Science and Health with Key to The Scriptures

by Mary Baker Eddy




Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John viii. 32.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Shakespeare

Oh! Thou hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest :-
Thou here, and everywhere. Mary Baker Eddy



Table of Contents



Page vii


1 To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is
 big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds
3 the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance
 of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-
 shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in
6 cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human
 herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be-
 nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ
9 Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn-
 ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-
 men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of
12 divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.

 The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent
 of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the
15 portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and
 the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling
 away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-
18 stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a
 right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is
 Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall
21 reign forever."

 A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make
 them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy
24 pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough
 granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer
 has accomplished.

27 Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in


Page viii


1 the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has
 been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but
3 to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live
 in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full
 might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense
6 must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the
 science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con-
 cord to sound.

9 Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and
 matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that
 Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo-
12 site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by
 demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and
 this demonstration shows that Christian healing con-
15 fers the most health and makes the best men. On this
 basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness
 has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma-
18 terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less
 sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous
 "No" is the response deducible from two connate
21 facts, — the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians,
 and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of
 diseases since the flood.

24 In the author's work, Retrospection and Introspec-
 tion, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating
 experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis-
27 covery of the system that she denominated Christian
 Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and
 give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for
30 the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions
 were crude, the first steps of a child in the newly dis-
 covered world of Spirit.


Page ix


1 She also began to jot down her thoughts on the
 main subject, but these jottings were only infantile
3 lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world
 through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is
 as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet
6 he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words,
 and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his
 feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite
9 thought, though still imperfectly.

 So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of
 himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers
12 came." Certain essays written at that early date are
 still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are
 feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of
15 Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac-
 tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing
 in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis-
18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of
 Christ.

 Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy-
21 righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until
 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
 demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject
24 could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875,
 copies were, however, in friendly circulation.

 Before writing this work, Science and Health, she
27 made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which
 have never been published. This was during the years
 1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative
30 ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that
 time, and the degrees by which she came at length
 to its solution; but she values them as a parent


Page x


1 may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and
 she would not have them changed.

3 The first edition of Science and Health was pub-
 lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have
 since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory
6 and filled with plagiarisms from Science and Health.
 They regard the human mind as a healing agent,
 whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of
9 Christian Science. A few books, however, which are
 based on this book, are useful.

 The author has not compromised conscience to suit
12 the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon-
 estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort
 to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in-
15 finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated
 cases of healing, she and her students have proved the
 worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part
18 have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical
 attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all
 physical supports have failed, because there is so little
21 faith in His disposition and power to heal disease.

 The divine Principle of healing is proved in the
 personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its
24 purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po-
 tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un-
 biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth,
27 and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her
 method who do not understand her meaning, or dis-
 cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their
30 works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req-
 uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de-
 sirable.


Page xi


1 Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal-
 ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the
3 action of the human mind, which action in some unex-
 plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con-
 trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all
6 other pathological methods are the fruits of human
 faith in matter, faith in the workings, not of Spirit,
 but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science.

9 The physical healing of Christian Science results
 now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine
 Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real-
12 ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally
 and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and
 sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works
15 are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are
 the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," — a divine
 influence ever present in human consciousness and re-
18 peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

 To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
 And recovering of sight to the blind,
21 To set at liberty them that are bruised.

 When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel
 to this age, there came also the charge to plant and
24 water His vineyard.

 The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing
 was started by the author with only one student in
27 Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881,
 she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in
 Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law
30 relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled
 her to get this institution chartered for medical pur-


Page xii


1 poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien-
 tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that
3 date, hers was the only College of this character which
 had been established in the United States, where
 Christian Science was first introduced.

6 During seven years over four thousand students
 were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile
 she was pastor of the first established Church of
9 Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci-
 entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of
 her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole
12 editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal,
 the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She
 closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of
15 its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the
 next two years of her life should be given to the prep-
 aration of the revision of Science and Health, which
18 was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and
 as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil-
 iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never
21 read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu-
 cidate her idealism.

 In the spirit of Christ's charity, as one who "hopeth
24 all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear
 consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, —
 she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.



Mary Baker Eddy


 NOTE. — The author takes no patients,
 and declines medical consultation.



Page 1


Chapter 1 — Prayer


 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this
 mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and
 shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
 things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
 whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things
 soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
 and ye shall have them.
 Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
 Him.
Christ Jesus.

1 THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the
 sick is an absolute faith that all things are
3 possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him,
 an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say
 or think on this subject, I speak from experience.
6 Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im-
 molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing
 whatever has been successfully done for the Christian-
9 ization and health of mankind.

 Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine
 Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from
12 trusting God with our desires, that they may be
 moulded and exalted before they take form in words
 and in deeds.


Page 2


Right motives

1 What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to
 make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us,
3 to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of
 men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes,
 the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous-
6 ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return
 unto us void.

Deity unchangeable

 God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more
9 than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less
 than bestow all good, since He is unchang-
 ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for
12 ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov-
 ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip-
 service, for He already knows all.

15 Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it
 tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at-
 tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that
18 God will save us is not all that is required. The mere
 habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads
 with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as
21 humanly circumscribed, — an error which impedes spirit-
 ual growth.

God's standard

 God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is
24 intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any-
 thing He does not already comprehend?
 Do we expect to change perfection? Shall
27 we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-
 ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire
 does bring us nearer the source of all existence and
30 blessedness.

 Asking God to be God is a vain repetition. God is
 "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and


Page 3


1 He who is immutably right will do right without being
 reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
3 sufficient to warrant him in advising God.

The spiritual mathematics

 Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the
 principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The
6 rule is already established, and it is our
 task to work out the solution. Shall we
 ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own
9 work? His work is done, and we have only to avail
 ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless-
 ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.

12 The Divine Being must be reflected by man, — else
 man is not the image and likeness of the patient,
 tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to
15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands
 absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.

Prayerful ingratitude

 How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit
18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni-
 present, infinite, and then we try to give
 information to this infinite Mind. We plead
21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of
 benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good
 already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the
24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.
 Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of
 thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.

27 If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and
 yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in-
 sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro-
30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only
 acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and
 remember our blessings. While the heart is far from


Page 4


1 divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati-
 tude of barren lives.

Efficacious petitions

3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire
 for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness,
 love, and good deeds. To keep the com-
6 mandments of our Master and follow his
 example, is our proper debt to him and the only
 worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has
9 done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to
 express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has
 said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

12 The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas-
 ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the
 blessings they bring, — blessings which, even if not
15 acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness
 to be partakers of Love.

Watchfulness requisite

 Simply asking that we may love God will never
18 make us love Him; but the longing to be better
 and holier, expressed in daily watchful-
 ness and in striving to assimilate more of
21 the divine character, will mould and fashion us
 anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the
 Science of Christianity through demonstration of the
24 divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness
 will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring
 experience.

Veritable devotion

27 Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual
 understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer,
 watchfulness, and devout obedience enable
30 us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers,
 superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love,
 and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate-


Page 5


1 rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps
 him from demonstrating his power over error.

Sorrow and reformation

3 Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform
 and the very easiest step. The next and great step re-
 quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity,
6 — namely, reformation. To this end we are
 placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation
 bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for
9 what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there
 is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay
 "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall
12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run-
 ning over."

 Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always
15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup.
 Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God
 pours the riches of His love into the understanding and
18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin-
 ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther,
 the Psalmist could see their end, — the destruction of sin
21 through suffering.

Cancellation of human sin

 Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin.
 Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven
24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, — Truth and
 Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is
 cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying,
27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin
 because he fancies himself forgiven.

Diabolism destroyed

 An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to
30 "destroy the works of the devil." We should
 follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de-
 struction of all evil works, error and disease included.


Page 6


1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip-
 tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us."

Pardon and amendment

3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
 pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the
 sinner. God is not separate from the wis-
6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we
 must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work
 badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition
9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and
 that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.

 To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means
12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin
 will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be-
 lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach
15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand
 the divine Principle of being.

Mercy without partiality

 "God is Love." More than this we cannot ask,
18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
 suppose that God forgives or punishes sin
 according as His mercy is sought or un-
21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
 the safety-valve for wrong-doing.

Divine severity

 Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it
24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound
 her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of-
 fence unto me." He came teaching and
27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
 He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down."

 It is believed by many that a certain magistrate,
30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His
 rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas-
 ter confirms this description.


Page 7


1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was,
 "Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence
3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found
 in his own words, — showing the necessity for such
 forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed
6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de-
 prives material sense of its false claims.

Audible praying

 Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary
9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro-
 duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply
 into these things, we find that "a zeal ...
12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac-
 tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and
 wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo-
15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of
 applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.

Emotional utterances

 Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec-
18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided
 men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo-
 ments a higher experience and a better life
21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self-
 satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes
 a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di-
24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing
 and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is
 always known and by whom it will be supplied.

Danger from audible prayer

27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp-
 tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut-
 tering desires which are not real and consoling
30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection
 that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for-
 giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.


Page 8


1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self-
 justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite.
3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but
 there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi-
 cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to
6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond
 with their character. They hold secret fellowship with
 sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like
9 unto whited sepulchres ... full ... of all uncleanness."

Aspiration and love

 If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful,
 is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the
12 comment upon him? If he reached the
 loftiness of his prayer, there would be no
 occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu-
15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,-
 this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive
 ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that
18 shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray-
 ers are like charity in one respect, — they "cover the
 multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what-
21 ever fervency of expression does not always mean a
 desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are
 not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses
24 the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart
 and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do
 we not already know more of this heart than we are
27 willing to have our neighbor see?

Searching the heart

 We should examine ourselves and learn what is the
 affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way
30 only can we learn what we honestly are. If a
 friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa-
 tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not


Page 9


1 rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"?
 During many years the author has been most grateful
3 for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen-
 sure, — in the falsehood which does no one any good.

Summit of aspiration

 The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these
6 questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of
 this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish-
 ness, satisfied with having prayed for some-
9 thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin-
 cerity of our requests by living consistently with our
 prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness,
12 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless
 them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great
 duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is
15 a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition
 of our hope and faith.

Practical religion

 Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy
18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"?
 This command includes much, even the sur-
 render of all merely material sensation, affec-
21 tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.
 It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the
 divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master,
24 and material sense and human will have no place.

The chalice sacrificial

 Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and
 so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire
27 to attain this point? No! Then why make long
 prayers about it and ask to be Christians,
 since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our
30 dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why
 pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his
 nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right.


Page 10


1 Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in
 the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed-
3 ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord,
 we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.

 The world must grow to the spiritual understanding
6 of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of
 earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor-
 rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are
9 willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions
 will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in
 demonstration of power and "with signs following."
12 Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the
 world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.

 Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables
15 us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a
 higher understanding of the divine Life.

Perfunctory prayers

 One of the forms of worship in Thibet is to carry a
18 praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the
 doors to earn a penny by grinding out a
 prayer. But the advance guard of progress has
21 paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution.

Asking amiss

 Experience teaches us that we do not always receive
 the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some mis-
24 apprehension of the source and means of
 all goodness and blessedness, or we should
 certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip-
27 tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
 amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That
 which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always
30 best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will
 not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer-
 ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss."


Page 11


1 Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer,
 "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of
3 forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he
 said, "Go, and sin no more."

Remission of penalty

 A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this
6 may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it
 only saves the criminal from one form of
 punishment. The moral law, which has the
9 right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu-
 tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law
 brings penalty in order to compel this progress.

Truth annihilates error

12 Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine
 Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they
 are corrected) leaves the offender free to re-
15 peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already
 suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it
 with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but
18 wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered
 for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in-
 dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering.

Desire for holiness

21 Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor-
 tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is
 requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we
24 desire holiness above all else, we shall sac-
 rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this,
 that we may walk securely in the only practical road
27 to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable
 Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding
 of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual
30 desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us
 into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible
 expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life.


Page 12


Prayer for the sick

1 "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the
 Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re-
3 quest that God will heal the sick has no
 power to gain more of the divine presence
 than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of
6 such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak-
 ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind
 faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out
9 another, — a belief in the unknown casting out a belief
 in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which
 acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under-
12 standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested
 in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con-
 scientious protests of Truth, — of man's likeness to
15 God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.

 Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a
 drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its
18 power from human faith and belief. The drug does
 nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal
 belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a
21 drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.

 The common custom of praying for the recovery of the
 sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come
24 from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief
 may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of
 human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.

Love impartial and universal

27 Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper,
 and not help another who offers the same measure of
 prayer? If the sick recover because they
30 pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti-
 tioners (per se or by proxy) should get well. In divine
 Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail them-


Page 13


1 selves of God as "a very present help in trouble."
 Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and
3 bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho,
 every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."

Public exaggerations

 In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions,
6 beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we
 are not secretly yearning and openly striv-
 ing for the accomplishment of all we ask,
9 our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen
 use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we
 ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward
12 us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de-
 sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear
 sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is
15 sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our
 fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon-
 estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and
18 we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real
 wishes with a torrent of words.

Corporeal ignorance

 If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will
21 prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and
 fears which attend such a belief, and so we
 cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi-
24 nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible.
 Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle,
 Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal
27 creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely
 physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re-
 flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The
30 world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, — blind
 to the reality of man's existence, — for the world of sen-
 sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body.


Page 14


Bodily presence

1 If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo-
 tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we
3 would gain, we are not "absent from the
 body" and "present with the Lord" in the
 demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas-
6 ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not
 mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon-
 stration and understanding of Life as revealed in
9 Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in
 obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed
 by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.

Spiritualized consciousness

12 Become conscious for a single moment that Life and
 intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of
 matter, — and the body will then utter no
15 complaints. If suffering from a belief in
 sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow
 is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir-
18 itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the
 promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me,
 the works that I do shall he do also; ... because I
21 go unto my Father," — [because the Ego is absent from
 the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The
 Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material
24 sense.

 Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate-
 rial living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual under-
27 standing and the consciousness of man's dominion
 over the whole earth. This understanding casts out
 error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak
30 "as one having authority."

 "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and,
 when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father


Page 15


1 which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in
 secret, shall reward thee openly."

Spiritual sanctuary

3 So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of
 Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but
 lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to
6 error, it is open to Truth, and vice versa.
 The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses,
 but He knows all things and rewards according to
9 motives, not according to speech. To enter into the
 heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be
 closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent,
12 that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine
 Principle, Love, which destroys all error.

Effectual invocation

 In order to pray aright, we must enter into the
15 closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and
 silence the material senses. In the quiet
 sanctuary of earnest longings, we must
18 deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to
 take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to
 work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We
21 must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an-
 swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.
 The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and
24 let our lives attest our sincerity.

Trustworthy beneficence

 Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden
 from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness,
27 purity, and affection are constant prayers.
 Practice not profession, understanding not
 belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and
30 they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi-
 ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a
 fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness.


Page 16


Loftiest adoration

1 A great sacrifice of material things must precede this
 advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer
3 is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra-
 tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must
 destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth
6 that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.

The prayer of Jesus Christ

 Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer,
 which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Mas-
9 ter said, "After this manner therefore pray
 ye," and then he gave that prayer which
 covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt
12 among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an
 addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does
 not affect the meaning of the prayer itself.

15 In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original
 properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This
 reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti-
18 tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or
 one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars.

 Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and
21 sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir-
 itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's
 Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
24 Here let me give what I understand to be the spir-
 itual sense of the Lord's Prayer:

 Our Father which art in heaven,
27 Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

 Hallowed be Thy name.
      Adorable One.

30 Thy kingdom come.
      Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.


Page 17


1 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
      Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is
3       omnipotent, supreme
.

 Give us this day our daily bread;
      Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;

6 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
      And Love is reflected in love;

 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
9        evil;
      And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth
       us from sin, disease, and death.

12 For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
       glory, forever.
      For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over
       all, and All.



Page 18


Chapter 2 — Atonement and Eucharist

 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
 affections and lusts.
Paul.

 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
 Paul.

 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
 until the kingdom of God shall come.
Jesus.

Divine oneness

1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity
 with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life,
3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated
 man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him
 endless homage. His mission was both in-
6 dividual and collective. He did life's work
 aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to
 mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do
9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.
 Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the
 senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he
12 refuted all opponents with his healing power.

Human reconciliation

 The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not
 God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God,
15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ
 is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself.
 The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ,
18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived


Page 19


1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose
 to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and
3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness.
 Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him-
 self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for
6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon-
 ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love,
 the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer
9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter,
 sin, and death by the law of Spirit, — the law of divine
 Love.

12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de-
 claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and
 death, although his teaching set households at variance,
15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a
 sword.

Efficacious repentance

 Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort
18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to
 understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid
 its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray
21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone-
 ment, — in the at-one-ment with God, — for he lacks the
 practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables
24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem-
 onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach-
 ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If
27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur-
 ity, although God is good.

Jesus' sinless career

 Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no
30 other gods before me," which may be ren-
 dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as
 mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,-


Page 20


1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things
 which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine
 or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved,
 not by spirits but by Spirit.

6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee
 Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
 kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a
9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he
 established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men
 can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the
12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet
 be sensual and sinful.

Perfect example

 Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal
15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are
 healed." "Despised and rejected of men,"
 returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-
18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God;
 and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and
 the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not,
21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God,
 saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to
 holiness.

Behest of the cross

24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the
 spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all
 religion. It commands sure entrance into
27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us
 lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self
 and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of
 all healing.


Page 21


Moral victory

1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
 conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a
3 good fight ... I have kept the faith," be-
 cause you are a better man. This is having
 our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.
6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting
 because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph,
 that they shall reach his harmony and reward.

9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-
 ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma-
 terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things
12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the
 start, and gain a little each day in the right direction,
 till at last he finishes his course with joy.

Inharmonious travellers

15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en
 route
for California, we are not journeying together.
 We have separate time-tables to consult,
18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have
 diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor-
 tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my
21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad
 guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I
 take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our
24 companionship may continue.

Zigzag course

 Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at
 the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither-
27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward
 for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring
 and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for
30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can
 only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By-
 and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow


Page 22


1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
 of this to find and follow the right road.

Moral retrogression

3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
 of forgiveness, — selfishness and sensuality causing con-
 stant retrogression, — our moral progress will
6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals
 experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-
 ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and
9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned
 with success.

Wait for reward

 "Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
 "Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-
 ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If
15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive
 no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
 sluggard in the race.

18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
 cern the good you have done, and receive according to
 your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from
21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
 purified.

Deliverance not vicarious

 Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
 reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
 one's faith without works to another's vicarious
27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
 that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
 understand God.

Justice and substitution

30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
 cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
 is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not


Page 23


1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
 may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin.
3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
 pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
 constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That
6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
 divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
 atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-
9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
 which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf-
 fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.

Doctrines and faith

12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
 firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him."
 This preaching receives a strong rebuke in
15 the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead."
 Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be-
 tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith,
18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
 from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-
 lishes the claims of God.

Self-reliance and confidence

21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the
 words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
 tions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One
24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
 Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
 to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
 expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
 injunction, "Believe ... and thou shalt be saved!"
30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
 itual understanding and confides all to God.

 The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or


Page 24


1 to be constant. This certainly applies to Truth and Love
 understood and practised. Firmness in error will never
3 save from sin, disease, and death.

Life's healing currents

 Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
 to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of
 men), open the way for Christian Science to be
 understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where
9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed
 out.

Radical changes

 He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will
12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re-
 generation. This is having part in the atone-
 ment; this is the understanding, in which
15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant
 when the ordinary theological views of atonement will
 undergo a great change, — a change as radical as that
18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to pre-
 destination and future punishment.

