and quickens activity, in the direction
         that is unerring.

         True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to
18    love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer
         is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer
         begets an awakened desire to be and do good. It makes
21    new and scientific discoveries of God, of His goodness and
         power. It shows us more clearly than we saw before,
         what we already have and are; and most of all, it shows
24    us what God is. Advancing in this light, we reflect it;
         and this light reveals the pure Mind-pictures, in silent
         prayer, even as photography grasps the solar light to por-
27    tray the face of pleasant thought.

         What but silent prayer can meet the demand, “Pray

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1      without ceasing”? The apostle James said: “Ye ask,
         and receive not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it on
3      your lusts.” Because of vanity and self-righteousness,
         mortals seek, and expect to receive, a material sense of
         approval; and they expect also what is impossible, — a
6      material and mortal sense of spiritual and immortal
         Truth.

         It is sometimes wise to hide from dull and base ears the
9      pure pearls of awakened consciousness, lest your pearls
         be trampled upon. Words may belie desire, and pour
         forth a hypocrite’s prayer; but thoughts are our honest
12    conviction. I have no objection to audible prayer of the
         right kind; but the inaudible is more effectual.

         I instruct my students to pursue their mental ministra-
15    tions very sacredly, and never to touch the human thought
         save to issues of Truth; never to trespass mentally on in-
         dividual rights; never to take away the rights, but only
18    the wrongs of mankind. Otherwise they forfeit their
         ability to heal in Science. Only when sickness, sin, and
         fear obstruct the harmony of Mind and body, is it right
21    for one mind to meddle with another mind, and control
         aright the thought struggling for freedom.

         It is Truth and Love that cast out fear and heal the sick,
24    and mankind are better because of this. If a change in
         the religious views of the patient comes with the change to
         health, our Father has done this; for the human mind
27    and body are made better only by divine influence.

Page 33

 Self-sacrifice is the highway to heaven. The sacri-
 fice of our blessed Lord is undeniable, and it was a million
15 times greater than the brief agony of the cross; for that
 would have been insufficient to insure the glory his sacri-
 fice brought and the good it wrought. The spilling of
18 human blood was inadequate to represent the blood of
 Christ, the outpouring love that sustains man’s at-one-
 ment with God; though shedding human blood brought
21 to light the efficacy of divine Life and Love and its power
 over death. Jesus’ sacrifice stands preeminently amidst
 physical suffering and human woe. The glory of human
24 life is in overcoming sickness, sin, and death. Jesus suf-
 fered for all mortals to bring in this glory; and his pur-
 pose was to show them that the way out of the flesh, out

Page 34

1 of the delusion of all human error, must be through the
 baptism of suffering, leading up to health, harmony, and
3 heaven.

 We shall leave the ceremonial law when we gain the
 truer sense of following Christ in spirit, and we shall no
6 longer venture to materialize the spiritual and infinite
 meaning and efficacy of Truth and Love, and the sacrifice
 that Jesus made for us, by commemorating his death
9 with a material rite. Jesus said: “The hour cometh, and
 now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
 in spirit and in truth.” They drink the cup of Christ and
12 are baptized in the purification of persecution who discern
 his true merit, — the unseen glory of suffering for others.
 Physical torture affords but a slight illustration of the
15 pangs which come to one upon whom the world of sense
 falls with its leaden weight in the endeavor to crush out
 of a career its divine destiny.

18 The blood of Christ speaketh better things than that
 of Abel. The real atonement — so infinitely beyond the
 heathen conception that God requires human blood to
21 propitiate His justice and bring His mercy — needs to be
 understood. The real blood or Life of Spirit is not yet
 discerned. Love bruised and bleeding, yet mounting to
24 the throne of glory in purity and peace, over the steps of
 uplifted humanity, — this is the deep significance of the
 blood of Christ. Nameless woe, everlasting victories, are
27 the blood, the vital currents of Christ Jesus’ life, purchas-
 ing the freedom of mortals from sin and death.

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1 This blood of Jesus is everything to human hope and
 faith. Without it, how poor the precedents of Christian-
3 ity! What manner of Science were Christian Science
 without the power to demonstrate the Principle of such
 Life; and what hope have mortals but through deep hu-
6 mility and adoration to reach the understanding of this
 Principle! When human struggles cease, and mortals
 yield lovingly to the purpose of divine Love, there will be
9 no more sickness, sorrow, sin, and death. He who pointed
 the way of Life conquered also the drear subtlety of death.

