Christian Science Textbook

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1      The following selections from “Science and Health

         with Key to the Scriptures,” pages 568-571, were read

3      from the platform. The impressive stillness of the audi-

         ence indicated close attention.

         Revelation xii. 10-12. And I heard a loud voice saying in

6      heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the king-

         dom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser

         of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our

9      God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood

         of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they

         loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye

12    heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters

         of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto

         you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath

15    but a short time.

         For victory over a single sin, we give thanks and mag-

         nify the Lord of Hosts. What shall we say of the mighty

18    conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter than has

         ever before reached high heaven, now rises clearer and

         nearer to the great heart of Christ; for the accuser is not

21    there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting

         strain. Self-abnegation, by which we lay down all for

         Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in

24    Christian Science. This rule clearly interprets God as

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1      divine Principle, — as Life, represented by the Father;

         as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented

3      by the Mother. Every mortal at some period, here or here-

         after, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief

         in a power opposed to God.

6      The Scripture, “Thou hast been faithful over a few

         things, I will make thee ruler over many,” is literally ful-

         filled, when we are conscious of the supremacy of Truth,

9      by which the nothingness of error is seen; and we know

         that the nothingness of error is in proportion to its wicked-

         ness. He that touches the hem of Christ’s robe and masters

12    his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof

         of healing, — in a sweet and certain sense that God is

         Love. Alas for those who break faith with divine Science

15    and fail to strangle the serpent of sin as well as of sickness!

         They are dwellers still in the deep darkness of belief.

         They are in the surging sea of error, not struggling to lift

18    their heads above the drowning wave.

         What must the end be? They must eventually expiate

         their sin through suffering. The sin, which one has made

21    his bosom companion, comes back to him at last with

         accelerated force, for the devil knoweth his time is short.

         Here the Scriptures declare that evil is temporal, not

24    eternal. The dragon is at last stung to death by his own

         malice; but how many periods of torture it may take to

         remove all sin, must depend upon sin’s obduracy.

27    Revelation xii. 13. And when the dragon saw that he was

         cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought

         forth the man child.

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1      The march of mind and of honest investigation will

         bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of

3      some sort, the growing occultism of this period. The

         present apathy as to the tendency of certain active yet un-

         seen mental agencies will finally be shocked into another

6      extreme mortal mood, — into human indignation; for

         one extreme follows another.

         Revelation xii. 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his

9      mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might

         cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth

         helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and

12    swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his

         mouth.

         Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for

15    Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are wait-

         ing and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of

         cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the conse-

18    quences. What if the old dragon should send forth a new

         flood to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown

         your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the

21    deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth

         will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood.

         Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks.

24    The waters will be pacified, and Christ will command the

         wave.

         When God heals the sick or the sinning, they should

27    know the great benefit which Mind has wrought. They

         should also know the great delusion of mortal mind, when

         it makes them sick or sinful. Many are willing to open

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1      the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in

         divine Mind, but they are not so willing to point out the

3      evil in human thought, and expose evil’s hidden mental

         ways of accomplishing iniquity.

         Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary to

6      ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like

         you better when you tell them their virtues than when you

         tell them their vices. It requires the spirit of our blessed

9      Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk human dis-

         pleasure for the sake of doing right and benefiting our

         race. Who is telling mankind of the foe in ambush? Is

12    the informer one who sees the foe? If so, listen and be

         wise. Escape from evil, and designate those as unfaithful

         stewards who have seen the danger and yet have given

15    no warning.

         At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil

         with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom

18    and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the

         panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The

         cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the

21    one divinity.