Purpose of crucifixion

 Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus
21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who
 ask for it and are willing to be forgiven?
 Does spiritualism find Jesus' death necessary
24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material
 Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then
 we must differ from them both.

27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical af-
 fection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The
 truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that
30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own
 disciples could not admit such an event to be possible.
 After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was


Page 25


1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of
 Truth and Love.

True flesh and blood

3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The effi-
 cacy of Jesus' spiritual offering is infinitely greater than
 can be expressed by our sense of human
6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no
 more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed
 upon "the accursed tree," than when it was flowing in
9 his veins as he went daily about his Father's business.
 His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat
 his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine
12 Life.

Effective triumph

 Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that
 we may understand how this divine Principle heals
15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over
 death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better
 than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By
18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu-
 ally than all others the Principle of being. Hence the
 force of his admonition, "If ye love me, keep my com-
21 mandments."

 Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease,
 the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving
24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for
 their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as
 he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith
27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow
 on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We
 must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the
30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to
 bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made
 manifest in the humanity of Jesus.


Page 26


Individual experience

1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with
 gratitude for what he did for mortals, — treading alone
3 his loving pathway up to the throne of
 glory, in speechless agony exploring the way
 for us, — yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe-
6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all
 have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion
 to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed
9 through divine Love.

Christ's demonstration

 The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his
 own statements: "I am the way, the truth, and the life;"
12 "I and my Father are one." This Christ,
 or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine
 nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth,
15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness,
 and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of
 celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does
18 for man.

Proof in practice

 A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he
 teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac-
21 tice as well as precept. Jesus' teaching and
 practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice
 as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was
24 the precious import of our Master's sinless career and
 of his demonstration of power over death. He proved
 by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin,
27 and death.

 Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief.
 It was the divine Principle of all real being which he
30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no
 form or system of religion and worship, but Christian
 Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love.


Page 27


1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was in-
 tended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had
3 come: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have
 seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk,
 the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
6 to the poor the gospel is preached." In other words:
 Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is,
 and he will at once perceive that God is the power in
9 the Messianic work.

Living temple

 That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance
 after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien-
12 tific statement: "Destroy this temple [body],
 and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up."
 It is as if he had said: The I — the Life, substance,
15 and intelligence of the universe — is not in matter to
 be destroyed.

 Jesus' parables explain Life as never mingling with
18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root
 of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut
 down the false doctrine of pantheism, — that God, or
21 Life, is in or of matter.

Recreant disciples

 Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only
 eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits
24 him with two or three hundred other disciples
 who have left no name. "Many are called,
 but few are chosen." They fell away from grace because
27 they never truly understood their Master's instruction.

 Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the
 essential religion he came to establish? Jesus' persecu-
30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point.
 They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and
 to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.


Page 28


Help and hindrance

1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the di-
 vine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus'
3 mission. Even many of his students stood
 in his way. If the Master had not taken a
 student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would
6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit
 in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and
 Love.

9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out
 of it, one's consecration to Christ is more on the ground
 of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we
12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding
 more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we
 are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.

Misleading conceptions

15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of
 Jesus was generally understood. Not a single compo-
 nent part of his nature did the material
18 world measure aright. Even his righteous-
 ness and purity did not hinder men from saying: He
 is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is
21 his patron.

Persecution prolonged

 Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if
 thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy
24 Master's feet! To suppose that persecution
 for righteousness' sake belongs to the past,
 and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world
27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mis-
 take the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself.
 The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle,
30 "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some
 form, every pioneer of truth.

Christian warfare

 There is too much animal courage in society and not


Page 29


1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms
 against error at home and abroad. They must grapple
3 with sin in themselves and in others, and
 continue this warfare until they have finished
 their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the
6 crown of rejoicing.

 Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis-
 belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly
9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more
 needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we
 may never receive it in this world.

The Fatherhood of God

12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to
 the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be-
 lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed
15 in Christian Science have reached the glori-
 ous perception that God is the only author of man.
 The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and
18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus — that is, Joshua,
 or Saviour.

Spiritual conception

 The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to
21 silence material law and its order of generation, and
 brought forth her child by the revelation of
 Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of
24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed
 the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog-
 nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever
27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the
 man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea,
 though at first faintly developed.

30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit,
 is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and
 man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-


Page 30


1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give
 a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could
3 demonstrate the Science of Love — his Father or divine
 Principle.

Jesus the way-shower

 Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook
6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en-
 dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with-
 out measure. This accounts for his struggles
9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to
 be the mediator, or way-shower, between God and men.
 Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal
12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal
 mind as "the way."

 Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said:
15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
 by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the
 new executor for God, present the divine law of Love,
18 which blesses even those that curse it.

Rebukes helpful

 As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to
 rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death, —
21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This
 ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole
 earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between
24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and
 of error.

 If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of
27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we
 shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only
 in this way can we bless our enemies, though they
30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for
 ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way
 Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found


Page 31


1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit
 to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place
3 it in such hands.

Fleshly ties temporal

 Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call
 no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who
 is my mother, and who are my brethren," im-
 plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We
9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of
 father. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and
 therefore as the Father of all.

Healing primary

12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol-
 lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached
 no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the
15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes
 Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him
 in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, — following his
18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, — we drink of
 his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu-
 rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full
21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs
 over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat
 this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
24 death till he come."

Painful prospect

 Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said:
 "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-
27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit
 and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse-
 cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus
30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea,
 the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
 that he doeth God service; and these things will they


Page 32


1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father
 nor me."

Sacred sacrament

3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear
 allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath
 was sacramentum, and our English word
6 sacrament is derived from it. Among the
 Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a
 feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the
9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's
 oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and
 in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows
12 forth his bitter experience, — the cup which he prayed
 might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis-
 sion to the divine decree.

15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed
 it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,
 Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and
18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all
 of it."

Spiritual refreshment

 The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is
21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples
 had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them
 bread. This would have been foolish in a
24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat-
 ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the
 material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with
27 spiritual views.

Jesus' sad repast

 The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in
 the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion,
30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken
 at the close of day, in the twilight of a
 glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and


Page 33


1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions
 to matter.

Heavenly supplies

3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour
 of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna,
 which of old had fed in the wilderness the
6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread
 indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth
 of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error.
9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this
 bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne
 this bread from house to house, breaking (explaining) it to
12 others, and now it comforted themselves.

 For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about
 to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow.
15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast-
 ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said,
 "Drink ye all of it."

The holy struggle

18 When the human element in him struggled with the
 divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but
 Thine, be done!" — that is, Let not the flesh,
21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This
 is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all
 for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the
24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses
 and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek
 in heart.

Incisive questions

27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you
 shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions
 which attend a new and higher understand-
30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that
 you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all
 who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing


Page 34


1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for
 the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira-
3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out
 error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God,"
 that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ,
6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com-
 memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel,
 or God with us; and if a friend be with us, why need we
9 memorials of that friend?

Millennial glory

 If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really
 commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of
12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the
 world. If all who seek his commemoration
 through material symbols will take up the cross, heal
15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth,
 to the poor, — the receptive thought, — they will bring
 in the millennium.

Fellowship with Christ

18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more
 spiritual and understood better what the Master had
 taught. His resurrection was also their resur-
21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and
 others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into
 the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this
24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again
 in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above
 their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness,
27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which
 has since been called the ascension.

The last breakfast

 What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and
30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples
 in the bright morning hours at the joyful
 meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom


Page 35


1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent-
 ance, — hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced
3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened
 by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned
 away from material things, and cast their net on the right
6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of
 time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal
 sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new-
9 ness of life as Spirit.

 This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a
 new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists
12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re-
 ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune
 with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their
15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh
 after death, its exemplification of human probation, and
 his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh,
18 when he rose out of material sight.

Spiritual Eucharist

 Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our
 church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can
21 unite with this church only as we are new-
 born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which
 is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth
24 the fruits of Love, — casting out error and healing the
 sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one
 God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven,"
27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira-
 tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com-
 mended to his followers.

Final purpose

30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the
 sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re-
 form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to


Page 36


1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by
 experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of
3 Truth and Love simply through translation
 into another sphere. Divine Science reveals
 the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after
6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty
 due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape
 from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern-
9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

 Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his
 dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his
12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John,
 the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in
 silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly
15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral
 distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude
 Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly-
18 minded.

Righteous retribution

 A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un-
 limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as
21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for
 sinners to receive their full punishment this
 side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right-
24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the
 wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment
 and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven,
27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only
 toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock-
 ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.

Vicarious suffering

30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf-
 fering of the just for the unjust. Can God
 therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de-


Page 37


1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that
 sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They
3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it
 shall be measured to you again."

Martyrs inevitable

 History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of
6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in
 vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake,
 but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.
9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with
 another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi-
 naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of
12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.
 Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but
 not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated
15 by lookers-on.

Complete emulation

 When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate
 him in all his ways and to imitate his mighty works?
18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that
 righteous man would gladly have turned his
 sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May
21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im-
 port of that career! It is possible, — yea, it is the duty
 and privilege of every child, man, and woman, — to follow
24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon-
 stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris-
 tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in
27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com-
 mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
 which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world,
30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "Heal the
 sick!"

Jesus' teaching belittled

 Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration


Page 38


1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are
 assured that this command was intended only for a par-
3 ticular period and for a select number of fol-
 lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious
 than the old doctrine of foreordination, — the election of a
6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will
 be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced
 by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of
9 divine Science.

 Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be-
 lieve; ... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing
 his disciples, yet he did not say, " These signs shall follow
 you," but them— "them that believe" in all time to come.
15 Here the word hands is used metaphorically, as in the text,
 "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses
 spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have
18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not
 for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe
 "through their word."

Material pleasures

21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical
 senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo-
 ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ,
24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus
 mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ,
 the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the
27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati-
 fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes
 ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un-
30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He
 taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its
 healing power.


Page 39


Mockery of truth

1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog-
 nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol-
3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last
 triumph. He won eternal honors. He over-
 came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving
6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin,
 sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci-
 fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as
9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.

A belief suicidal

 The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes
 mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone
12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.
 The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus
 overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.
15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not
 the threshold over which he must pass into living
 glory.

Present salvation

18 "Now," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be-
 hold, now is the day of salvation," — meaning, not that
 now men must prepare for a future-world salva-
21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which
 to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is
 the time for so-called material pains and material pleas-
24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible
 in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get
 the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists
27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is
 apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain-
 ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as
30 triumphs.

Sin and penalty

 Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes
 in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that


Page 40


1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error
 from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad-
3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv-
 ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing
 and its Science, will support them. Another will say:
6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient
 season I will call for thee."

 Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted
9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing
 the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of
 divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method
12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's
 life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's
 sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our
15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make
 the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal?

Suffering inevitable

 Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was
18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way
 and the power of Truth. If a career so great
 and good as that of Jesus could not avert a
21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human
 brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into
 fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of
24 Truth and Love.

Service and worship

 Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all
 men should follow the example of our Master and his
27 apostles and not merely worship his personal-
 ity. It is sad that the phrase divine service
 has come so generally to mean public worship instead of
30 daily deeds.

Within the veil

 The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed,
 but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of


Page 41


1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the
 Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and
3 this advance beyond matter must come
 through the joys and triumphs of the right-
 eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions.
6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense
 into the spiritual sense of being.

The thorns and flowers

 The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with
9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap
 what they now sow. The pampered hypo-
 crite may have a flowery pathway here, but
12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the
 penalty due.

Healing early lost

 The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave
15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his
 earthly mission; but in the Christian Church
 this demonstration of healing was early lost,
18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient
 school of philosophy, materia medica, or scholastic theol-
 ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of
21 absolute Science.

Immortal achieval

 Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have
 before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered
24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and
 then sat down at the right hand of the Father.
 Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about
27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and
 stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at.
 Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing
30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national
 Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never
 made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick.


Page 42


1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God
 is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a
3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the-
 ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God.

A belief in death

 The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It
6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death
 will be found at length to be a mortal dream,
 which comes in darkness and disappears with the light.

Cruel desertion

9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or
 popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world
 and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval
12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa-
 lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends,
 who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.

Death outdone

15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's
 power was the proof of his final triumph over body
 and matter, and gave full evidence of divine
18 Science, — evidence so important to mortals.
 The belief that man has existence or mind separate from
 God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine
21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won-
 drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp-
 tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus.
24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he
 would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates
 that in Christian Science the true man is governed by
27 God — by good, not evil — and is therefore not a mortal
 but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the
 Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to
30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ-
 eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They
 must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting


Page 43


1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as
 they did understand it after his bodily departure.

Pentecost repeated

3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear-
 ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled
 the disciples to understand what Jesus had
6 said. Heretofore they had only believed;
 now they understood. The advent of this understanding
 is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, — that
9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos-
 tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history.

Convincing evidence

 Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing,
12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of
 brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of
 his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to
15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God,
 which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay.
 The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught,
18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the
 world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu-
 ated and extended it.

Divine victory

21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup
 of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned
 him, but he was demonstrating divine Science.
24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies,
 he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat-
 ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him.
27 The divine must overcome the human at every point.
 The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over
 all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli-
30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such
 beliefs.

 Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must


Page 44


1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns
 can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow,
3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem-
 acy of Spirit be demonstrated.

Jesus in the tomb

 The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge
6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great
 problem of being. His three days' work in
 the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time.
9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas-
 ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris-
 tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims
12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene.

 He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not
 depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted
15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to
 heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and
 lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove
18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ
 his feet as before.

The deific naturalism

 Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature
21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power?
 It was a method of surgery beyond material
 art, but it was not a supernatural act. On
24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity
 brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ-
 healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of
27 human invention.

Obstacles overcome

 His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was
 hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon-
30 strating within the narrow tomb the power
 of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense.
 There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great


Page 45


1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus
 vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law
3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place,
 crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting
 victory.

Victory over the grave

6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci-
 ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus'
 deed was for the enlightenment of men and
9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin,
 sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were
 enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death
12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
 by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked
 with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im-
15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre.

The stone rolled away

 Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts!
 Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu-
18 man hope and faith, and through the reve-
 lation and demonstration of life in God, hath
 elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual
21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.

After the resurrection

 They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection
 and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught,
24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples
 at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre,
 for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was:
27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
 The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit.
 He presented the same body that he had before his cru-
30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over
 matter.

 Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un-


Page 46


1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many
 wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion
3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them
 of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.

Spiritual interpretation

 In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends
6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them,
 and by the breaking of bread. The divine
 Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries
9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak
 through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the
 receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and
12 healing the sick.

Corporeality and Spirit

 The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit,
 and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses
15 that his body was not changed until he himself
 ascended, — or, in other words, rose even
 higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince
18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail-
 prints and the spear-wound.

Spiritual ascension

 Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed
21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma-
 terial conditions; and this exaltation explained
 his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a
24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave.
 Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for
 all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen-
27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose
 above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the
 material senses saw him no more.

Pentecostal power

30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is
 meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they
 were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci-


Page 47


1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment
 of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them
3 a faint conception of the Life which is God.
 They no longer measured man by material
 sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master,
6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter,
 but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of
 light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming
9 power as on the Day of Pentecost.

The traitor's conspiracy

 Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude
 and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal.
12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver
 and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his
 time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus'
15 teachings.

 A period was approaching which would reveal the in-
 finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas
18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of
 that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer,
 and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The
21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time
 quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally
 loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be-
24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti-
 mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the
 traitor fell with it.
27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last
 earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio-
 lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no
30 record.

Gethsemane glorified

 During his night of gloom and glory in the garden,
 Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi-


Page 48


1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the
 staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu-
3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could Ye
 not watch with me one hour?" Could they
 not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice-
6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world?
 There was no response to that human yearning, and so
 Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from
9 sense to Soul.

 Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy
 benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum-
12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the
 same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt-
 ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and
15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a
 life-work.

Defensive weapons

 Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one
18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence.
 "He opened not his mouth." The great dem-
 onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before
21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of
 his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re-
 sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy
24 sword."

Pilate's question

 Pale in the presence of his own momentous question,
 "What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence
27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate
 was ignorant of the consequences of his awful
 decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing
30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what
 life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for
 man.


Page 49


1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's
 question. They knew what had inspired their devotion,
3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand-
 ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples
 to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject
6 unto us through thy name."

Students' ingratitude

 Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were
 all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the
9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost
 sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations,
 sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre-
12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last
 human yearning with one sign of fidelity?

Heaven's sentinel

 The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc-
15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with
 God. No human eye was there to pity, no
 arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had
18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest
 post of power, charged with the grandest trust of
 heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing
21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ
 is not subject to material conditions, but is above the
 reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth,
24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and
 the grave.

Cruel contumely

 The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly
27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest
 proofs of divine power, mocked him on the
 cross, saying derisively, "He saved others;
30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned
 "aside the right of a man before the face of the Most
 High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God."


Page 50


1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
 before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide
 what truth and love are?

A cry of despair

 The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-
6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude
 of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful
 cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would
 impugn the justice and love of a father who could with-
 hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so
12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to
 his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself,
 Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken
15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling
 question. No! They must abide in him and he in them,
 or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the
18 human race.

Divine Science misunderstood

 If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo-
 ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses,
21 what would his accusers have said? Even
 what they did say, — that Jesus' teachings
 were false, and that all evidence of their cor-
24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying
 could not make it so.

The real pillory

 The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human
27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving
 the purpose of his mission, was a million
 times sharper than the thorns which pierced
30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill
 of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not
 the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful


Page 51


1 lips the plaintive cry, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" It
 was the possible loss of something more important than
3 human life which moved him, — the possible misappre-
 hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This
 dread added the drop of gall to his cup.

Life-power indestructible

6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies.
 He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his
 spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine;
9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc-
 tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish
 the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life
12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his
 enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom-
 plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal,
15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had
 no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no
 more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could
18 be extinguished.

Example for our salvation

 His consummate example was for the salvation of us
 all, but only through doing the works which he did and
21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing
 was not alone to restore health, but to demon-
 strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by
24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives
 of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance,
 inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin-
27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.

 Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him
 from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist
30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled
 Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the
 dead.


Page 52


Master's business

1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi-
 ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas-
3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He
 served God; they served mammon. His affec-
 tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in
6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their
 senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi-
 dence of sin, sickness, and death.

Purity's rebuke

9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present
 rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's
 hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the
12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would
 give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's
 graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace.
15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite
 in putting to shame and death the best man that ever
 trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again
18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.

Saviour's prediction

 The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing-
 ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-
21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were
 the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or
 Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-
24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human
 ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his
 disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:
27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
 also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."

Defamatory accusations

 The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra-
30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb-
 auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton
 and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils


Page 53


1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and
 sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their
3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did
 the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far
 removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene.
6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because
 he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.

Reputation and character

 The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his
9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and
 practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He
 was at work in divine Science. His words
12 and works were unknown to the world because above
 and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be-
 lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine,
15 infinite Love.

Inspiring discontent

 The world could not interpret aright the discomfort
 which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which
18 might flow from such discomfort. Science
 shows the cause of the shock so often pro-
 duced by the truth, — namely, that this shock arises from
21 the great distance between the individual and Truth.
 Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of
 denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which
24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.

Bearing our sins

 Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the
 mortal errors which constitute the material body, and
27 could destroy those errors; but at the time
 when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not
 conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma-
30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of
 spiritual power.

 Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would


Page 54


1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the
 magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine
3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de-
 fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished
 error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness,
6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified
 example introduced.

Inspiration of sacrifice

 Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All
9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true
 idea of God. That he might liberally pour
 his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-
12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus'
 intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com-
 mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and
15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over
 death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest
 proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers
18 understood neither his words nor his works. They
 would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor
 follow his example.

Spiritual friendship

21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the
 dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious
 friends, whose religion was something more
24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en-
 abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share
 the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol-
27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con-
 firmed the prediction.

Injustice to the Saviour

 If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on
30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro-
 fess to love him, reject him? Would they
 not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter-


Page 55


1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs?
 The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the
3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and
 usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but
 this does not affect the invincible facts.

6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more
 injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon
 the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now
9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the
 wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But
 that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a
12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be
 left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of
 the synagogue.

15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries,
 gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My
 weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall
18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as
 himself, — when he shall realize God's omnipotence and
 the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done
21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful-
 filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing
 is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly
24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's
 cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of
 Christian healing.

27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another
 Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." This
 Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.



Page 56


Chapter 3 — Marriage


 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
 asunder. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given
 in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Jesus.

1 WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism,
 John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus
3 added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us
 to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain
 cases) to material methods were for the advancement of
6 spiritual good.

Marriage temporal

 Marriage is the legal and moral provision for genera-
 tion among human kind. Until the spiritual creation
9 is discerned intact, is apprehended and under-
 stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision
 of the Apocalypse, — where the corporeal sense of crea-
12 tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from
 heaven, — marriage will continue, subject to such moral
 regulations as will secure increasing virtue.

Fidelity required

15 Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge
 of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
 ... the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
18 The commandment, "Thou shalt not com-
 mit adultery," is no less imperative than the one, "Thou
 shalt not kill."


Page 57


1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress.
 Without it there is no stability in society, and without it
3 one cannot attain the Science of Life.

Mental elements

 Union of the masculine and feminine qualities consti-
 tutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a
6 higher tone through certain elements of the
 feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour-
 age and strength through masculine qualities. These
9 different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and
 their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes
 should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac-
12 tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it
 is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like
 the returning spring.

Affection's demands

15 Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the
 demands of the affections, and should never weigh
 against the better claims of intellect, good-
18 ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual,
 born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore
 it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to
21 share it.

Help and discipline

 Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even
 though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, en-
24 larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry
 blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec-
 tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance
27 of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to
 God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases
 to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for
30 heaven.

 Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap-
 pointments it involves or the hopes it fulfils. To happify


Page 58


1 existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to
 elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of
3 spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping
 wings trail in dust.

Chord and discord

 Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the
6 human mind may be different, but they should be con-
 cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish
 ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, —
9 these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in-
 dividually and collectively true happiness, strength, and
 permanence.

Mutual freedom

12 There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the
 horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of
 all another's time and thoughts. With ad-
15 ditional joys, benevolence should grow more
 diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would
 confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will
18 not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love;
 but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant
 amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for
21 the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on
 earth, and it should be the centre, though not the bound-
 ary, of the affections.

A useful suggestion

24 Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more
 together than they eat separately." This is a hint that
 a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance
27 or stupid ease, because another supplies her
 wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the
 chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth-
30 ing can abolish the cares of marriage.

Differing duties

 "She that is married careth ... how she may please
 her husband," says the Bible; and this is the pleasantest


Page 59


1 thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into
 without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on
3 both sides. There should be the most tender
 solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu-
 tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years
6 of married life.

 Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact
 which might otherwise become unbearable. Man should
9 not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
 cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex-
 pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the
12 different demands of their united spheres, their sympa-
 thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each
 partner sustaining the other, — thus hallowing the union
15 of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace
 and home.

Trysting renewed

 Tender words and unselfish care in what promotes the
18 welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary
 in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid
 indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this
21 and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the
 old trysting-times.

 After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati-
24 bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should
 exist before this union and continue ever after, for decep-
 tion is fatal to happiness.

Permanent obligation

27 The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as
 its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency
 of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re-
30 lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal
 mistakes are undermining its foundations. Separation
 never should take place, and it never would, if both


Page 60


1 husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists.
 Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of
3 harmony and happiness.

Permanent affection

 Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary
 to the formation of a happy and permanent companion-
6 ship. The beautiful in character is also the
 good, welding indissolubly the links of affec-
 tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her
9 child, because the mother-love includes purity and con-
 stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal
 affection lives on under whatever difficulties.
12 From the logic of events we learn that selfishness
 and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will
 ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined
15 together.

Centre for affections

 Marriage should improve the human species, becoming
 a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to
18 man, and a centre for the affections. This,
 however, in a majority of cases, is not its
 present tendency, and why? Because the education of
21 the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations,
 — passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment,
 display, and pride, — occupy thought.

Spiritual concord

24 An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat-
 ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true
 happiness of being, places it on a false basis.
27 Science will correct the discord, and teach us
 life's sweeter harmonies.

 Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind,
30 and happiness would be more readily attained and would
 be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher
 enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal


Page 61


1 man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the
 limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real
3 enjoyment.

Ascendency of good

 The good in human affections must have ascendency
 over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi-
6 ness will never be won. The attainment of
 this celestial condition would improve our
 progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi-
9 tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every
 mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway
 of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring
12 of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better
 balanced minds, and sounder constitutions.

Propensities inherited

 If some fortuitous circumstance places promising chil-
15 dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful
 children early droop and die, like tropical
 flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance
18 they live to become parents in their turn, they may re-
 produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits
 of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble
21 ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities
 that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath-
 some wreck?

24 Is not the propagation of the human species a greater
 responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of
 your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks
27 and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be
 transmitted to children.

 The formation of mortals must greatly improve to
30 advance mankind. The scientific morale of marriage is
 spiritual unity. If the propagation of a higher human
 species is requisite to reach this goal, then its material con-


Page 62


1 ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener-
 ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the
3 period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity.

 The entire education of children should be such as to
 form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law,
6 with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-
 called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease.

Inheritance heeded

 If parents create in their babes a desire for incessant
9 amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked
 to, those parents should not, in after years,
 complain of their children's fretfulness or fri-
12 volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned.
 Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
 what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what
15 ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the
 rising generation than you dream. Children should be
 allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should
18 become men and women only through growth in the
 understanding of man's higher nature.

The Mind creative

 We must not attribute more and more intelligence
21 to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and
 healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the
 bud and blossom, will care for the human
24 body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter-
 fere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of
 erring, human concepts.

Superior law of Soul

27 The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower;
 if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed.
 Our false views of life hide eternal harmony,
30 and produce the ills of which we complain.
 Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the
 Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and


Page 63


1 the superior law of Soul last. You would never think
 that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease
3 than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science
 of being.

Spiritual origin

 In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti-
6 ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is
 not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor
 does he pass through material conditions prior
9 to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti-
 mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the
 law of his being.

The rights of woman

12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the
 rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no
 precedent for such injustice, and civilization
15 mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a
 marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than
 does either Christian Science or civilization.

Unfair discrimination

18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their
 discrimination as to the person, property, and parental
 claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran-
21 chise for women will remedy the evil with-
 out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us
 hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational
24 means of improvement at present is the elevation of
 society in general and the achievement of a nobler
 race for legislation, — a race having higher aims and
27 motives.

 If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the
 wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be
30 allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business
 agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her
 children free from interference.


Page 64


1 Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the
 selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers
3 exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle
 James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before
 God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and
6 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
 from the world."

Benevolence hindered

 Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to
9 be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris-
 tianity. When a man lends a helping hand
 to some noble woman, struggling alone with
12 adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to
 interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is
 sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from
15 giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would
 afford.

Progressive development

 Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Further-
18 more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he
 declared that in the resurrection there should
 be no more marrying nor giving in marriage,
21 but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re-
 joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then
 white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis-
24 dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per-
 petual peace.

 Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar-
27 riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard
 of law which might lead to a worse state of society than
 now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of
30 the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its
 own, — all that really is, — and the voices of physical
 sense will be forever hushed.


Page 65


Blessing of Christ

1 Experience should be the school of virtue, and human
 happiness should proceed from man's highest nature.
3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal
 altar to turn the water into wine and to give to
 human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and
6 eternal existence may be discerned.

Righteous foundations

 If the foundations of human affection are consistent
 with progress, they will be strong and enduring. Divorces
9 should warn the age of some fundamental error
 in the marriage state. The union of the sexes
 suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its
12 harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.

Powerless promises

 The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day
 show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of
15 the age, struggling against the advancing
 spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of
 Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home
18 happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher
 affection.

Transition and reform

 There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many
21 other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of
 truth, and impurity and error are left among
 the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is
24 not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never
 desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once
 a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot-
27 ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more
 spiritual adherence.

 The mental chemicalization, which has brought con-
30 jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off
 this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum
 is gone.



Page 66



 Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of
 humanity:
3  Sweet are the uses of adversity;
      Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
      Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Salutary sorrow

6 Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, —
 a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not
 half remember this in the sunshine of joy
9 and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through
 great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are
 proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi-
12 nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes,
 but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher
 joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc-
15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine
 goodness and love.

 Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re-
18 member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal
 infelicity, it is well to hope, pray, and wait patiently on
 divine wisdom to point out the path.

Patience is wisdom

21 Husbands and wives should never separate if there
 is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the
 logic of events than for a wife precipitately
24 to leave her husband or for a husband to
 leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must
 always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good
27 company. Socrates considered patience salutary under
 such circumstances, making his Xantippe a discipline for
 his philosophy.

The gold and dross

30 Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us
 where it found us. The furnace separates
 the gold from the dross that the precious metal may


Page 67


1 be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father
 hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons
3 He teaches?

Weathering the storm

 When the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds
 lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds,
6 and the waves lift themselves into mountains.
 We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your
 course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He
9 answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not
 sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the
 Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under-
12 standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on
 and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves
 on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work-
15 ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible
 propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens
 the troubled sea.

Spiritual power

18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force
 to character is too absurd for consideration, when we
 remember that through spiritual ascendency
21 our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised
 the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to
 obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other
24 means and methods.

 The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration
 of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor
27 of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is
 needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death
 presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal.

Basis of true religion

30 Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains
 and pleasures, but Jesus rebuked the suffering from any
 such cause or effect. The epoch approaches when the


Page 68


1 understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of
 true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for
3 fear of being thought ridiculous. They are
 slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some-
 time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has
6 created men and women in Science. We ought to weary
 of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which
 hinders our highest selfhood.

9 Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of
 mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers
 of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not
12 in haste to take the vow "until death do us part."
 Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela-
 tions to your growth and to your influence on other
15 lives.

Insanity and agamogenesis

 I never knew more than one individual who believed
 in agamogenesis; she was unmarried, a lovely charac-
18 ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and
 a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named
 her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon
21 the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder
 and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since
 salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per-
24 petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is
 evident, but I discredit the belief that agamogenesis
 applies to the human species.

God's creation intact

27 Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion;
 it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind,
 but an impartation of the divine Mind to man
30 and the universe. Proportionately as human
 generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, har-
 monious being will be spiritually discerned; and man,


Page 69


1 not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will
 appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe
3 are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in
 divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense
 of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.
6 Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ-
 ing that man is a creator. God's children already created
 will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being.
9 Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion
 as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry
 or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con-
12 tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in-
 finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but
 one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip-
15 tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain,
 and of man deathless and perfect and eternal.

 If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring
18 spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not
 conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some
 day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First
21 Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or
 is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates
 man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach
24 that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that
 Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques-
 tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry,
27 and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac-
 counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur-
 rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
30 marriage."



Page 70


Chapter 4 — Christian Science versus Spiritualism


 And when they shall say unto you,
 Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
 And unto wizards that peep and that mutter;
 Should not a people seek unto their God?
— ISAIAH.

 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he
 shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we
 know that thou hast a devil.
John.

The infinite one Spirit

1 MORTAL existence is an enigma. Every day is a
 mystery. The testimony of the corporeal senses
3 cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive, but
 the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures
 of Truth. Whatever is false or sinful can
6 never enter the atmosphere of Spirit. There
 is but one Spirit. Man is never God, but spiritual man,
 made in God's likeness, reflects God. In this scientific
9 reflection the Ego and the Father are inseparable. The
 supposition that corporeal beings are spirits, or that there
 are good and evil spirits, is a mistake.

Real and unreal identity

12 The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade
 of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The
 questions are: What are God's identities?
15 What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing
 formed?


Page 71


1 Nothing is real and eternal, — nothing is Spirit, — but
 God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither
3 person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion
 of material sense.

 The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever;
6 but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not in Spirit's
 formations. Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the
 creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form,
9 which forms only reflect.

Dream-lessons

 Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a
 flower, — that you touch and smell it. Thus you learn
12 that the flower is a product of the so-called
 mind, a formation of thought rather than of
 matter. Close your eyes again, and you may see land-
15 scapes, men, and women. Thus you learn that these
 also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves
 and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence. From
18 dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor
 matter is the image or likeness of God, and that im-
 mortal Mind is not in matter.

Found wanting

21 When the Science of Mind is understood, spiritualism
 will be found mainly erroneous, having no scientific basis
 nor origin, no proof nor power outside of
24 human testimony. It is the offspring of the
 physical senses. There is no sensuality in Spirit. I never
 could believe in spiritualism.

27 The basis and structure of spiritualism are alike ma-
 terial and physical. Its spirits are so many corporealities,
 limited and finite in character and quality. Spiritualism
30 therefore presupposes Spirit, which is ever infinite, to be
 a corporeal being, a finite form, — a theory contrary to
 Christian Science.


Page 72


1 There is but one spiritual existence, — the Life of
 which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The
3 divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense.
 If a material body — in other words, mortal, material
 sense — were permeated by Spirit, that body would
6 disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A con-
 dition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of
 spiritual life.

Spirits obsolete

9 So-called spirits are but corporeal communicators. As
 light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all
 is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God,
12 is the only truth-giver to man. Truth de-
 stroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal
 belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth
15 (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which
 are not united by progress, but separated.

 Perfection is not expressed through imperfection.
18 Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the anti-
 pode of Spirit. Error is not a convenient sieve through
 which truth can be strained.

Scientific phenomena

21 God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine
 logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never
 present. In Science, individual good derived
24 from God, the infinite All-in-all, may flow
 from the departed to mortals; but evil is neither com-
 municable nor scientific. A sinning, earthly mortal is
27 not the reality of Life nor the medium through which
 truth passes to earth. The joy of intercourse becomes
 the jest of sin, when evil and suffering are communicable.
30 Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the com-
 municator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and
 humanity. As readily can you mingle fire and frost as


Page 73


1 Spirit and matter. In either case, one does not support
 the other.

3 Spiritualism calls one person, living in this world, ma-
 terial
, but another, who has died to-day a sinner and sup-
 posedly will return to earth to-morrow, it terms a spirit.
6 The fact is that neither the one nor the other is infinite
 Spirit, for Spirit is God, and man is His likeness.

One government

 The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an-
9 other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and
 the Science of man, for man is image. God
 controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any
12 other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal
 belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, — the repe-
 tition of evil.

15 If Spirit, or God, communed with mortals or controlled
 them through electricity or any other form of matter, the
 divine order and the Science of omnipotent, omnipresent
18 Spirit would be destroyed.

Incorrect theories

 The belief that material bodies return to dust, hereafter
 to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and
21 desires, is incorrect. Equally incorrect is the
 belief that spirit is confined in a finite, ma-
 terial body, from which it is freed by death, and that, when
24 it is freed from the material body, spirit retains the sensa-
 tions belonging to that body.

No mediumship

 It is a grave mistake to suppose that matter is any part
27 of the reality of intelligent existence, or that Spirit and
 matter, intelligence and non-intelligence, can
 commune together. This error Science will
30 destroy. The sensual cannot be made the mouthpiece of
 the spiritual, nor can the finite become the channel of
 the infinite. There is no communication between so-


Page 74


1 called material existence and spiritual life which is not
 subject to death.

Opposing conditions

3 To be on communicable terms with Spirit, persons must
 be free from organic bodies; and their return to a mate-
 rial condition, after having once left it, would
6 be as impossible as would be the restoration
 to its original condition of the acorn, already absorbed
 into a sprout which has risen above the soil. The seed
9 which has germinated has a new form and state of exist-
 ence. When here or hereafter the belief of life in matter
 is extinct, the error which has held the belief dissolves
12 with the belief, and never returns to the old condition.
 No correspondence nor communion can exist between
 persons in such opposite dreams as the belief of having
15 died and left a material body and the belief of still living
 in an organic, material body.

Bridgeless division

 The caterpillar, transformed into a beautiful insect,
18 is no longer a worm, nor does the insect return to
 fraternize with or control the worm. Such
 a backward transformation is impossible in
21 Science. Darkness and light, infancy and manhood,
 sickness and health, are opposites, — different beliefs,
 which never blend. Who will say that infancy can utter
24 the ideas of manhood, that darkness can represent light,
 that we are in Europe when we are in the opposite hemi-
 sphere? There is no bridge across the gulf which divides
27 two such opposite conditions as the spiritual, or incor-
 poreal, and the physical, or corporeal.

 In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step,
30 never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead
 and living cannot commune together, for they are in
 separate states of existence, or consciousness.


Page 75


Unscientific investiture

1 This simple truth lays bare the mistaken assumption
 that man dies as matter but comes to life as spirit. The
3 so-called dead, in order to reappear to those
 still in the existence cognized by the physical
 senses, would need to be tangible and material, — to have
6 a material investiture, — or the material senses could take
 no cognizance of the so-called dead.

 Spiritualism would transfer men from the spiritual sense
9 of existence back into its material sense. This gross mate-
 rialism is scientifically impossible, since to infinite Spirit
 there can be no matter.

Raising the dead

12 Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;
 but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus
 restored Lazarus by the understanding that
15 Lazarus had never died, not by an admis-
 sion that his body had died and then lived again. Had
 Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his
18 body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of
 belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have
 resuscitated it.

21 When you can waken yourself or others out of the belief
 that all must die, you can then exercise Jesus' spiritual
 power to reproduce the presence of those who have thought
24 they died, — but not otherwise.

Vision of the dying

 There is one possible moment, when those living on the
 earth and those called dead, can commune together, and
27 that is the moment previous to the transition,
 — the moment when the link between their op-
 posite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through
30 which we pass from one dream to another dream, or
 when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities
 of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those


Page 76


1 who have gone before. The ones departing may whisper
 this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the
3 hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes
 open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes
 aloud his rapture.

Real Life is God

6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as
 neither material nor finite, but as infinite, — as God,
 universal good; and the belief that life, or
9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in
 evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that
 Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never
12 raised from matter. When advanced to spiritual being
 and the understanding of God, man can no longer com-
 mune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more
15 than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem
 to be corporeal, but he will be an individual conscious-
 ness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter.

18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When
 divine Science is universally understood, they will have
 no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by
21 divine authority.

Immaterial pleasure

 The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality
 of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness
24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, —
 constitutes the only veritable, indestructible
 man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence
27 is scientific and intact, — a perfection discernible only
 by those who have the final understanding of Christ in
 divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of
30 existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to,
 before immortality appears.

 The recognition of Spirit and of infinity comes not


Page 77


1 suddenly here or hereafter. The pious Polycarp said:
 "I cannot turn at once from good to evil." Neither do
3 other mortals accomplish the change from error to truth
 at a single bound.