 It was not to appease the wrath of God, but to show the
12 allness of Love and the nothingness of hate, sin, and death,
 that Jesus suffered. He lived that we also might live. He
 suffered, to show mortals the awful price paid by sin, and
15 how to avoid paying it. He atoned for the terrible un-
 reality of a supposed existence apart from God. He
 suffered because of the shocking human idolatry that
18 presupposes Life, substance, Soul, and intelligence in
 matter,—which is the antipode of God, and yet governs
 mankind. The glorious truth of being — namely, that
21 God is the only Mind, Life, substance, Soul — needs no
 reconciliation with God, for it is one with Him now and
 forever.

24 Jesus came announcing Truth, and saying not only “the
 kingdom of God is at hand,” but “the kingdom of God
 is within you.” Hence there is no sin, for God’s kingdom
27 is everywhere and supreme, and it follows that the human
 kingdom is nowhere, and must be unreal. Jesus taught

Page 36

1 and demonstrated the infinite as one, and not as two.
 He did not teach that there are two deities, — one in-
3 finite and the other finite; for that would be impossible.
 He knew God as infinite, and therefore as the All-in-all;
 and we shall know this truth when we awake in the divine
6 likeness. Jesus’ true and conscious being never left
 heaven for earth. It abode forever above, even while
 mortals believed it was here. He once spoke of himself
9 (John iii. 13) as “the Son of man which is in heaven,” —
 remarkable words, as wholly opposed to the popular view
 of Jesus’ nature.

12 The real Christ was unconscious of matter, of sin,
 disease, and death, and was conscious only of God, of
 good, of eternal Life, and harmony. Hence the human
15 Jesus had a resort to his higher self and relation to the
 Father, and there could find rest from unreal trials in
 the conscious reality and royalty of his being, — holding
18 the mortal as unreal, and the divine as real. It was this
 retreat from material to spiritual selfhood which recuper-
 ated him for triumph over sin, sickness, and death. Had
21 he been as conscious of these evils as he was of God,
 wherein there is no consciousness of human error, Jesus
 could not have resisted them; nor could he have conquered
24 the malice of his foes, rolled away the stone from the
 sepulchre, and risen from human sense to a higher con-
 cept than that in which he appeared at his birth.

27 Mankind’s concept of Jesus was a babe born in a manger,
 even while the divine and ideal Christ was the Son of God,

Page 37

1 spiritual and eternal. In human conception God’s off-
 spring had to grow, develop; but in Science his divine
3 nature and manhood were forever complete, and dwelt
 forever in the Father. Jesus said, “Ye do err, not know-
 ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” Mortal thought
6 gives the eternal God and infinite consciousness the license
 of a short-lived sinner, to begin and end, to know both
 evil and good; when evil is temporal and God is eternal, —
9 and when, as a sphere of Mind, He cannot know begin-
 ning or end.

 The spiritual interpretation of the vicarious atonement
12 of Jesus, in Christian Science, unfolds the full-orbed glory
 of that event; but to regard this wonder of glory, this
 most marvellous demonstration, as a personal and material
15 bloodgiving — or as a proof that sin is known to the
 divine Mind, and that what is unlike God demands His
 continual presence, knowledge, and power, to meet and
18 master it — would make the atonement to be less than
 the at-one-ment, whereby the work of Jesus would lose
 its efficacy and lack the “signs following.”

21 From Genesis to Revelation the Scriptures teach an in-
 finite God, and none beside Him; and on this basis
 Messiah and prophet saved the sinner and raised the dead,
24 — uplifting the human understanding, buried in a false
 sense of being. Jesus rendered null and void whatever
 is unlike God; but he could not have done this if error
27 and sin existed in the Mind of God. What God knows,
 He also predestinates; and it must be fulfilled. Jesus

Page 38

1 proved to perfection, so far as this could be done in that
 age, what Christian Science is to-day proving in a small
3 degree, — the falsity of the evidence of the material senses
 that sin, sickness, and death are sensible claims, and that
 God substantiates their evidence by knowing their claim.
6 He established the only true idealism on the basis that God
 is All, and He is good, and good is Spirit; hence there is
 no intelligent sin, evil mind or matter: and this is the only
9 true philosophy and realism. This divine mystery of
 godliness was the rock of Truth, on which he built his
 Church of the new-born, against which the gates of hell
12 cannot prevail.