Second death

 Existence continues to be a belief of corporeal sense
6 until the Science of being is reached. Error brings its
 own self-destruction both here and hereafter,
 for mortal mind creates its own physical con-
9 ditions. Death will occur on the next plane of existence
 as on this, until the spiritual understanding of Life is
 reached. Then, and not until then, will it be demon-
12 strated that "the second death hath no power."

A dream vanishing

 The period required for this dream of material life,
 embracing its so-called pleasures and pains, to vanish
15 from consciousness, "knoweth no man ...
 neither the Son, but the Father." This period
 will be of longer or shorter duration according to the
18 tenacity of error. Of what advantage, then, would it be
 to us, or to the departed, to prolong the material state and
 so prolong the illusion either of a soul inert or of a sinning,
21 suffering sense, — a so-called mind fettered to matter.

Progress and purgatory

 Even if communications from spirits to mortal con-
 sciousness were possible, such communications would
24 grow beautifully less with every advanced stage
 of existence. The departed would gradually
 rise above ignorance and materiality, and Spiritualists
27 would outgrow their beliefs in material spiritualism.
 Spiritism consigns the so-called dead to a state resembling
 that of blighted buds, — to a wretched purgatory, where
30 the chances of the departed for improvement narrow
 into nothing and they return to their old standpoints of
 matter.


Page 78


Unnatural deflections

1 The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak,
 the ferocious beast, — like the discords of disease, sin,
3 and death, — are unnatural. They are the fal-
 sities of sense, the changing deflections of mor-
 tal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind.

Absurd oracles

6 How unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing
 out life and hastening to death, and that at the same
 time we are communing with immortality!
9 If the departed are in rapport with mor-
 tality, or matter, they are not spiritual, but must still
 be mortal, sinning, suffering, and dying. Then why
12 look to them — even were communication possible — for
 proofs of immortality, and accept them as oracles? Com-
 munications gathered from ignorance are pernicious in
15 tendency.

 Spiritualism with its material accompaniments would
 destroy the supremacy of Spirit. If Spirit pervades all
18 space, it needs no material method for the transmission
 of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order
 to be omnipresent.

Spirit intangible

21 Spirit is not materially tangible. How then can it
 communicate with man through electric, material effects?
 How can the majesty and omnipotence of
24 Spirit be lost? God is not in the medley
 where matter cares for matter, where spiritism makes
 many gods, and hypnotism and electricity are claimed
27 to be the agents of God's government.

 Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence
 it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are
30 comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the
 effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling
 in eternal Science.


Page 79


Thought regarding death

1 The act of describing disease — its symptoms, locality,
 and fatality — is not scientific. Warning people against
3 death is an error that tends to frighten into
 death those who are ignorant of Life as God.
 Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored
6 by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death.

Fallacious hypotheses

 A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the
 use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma-
9 nent health. Science must go over the whole
 ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow-
 ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy-
12 potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and
 hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for
 Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma-
15 terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro-
 duces the harmony of being.

 Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle
18 Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ.
 Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My
 Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de-
21 scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels,
 but he healed disease.

Mistaken methods

 The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your
24 brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is
 weak, and it must be strengthened. You have
 nervous prostration, and must be treated for it."
27 Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in-
 telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.

Divine strength

 Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary
30 in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing
 good. Giving does not impoverish us in the
 service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.


Page 80


1 We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of
 the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving
3 utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal
 of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for
 the support of bodily endurance.

A denial of immortality

6 A communication purporting to come from the late
 Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was,
 and there never will be, an immortal spirit."
9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen-
 tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica-
 tions are our only proofs of immortality.

Mysticism unscientific

12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy
 of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their
 views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual-
15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and
 explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never
 removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the
18 realm of mysticism.

Physical falsities

 It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the
 aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know
21 that it is mind-power which moves both table
 and hand. Even planchette — the French toy
 which years ago pleased so many people — attested the con-
24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.

 It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.
 These movements arise from the volition of human belief,
27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind
 produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and
 believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec-
30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that
 mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly,
 hence that matter is intelligent.


Page 81


Poor post-mortem evidence

1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni-
 cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there
3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has
 sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by
 the Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the
6 Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish.

No proof of immortality

 At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism
 can only prove that certain individuals have a continued
9 existence after death and maintain their affili-
 ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords
 no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that
12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op-
 posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor-
 tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits
15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof
 of immortality.

Mind's manifestations immortal

 Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can-
18 not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to
 wither and the flower to fade, they reappear.
 Erase the figures which express number, silence
21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body
 called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine
 Principle lives on, — in the case of man as truly as in
24 the case of numbers and of music, — despite the so-called
 laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though
 the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the
27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine
 Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de-
 pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary
30 consequence of the immortality of good.

Reading thoughts

 That somebody, somewhere, must have known the
 deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is


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1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.
 We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one
3 present. It is no more difficult to read the
 absent mind than it is to read the present.
 Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought
6 in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of
 the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist-
 ence we may be in doubt?

Impossible intercommunion

9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they
 cannot return to material existence, because different
 states of consciousness are involved, and one
12 person cannot exist in two different states of
 consciousness at the same time. In sleep we
 do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite
15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un-
 conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ-
 ent mazes of consciousness.

18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed
 friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of
 existence as before the change we call death, that their
21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We
 are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm
 in which we dwell. Communion between them and
24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The
 mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as
 impossible as it would be between a mole and a human
27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be-
 token a differing consciousness. When wandering in
 Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their
30 snow huts?

 In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
 greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to


Page 83


1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine
 Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of
3 Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet
 artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the
 work of wisdom.

6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil
 elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find
 refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter
9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science
 than a blind belief without understanding, for such a
 belief hides Truth and builds on error.

Natural wonders

12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science
 takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani-
 festation of power is from the divine nature
15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an
 explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in-
 cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but
18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, — this be-
 lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the
 precedence over Spirit.

Conflicting standpoints

21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life
 is either material or organically spiritual. Between
 Christian Science and all forms of superstition
24 a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be-
 tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading
 and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation
27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by
 which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of
 all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-
30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which
 cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading
 mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs.


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1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the
 premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs.

Scientific foreseeing

3 The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a
 spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing
 evil and mistaking fact for fiction, — predict-
6 ing the future from a groundwork of corpo-
 reality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced
 in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men
9 become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not
 by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.
 It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and
12 of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know
 the past, the present, and the future.

 Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to
15 commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee
 and foretell events which concern the universal welfare,
 to be divinely inspired, — yea, to reach the range of fetter-
18 less Mind.

The Mind unbounded

 To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by
 corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for
21 sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones
 for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind-
 science by which we discern man's nature and existence.
24 This true conception of being destroys the belief of spirit-
 ualism at its very inception, for without the concession of
 material personalities called spirits, spiritualism has no
27 basis upon which to build.

Scientific foreknowing

 All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine
 Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian
30 Science. If this Science has been thoroughly
 learned and properly digested, we can know
 the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read


Page 85


1 the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading
 is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of
3 the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the ca-
 pacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense
 comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the
6 divine Mind.

Value of intuition

 Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and per-
 petuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not
9 evil. You will reach the perfect Science of
 healing when you are able to read the human
 mind after this manner and discern the error you would
12 destroy. The Samaritan woman said: "Come, see a
 man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this
 the Christ?"

15 It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his
 students, "knew their thoughts," — read them scientifi-
 cally. In like manner he discerned disease and healed
18 the sick. After the same method, events of great mo-
 ment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets. Our
 Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said:
21 "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky;
 but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

Hypocrisy condemned

 Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal
24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the
 generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek-
 ing the material more than the spiritual. His
27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never
 spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation.. He said:
 "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and
 effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never
 imparts error.


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Mental contact

1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing
 this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone,
3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng
 thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that
 it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called
6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the
 faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this
 mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples'
9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus
 possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples.
 Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce
12 unlike results.

Images of thought

 Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear
 to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste-
15 rious only because it is unusual to see
 thoughts, though we can always feel their
 influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual
18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances
 either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and
 sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing
21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then
 why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one?
 Education alone determines the difference. In reality
24 there is none.

Phenomena explained

 Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman-
 ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences,
27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and
 memory as readily as from objects cognizable
 by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as
30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and
 sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed
 before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it


Page 87


1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive
 these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce
3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind
 in which they are discoverable.

Mental environment

 It is needless for the thought or for the person hold-
6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con-
 sciously present. Though individuals have
 passed away, their mental environment re-
9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though
 bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten,
 their associations float in the general atmosphere of human
12 mind.

Second sight

 The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when
 really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents
15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables
 one to read the human mind, but not as a
 clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but
18 not as a mesmerist.

Buried secrets

 The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its
 rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns,
21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships
 that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which
 lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not
24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do
 not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The
 strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend-
27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind-
 readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions.

Recollected friends

 Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We
30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise
 before us, which are thousands of miles away
 or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and


Page 88


1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can
 recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the
3 heart's desire, —
      the touch of a vanished hand,
      And the sound of a voice that is still.

6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and
 odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent
 salutes the nostrils.

Illusions not ideas

9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il-
 lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are
 emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts,
12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are
 offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be-
 liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs
15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one
 time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another
 are called spirits.

18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea;
 but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood
 through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven-
21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests
 profound adoration. Excite the opposite development,
 and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro-
24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena,
 for both arise from mortal belief.

Trance speaking illusion

 Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love.
27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows
 the possibilities derived from divine Mind,
 though it is said to be a gift whose endowment
30 is obtained from books or received from the
 impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds
 from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who


Page 89


1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know-
 ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the
3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno-
 rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through
 her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav-
6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing
 that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she
 talks freely.

9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence
 disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She
 says, " I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un-
12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip-
 tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart,
 so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with-
15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds
 to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before
 was eloquent.

Scientific improvisation

18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational
 processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry,
 and the power of expressing them. Spirit,
21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We
 are all capable of more than we do. The influence or
 action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe-
24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.

Divine origination

 Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is
 not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of
27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain
 very naturally concluded that if life was in the
 body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away.
30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was
 "a murderer from the beginning."

 If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to


Page 90


1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another,
 how then can we account for their primal origin? How
3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of
 Galilee, — and that, too, without meal or monad from
 which loaf or fish could come?

Mind is substance

6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the
 equator are not substance. The earth's motion and
 position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest
9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub-
 stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now
 possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally
12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized
 as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now
 some insist that death is the necessary prelude to
15 immortality.

Mortal delusions

 In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend.
 The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed
18 inhabitant of that body carries it through
 the air and over the ocean. This shows the
 possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men-
21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay
 in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and
 knowledge are.

Scientific finalities

24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like-
 ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con-
 viction shuts the door on death, and opens it
27 wide towards immortality. The understanding
 and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may
 as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being
30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present
 we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know
 this when man reflects God.


Page 91


1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a
 new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and
3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme
 wisdom?

 Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated
6 from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and
 Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true
 spiritual growth.

Man's genuine being

9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science,
 because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner
 error is reduced to its native nothingness, the
12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his
 genuine being will be understood. The destruction of
 error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but
15 is the acknowledgment of them.

 Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect
 but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of
18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit-
 ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous
 knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed
21 the material senses.

Erroneous postulates

 Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered
 in order that the spiritual facts may be better
24 apprehended.

 The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance,
 life, and intelligence are something apart from God.
27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both
 mental and material.

 The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil
30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the
 medium of evil, for Mind is God.

 The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in-


Page 92


1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part
 of himself.

3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in
 itself the issues of life and death, — that matter is not
 only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also
6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion
 implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of
 mortal bodies in what is termed death.
9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power
 of sinning now and forever.

Knowledge of good and evil

 In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around
12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve.
 This represents the serpent in the act of
 commending to our first parents the knowl-
15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter,
 or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still
 graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor-
18 tal man — a burlesque of God's man — is an outgrowth
 of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of
 material sense.

Opposing power

21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until
 the fact concerning error — namely, its nothingness —
 appears, the moral demand will not be met,
24 and the ability to make nothing of error will
 be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is
 only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support
 two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
 alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
 the superiority of error.

The age's privilege

 Do you say the time has not yet come in which to


Page 93


1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the
 body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries
3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said,
 "He that believeth on me, the works that I
 do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour
6 cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
 worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold,
 now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of sal-
9 vation," said Paul.

Logic and revelation

 Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe
 otherwise, we may be sure that either our
12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted
 revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught
 that can cause evil.

15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing
 evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of
 creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in-
18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the
 divine Esse, though human faith may clothe it with angelic
 vestments, is without foundation.

Derivatives of spirit

21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has
 darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a
 proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being.
24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex-
 clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word
 spirit refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual.
27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men
 would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal,
 and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi-
30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to
 becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and
 of the reign of harmony in the Science of being.


Page 94


Scientific man

1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man
 in the image and likeness of Himself, — of Spirit, not of
3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and
 Love. The nature of man, thus understood,
 includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and
6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian
 and scientific statement of personality and of the relation
 of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa-
9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him,
 crucify him ... by our law he ought to die, because he
 made himself the Son of God."

12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov-
 ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent.
 Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found,
15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the
 pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.

Ingratitude and denial

 The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our
18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing-
 power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be-
 trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten
21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God
 thanks, — that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle
 which had healed him.

Spiritual insight

24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and
 this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts
 aright; but what would be said at this period of an in-
27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in-
 cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind
 on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind.
30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual
 growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one
 Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading.


Page 95


1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save,
 and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal
3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra-
 duced by the sinners of that period, as they
 would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul
6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach
 God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel-
 ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all
9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the
 sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.
 Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.

12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good-
 ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The
 greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern
15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit-
 uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance,
 but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the
18 special characteristics thereof.

Christ's reappearance

 We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end
 of error, because even human invention must have its
21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded
 by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid-
 night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid
24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship
 of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he
 beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn
27 and describes its effulgence?

Spiritual awakening

 Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep
 in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.
30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of
 existence; but spiritual sense lifts human
 consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances


Page 96


1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding;
 unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen-
3 dom with chains.

The darkest hours of all

 Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir-
 itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error
6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup-
 tions of the general material routine. Earth
 will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter,
9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will
 continue unto the end, — until the final spiritualization of
 all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."

Arena of contest

12 This material world is even now becoming the arena
 for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord
 and dismay; on the other side there will be
15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-
 rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want
 and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new
18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-
 ances will continue until the end of error, when all
 discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.

21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization.
 This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue
 until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is
24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

Millennial glory

 As this consummation draws nearer, he who has
 shaped his course in accordance with divine Science
27 will endure to the end. As material knowl-
 edge diminishes and spiritual understanding
 increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally
30 instead of materially.

 During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor
 to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but


Page 97


1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in
 check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They
3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the
 certainty of ultimate perfection.

Dangerous resemblances

 In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and
6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the
 more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac-
 cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce
9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science
 the flight of one and the blow of the other will become
 harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the
12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches
 its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The
 nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing
15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine
 Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes
 for destruction. The more material the belief, the more
18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do-
 main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like-
 ness of Spirit, his original being.

21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against
 themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It
 requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth
24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in-
 articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.

 "He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip-
27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the
 supremacy of Spirit.

Christianity still rejected

 Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is
30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos-
 tolic work of casting out error and healing the
 sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which


Page 98


1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom-
 pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex-
3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.

Spiritual foreshadowings

 The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon
 the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris-
6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error,
 and no other sign shall be given. Body can-
 not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris-
9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the
 healing influence of Spirit (not spirits) which the material
 senses cannot comprehend, — which can only be spiritu-
12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses
 do not express Christian Science; much less can they
 demonstrate it.

Revelation of Science

15 Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the
 loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian
 Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical
18 Science. It is imperious throughout all ages
 as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which
 remains inviolate for every man to understand and to
21 practise.

Science as foreign to all religion

 For centuries — yea, always — natural science has not
 been considered a part of any religion, Christianity not
24 excepted. Even now multitudes consider that
 which they call science has no proper con-
 nection with faith and piety. Mystery does
27 not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theo-
 retical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and
 being practical and complete, they are not deprived of
30 their essential vitality.

Key to the kingdom

 The way through which immortality and life are learned
 is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine,


Page 99


1 not physical but metaphysical, not material but scien-
 tifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and super-
3 stition afford no demonstrable divine Principle
 by which mortals can escape from sin; yet
 to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work
6 out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says
 the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God
 which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
9 pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished
 the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Sci-
 ence has opened the door of the human understanding.
12 None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door.
 The ordinary teachings are material and not spiritual.
 Christian Science teaches only that which is spiritual and
15 divine, and not human. Christian Science is unerring
 and Divine; the human sense of things errs because it
 is human.

18 Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism,
 or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others
 who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is
21 not with the individual, but with the false system. I
 love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure.

 The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the
24 manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-
 immolation, must deepen human experience, until the
 beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposi-
27 tion, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place
 to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to
 God's spiritual, perfect man.



Page 100


Chapter 5 — Animal Magnetism Unmasked


 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
 adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
 blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.

  — Jesus.

Earliest investigations

1 MESMERISM or animal magnetism was first brought
 into notice by Mesmer in Germany in 1775. Ac-
3 cording to the American Cyclopaedia, he regarded this
 so-called force, which he said could be ex-
 erted by one living organism over another, as
6 a means of alleviating disease. His propositions were
 as follows:

 "There exists a mutual influence between the celestial
9 bodies, the earth, and animated things. Animal bodies
 are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminat-
 ing itself through the substance of the nerves."

12 In 1784, the French government ordered the medical
 faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory and to
 report upon it. Under this order a commission was
15 appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the com-
 missioners. This commission reported to the govern-
 ment as follows:

18 "In regard to the existence and utility of animal mag-
 netism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that
 there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic


Page 101


1 fluid; that the violent effects, which are observed in
 the public practice of magnetism, are due to manipula-
3 tions, or to the excitement of the imagination and the
 impressions made upon the senses; and that there is one
 more fact to be recorded in the history of the errors of
6 the human mind, and an important experiment upon
 the power of the imagination."

Clairvoyance, magnetism

 In 1837, a committee of nine persons was appointed,
9 among whom were Roux, Bouillaud, and Clo-
 quet, which tested during several sessions the
 phenomena exhibited by a reputed clairvoyant. Their
12 report stated the results as follows:

 "The facts which had been promised by Monsieur
 Berna [the magnetizer] as conclusive, and as adapted to
15 throw light on physiological and therapeutical questions,
 are certainly not conclusive in favor of the doctrine of
 animal magnetism, and have nothing in common with
18 either physiology or therapeutics."

 This report was adopted by the Royal Academy of
 Medicine in Paris.

Personal conclusions

21 The author's own observations of the workings of
 animal magnetism convince her that it is not
 a remedial agent, and that its effects upon
24 those who practise it, and upon their subjects who do
 not resist it, lead to moral and to physical death.

 If animal magnetism seems to alleviate or to cure dis-
27 ease, this appearance is deceptive, since error cannot
 remove the effects of error. Discomfort under error is
 preferable to comfort. In no instance is the effect of
30 animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other
 than the effect of illusion. Any seeming benefit derived
 from it is proportional to one's faith in esoteric magic.


Page 102


Mere negation

1 Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation, for
 God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and
3 His power is neither animal nor human. Its
 basis being a belief and this belief animal, in
 Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism is
6 a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power,
 nor reality, and in sense it is an unreal concept of the so-
 called mortal mind.

9 There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The
 pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-
 embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind.

12 The planets have no more power over man than over
 his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man,
 reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth
15 and its hosts.

Hidden agents

 The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappear-
 ing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front.
18 The looms of crime, hidden in the dark re-
 cesses of mortal thought, are every hour weav-
 ing webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the
21 present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare
 the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on
 the subject which the criminal desires. The following
24 is an extract from the Boston Herald:

 "Mesmerism is a problem not lending itself to an easy
 explanation and development. It implies the exercise
27 of despotic control, and is much more likely to be abused
 by its possessor, than otherwise employed, for the in-
 dividual or society."

Mental despotism

30 Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-
 called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian
 Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently


Page 103


1 promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore
 in the community. The Apostle Paul refers to the
3 personification of evil as "the god of this
 world," and further defines it as dishonesty
 and craftiness. Sin was the Assyrian moon-god.

Liberation of mental powers

6 The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through
 Science, by which man can escape from sin
 and mortality, blesses the whole human fam-
9 ily. As in the beginning, however, this libera-
 tion does not scientifically show itself in a knowledge of
 both good and evil, for the latter is unreal.

12 On the other hand, Mind-science is wholly separate
 from any half-way impertinent knowledge, because Mind-
 science is of God and demonstrates the divine Principle,
15 working out the purposes of good only. The maximum
 of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all.
 Evil is a suppositional lie.

The genus of error

18 As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or
 hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind.
 It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and
21 is both evil and good; that evil is as real as
 good and more powerful. This belief has not one qual-
 ity of Truth. It is either ignorant or malicious. The
24 malicious form of hypnotism ultimates in moral idiocy.
 The truths of immortal Mind sustain man, and they anni-
 hilate the fables of mortal mind, whose flimsy and gaudy
27 pretensions, like silly moths, singe their own wings and
 fall into dust.

Thought-transference

 In reality there is no mortal mind, and conse-
30 quently no transference of mortal thought
 and will-power. Life and being are of
 God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for


Page 104


1 scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God
 to man.

3 When Christian Science and animal magnetism are
 both comprehended, as they will be at no distant date,
 it will be seen why the author of this book has been
6 so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep's
 clothing.

 Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has
9 wisely said: "Every great scientific truth goes through
 three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.
 Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly,
12 they say they have always believed it."

Perfection of divine government

 Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action,
 and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of
15 all divine action, as the emanation of divine
 Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the
 opposite so-called action, — evil, occultism,
18 necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism.

Adulteration of Truth

 The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty,
 sensuality, falsehood, revenge, malice, are animal pro-
21 pensities and by no means the mental quali-
 ties which heal the sick. The hypnotizer
 employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sick-
24 ness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the
 sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the
 lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground,
27 leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the
 stronger error.

Motives considered

 Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as
30 well as the commission of a crime. Is it not
 clear that the human mind must move the
 body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the mur-


Page 105


1 derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them,
 could not commit a murder.

Mental crimes

3 Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order
 to restrain crime, to prevent deeds of violence or to punish
 them. To say that these tribunals have no
6 jurisdiction over the carnal or mortal mind,
 would be to contradict precedent and to admit that the
 power of human law is restricted to matter, while mortal
9 mind, evil, which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is
 recommended to mercy. Can matter commit a crime?
 Can matter be punished? Can you separate the men-
12 tality from the body over which courts hold jurisdiction?
 Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case;
 and human law rightly estimates crime, and courts rea-
15 sonably pass sentence, according to the motive.

Important decision

 When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental
 crime and no longer apply legal rulings wholly to physical
18 offences, these words of Judge Parmenter of
 Boston will become historic: "I see no reason
 why metaphysics is not as important to medicine as to
21 mechanics or mathematics."

Evil let loose

 Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es-
 caped felon to commit fresh atrocities as opportunity oc-
24 curs is never safe. God will arrest him. Di-
 vine justice will manacle him. His sins will
 be millstones about his neck, weighing him down to the
27 depths of ignominy and death. The aggravation of er-
 ror foretells its doom, and confirms the ancient axiom:
 "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

The misuse of mental power

30 The distance from ordinary medical prac-
 tice to Christian Science is full many a league
 in the line of light; but to go in healing from the use of


Page 106


1 inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will-
 power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood
3 into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free
 course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against
 the current running heavenward.

Proper self-government

6 Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration
 of Independence. God has endowed man with inalien-
 able rights, among which are self-government,
9 reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-
 governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by
 his Maker, divine Truth and Love.

12 Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in-
 terfered with, and the mental trespasser incurs the divine
 penalty due this crime.

Right methods

15 Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian
 Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable
 in Truth and known by their fruit, and classify
18 all others as did St. Paul in his great epistle
 to the Galatians, when he wrote as follows:

 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
21 these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
 strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
24 revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before,
 as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
 such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But
27 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against
 such there is no law."



Page 107


Chapter 6 — Science, Theology, Medicine


 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
 of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither
 was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul.

 The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
 took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
 was leavened.
Jesus.

Christian Science discovered

1 In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or
 divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and
3 named my discovery Christian Science. God
 had been graciously preparing me during many
 years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab-
6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.

Mission of Christian Science

 This apodictical Principle points to the revelation of
 Immanuel, "God with us," — the sovereign ever-pres-
9 ence, delivering the children of men from
 every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through
 Christian Science, religion and medicine are
12 inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions
 are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac-
 quaint themselves intelligently with God.

Discontent with life

15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life
 inheres in the body, yet remembering that in
 reality God is our Life, we may well tremble
18 in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I
 have no pleasure in them."


Page 108


1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, — a con-
 viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses?
3 According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of
 God given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
 It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me
6 the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-
 sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity
 of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the
9 price of learning love," establish the truism that the
 only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot
 suffer.

Demonstrable evidence

12 My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence
 of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty
 and the lesser demonstration to prove the
15 greater, as the product of three multiplied by
 three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times
 three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, — not
18 a fraction more, not a unit less.

Light shining in darkness

 When apparently near the confines of mortal existence,
 standing already within the shadow of the death-valley,
21 I learned these truths in divine Science: that
 all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and
 that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-
24 present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin,
 sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false
 material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense
27 evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which
 this same so-called mind names matter thereby shutting
 out the true sense of Spirit.

New lines of thought

30 My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed
 mind produces all the organism and action of
 the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels,


Page 109


1 and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that
 Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in
3 Mind-science.

Scientific evidence

 Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind
 is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind
6 and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen
 to be supported by sensible evidence, until its
 divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and
9 thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen,
 no other conclusion can be reached.

Solitary research

 For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu-
12 tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip-
 tures and read little else, kept aloof from so-
 ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis-
15 covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and
 buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew
 the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God,
18 and that cures were produced in primitive Christian
 healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the
 Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute
21 conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem-
 onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand-
 ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine
24 power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the
 prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled:
 "Unto us a child is born, ... and his name shall be
27 called Wonderful."

 Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not
 mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will,
30 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
 whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.)

God's allness learned

 The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni-


Page 110


1 presence, omniscience, — Spirit possessing all power,
 filling all space, constituting all Science, — contradict
3 forever the belief that matter can be actual.
 These eternal verities reveal primeval exist-
 ence as the radiant reality of God's creation,
6 in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis-
 dom good.

 Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful
9 unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought
 to light another glorious proposition, — man's perfecti-
 bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on
12 earth.

Scriptural foundations

 In following these leadings of scientific revelation,
 the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were
15 illumined; reason and revelation were recon-
 ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian
 Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue
18 taught me the Science contained in this book, Science
 and Health; and neither tongue nor pen can over-
 throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti-
21 cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas
 may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the
 Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis-
24 cerned and demonstrated.

The demonstration lost and found

 Jesus demonstrated the power of Christian Science to
 heal mortal minds and bodies. But this power was lost
27 sight of, and must again be spiritually dis-
 cerned, taught, and demonstrated according
 to Christ's command, with "signs following."
30 Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe
 on Christ and spiritually understand Truth.

Mystical antagonists

 No analogy exists between the vague hypotheses of


Page 111


1 agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or
 millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris-
3 tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous
 reason of the human mind, to be opposed to
 the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science.

Optical illustration of Science

6 Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The
 Science of God and man is no more supernatural than
 is the science of numbers, though departing
9 from the realm of the physical, as the Science
 of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to
 the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics
12 is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza-
 tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon-
 strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted
15 and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex-
 planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted
 image and shows what this inverted image is meant to
18 represent.

Pertinent proposal

 A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni-
 versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science,
21 — an essay calculated to offset the tendency of
 the age to attribute physical effects to physical
 causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, — is one of
24 many incidents which show that Christian Science meets
 a yearning of the human race for spirituality.

Confirmatory tests

 After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its
27 demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi-
 dent to me, — that Mind governs the body,
 not partially but wholly. I submitted my
30 metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad-
 est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually
 gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien-


Page 112


1 tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent
 in medical practice.

One school of Truth

3 Is there more than one school of Christian Science?
 Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there-
 fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de-
6 part from this method forfeit their claims to
 belong to its school, and they become adher-
 ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some
9 other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad-
 here to some particular system of human opinions. Al-
 though these opinions may have occasional gleams of
12 divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which
 eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain
 wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not
15 scientifically Christian.

Unchanging Principle

 From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one
 Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude
18 come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon-
 stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the
 same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are
21 the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac-
 terized in the epistle to the Hebrews.

On sandy foundations

 Any theory of Christian Science, which departs from
24 what has already been stated and proved to be true, af-
 fords no foundation upon which to establish
 a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any
27 so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and
 yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that
 author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it
30 inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the
 Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal."

Principle and practice

 God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there


Page 113


1 is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of
 all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-
3 stration of this divine Principle. The letter
 of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day,
 but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part,
6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-
 out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, —
 pulseless, cold, inanimate.

Reversible propositions

9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics
 are summarized in the four following, to me, self-evident
 propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi-
12 tions will be found to agree in statement and
 proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to
 Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to
15 stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.

 1. God is All-in-all.
 2. God is good. Good is Mind.
18 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
 4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin,
 disease. — Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo-
21 tent God, Life.

 Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both
 are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture,
24 I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a
 liar."

Metaphysical inversions

 The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the
27 method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion.
 For example: There is no pain in Truth, and
 no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no
30 mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat-
 ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter
 in good, and no good in matter.


Page 114


Definition of mortal mind

1 Usage classes both evil and good together as mind;
 therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin-
3 ful humanity mortal mind, — meaning by this
 term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human
 mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or
6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition
 of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses,
 which makes minds many and calls mind both human and
9 divine.

 In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phe-
 nomena, God and His thoughts.

Imperfect terminology

12 Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an
 improper use of the word mind. As Mind is immortal,
 the phrase mortal mind implies something un-
15 true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase
 is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to
 designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if
18 a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would
 be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must
 sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new
21 wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of
 the letter.

Causation mental

 Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men-
24 tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and
 body. It shows the scientific relation of man
 to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities
27 of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine
 Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni-
 ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed mat-
30 ter
is but the subjective state of what is termed by the
 author mortal mind.

Philological inadequacy

 Apart from the usual opposition to everything new,


Page 115


1 the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual-
 ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science
3 comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for
 metaphysical statements, and the consequent
 difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make
6 them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person-
 ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in
 my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the
9 mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the
 right impression, when translating material terms back
 into the original spiritual tongue.



12 SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF IMMORTAL MIND


Divine synonyms

 GOD: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love,
 Soul, Spirit, Mind.

Divine image

15 MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per-
 fect, eternal.

Divine reflection

 IDEA: An image in Mind; the immediate
18 object of understanding. — Webster.

 SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF MORTAL MIND


First Degree: Depravity.

Unreality

21 PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear,
 depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de-
 ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease,
24 death.

Second Degree: Evil beliefs disappearing.

Transitional qualities

 MORAL. Humanity, honesty, affection, com-
 passion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance.


Page 116


1 Third Degree: Understanding.

Reality

 SPIRITUAL. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding,
3 spiritual power, love, health, holiness.

Spiritual universe

 In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as
 God's image appears. Science so reverses the evidence
6 before the corporeal human senses, as to make
 this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts,
 "The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God
9 and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and
 must of necessity be, — all-inclusive.

Aim of Science

 A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta-
12 tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen.
 Works on metaphysics leave the grand point
 untouched. They never crown the power of
15 Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against
 physical enemies, — even to the extinction of all belief in
 matter, evil, disease, and death, — nor insist upon the fact
18 that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an
 image in mortal mind.

Divine personality

 Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that
21 God is not corporeal, but incorporeal, — that is,
 bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is
 incorporeal.

24 As the words person and personal are commonly and
 ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to
 Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity
27 and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality,
 as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is
 infinite Person, — in the sense of infinite personality, but
30 not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form
 is an absolute impossibility.


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1 The term individuality is also open to objections, be-
 cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many,
3 as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God
 is One, — not one of a series, but one alone and without
 an equal.

Spiritual language

6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must
 be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi-
 cal nature and significance to the Supreme
9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do
 this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last
 chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir-
12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs
 following."

The miracles of Jesus

 Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-
15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-
 tudes and parables. As a divine student he
 unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-
18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over
 the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to
 interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles
21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,
 crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the
 flesh.

Opacity of the senses

24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates
 solely to human reason; and because of opaci-
 ty to the true light, human reason dimly re-
27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth
 is a revelation.

Leaven of Truth

 Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the
30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-
 fined as human doctrines. His parable of the
 "leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures


Page 118


1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
 ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ
3 and its spiritual interpretation, — an inference far above
 the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the
 illustration.
6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
 foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the
 Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-
9 ble world?

 Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
 must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally
12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom.

The divine and human contrasted

 In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
 Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-
15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
 finite power and grace. The parable may
 import that these spiritual laws, perverted by
18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-
 sented as three measures of meal, — that is, three modes
 of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust
21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and
 modes of material motion are honored with the name of
 laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes
24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical
 properties of meal.

Certain contradictions

 The definitions of material law, as given by natural
27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against
 itself, because these definitions portray law as
 physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-
30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in
 which nature and God are one and the natural order of
 heaven comes down to earth.


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Unescapable dilemma

1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, —
 that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we
3 cannot really endow matter with what it does
 not and cannot possess, — we disown the Al-
 mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They
6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
 of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product
 of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-
9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-
 ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other
 horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of
12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-
 ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their
 source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-
15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural
 law.

God and nature

 In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-
18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law-
 giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
 death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-
 sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
 regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
24 of Spirit, God.

The sun and Soul

 In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
 the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth
27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
 omy reverses the human perception of the
 movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-
30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
 body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
 is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it


Page 120


1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under-
 stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in
3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.
 Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and
 man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's
6 image.

Reversal of testimony

 Science reverses the false testimony of the physical
 senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-
9 mental facts of being. Then the question in-
 evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material
 senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter
12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the
 senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which
 health is normal and disease is abnormal.

Health and the senses

15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor
 can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub-
 ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing
18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind
 to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There-
 fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi-
21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously
 existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and
 thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows
24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

 Any conclusion pro or con, deduced from supposed sen-
 sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness
27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of
 the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate
 and so leads to disease.

Historic illustrations

30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the
 globe, ignorance and superstition chained the
 limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-


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1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
 been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-
3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.

 Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
 he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields
6 were incorrectly explored.

Perennial beauty

 The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
 empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher
9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
 played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven
 were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's
12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So
 we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but
 man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained
15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate
 star — "a weary searcher for a viewless home."

Astronomic unfoldings

 The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical
18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead
 of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked
 by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this
21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-
 duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often
 to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple
24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the
 central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,
 and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides
27 turning daily on its own axis.

 As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
 action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-
30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and
 is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting
 government of the universe.


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Opposing testimony

1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
 real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, —
3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and
 death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-
 derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false
6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, — the actual
 reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-
 versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-
9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;
 yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary
 to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such
12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,
 from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status
 of happiness or misery.

Testimony of the senses

15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
 material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops
 apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet
18 and mingle. The barometer, — that little
 prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of
 the senses, — points to fair weather in the midst of murky
21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances
 of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for
 himself.

Spiritual sense of life

24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
 takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
 in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
 existence.

Ptolemaic and psychical error

 Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul
30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.
 They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-
 tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the


Page 123


1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and
 Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as
3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and
 Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole-
 maic blunder could not affect the harmony of
6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which
 reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the
 power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes
9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in
 the universe.

Seeming and being

 The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that
12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,
 rising above physical theories, excludes matter,
 resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of
15 material sense with spiritual ideas.

 The term Christian Science was introduced by
 the author to designate the scientific system of divine
18 healing.

 The revelation consists of two parts:

 1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-
21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and
 through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by
 the Master.
24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-
 called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a
 dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an
27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this
 Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order
 and continuity of being.

Scientific basis

30 Christian Science differs from material sci-
 ence, but not on that account is it less scien-
 tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi-


Page 124


1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of
 all science.

Physical science a blind belief

3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, — a
 law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his
 strength. When this human belief lacks organ-
6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.
 Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,
 nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect
9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter,
 thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.
 In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material
12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which
 immortal Spirit silences forever.

Right interpretation

 The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science
15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under-
 stood; but when explained on the basis of
 physical sense and represented as subject to
18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,
 and must continue to be, an enigma.

All force mental

 Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of
21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support
 the equipoise of that thought-force, which
 launched the earth in its orbit and said to the
24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

 Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all
 things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and
27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them
 forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they
 belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this
30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and
 classification.

Corporeal changes

 The elements and functions of the physical body and


Page 125


1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes
 its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition
3 for organic and functional health in the human
 body may no longer be found indispensable
 to health. Moral conditions will be found always har-
6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction
 nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will
 be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought,
9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than
 he was in the prior states which human belief created and
 sanctioned.

12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-
 other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and
 joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understand-
15 ing, — the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-
 erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's
 government, man is self-governed. When subordinate
18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or
 death, thus proving our material theories about laws of
 health to be valueless.

The time and tide

21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and
 tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-
 culturist will find that these changes cannot
24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou
 change them and they shall be changed." The mariner
 will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great
27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.
 The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, —
 he will look out from them upon the universe; and the
30 florist will find his flower before its seed.

Mortal nothingness

 Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more
 than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man


Page 126


1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-
 ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The
3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will
 be solved, and mortal mind will be without
 form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds
6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection
 in a glass.

A lack of originality

 All Science is divine. Human thought never pro-
9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief
 has sought and interpreted in its own way
 the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have
12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human
 mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive
 sound.

Antagonistic questions

15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the
 one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall
 Science explain cause and effect as being
18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that
 is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called
 supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative
21 hypotheses?

Biblical basis

 I have set forth Christian Science and its application
 to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.
24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects
 of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals
 of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern
27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings
 and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of
 prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au-
30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and
 narrow way" of Truth.

Science and Christianity

 If Christendom resists the author's application of the


Page 127


1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the
 word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-
3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon
 her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of
 the spiritual universe, including man, then everything
6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be
 comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for
 there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.

Scientific terms

9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ
 Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-
 ploys interchangeably, according to the re-
12 quirements of the context. These synony-
 mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in-
 finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however,
15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to
 Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re-
 veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death,
18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt
 from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not
 the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs,
21 and so forth, have — as matter — no intelligence, life, nor
 sensation.

No physical science

 There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth
24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not
 human, and is not a law of matter, for matter
 is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of
27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright.
 It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine
 utterance, — the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.

30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science,
 in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter
 is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con-


Page 128


1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of
 divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not
3 miraculous to itself.

Practical Science

 The term Science, properly understood, refers only to
 the laws of God and to His government of the universe,
6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that
 business men and cultured scholars have found
 that Christian Science enhances their endurance and
9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,
 gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an
 ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human
12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes
 more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes
 somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-
15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities
 and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of
 thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher
18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight
 and perspicacity.