 This Truth is the rock which the builders rejected; but
 “the same is become the head of the corner.” This is
15 the chief corner-stone, the basis and support of creation,
 the interpreter of one God, the infinity and unity of good.

 In proportion as mortals approximate the understand-
18 ing of Christian Science, they take hold of harmony, and
 material incumbrance disappears. Having one God, one
 Mind, one consciousness, — which includes only His own
21 nature, — and loving your neighbor as yourself, constitute
 Christian Science, which must demonstrate the nothing-
 ness of any other state or stage of being.

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         Frequently when I touch this subject my meaning is
12    ignorantly or maliciously misconstrued. Christian Science
         Mind-healing lifts with a steady arm, and cleaves sin with
         a broad battle-axe. It gives the lie to sin, in the spirit of
15    Truth; but other theories make sin true. Jesus declared
         that the devil was “a liar, and the father of it.” A lie is
         negation, — alias nothing, or the opposite of something.
18    Good is great and real. Hence its opposite, named evil,
         must be small and unreal. When this sense is attained,
         we shall no longer be the servants of sin, and shall cease
21    to love it.

         The domination of good destroys the sense of evil. To
         illustrate: It seems a great evil to belie and belittle Chris-
24    tian Science, and persecute a Cause which is healing its
         thousands and rapidly diminishing the percentage of sin.
         But reduce this evil to its lowest terms, nothing, and slander

Page 33

1      loses its power to harm; for even the wrath of man shall
         praise Him. The reduction of evil, in Science, gives the
3      dominance to God, and must lead us to bless those who
         curse, that thus we may overcome evil with good.

         If the Bible and my work Science and Health had their
6      rightful place in schools of learning, they would revolu-
         tionize the world by advancing the kingdom of Christ.
         It requires sacrifice, struggle, prayer, and watchfulness
9      to understand and demonstrate what these volumes teach,
         because they involve divine Science, with fixed Principle,
         a given rule, and unmistakable proof.

Page 30

         The law of Life and Truth is the law of Christ, destroy-
3      ing all sense of sin and death. It does more than forgive
         the false sense named sin, for it pursues and punishes it,
         and will not let sin go until it is destroyed, — until nothing
6      is left to be forgiven, to suffer, or to be punished. For-
         given thus, sickness and sin have no relapse. God’s law
         reaches and destroys evil by virtue of the allness of God.

9      He need not know the evil He destroys, any more than
         the legislator need know the criminal who is punished by
         the law enacted. God’s law is in three words, “I am All;”
12    and this perfect law is ever present to rebuke any claim
         of another law. God pities our woes with the love of a
         Father for His child, — not by becoming human, and
15    knowing sin, or naught, but by removing our knowledge
         of what is not. He could not destroy our woes totally
         if He possessed any knowledge of them. His sympathy
18    is divine, not human. It is Truth’s knowledge of its own
         infinitude which forbids the genuine existence of even
         a claim to error. This knowledge is light wherein there
21    is no darkness, — not light holding darkness within itself.
         The consciousness of light is like the eternal law of God,
         revealing Him and nothing else.

24    Sympathy with sin, sorrow, and sickness would dethrone
         God as Truth, for Truth has no sympathy for error. In
         Science, the cure of the sick demonstrates this grand

Page 31

1      verity of Christian Science, that you cannot eradicate dis-
         ease if you admit that God sends it or sees it. Material
3      and mortal mind-healing (so-called) has for ages been
         a pretender, but has not healed mortals; and they are
         yet sick and sinful.

6      Disease and sin appear to-day in subtler forms than
         they did yesterday. They progress and will multiply into
         worse forms, until it is understood that disease and sin are
9      unreal, unknown to Truth, and never actual persons or
         real facts.

         Our phraseology varies. To me divine pardon is that
12    divine presence which is the sure destruction of sin; and
         I insist on the destruction of sin as the only full proof of
         its pardon. “For this purpose the Son of God was mani-
15    fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”
         (1 John iii. 8).