 An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-
21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
 So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would
 not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from
24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which
 banishes — yea, forever destroys with the higher testi-
 mony of Spirit — the so-called evidence of matter.

Mathematics and scientific logic

27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed
 Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation.
 The addition of two sums in mathematics must
30 always bring the same result. So is it with
 logic. If both the major and the minor propo-
 sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly


Page 129


1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there
 are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as
3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl-
 logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.
 Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in
6 premise or conclusion.

Truth by inversion

 If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis-
 cover it by reversing the material fable, be the
9 fable pro or con, — be it in accord with your
 preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.

Antagonistic theories

 Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli-
12 gence of matter, — a belief which Science overthrows.
 In those days there will be "great tribulation
 such as was not since the beginning of the
15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]
 come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal
 magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-
18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true
 being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some
 other systems.

Ontology needed

21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol-
 ogy, — "the science of real being." We must look deep
 into realism instead of accepting only the out-
24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches
 from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of
 being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading
27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its
 reformatory mission among mortals. The very name,
 illusion, points to nothingness.

Reluctant guests

30 The generous liver may object to the author's small
 estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees,
 in the system taught in this book, that the demands of


Page 130


1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-
 stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-
3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
 When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-
 cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,
6 and therefore they cannot accept.

Excuses for ignorance

 It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which
 destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate
9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
 if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,
 — if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will
12 destroy all discord, — since you admit that God is om-
 nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and
 its sweet concords have all-power.

Children and adults

15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-
 abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war
 against spiritual facts; and these material
18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make
 place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a
 vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's
21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, —
 an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-
 monious, — the author has often remembered our Master's
24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as
 they belong to the heavenly kingdom.

All evil unnatural

 If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
 premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
 wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
 love sin and unnatural to forsake it, — no longer imagine
 evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should


Page 131


1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
 should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem
3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our
 lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
 mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.

The error of carnality

6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-
 dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the
 opposition of sensuous man to the Science of
9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
 carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of
 the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.



12 THEOLOGY


Churchly neglect

 Must Christian Science come through the Christian
 churches as some persons insist? This Science has come
15 already, after the manner of God's appoint-
 ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-
 ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came
18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once
 said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
 earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even
 so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-
 time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-
24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the
 hearts of men are made ready for it.

John the Baptist, and the Messiah

 The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-
27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural
 demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-
 tions which were not understood. Jesus' works
30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In
 reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"


Page 132


1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works
 instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-
 swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show
 John again those things which ye do hear and see: the
6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers
 are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
 and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In
 other words, he gave his benediction to any one who
 should not deny that such effects, coming from divine
12 Mind, prove the unity of God, — the divine Principle
 which brings out all harmony.

Christ rejected

 The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the
15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained
 their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'
 system of healing received no aid nor approval
18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines
 of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-
 ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the
21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the
 door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-
 ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal
24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the
 true idea of God, — this salvation from all error, physi-
 cal and mental, — Jesus asked, "When the Son of man
27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

John's misgivings

 Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing
 power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-
30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher
 once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the
 Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned


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1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry
 to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"

Faith according to works

3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
 woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
 There was also a certain centurion of whose
6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great
 faith, no, not in Israel."

 In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
 from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
 looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
 In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
 the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
 among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
 wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
18 in kings' palaces.

Judaism antipathetic

 Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because
 Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or
21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material
 system, carried out in special theories concern-
 ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.
24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the
 Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity
 on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-
27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-
 gence, nor substance outside of God.

Priestly learning

 The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,
30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
 given place to the true knowledge of God.
 Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of


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1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-
 peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth
3 is still opposed with sword and spear.

Testimony of martyrs

 The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but
 those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted
6 unto death, that at length the word martyr
 was narrowed in its significance and so has
 come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.
9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred
 of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of
 Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;
12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
 by the gallows and the cross.

Absence of Christ-power

 Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed
15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
 how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ
 or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-
18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very
 element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and
 unequalled success in the first century.

Basis of miracles

21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
 natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not
 because this Science is supernatural or pre-
24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
 divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
 good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
 tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
 is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
30 spiritual power over material resistance.

Lawful wonders

 A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that
 law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than


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1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed
 thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,
3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,
 that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,
 like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle
 introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,
 establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of
 divine power.

Fear and sickness identical

 The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.
12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals
 the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth
 casts out the evil called disease, it heals the
15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of
 dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
 the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating
18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel
 and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"
 What cannot God do?

 The unity of Science and Christianity
21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be
 Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the
 other is false and useless; but neither is unim-
24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
 stration. This proves the one to be identical
 with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not
27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift
 from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration
 of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,
30 not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-
 stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of
 divine light.


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The Christ-mission

1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
 on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
3 his followers that his religion had a divine
 Principle, which would cast out error and heal
 both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-
6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the
 persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine
 power to save men both bodily and spiritually.

Ancient spiritualism

9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the
 sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.
 He appealed to his students: "Whom do
12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
 is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting
 out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some
15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and
 others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets
 were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that
18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,
 controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.

 This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.
21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have
 no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work
 of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such
24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully
 understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-
 trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-
27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No
 wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.

Doubting disciples

 The disciples apprehended their Master better than
30 did others; but they did not comprehend all
 that he said and did, or they would not have
 questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in


Page 137


1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-
 dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,
3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work
 was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the
 crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before
6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and
 the grave.

 Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,
9 "But whom say ye that I am?" This renewed inquiry
 meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so
 mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the
12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,
 it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow
 opinion implied in their citation of the common report
15 about him.

A divine response

 With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his
 brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou
18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
 That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-
 clared, — Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and
21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from
 Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
 jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath
 shown thee the way of Life!

The true and living rock

 Before this the impetuous disciple had been called
27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of
 Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir-
 itual name in these words: "And I say also
30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the
 meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build
 my church; and the gates of hell [hades, the under-


Page 138


1 world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it." In
 other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not
3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-
 power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true
 Messiah.

Sublime summary

6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and
 Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the
 sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm
9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
 Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to
 outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither
12 by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by
 the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.
 The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which
15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion
 of Love.

New era in Jesus

 Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for
18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
 under as direct orders now, as they were then,
 to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to
21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as
 the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-
 ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with
24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-
 ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as
 readily is it was proved centuries ago.

Healthful theology

27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the
 world, and preach the gospel to every creature! ...
 Heal the sick! ... Love thy neighbor as
30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which
 healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this
 book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which


Page 139


1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
 and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-
3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.

Marvels and reformations

 From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of
 accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.
6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men
 called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and
 Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and
9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
 bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been
 brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-
12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely
 to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows
 inward.

Science obscured

15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what
 should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-
 ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old
 Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,
 — these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole
21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some
 extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither
 wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen
24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of
 Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw
 that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-
27 come "the head of the corner."

Opponents benefited

 Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are
 opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-
30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
 or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-
 tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-


Page 140


1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most
 cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the
3 treatment of moral ailments.

God invisible to the senses

 That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.
 The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not
6 see My face; for there shall no man see Me,
 and live." Not materially but spiritually we
 know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We
9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the
 divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no
 more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence
12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of
 the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-
 scriptive from lack of love, — straining out gnats and
15 swallowing camels.

The true worship

 We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship
 materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-
18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
 matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals
 are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true
21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
 truth."

Anthropomorphism

 The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,
24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
 The Christian Science God is universal, eter-
 nal, divine Love, which changeth not and caus-
27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully
 true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-
 ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-
30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own
 human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
 magnified?


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More than profession required

1 This indicates the distance between the theological and
 ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by
3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for
 Christian demonstration. Few understand or
 adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and
6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-
 ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
 — that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs
9 and practices, to leave all for Christ.

No ecclesiastical monopoly

 All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come
 from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-
12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a
 royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,
 Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect
15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle and
 of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
 For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical
18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
 eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The
 Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and
21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and
 do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-
 fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.
24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
 prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
 understood.

A change demanded

27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-
 ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our
 pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let
30 it have fair representation by the press. Give
 to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-
 pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will


Page 142


1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
 devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-
3 lishment and propagation.

Two claims omitted

 Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured
 Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;
6 but modern religions generally omit all but one
 of these powers, — the power over sin. We
 must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our
9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can
 furnish us with absolute evidence.

Selfishness and loss

 If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-
12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with
 beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the
 gate, they at the same time shut the door on
15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their
 story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right
 hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.

Temple cleansed

18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to
 be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-
 ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of
21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
 by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their
 vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet
24 dwelling-places for the Most High.



 MEDICINE


Question of precedence

 Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was
27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have
 been the first medicine. God being All-in-
 all, He made medicine; but that medicine was
30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs
 from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth


Page 143


1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-
 stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,
3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the
 sick.

Methods rejected

 It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,
6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have
 recommended and employed them in his heal-
 ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than
9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and
 the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter
 medicine, and matter required a material and human be-
12 lief before it could be considered as medicine.

Error not curative

 Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-
 cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,
15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
 greater. On this basis it saves from starva-
 tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You
18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but
 you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,
 etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by
21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on
 the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-
 prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.
24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative
 mind.

Impossible coalescence

 Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power
27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was
 first chronologically, is first potentially, and
 must be first eternally, then give to Mind the
30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its
 holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
 may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will


Page 144


1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make
 them do so, since no good can come of it?
3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,
 which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if
 these so-called powers are real.

6      Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;
      Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.

Soul and sense

 The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-
9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,
 and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.
 The more material a belief, the more obstinately
12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of
 the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.

Will-power detrimental

 Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs
15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-
 demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the
 metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but
18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-
 fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,
 and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and
21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to
 disease, "Peace, be still."

Conservative antagonism

 Because divine Science wars with so-called physical
24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools
 still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice
 closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped.
27 When the Science of being is universally understood,
 every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be
 the universal panacea.

Ancient healers

30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired
 healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or


Page 145


1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural
 musician catches the tones of harmony, without being
3 able to explain them. So divinely imbued
 were they with the spirit of Science, that the
 lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that
6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their
 practice.

The struggle and victory

 The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not
9 between material methods, but between mortal minds
 and immortal Mind. The victory will be on
 the patient's side only as immortal Mind
12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in
 disease. It matters not what material method one may
 adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance
15 on some other minor curative.

Mystery of godliness

 Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-
 ods, — that in it Truth controls error. From this fact
18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
 fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects
 are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery
21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness
 always presents to the ungodly, — the mystery always
 arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-
24 ing Mind.

Matter versus matter

 Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
 and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of
27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,
 and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
 goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.

How healing was lost

 The theology of Christian Science includes healing
 the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded


Page 146


1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
 his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
3 has this element of Christianity been lost?
 Because our systems of religion are governed
 more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
 faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
 trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
 of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
 is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
12 Christlike.

Drugs and divinity

 Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
 God — even the might of Mind — to heal the body.
15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
 son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
 man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
 of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
 acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
 tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.

Christian Science as old as God

 Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
 the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
 ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
27 must have been far anterior to the period in
 which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
 days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
30 all space.

Reduction to system

 Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
 form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of


Page 147


1 the age in which we live. This system enables the
 learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
 the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
 disease.

6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine
 rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the
 broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-
9 plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-
 manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost
 none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-
12 turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules
 on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.

Perusal and practice

 Although this volume contains the complete Science of
15 Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole
 meaning of the Science by a simple perusal
 of this book. The book needs to be studied,
18 and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing
 will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of
 Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the
21 perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en-
 ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto
 unattained and seemingly dim.

A definite rule discovered

24 Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal-
 ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to
 his students; but he left no definite rule for
27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and
 preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered
 in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good-
30 ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of
 goodness and demonstrates its rules.

Jesus' own practice

 Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult


Page 148


1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they
 had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen-
3 eration," implying that the requisite power
 to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs,
 urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct
6 disobedience to them.

The man of anatomy and of theology

 Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man
 as created by Spirit, — as God's man. The former ex-
9 plains the men of men, or the "children of
 men," as created corporeally instead of spir-
 itually and as emerging from the lowest, in-
12 stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both
 anatomy and theology define man as both physical and
 mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every
15 function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes
 up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the
 true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the-
18 ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo-
 nious man, and deal — the one wholly, the other primarily
 — with matter, calling that man which is not the counter-
21 part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology
 tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, — how
 from this basis of division and discord to produce the con-
24 cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.

Physiology deficient

 Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims
 to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When
27 physiology fails to give health or life by this
 process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable
 or unwilling to render help in time of physical need.
30 When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them
 to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be
 the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great


Page 149


1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness
 as well as from sin.

Blunders and blunderers

3 Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as
 in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine
 Science in every case. Is materia medica a
6 science or a bundle of speculative human
 theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in-
 stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different
9 mental states of the patient. These states are not com-
 prehended and they are left without explanation except
 in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera-
12 tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any
 case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of
 Christ, Truth, more in your own life, — because you have
15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine
 Science.

Old-school physician

 A physician of the old school remarked with great
18 gravity: "We know that mind affects the body some-
 what, and advise our patients to be hopeful
 and cheerful and to take as little medicine as
21 possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties."
 The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author
 has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she
24 has cured purely functional disease, and with no power
 but the divine Mind.

Tests in our day

 Since God, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but
27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.
 Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits
 mind and body. We need to understand the
30 affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and
 demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there
 is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to


Page 150


1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue
 and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian
3 system of healing disease.

The main purpose

 To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-
 strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a
6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the
 coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace,
 good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised
9 by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
 dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian
 Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration,
12 is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then,
 signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-
 ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-
15 strate its divine origin, — to attest the reality of the higher
 mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the
 world.

Exploded doctrine

18 The science (so-called) of physics would have one be-
 lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease,
 and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro-
21 test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.
 This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and
 it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to
24 all others at some future day, as the practically rejected
 doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or
 salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov-
27 erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that
 he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of
 matter, — even the doctrine of the superiority of matter
30 over Mind, — is fading out.

Disease mental

 The hosts of AEsculapius are flooding the world with
 diseases, because they are ignorant that the human mind


Page 151


1 and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat
 the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but
3 this one factor they represent to be body, not
 mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create
 a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind
6 has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its
 redemption and healing.

Intentions respected

 Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of
9 the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un-
 derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were
 in possession of the enlarged power it confers
12 to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would
 rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would
 ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres-
15 sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which
 multitudes would gladly escape.

Man governed by Mind

 Mortal belief says that death has been occasioned by
18 fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The
 blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing
 to do with Life, God. Every function of the
21 real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human
 mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no con-
 trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man
24 maintains His own image and likeness. The human
 mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul
 declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and
27 its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found har-
 monious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to
 see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and
30 follow the leadings of truth.

Mortal mind dethroned

 That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the
 mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-


Page 152


1 called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield
 to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but
3 it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind
 takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and
 saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored
6 to make this book the AEsculapius of mind as well as of
 body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them,
 although they know not how the work is done. Truth
9 has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.

All activity from thought

 Anatomy describes muscular action as produced by
 mind in one instance and not in another. Such errors
12 beset every material theory, in which one
 statement contradicts another over and over
 again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap-
15 parently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing
 a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did
 merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body;
18 but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended
 to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. Such a fact
 illustrates our theories.

The author's experiments in medicine

21 The author's medical researches and experiments had
 prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian
 Science. Every material dependence had
24 failed her in her search for truth; and she can
 now understand why, and can see the means
 by which mortals are divinely driven to a spiritual source
27 for health and happiness.

Homoeopathic attenuations

 Her experiments in homoeopathy had made her skep-
 tical as to material curative methods. Jahr, from
30 Aconitum to Zincum oxydatum, enumerates
 the general symptoms, the characteristic
 signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug


Page 153


1 is frequently attenuated to such a degree that not a ves-
 tige of it remains. Thus we learn that it is not the drug
3 which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms
 of disease.

Only salt and water

 The author has attenuated Natrum muriaticum (com-
6 mon table-salt) until there was not a single saline property
 left. The salt had "lost his savour;" and yet,
 with one drop of that attenuation in a goblet of
9 water, and a teaspoonful of the water administered at in-
 tervals of three hours, she has cured a patient sinking in
 the last stage of typhoid fever. The highest attenuation
12 of homoeopathy and the most potent rises above matter into
 mind. This discovery leads to more light. From it may
 be learned that either human faith or the divine Mind is
15 the healer and that there is no efficacy in a drug.

Origin of pain

 You say a boil is painful; but that is impossible, for
 matter without mind is not painful. The boil simply
18 manifests, through inflammation and swell-
 ing, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a
 boil. Now administer mentally to your patient a high
21 attenuation of truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The
 fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind
 to feel it is a proof that this so-called mind makes its
24 own pain — that is, its own belief in pain.

Source of contagion

 We weep because others weep, we yawn because they
 yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but
27 mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries
 the infection. When this mental contagion is
 understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con-
30 ditions and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about
 disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither
 sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish


Page 154


1 error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
 advocate.
3 Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-
 sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain
 diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-
6 tains credit through association, — calling up the fear that
 creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-
 tation in the body.

Imaginary cholera

9 This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
 incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a
 bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-
12 diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
 and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught
 the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient
15 had been in that bed.

Children's ailments

 If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
 mother is frightened and says, "My child will be sick."
18 The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
 ern her child more than the child's mind gov-
 erns itself, and they produce the very results which might
21 have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
 Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought
 the mischief.

24 That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
 tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You
 look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You
27 need medicine."

 Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
 hurt her face by falling on the carpet, and says, moaning
30 more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are
 hurt." The better and more successful method for any
 mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not


Page 155


1 hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
 all about the accident, and is at play.

Drug-power mental

3 When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law
 of a general belief, culminating in individual faith, which
 heals; and according to this faith will the effect
6 be. Even when you take away the individual
 confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug
 from the general faith. The chemist, the botanist, the
9 druggist, the doctor, and the nurse equip the medicine
 with their faith, and the beliefs which are in the majority
 rule. When the general belief endorses the inanimate
12 drug as doing this or that, individual dissent or faith, un-
 less it rests on Science, is but a belief held by a minority,
 and such a belief is governed by the majority.

Belief in physics

15 The universal belief in physics weighs against the high
 and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone-
 ous general belief, which sustains medicine and
18 produces all medical results, works against
 Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the
 side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of
21 popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The
 human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords
 of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less
24 weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight
 into the spiritual scale. Homoeopathy diminishes the
 drug, but the potency of the medicine increases as the
27 drug disappears.

Nature of drugs

 Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have
 diminished drugging; but if drugs are an antidote to
30 disease, why lessen the antidote? If drugs
 are good things, is it safe to say that the
 less in quantity you have of them the better? If drugs


Page 156


1 possess intrinsic virtues or intelligent curative qualities,
 these qualities must be mental. Who named drugs, and
3 what made them good or bad for mortals, beneficial or
 injurious?

Dropsy cured without drugs

 A case of dropsy, given up by the faculty, fell into
6 my hands. It was a terrible case. Tapping had been
 employed, and yet, as she lay in her bed, the
 patient looked like a barrel. I prescribed
9 the fourth attenuation of Argentum nitratum with occa-
 sional doses of a high attenuation of Sulphuris. She im-
 proved perceptibly. Believing then somewhat in the
12 ordinary theories of medical practice, and learning that
 her former physician had prescribed these remedies, I
 began to fear an aggravation of symptoms from their
15 prolonged use, and told the patient so; but she was
 unwilling to give up the medicine while she was re-
 covering. It then occurred to me to give her un-
18 medicated pellets and watch the result. I did so, and
 she continued to gain. Finally she said that she would
 give up her medicine for one day, and risk the
21 effects. After trying this, she informed me that she
 could get along two days without globules; but on
 the third day she again suffered, and was relieved by
24 taking them. She went on in this way, taking the
 unmedicated pellets, — and receiving occasional visits
 from me, — but employing no other means, and she was
27 cured.

A stately advance

 Metaphysics, as taught in Christian Science, is the
 next stately step beyond homoeopathy. In metaphysics,
30 matter disappears from the remedy entirely,
 and Mind takes its rightful and supreme
 place. Homoeopathy takes mental symptoms largely


Page 157


1 into consideration in its diagnosis of disease. Christian
 Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and
3 destroying disease. It succeeds where homoeopathy fails,
 solely because its one recognized Principle of healing is
 Mind, and the whole force of the mental element is em-
6 ployed through the Science of Mind, which never shares
 its rights with inanimate matter.

The modus of homoeopathy

 Christian Science exterminates the drug, and rests on
9 Mind alone as the curative Principle, acknowledging that
 the divine Mind has all power. Homoeopathy
 mentalizes a drug with such repetition of
12 thought-attenuations, that the drug becomes
 more like the human mind than the substratum of this so-
 called mind, which we call matter; and the drug's power
15 of action is proportionately increased.

Drugging unchristian

 If drugs are part of God's creation, which (according
 to the narrative in Genesis) He pronounced good, then
18 drugs cannot be poisonous. If He could cre-
 ate drugs intrinsically bad, then they should
 never be used. If He creates drugs at all and designs
21 them for medical use, why did Jesus not employ them
 and recommend them for the treatment of disease?
 Matter is not self-creative, for it is unintelligent. Erring
24 mortal mind confers the power which the drug seems to
 possess.

 Narcotics quiet mortal mind, and so relieve the body;
27 but they leave both mind and body worse for this sub-
 mission. Christian Science impresses the entire corpore-
 ality, — namely, mind and body, — and brings out the
30 proof that Life is continuous and harmonious. Science
 both neutralizes error and destroys it. Mankind is the
 better for this spiritual and profound pathology.


Page 158


Mythology and materia medica

1 It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated
 in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to
3 heal the sick and designated Apollo as "the god
 of medicine." He was supposed to have dic-
 tated the first prescription, according to the
6 "History of Four Thousand Years of Medicine." It is
 here noticeable that Apollo was also regarded as the sender
 of disease, "the god of pestilence." Hippocrates turned
9 from image-gods to vegetable and mineral drugs for heal-
 ing. This was deemed progress in medicine; but
 what we need is the truth which heals both mind and
12 body. The future history of material medicine may
 correspond with that of its material god, Apollo, who was
 banished from heaven and endured great sufferings
15 upon earth.

Footsteps to intemperance

 Drugs, cataplasms, and whiskey are stupid substitutes
 for the dignity and potency of divine Mind and its effi-
18 cacy to heal. It is pitiful to lead men into
 temptation through the byways of this wil-
 derness world, — to victimize the race with intoxicating
21 prescriptions for the sick, until mortal mind acquires an
 educated appetite for strong drink, and men and women
 become loathsome sots.

Advancing degrees

24 Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us
 on every hand. Drug-systems are quitting their hold on
 matter and so letting in matter's higher stra-
27 tum, mortal mind. Homoeopathy, a step in
 advance of allopathy, is doing this. Matter is going out
 of medicine; and mortal mind, of a higher attenuation
30 than the drug, is governing the pellet.

Effects of fear

 A woman in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts, was
 etherized and died in consequence, although her physi-


Page 159


1 cians insisted that it would be unsafe to perform a needed
 surgical operation without the ether. After the autopsy,
3 her sister testified that the deceased protested
 against inhaling the ether and said it would kill
 her, but that she was compelled by her physicians to take
6 it. Her hands were held, and she was forced into sub-
 mission. The case was brought to trial. The evidence
 was found to be conclusive, and a verdict was returned that
9 death was occasioned, not by the ether, but by fear of
 inhaling it.

Mental conditions to be heeded

 Is it skilful or scientific surgery to take no heed of men-
12 tal conditions and to treat the patient as if she were so
 much mindless matter, and as if matter were
 the only factor to be consulted? Had these
15 unscientific surgeons understood metaphysics,
 they would have considered the woman's state of mind,
 and not have risked such treatment. They would either
18 have allayed her fear or would have performed the opera-
 tion without ether.

 The sequel proved that this Lynn woman died from
21 effects produced by mortal mind, and not from the disease
 or the operation.

False source of knowledge

 The medical schools would learn the state of man
24 from matter instead of from Mind. They examine the
 lungs, tongue, and pulse to ascertain how
 much harmony, or health, matter is permit-
27 ting to matter, — how much pain or pleasure, action or
 stagnation, one form of matter is allowing another form
 of matter.

30 Ignorant of the fact that a man's belief produces dis-
 ease and all its symptoms, the ordinary physician is
 liable to increase disease with his own mind, when he


Page 160


1 should address himself to the work of destroying it through
 the power of the divine Mind.

3 The systems of physics act against metaphysics, and
 vice versa. When mortals forsake the material for the
 spiritual basis of action, drugs lose their healing force,
6 for they have no innate power. Unsupported by the
 faith reposed in it, the inanimate drug becomes
 powerless.

Obedient muscles

9 The motion of the arm is no more dependent upon the
 direction of mortal mind, than are the organic action and
 secretion of the viscera. When this so-called
12 mind quits the body, the heart becomes as tor-
 pid as the hand.

Anatomy and mind

 Anatomy finds a necessity for nerves to convey the man-
15 date of mind to muscle and so cause action; but what does
 anatomy say when the cords contract and be-
 come immovable? Has mortal mind ceased
18 speaking to them, or has it bidden them to be impotent?
 Can muscles, bones, blood, and nerves rebel against mind
 in one instance and not in another, and become cramped
21 despite the mental protest?

 Unless muscles are self-acting at all times, they are
 never so, — never capable of acting contrary to mental
24 direction. If muscles can cease to act and become rigid
 of their own preference, — be deformed or symmetrical,
 as they please or as disease directs, — they must be self-
27 directing. Why then consult anatomy to learn how mor-
 tal mind governs muscle, if we are only to learn from
 anatomy that muscle is not so governed?

Mind over matter

30 Is man a material fungus without Mind
 to help him? Is a stiff joint or a contracted
 muscle as much a result of law as the supple and


Page 161


1 elastic condition of the healthy limb, and is God the
 lawgiver?

3 You say, "I have burned my finger." This is an
 exact statement, more exact than you suppose; for mor-
 tal mind, and not matter, burns it. Holy inspiration
6 has created states of mind which have been able to nullify
 the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three
 young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace;
9 while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous
 combustion.

Restrictive regulations

 In 1880, Massachusetts put her foot on a proposed
12 tyrannical law, restricting the practice of medicine. If
 her sister States follow this example in har-
 mony with our Constitution and Bill of Rights,
15 they will do less violence to that immortal sentiment of the
 Declaration, "Man is endowed by his Maker with certain
 inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the
18 pursuit of happiness."

 The oppressive state statutes touching medicine re-
 mind one of the words of the famous Madame Roland,
21 as she knelt before a statue of Liberty, erected near the
 guillotine: "Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy
 name!"

Metaphysics challenges physics

24 The ordinary practitioner, examining bodily symptoms,
 telling the patient that he is sick, and treating the case ac-
 cording to his physical diagnosis, would natu-
27 rally induce the very disease he is trying to cure,
 even if it were not already determined by mor-
 tal mind. Such unconscious mistakes would not occur, if
30 this old class of philanthropists looked as deeply for cause
 and effect into mind as into matter. The physician agrees
 with his "adversary quickly," but upon different terms


Page 162


1 than does the metaphysician; for the matter-physician
 agrees with the disease, while the metaphysician agrees
3 only with health and challenges disease.

Truth an alterative

 Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of
 Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science
6 acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with
 Truth. It changes the secretions, expels hu-
 mors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores
9 carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is
 to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it
 may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.

Practical success

12 Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs
 the body, not in one instance, but in every instance. The
 indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without
15 the conditions of matter and also without the
 false beliefs of a so-called material existence. Working
 out the rules of Science in practice, the author has re-
18 stored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in
 their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the
 structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been
21 elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and
 carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions. I
 have restored what is called the lost substance of lungs, and
24 healthy organizations have been established where disease
 was organic. Christian Science heals organic disease as
 surely as it heals what is called functional, for it requires
27 only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of
 Christian Science to demonstrate the higher rule.

Testimony of medical teachers

 With due respect for the faculty, I kindly
30 quote from Dr. Benjamin Rush, the famous
 Philadelphia teacher of medical practice. He
 declared that "it is impossible to calculate the mischief


Page 164


1 which Hippocrates has done, by first marking Nature
 with his name, and afterward letting her loose upon sick
3 people."

 Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Professor in Harvard Uni-
 versity, declared himself "sick of learned quackery."

6 Dr. James Johnson, Surgeon to William IV, King Of
 England, said:

 "I declare my conscientious opinion, founded on long
9 observation and reflection, that if there were not a single
 physician, surgeon, apothecary, man-midwife, chemist,
 druggist, or drug on the face of the earth, there would be
12 less sickness and less mortality."

 Dr. Mason Good, a learned Professor in London,
 said:

15 "The effects of medicine on the human system are in
 the highest degree uncertain; except, indeed, that it has
 already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence, and
18 famine, all combined."

 Dr. Chapman, Professor of the Institutes and Practice
 of Physic in the University of Pennsylvania, in a published
21 essay said:

 "Consulting the records of our science, we cannot
 help being disgusted with the multitude of hypotheses
24 obtruded upon us at different times. Nowhere is the
 imagination displayed to a greater extent; and perhaps
 so ample an exhibition of human invention might gratify
27 our vanity, if it were not more than compensated by the
 humiliating view of so much absurdity, contradiction,
 and falsehood. To harmonize the contrarieties of med-
30 ical doctrines is indeed a task as impractible as to
 arrange the fleeting vapors around us, or to reconcile the
 fixed and repulsive antipathies of nature. Dark and


Page 164


1 perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of
 Homer's Cyclops around his cave."

3 Sir John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal
 College of Physicians, London, said:

 "No systematic or theoretical classification of diseases
6 or of therapeutic agents, ever yet promulgated, is true, or
 anything like the truth, and none can be adopted as a safe
 guidance in practice."

9 It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medi-
 cal practitioners are grand men and women, therefore
 they are more scientific than are false claimants to Chris-
12 tian Science. But all human systems based on material
 premises are minus the unction of divine Science. Much
 yet remains to be said and done before all mankind is
15 saved and all the mental microbes of sin and all diseased
 thought-germs are exterminated.

 If you or I should appear to die, we should not be
18 dead. The seeming decease, caused by a majority of
 human beliefs that man must die, or produced by mental
 assassins, does not in the least disprove Christian Science;
21 rather does it evidence the truth of its basic proposition
 that mortal thoughts in belief rule the materiality mis-
 called life in the body or in matter. But the forever fact
24 remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from
 sin, disease, and death. "When this corruptible shall have
 put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
27 immortality [divine Science], then shall be brought to pass
 the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
 victory" (St. Paul).



Page 165


Chapter 7 — Physiology


 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
 ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body,
 what ye shall put on.
 Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Jesus.

 He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their
 destructions.
Psalms.

1 PHYSIOLOGY is one of the apples from "the tree
 of knowledge." Evil declared that eating this fruit
3 would open man's eyes and make him as a god. Instead
 of so doing, it closed the eyes of mortals to man's God-
 given dominion over the earth.

Man not structural

6 To measure intellectual capacity by the size of the
 brain and strength by the exercise of muscle, is to
 subjugate intelligence, to make mind mor-
9 tal, and to place this so-called mind at the
 mercy of material organization and non-intelligent
 matter.

12 Obedience to the so-called physical laws of health has
 not checked sickness. Diseases have multiplied, since
 man-made material theories took the place of spiritual
15 truth.

Causes of sickness

 You say that indigestion, fatigue, sleeplessness, cause
 distressed stomachs and aching heads. Then
18 you consult your brain in order to remember
 what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting


Page 166


1 the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own,
 and the human mind is all that can produce pain.

3 As a man thinketh, so is he. Mind is all that feels,
 acts, or impedes action. Ignorant of this, or shrinking
 from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made
6 on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the
 body is lost.

Delusions pagan and medical

 The Mohammedan believes in a pilgrimage to Mecca
9 for the salvation of his soul. The popular doctor believes
 in his prescription, and the pharmacist believes
 in the power of his drugs to save a man's
12 life. The Mohammedan's belief is a religious
 delusion; the doctor's and pharmacist's is a medical
 mistake.

Health from reliance on spirituality

15 The erring human mind is inharmonious in itself.
 From it arises the inharmonious body. To ignore
 God as of little use in sickness is a mistake.
18 Instead of thrusting Him aside in times of
 bodily trouble, and waiting for the hour of
 strength in which to acknowledge Him, we should learn
21 that He can do all things for us in sickness as in
 health.

 Failing to recover health through adherence to physi-
24 ology and hygiene, the despairing invalid often drops
 them, and in his extremity and only as a last resort, turns
 to God. The invalid's faith in the divine Mind is less
27 than in drugs, air, and exercise, or he would have resorted
 to Mind first. The balance of power is conceded to be
 with matter by most of the medical systems; but when
30 Mind at last asserts its mastery over sin, disease, and
 death, then is man found to be harmonious and
 immortal.


Page 167


1 Should we implore a corporeal God to heal the sick
 out of His personal volition, or should we understand the
3 infinite divine Principle which heals? If we rise no higher
 than blind faith, the Science of healing is not attained, and
 Soul-existence, in the place of sense-existence, is not com-
6 prehended. We apprehend Life in divine Science only
 as we live above corporeal sense and correct it. Our pro-
 portionate admission of the claims of good or of evil de-
9 termines the harmony of our existence, — our health, our
 longevity, and our Christianity.

The two masters

 We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Sci-
12 ence with the material senses. Drugs and hygiene cannot
 successfully usurp the place and power of the
 divine source of all health and perfection. If
15 God made man both good and evil, man must remain
 thus. What can improve God's work? Again, an error
 in the premise must appear in the conclusion. To have
18 one God and avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you
 must love God supremely.

Half-way success

 The "flesh lusteth against the Spirit." The flesh and
21 Spirit can no more unite in action, than good can coin-
 cide with evil. It is not wise to take a halt-
 ing and half-way position or to expect to work
24 equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error. There
 is but one way — namely, God and His idea — which
 leads to spiritual being. The scientific government of the
27 body must be attained through the divine Mind. It is im-
 possible to gain control over the body in any other way.
 On this fundamental point, timid conservatism is abso-
30 lutely inadmissible. Only through radical reliance on
 Truth can scientific healing power be realized.

 Substituting good words for a good life, fair seeming


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1 for straightforward character, is a poor shift for the weak
 and worldly, who think the standard of Christian Science
3 too high for them.

Belief on the wrong side

 If the scales are evenly adjusted, the removal of a single
 weight from either scale gives preponderance to the oppo-
6 site. Whatever influence you cast on the side
 of matter, you take away from Mind, which
 would otherwise outweigh all else. Your belief militates
9 against your health, when it ought to be enlisted on the
 side of health. When sick (according to belief) you rush
 after drugs, search out the material so-called laws of
12 health, and depend upon them to heal you, though you
 have already brought yourself into the slough of disease
 through just this false belief.

The divine authority

15 Because man-made systems insist that man becomes
 sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with
 the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are
18 we to believe an authority which denies God's
 spiritual command relating to perfection, — an authority
 which Jesus proved to be false? He did the will of the
21 Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called
 material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law
 of Mind.

Disease foreseen

24 I have discerned disease in the human mind, and rec-
 ognized the patient's fear of it, months before the so-called
 disease made its appearance in the body. Dis-
27 ease being a belief, a latent illusion of mortal
 mind, the sensation would not appear if the error of belief
 was met and destroyed by truth.

Changed mentality

30 Here let a word be noticed which will be
 better understood hereafter, — chemicalization.
 By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal


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1 mind and body undergo in the change of belief from a
 material to a spiritual basis.

Scientific foresight

3 Whenever an aggravation of symptoms has occurred
 through mental chemicalization, I have seen the mental
 signs, assuring me that danger was over, before
6 the patient felt the change; and I have said
 to the patient, "You are healed," — sometimes to his dis-
 comfiture, when he was incredulous. But it always came
9 about as I had foretold.

 I name these facts to show that disease has a mental,
 mortal origin, — that faith in rules of health or in drugs
12 begets and fosters disease by attracting the mind to the
 subject of sickness, by exciting fear of disease, and by dos-
 ing the body in order to avoid it. The faith reposed in
15 these things should find stronger supports and a higher
 home. If we understood the control of Mind over body,
 we should put no faith in material means.

Mind the only healer

18 Science not only reveals the origin of all disease as
 mental, but it also declares that all disease is cured by
 divine Mind. There can be no healing ex-
21 cept by this Mind, however much we trust
 a drug or any other means towards which human faith
 or endeavor is directed. It is mortal mind, not mat-
24 ter, which brings to the sick whatever good they may
 seem to receive from materiality. But the sick are never
 really healed except by means of the divine power.
27 Only the action of Truth, Life, and Love can give
 harmony.

Modes of matter

 Whatever teaches man to have other laws and to
30 acknowledge other powers than the divine
 Mind, is anti-Christian. The good that a
 poisonous drug seems to do is evil, for it robs man of


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1 reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to be-
 lief, poisons the human system. Truth is not the basis of
3 theogony. Modes of matter form neither a moral nor a
 spiritual system. The discord which calls for material
 methods is the result of the exercise of faith in material
6 modes, — faith in matter instead of in Spirit.

Physiology unscientific

 Did Jesus understand the economy of man less than
 Graham or Cutter? Christian ideas certainly present
9 what human theories exclude — the Principle
 of man's harmony. The text, "Whosoever
 liveth and believeth in me shall never die," not only con-
12 tradicts human systems, but points to the self-sustaining
 and eternal Truth.

 The demands of Truth are spiritual, and reach the
15 body through Mind. The best interpreter of man's needs
 said: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat,
 or what ye shall drink."

18 If there are material laws which prevent disease, what
 then causes it? Not divine law, for Jesus healed the
 sick and cast out error, always in opposition, never in
21 obedience, to physics.

Causation considered

 Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered,
 for more than all others spiritual causation relates to
24 human progress. The age seems ready to
 approach this subject, to ponder somewhat
 the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem
27 of Truth's garment.

 The description of man as purely physical, or as both
 material and spiritual, — but in either case dependent
30 upon his physical organization, — is the Pandora box,
 from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair.
 Matter, which takes divine power into its own hands and


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1 claims to be a creator, is a fiction, in which paganism and
 lust are so sanctioned by society that mankind has caught
3 their moral contagion.

Paradise regained

 Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of ma-
 teriality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will
6 reopen with the key of divine Science the gates
 of Paradise which human beliefs have closed,
 and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free,
9 not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either
 of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brain-
 ology to learn how much of a man he is.

A closed question

12 Mind's control over the universe, including man, is
 no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science.
 Jesus illustrated the divine Principle and the
15 power of immortal Mind by healing sickness
 and sin and destroying the foundations of death.

Matter versus Spirit

 Mistaking his origin and nature, man believes himself to
18 be combined matter and Spirit. He believes that Spirit
 is sifted through matter, carried on a nerve, ex-
 posed to ejection by the operation of matter.
21 The intellectual, the moral, the spiritual, — yea, the image
 of infinite Mind, — subject to non-intelligence!

 No more sympathy exists between the flesh and Spirit
24 than between Belial and Christ.