         Jesus cast out evils, mediating between what is and is
18    not, until a perfect consciousness is attained. He healed
         disease as he healed sin; but he treated them both,
         not as in or of matter, but as mortal beliefs to be
21    exterminated. Physical and mental healing were one
         and the same with this master Metaphysician. If the
         evils called sin, sickness, and death had been forgiven
24    in the generally accepted sense, they would have returned,
         to be again forgiven; but Jesus said to disease: “Come
         out of him, and enter no more into him.” He said also:
27    “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death;”
         and “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound

Page 32

1      in heaven.” The misinterpretation of such passages has
         retarded the progress of Christianity and the spirituali-
3      zation of the race.

         A magistrate’s pardon may encourage a criminal to
         repeat the offense; because forgiveness, in the popular
6      sense of the word, can neither extinguish a crime nor the
         motives leading to it. The belief in sin — its pleasure,
         pain, or power — must suffer, until it is self-destroyed.
9      “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Page 28

         The Scriptures inform us that “the soul that sinneth,
         it shall die.” Here soul means sense and organic life; and

Page 29

1      this passage refers to the Jewish law, that a mortal should
         be put to death for his own sin, but not for another’s.
3      Not Soul, but mortal sense, sins and dies. Immortal man
         has immortal Soul and a deathless sense of being. Mortal
         man has but a false sense of Soul and body. He believes
6      that Spirit, or Soul, exists in matter. This is pantheism,
         and is not the Science of Soul. The mind-quacks have
         so slight a knowledge of Soul that they believe material
9      and sinning sense to be soul; and then they doctor this
         soul as if it were not even a material sense.

         In Dr. Gordon’s sermon on The Ministry of Healing,
12    he said, “The forgiven soul in a sick body is not half a
         man.” Is this pantheistic statement sound theology, —
         that Soul is in matter, and the immortal part of man a sin-
15    ner? Is not this a disparagement of the person of man and
         a denial of God’s power? Better far that we impute such
         doctrines to mortal opinion than to the divine Word.
18    To my sense, such a statement is a shocking reflection
         on the divine power. A mortal pardoned by God is not
         sick, he is made whole. He in whom sin, disease, and
21    death are destroyed, is more than a fraction of himself.

         Such sermons, though clad in soft raiment, are spirit-
         less waifs, literary driftwood on the ocean of thought;
24    while Truth walks triumphantly over the waves of sin,
         sickness, and death.

Page 25

9      Man is more than physical personality, or what we cog-
         nize through the material senses. Mind is more than mat-
         ter, even as the infinite idea of Truth is beyond a finite
12    belief. Man outlives finite mortal definitions of himself,
         according to a law of “the survival of the fittest. ” Man is
         the eternal idea of his divine Principle, or Father. He is
15    neither matter nor a mode of mortal mind, for he is spir-
         itual and eternal, an immortal mode of the divine Mind.
         Man is the image and likeness of God, coexistent and
18    coeternal with Him.

         Man is not absorbed in Deity; for he is forever individ-
         ual; but what this everlasting individuality is, remains to
21    be learned. Mortals have not seen it. That which is born
         of the flesh is not man’s eternal identity. Spiritual and
         immortal man alone is God’s likeness, and that which is
24    mortal is not man in a spiritually scientific sense. A
         material, sinful mortal is but the counterfeit of immortal
         man.

Page 26

1      The mind-quacks believe that mortal man is identical
         with immortal man, and that the immortal is inside the
3      mortal; that good and evil blend; that matter and Spirit
         are one; and that Soul, or Spirit, is subdivided into spirits,
         or souls, — alias gods. This infantile talk about Mind-
6      healing is no more identical with Christian Science than
         the babe is identical with the adult, or the human belief
         resembles the divine idea. Hence it is impossible for those
9      holding such material and mortal views to demonstrate
         my metaphysics. Theirs is the sensuous thought, which
         brings forth its own sensuous conception. Mine is the
12    spiritual idea which transfigures thought.

         All real being represents God, and is in Him. In this
         Science of being, man can no more relapse or collapse
15    from perfection, than his divine Principle, or Father, can
         fall out of Himself into something below infinitude. Man’s
         real ego, or selfhood, is goodness. If man’s individuality
18    were evil, he would be annihilated, for evil is self-destroying.

         Man’s individual being must reflect the supreme indi-
         vidual Being, to be His image and likeness; and this
21    individuality never originated in molecule, corpuscle, ma-
         teriality, or mortality. God holds man in the eternal
         bonds of Science, — in the immutable harmony of divine
24    law. Man is a celestial; and in the spiritual universe
         he is forever individual and forever harmonious. “If
         God so clothe the grass of the field, . . . shall He not
27    much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

         Sin must be obsolete,—dust returning to dust, noth-

Page 27

1      ingness to nothingness. Sin is not Mind; it is but the sup-
         position that there is more than one Mind. It issues
3      a false claim; and the claim, being worthless, is in reality
         no claim whatever. Matter is not Mind, to claim aught;
         but Mind is God, and evil finds no place in good. When
6      we get near enough to God to see this, the springtide
         of Truth in Christian Science will burst upon us in the
         similitude of the Apocalyptic pictures. No night will be
9      there, and there will be no more sea. There will be no
         need of the sun, for Spirit will be the light of the city, and
         matter will be proved a myth. Until centuries pass, and
12    this vision of Truth is fully interpreted by divine Science,
         this prophecy will be scoffed at; but it is just as veritable
         now as it can be then. Science, divine Science, presents
15    the grand and eternal verities of God and man as the
         divine Mind and that Mind’s idea.

         Mortal man is the antipode of immortal man, and the
18    two should not be confounded. Bishop Foster said, in a
         lecture in Boston, “No man living hath yet seen man.”
         This material sinful personality, which we misname man,
21    is what St. Paul terms “the old man and his deeds,” to
         be “put off.”

         Who can say what the absolute personality of God or
24    man is? Who living hath seen God or a perfect man?
         In presence of such thoughts take off thy shoes and
         tread lightly, for this is holy ground. Surely the probation
27    of mortals must go on after the change called death, that
         they may learn the definition of immortal being; or else

Page 28

1      their present mistakes would extinguish human existence.
         How long this false sense remains after the transition called
3      death, no mortal knoweth; but this is sure, that the mists
         of error, sooner or later, will melt in the fervent heat of
         suffering, mortality will burst the barriers of sense, and
6      man be found perfect and eternal. Of his intermediate
         conditions — the purifying processes and terrible revolu-
         tions necessary to effect this end — I am ignorant.

9      Inasmuch as these momentous facts in the Science of
         being must be learned some time, now is the most accept-
         able time for beginning the lesson. If Science is pointing
12    the way, and is found to bring with it health, holiness, and
         immortality, then to-day is none too soon for entering this
         path. The proof that Christian Science is the way of sal-
15    vation given by Christ, I consider well established. The
         present, as well as the future, reveals the fact that Truth
         is never understood too soon.

18    Has Truth, as demonstrated by Jesus, reappeared?
         Study Christian Science and practise it, and you will
         know that Truth has reappeared. What is demonstrably
21    true cannot be gainsaid; but getting the letter and omitting
         the spirit of this Science is neither the comprehension of
         its Principle nor the practice of its Life.

Page 22

         No man hath seen the person of good or of evil. Each
         is greater than the corporeality we behold.

18    “He cast out devils.” This record shows that the term
         devil is generic, being used in the plural number. From
         this it follows that there is more than one devil. That
21    Jesus cast several persons out of another person, is not
         stated, and is impossible. Hence the passage must refer
         to the evils which were cast out.

24    Jesus defined devil as a mortal who is full of evil. “Have
         I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” His
         definition of evil indicated his ability to cast it out. An

Page 23

1      incorrect concept of the nature of evil hinders the destruc-
         tion of evil. To conceive of God as resembling — in per-
3      sonality, or form — the personality that Jesus condemned
         as devilish, is fraught with spiritual danger. Evil can
         neither grasp the prerogative of God nor make evil om-
6      nipotent and omnipresent.

         Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan;” but
         he to whom our Lord gave the keys of the kingdom could
9      not have been wholly evil, and therefore was not a devil,
         after the accepted definition. Out of the Magdalen, Jesus
         cast seven devils; but not one person was named among
12    them. According to Crabtre, these devils were the dis-
         eases Jesus cast out.

         The most eminent divines, in Europe and America, con-
15    cede that the Scriptures have both a literal and a moral
         meaning. Which of the two is the more important to gain,
         — the literal or the moral sense of the word devil, — in
18    order to cast out this devil? Evil is a quality, not an
         individual.

         As mortals, we need to discern the claims of evil, and to
21    fight these claims, not as realities, but as illusions; but
         Deity can have no such warfare against Himself. Knowl-
         edge of a man’s physical personality is not sufficient to
24    inform us as to the amount of good or evil he possesses.
         Hence we cannot understand God or man, through the
         person of either. God is All-in-all; but He is definite and
27    individual, the omnipresent and omniscient Mind; and
         man’s individuality is God’s own image and likeness,—

Page 24

1      even the immeasurable idea of divine Mind. In the
         Science of good, evil loses all place, person, and power.
3      According to Spinoza’s philosophy God is amplification.

         He is in all things, and therefore He is in evil in human
         thought. He is extension, of whatever character. Also,
6      according to Spinoza, man is an animal vegetable, devel-
         oped through the lower orders of matter and mortal mind.
         All these vagaries are at variance with my system of meta-
9      physics, which rests on God as One and All, and denies
         the actual existence of both matter and evil. According to
         false philosophy and scholastic theology, God is three
12    persons in one person. By the same token, evil is not only
         as real as good, but much more real, since evil subordi-
         nates good in personality.

15    The claims of evil become both less and more in Chris-
         tian Science, than in human philosophies or creeds: more,
         because the evil that is hidden by dogma and human rea-
18    son is uncovered by Science; and less, because evil, being
         thus uncovered, is found out, and exposure is nine points
         of destruction. Then appears the grand verity of Chris-
21    tian Science: namely, that evil has no claims and was
         never a claimant; for behold evil (or devil) is, as Jesus
         said, “a murderer from the beginning, and the truth abode
24    not in him.”

         There was never a moment in which evil was real. This
         great fact concerning all error brings with it another and
27    more glorious truth, that good is supreme. As there is
         none beside Him, and He is all good, there can be no evil.

Page 25

1      Simply uttering this great thought is not enough! We
         must live it, until God becomes the All and Only of our
3      being. Having won through great tribulation this cardinal
         point of divine Science, St. Paul said, “But now we are
         delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
6      held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not
         in the oldness of the letter.”

Page 19

         God is infinite. He is neither a limited mind nor a
12    limited body. God is Love; and Love is Principle, not
         person. What the person of the infinite is, we know not;
         but we are gratefully and lovingly conscious of the father-
15    liness of this Supreme Being. God is individual, and man
         is His individualized idea. While material man and the
         physical senses receive no spiritual idea, and feel no sen-
18    sation of divine Love, spiritual man and his spiritual
         senses are drinking in the nature and essence of the indi-
         vidual infinite. A sinful sense is incompetent to understand
21    the realities of being, — that Life is God, and that man
         is in His image and likeness. A sinner can take no cog-
         nizance of the noumenon or the phenomena of Spirit;
24    but leaving sin, sense rises to the fulness of the stature of
         man in Christ.

         Person is formed after the manner of mortal man, so

Page 20

1      far as he can conceive of personality. Limitless person-
         ality is inconceivable. His person and perfection are
3      neither self-created, nor discerned through imperfection;
         and of God as a person, human reason, imagination, and
         revelation give us no knowledge. Error would fashion
6      Deity in a manlike mould, while Truth is moulding a
         Godlike man.

         When the term divine Principle is used to signify Deity
9      it may seem distant or cold, until better apprehended.
         This Principle is Mind, substance, Life, Truth, Love.
         When understood, Principle is found to be the only term
12    that fully conveys the ideas of God, — one Mind, a perfect
         man, and divine Science. As the divine Principle is com-
         prehended, God’s omnipotence and omnipresence will
15    dawn on mortals, and the notion of an everywhere-present
         body — or of an infinite Mind starting from a finite body,
         and returning to it — will disappear.

18    Ever-present Love must seem ever absent to ever-present
         selfishness or material sense. Hence this asking amiss
         and receiving not, and the common idolatry of man-
21    worship. In divine Science, God is recognized as the
         only power, presence, and glory.

         Adam’s mistiness and Satan’s reasoning, ever since the
24    flood, — when specimens of every kind emerged from the
         ark, — have run through the veins of all human philoso-
         phy. Human reason is a blind guide, a continued series
27    of mortal hypotheses, antagonistic to Revelation and Sci-
         ence. It is continually straying into forbidden by-paths

Page 21

1      of sensualism, contrary to the life and teachings of Jesus
         and Paul, and the vision of the Apocalypse. Human
3      philosophy has ninety-nine parts of error to the one-
         hundredth part of Truth, — an unsafe decoction for the
         race. The Science that Jesus demonstrated, whose views
6      of Truth Confucius and Plato but dimly discerned, Science
         and Health interprets. It was not a search after wisdom;
         it was wisdom, and it grasped in spiritual law the uni-
9      verse, — all time, space, immortality, thought, extension.
         This Science demonstrated the Principle of all phenomena,
         identity, individuality, law; and showed man as reflect-
12    ing God and the divine capacity. Human philosophy
         would dethrone perfection, and substitute matter and evil
         for divine means and ends.

15    Human philosophy has an undeveloped God, who un-
         folds Himself through material modes, wherein the human
         and divine mingle in the same realm and consciousness.
18    This is rank infidelity; because by it we lose God’s ways
         and perpetuate the supposed power and reality of evil ad
         infinitum. Christian Science rends this veil in the pantheon
21    of many gods, and reproduces the teachings of Jesus, whose
         philosophy is incontestable, bears the strain of time, and
         brings in the glories of eternity; “for other foundation
24    can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

         Divine philosophy is demonstrably the true idea of the
         Christ, wherein Principle heals and saves. A philosophy
27    which cannot heal the sick has little resemblance to Sci-
         ence, and is, to say the least, like a cloud without rain,

Page 22

1      “driven about by every wind of doctrine.” Such phi-
         losophy has certainly not touched the hem of the Christ
3      garment.

         Leibnitz, Descartes, Fichte, Hegel, Spinoza, Bishop
         Berkeley, were once clothed with a “brief authority;”
6      but Berkeley ended his metaphysical theory with a treatise
         on the healing properties of tar-water, and Hegel was an
         inveterate snuff-taker. The circumlocution and cold cate-
9      gories of Kant fail to improve the conditions of mortals,
         morally, spiritually, or physically. Such miscalled meta-
         physical systems are reeds shaken by the wind. Com-
12    pared with the inspired wisdom and infinite meaning of
         the Word of Truth, they are as moonbeams to the sun, or
         as Stygian night to the kindling dawn.

Page 18

         Blasphemy has never diminished sin and sickness, nor
3      acknowledged God in all His ways. Blasphemy rebukes
         not the godless lie that denies Him as All-in-all, nor does
         it ascribe to Him all presence, power, and glory. Chris-
6      tian Science does this. If Science lacked the proof of its
         origin in God, it would be self-destructive, for it rests alone
         on the demonstration of God’s supremacy and omnipo-
9      tence. Right thinking and right acting, physical and
         moral harmony, come with Science, and the secret of
         its presence lies in the universal need of better health and
12    morals.

         Human theories, when weighed in the balance, are
         found unequal to the demonstration of divine Life and
15    Love; and their highest endeavors are, to divine Science,
         what a child’s love of pictures is to art. A child, in his
         ignorance, may imagine the face of Dante to be the rapt
18    face of Jesus. Thus falsely may the human conceive of
         the Divine. If the schoolmaster is not Christ, the school
         gets things wrong, and knows it not; but the teacher is
21    morally responsible.

         Good health and a more spiritual religion are the com-
         mon wants; and these wants have wrought this moral
24    result, — that the so-called mortal mind asks for what
         Mind alone can supply. This demand militates against
         the so-called demands of matter, and regulates the present

Page 19

1      high premium on Mind-healing. If the uniform moral
         and spiritual, as well as physical, effects of Christian Sci-
3      ence were lacking, the premium would go down. That
         it continues to rise, and the demand to increase, shows its
         real value to the race. Even doctors will agree that in-
6      fidelity, ignorance, and quackery have never met the grow-
         ing wants of humanity. Christian Science is no “Boston
         craze;” it is the sober second thought of advancing
9      humanity.