 The so-called laws of matter are nothing but false be-
 liefs that intelligence and life are present where Mind
27 is not. These false beliefs are the procuring cause of all
 sin and disease. The opposite truth, that intelligence and
 life are spiritual, never material, destroys sin, sickness,
30 and death.

 The fundamental error lies in the supposition that man
 is a material outgrowth and that the cognizance of good


Page 172


1 or evil, which he has through the bodily senses, con-
 stitutes his happiness or misery.

Godless Evolution

3 Theorizing about man's development from mushrooms
 to monkeys and from monkeys into men
 amounts to nothing in the right direction and
6 very much in the wrong.

 Materialism grades the human species as rising from
 matter upward. How then is the material species main-
9 tained, if man passes through what we call death and
 death is the Rubicon of spirituality? Spirit can form
 no real link in this supposed chain of material being.
12 But divine Science reveals the eternal chain of existence
 as uninterrupted and wholly spiritual; yet this can be
 realized only as the false sense of being disappears.

Degrees of development

15 If man was first a material being, he must have passed
 through all the forms of matter in order to become man.
 If the material body is man, he is a portion of
18 matter, or dust. On the contrary, man is the
 image and likeness of Spirit; and the belief that there is
 Soul in sense or Life in matter obtains in mortals, alias
21 mortal mind, to which the apostle refers when he says
 that we must "put off the old man."

Identity not lost

 What is man? Brain, heart, blood, bones, etc., the
24 material structure? If the real man is in the material
 body, you take away a portion of the man when
 you amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys
27 manhood, and worms annihilate it. But the loss of a limb
 or injury to a tissue is sometimes the quickener of manli-
 ness; and the unfortunate cripple may present more no-
30 bility than the statuesque athlete, — teaching us by his
 very deprivations, that "a man's a man, for a' that."

When man is man

 When we admit that matter (heart, blood, brain, acting


Page 173


1 through the five physical senses) constitutes man, we fail
 to see how anatomy can distinguish between
3 humanity and the brute, or determine when
 man is really man and has progressed farther than his
 animal progenitors.

Individualization

6 When the supposition, that Spirit is within what it
 creates and the potter is subject to the clay,
 is individualized, Truth is reduced to the level
9 of error, and the sensible is required to be made manifest
 through the insensible.

 What is termed matter manifests nothing but a material
12 mentality. Neither the substance nor the manifestation
 of Spirit is obtainable through matter. Spirit is positive.
 Matter is Spirit's contrary, the absence of Spirit. For
15 positive Spirit to pass through a negative condition
 would be Spirit's destruction.

Man not structural

 Anatomy declares man to be structural. Physiology
18 continues this explanation, measuring human
 strength by bones and sinews, and human life
 by material law. Man is spiritual, individual, and eter-
21 nal; material structure is mortal.
 Phrenology makes man knavish or honest according to
 the development of the cranium; but anatomy, physiology,
24 phrenology, do not define the image of God, the real im-
 mortal man.

 Human reason and religion come slowly to the recogni-
27 tion of spiritual facts, and so continue to call upon
 matter to remove the error which the human mind alone
 has created.

30 The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health
 and longevity than are the idols of barbarism. The idols
 of civilization call into action less faith than Buddhism


Page 174


1 in a supreme governing intelligence. The Esquimaux
 restore health by incantations as consciously as do civi-
3 lized practitioners by their more studied methods.

 Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that
 man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to
6 baths, diet, exercise, and air? Nothing save divine
 power is capable of doing so much for man as he can
 do for himself.

Rise of thought

9 The footsteps of thought, rising above material stand-
 points, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller;
 but the angels of His presence — the spiritual
12 intuitions that tell us when "the night is far
 spent, the day is at hand" — are our guardians in the
 gloom. Whoever opens the way in Christian Science is
15 a pilgrim and stranger, marking out the path for gen-
 erations yet unborn.

 The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount
18 are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in
 their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of
 heaven on earth. Truth is revealed. It needs only to
21 be practised.

Medical errors

 Mortal belief is all that enables a drug to cure mortal
 ailments. Anatomy admits that mind is somewhere in
24 man, though out of sight. Then, if an indi-
 vidual is sick, why treat the body alone and
 administer a dose of despair to the mind? Why declare
27 that the body is diseased, and picture this disease to the
 mind, rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel and
 holding it before the thought of both physician and pa-
30 tient? We should understand that the cause of disease
 obtains in the mortal human mind, and its cure comes
 from the immortal divine Mind. We should prevent the


Page 175


1 images of disease from taking form in thought, and we
 should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in
3 the minds of mortals.

Novel Diseases

 When there are fewer prescriptions, and less thought is
 given to sanitary subjects, there will be better
6 constitutions and less disease. In old times
 who ever heard of dyspepsia, cerebro-spinal meningitis,
 hay-fever, and rose-cold?

9 What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose,
 the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its
 presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the
12 thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever. It is
 profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath
 of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation,
15 sneezing, and nasal pangs.

No ancestral dyspepsia

 If a random thought, calling itself dyspepsia, had
 tried to tyrannize over our forefathers, it would have
18 been routed by their independence and in-
 dustry. Then people had less time for self-
 ishness, coddling, and sickly after-dinner talk. The ex-
21 act amount of food the stomach could digest was not
 discussed according to Cutter nor referred to sanitary
 laws. A man's belief in those days was not so severe
24 upon the gastric juices. Beaumont's "Medical Experi-
 ments" did not govern the digestion.

Pulmonary misbeliefs

 Damp atmosphere and freezing snow empurpled the
27 plump cheeks of our ancestors, but they never indulged
 in the refinement of inflamed bronchial tubes.
 They were as innocent as Adam, before he ate
30 the fruit of false knowledge, of the existence of tubercles
 and troches, lungs and lozenges.

Our modern Eves

 "Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise," says


Page 176


1 the English poet, and there is truth in his sentiment. The
 action of mortal mind on the body was not so injurious
3 before inquisitive modern Eves took up the
 study of medical works and unmanly Adams
 attributed their own downfall and the fate of their off-
6 spring to the weakness of their wives.

 The primitive custom of taking no thought about
 food left the stomach and bowels free to act in obedi-
9 ence to nature, and gave the gospel a chance to be seen
 in its glorious effects upon the body. A ghastly array of
 diseases was not paraded before the imagination. There
12 were fewer books on digestion and more "sermons in
 stones, and good in everything." When the mechanism
 of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, self-
15 ishness and sin, disease and death, will lose their
 foothold.

 Human fear of miasma would load with disease the
18 air of Eden, and weigh down mankind with superimposed
 and conjectural evils. Mortal mind is the worst foe of
 the body, while divine Mind is its best friend.

Diseases not to be classified

21 Should all cases of organic disease be treated by a
 regular practitioner, and the Christian Scientist try
 truth only in cases of hysteria, hypochon-
24 dria, and hallucination? One disease is no
 more real than another. All disease is the
 result of education, and disease can carry its ill-effects
27 no farther than mortal mind maps out the way. The
 human mind, not matter, is supposed to feel, suffer, en-
 joy. Hence decided types of acute disease are quite as
30 ready to yield to Truth as the less distinct type and chronic
 form of disease. Truth handles the most malignant con-
 tagion with perfect assurance.


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One basis for all sickness

1 Human mind produces what is termed organic dis-
 ease as certainly as it produces hysteria, and it must re-
3 linquish all its errors, sicknesses, and sins.
 I have demonstrated this beyond all cavil.
 The evidence of divine Mind's healing power and abso-
6 lute control is to me as certain as the evidence of my own
 existence.

Mental and physical oneness

 Mortal mind and body are one. Neither exists without
9 the other, and both must be destroyed by immortal Mind.
 Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mor-
 tal mind. This so-called mind builds its own
12 superstructure, of which the material body is
 the grosser portion; but from first to last, the body is a
 sensuous, human concept.

The effect of names

15 In the Scriptural allegory of the material creation,
 Adam or error, which represents the erroneous theory
 of life and intelligence in matter, had the
18 naming of all that was material. These names
 indicated matter's properties, qualities, and forms. But
 a lie, the opposite of Truth, cannot name the qualities and
21 effects of what is termed matter, and create the so-called
 laws of the flesh, nor can a lie hold the preponderance
 of power in any direction against God, Spirit and
24 Truth.

Poison defined mentally

 If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and
 the patient dies even though physician and
27 patient are expecting favorable results, does
 human belief, you ask, cause this death? Even
 so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally
30 taken.

 In such cases a few persons believe the potion swal-
 lowed by the patient to be harmless, but the vast ma-


Page 178


1 jority of mankind, though they know nothing of this par-
 ticular case and this special person, believe the arsenic,
3 the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poi-
 sonous, for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind.
 Consequently, the result is controlled by the majority of
6 opinions, not by the infinitesimal minority of opinions in
 the sick-chamber.

 Heredity is not a law. The remote cause or belief
9 of disease is not dangerous because of its priority and
 the connection of past mortal thoughts with present.
 The predisposing cause and the exciting cause are
12 mental.

 Perhaps an adult has a deformity produced prior to his
 birth by the fright of his mother. When wrested from
15 human belief and based on Science or the divine Mind, to
 which all things are possible, that chronic case is not
 difficult to cure.

Animal magnetism destroyed

18 Mortal mind, acting from the basis of sensation in
 matter, is animal magnetism; but this so-called mind,
 from which comes all evil, contradicts itself,
21 and must finally yield to the eternal Truth, or
 the divine Mind, expressed in Science. In pro-
 portion to our understanding of Christian Science, we are
24 freed from the belief of heredity, of mind in matter or ani-
 mal magnetism; and we disarm sin of its imaginary power
 in proportion to our spiritual understanding of the status
27 of immortal being.

 Ignorant of the methods and the basis of metaphysical
 healing, you may attempt to unite with it hypnotism,
30 spiritualism, electricity; but none of these methods can
 be mingled with metaphysical healing.

 Whoever reaches the understanding of Christian Science


Page 179


1 in its proper signification will perform the sudden cures
 of which it is capable; but this can be done only by
3 taking up the cross and following Christ in the daily
 life.

Absent patients

 Science can heal the sick, who are absent from their
6 healers, as well as those present, since space is no ob-
 stacle to Mind. Immortal Mind heals what eye
 hath not seen; but the spiritual capacity to ap-
9 prehend thought and to heal by the Truth-power, is won
 only as man is found, not in self-righteousness, but re-
 flecting the divine nature.

Horses mistaught

12 Every medical method has its advocates. The prefer-
 ence of mortal mind for a certain method creates a demand
 for that method, and the body then seems to re-
15 quire such treatment. You can even educate a
 healthy horse so far in physiology that he will take cold
 without his blanket, whereas the wild animal, left to his
18 instincts, sniffs the wind with delight. The epizoötic is
 a humanly evolved ailment, which a wild horse might
 never have.

Medical works objectionable

21 Treatises on anatomy, physiology, and health, sustained
 by what is termed material law, are the pro-
 moters of sickness and disease. It should not
24 be proverbial, that so long as you read medical works you
 will be sick.

 The sedulous matron — studying her Jahr with homoe-
27 opathic pellet and powder in hand, ready to put you
 into a sweat, to move the bowels, or to produce sleep —
 is unwittingly sowing the seeds of reliance on matter,
30 and her household may erelong reap the effect of this
 mistake.

 Descriptions of disease given by physicians and adver-


Page 180


1 tisements of quackery are both prolific sources of sickness.
 As mortal mind is the husbandman of error, it should be
3 taught to do the body no harm and to uproot its false
 sowing.

The invalid's outlook

 The patient sufferer tries to be satisfied when he sees
6 his would-be healers busy, and his faith in their efforts is
 somewhat helpful to them and to himself; but
 in Science one must understand the resusci-
9 tating law of Life. This is the seed within itself bearing
 fruit after its kind, spoken of in Genesis.

 Physicians should not deport themselves as if Mind
12 were non-existent, nor take the ground that all causation
 is matter, instead of Mind. Ignorant that the human
 mind governs the body, its phenomenon, the invalid may
15 unwittingly add more fear to the mental reservoir already
 overflowing with that emotion.

Wrong and right way

 Doctors should not implant disease in the thoughts of
18 their patients, as they so frequently do, by declaring dis-
 ease to be a fixed fact, even before they go to
 work to eradicate the disease through the ma-
21 terial faith which they inspire. Instead of furnishing
 thought with fear, they should try to correct this turbulent
 element of mortal mind by the influence of divine Love
24 which casteth out fear.

 When man is governed by God, the ever-present
 Mind who understands all things, man knows that with
27 God all things are possible. The only way to this
 living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science
 of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ
30 Jesus.

The important decision

 To reduce inflammation, dissolve a tumor, or cure or-
 ganic disease, I have found divine Truth more potent than


Page 181


1 all lower remedies. And why not, since Mind, God, is
 the source and condition of all existence? Before decid-
3 ing that the body, matter, is disordered, one
 should ask, "Who art thou that repliest to
 Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or does
6 it hold the issues of life?" Matter, which can neither
 suffer nor enjoy, has no partnership with pain and pleas-
 ure, but mortal belief has such a partnership.

Manipulation unscientific

9 When you manipulate patients, you trust in electricity
 and magnetism more than in Truth; and for
 that reason, you employ matter rather than
12 Mind. You weaken or destroy your power when you re-
 sort to any except spiritual means.

 It is foolish to declare that you manipulate patients but
15 that you lay no stress on manipulation. If this be so, why
 manipulate? In reality you manipulate because you are
 ignorant of the baneful effects of magnetism, or are not
18 sufficiently spiritual to depend on Spirit. In either case
 you must improve your mental condition till you finally
 attain the understanding of Christian Science.

Not words but deeds

21 If you are too material to love the Science of Mind and
 are satisfied with good words instead of effects, if you
 adhere to error and are afraid to trust Truth,
24 the question then recurs, "Adam, where art
 thou?" It is unnecessary to resort to aught besides
 Mind in order to satisfy the sick that you are doing some-
27 thing for them, for if they are cured, they generally know
 it and are satisfied.

 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
30 If you have more faith in drugs than in Truth, this faith
 will incline you to the side of matter and error. Any
 hypnotic power you may exercise will diminish your


Page 182


1 ability to become a Scientist, and vice versa. The act
 of healing the sick through divine Mind alone, of casting
3 out error with Truth, shows your position as a Christian
 Scientist.

Physiology or Spirit

 The demands of God appeal to thought only; but the
6 claims of mortality, and what are termed laws of nature,
 appertain to matter. Which, then, are we to
 accept as legitimate and capable of producing
9 the highest human good? We cannot obey both physi-
 ology and Spirit, for one absolutely destroys the other,
 and one or the other must be supreme in the affections.
12 It is impossible to work from two standpoints. If we
 attempt it, we shall presently "hold to the one,
 and despise the other."

15 The hypotheses of mortals are antagonistic to Science
 and cannot mix with it. This is clear to those, who heal
 the sick on the basis of Science.

No material law

18 Mind's government of the body must supersede the so-
 called laws of matter. Obedience to material law pre-
 vents full obedience to spiritual law, — the law
21 which overcomes material conditions and puts
 matter under the feet of Mind. Mortals entreat the di-
 vine Mind to heal the sick, and forthwith shut out the aid
24 of Mind by using material means, thus working against
 themselves and their prayers and denying man's God-
 given ability to demonstrate Mind's sacred power. Pleas
27 for drugs and laws of health come from some sad incident,
 or else from ignorance of Christian Science and its tran-
 scendent power.

30 To admit that sickness is a condition over which God
 has no control, is to presuppose that omnipotent power
 is powerless on some occasions. The law of Christ, or


Page 183


1 Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so-
 called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and
3 demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing
 from the basis of one God, one lawmaker. To suppose
 that God constitutes laws of inharmony is a mistake; dis-
6 cords have no support from nature or divine law, however
 much is said to the contrary.

 Can the agriculturist, according to belief, produce a
9 crop without sowing the seed and awaiting its germina-
 tion according to the laws of nature? The answer is no,
 and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first
12 caused the condemnation of man to till the ground, and
 indicate that obedience to God will remove this necessity.
 Truth never made error necessary, nor devised a law to
15 perpetuate error.

Laws of nature spiritual

 The supposed laws which result in weariness and dis-
 ease are not His laws, for the legitimate and only possible
18 action of Truth is the production of harmony.
 Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but mortals
 commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of
21 Spirit. Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obe-
 dience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made
 for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man
24 power and strength. Submission to error superinduces
 loss of power.

Belief and understanding

 Truth casts out all evils and materialistic methods
27 with the actual spiritual law, — the law which gives
 sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, voice
 to the dumb, feet to the lame. If Christian
30 Science dishonors human belief, it honors spir-
 itual understanding; and the one Mind only is entitled to
 honor.


Page 184


1 The so-called laws of health are simply laws of mortal
 belief. The premises being erroneous, the conclusions
3 are wrong. Truth makes no laws to regulate sickness,
 sin, and death, for these are unknown to Truth and should
 not be recognized as reality.

6 Belief produces the results of belief, and the penal-
 ties it affixes last so long as the belief and are insepara-
 ble from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble
9 to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the
 error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never
 honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yield-
12 ing obedience to it. Truth, Life, and Love are the only
 legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are
 spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine
15 statutes.

Laws of human belief

 Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmoni-
 ous and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief
18 is discordant and mortal. We say man suffers
 from the effects of cold, heat, fatigue. This
 is human belief, not the truth of being, for matter cannot
21 suffer. Mortal mind alone suffers, — not because a law
 of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this
 so-called mind has been disobeyed. I have demonstrated
24 this as a rule of divine Science by destroying the delusion
 of suffering from what is termed a fatally broken physical
 law.

27 A woman, whom I cured of consumption, always
 breathed with great difficulty when the wind was from
 the east. I sat silently by her side a few moments. Her
30 breath came gently. The inspirations were deep and nat-
 ural. I then requested her to look at the weather-vane.
 She looked and saw that it pointed due east. The wind


Page 185


1 had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her diffi-
 culty in breathing had gone. The wind had not produced
3 the difficulty. My metaphysical treatment changed the
 action of her belief on the lungs, and she never suffered
 again from east winds, but was restored to health.

A so-called mind-cure

6 No system of hygiene but Christian Science is purely
 mental. Before this book was published, other books
 were in circulation, which discussed "mental
9 medicine" and "mind-cure," operating through
 the power of the earth's magnetic currents to regulate life
 and health. Such theories and such systems of so-called
12 mind-cure, which have sprung up, are as material as the
 prevailing systems of medicine. They have their birth
 in mortal mind, which puts forth a human conception
15 in the name of Science to match the divine Science of im-
 mortal Mind, even as the necromancers of Egypt strove
 to emulate the wonders wrought by Moses. Such theories
18 have no relationship to Christian Science, which rests on
 the conception of God as the only Life, substance, and
 intelligence, and excludes the human mind as a spiritual
21 factor in the healing work.

Jesus and hypnotism

 Jesus cast out evil and healed the sick, not only with-
 out drugs, but without hypnotism, which is
24 the reverse of ethical and pathological Truth-
 power.

 Erroneous mental practice may seem for a time to bene-
27 fit the sick, but the recovery is not permanent. This is
 because erroneous methods act on and through the ma-
 terial stratum of the human mind, called brain, which is
30 but a mortal consolidation of material mentality and its
 suppositional activities.

False stimulus

 A patient under the influence of mortal mind is healed


Page 186


1 only by removing the influence on him of this mind, by
 emptying his thought of the false stimulus
3 and reaction of will-power and filling it with
 the divine energies of Truth.

 Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the
6 understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work
 determines health. Erring human mind-forces can work
 only evil under whatever name or pretence they are em-
9 ployed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and
 darkness, cannot mingle.

Evil negative and self-destructive

 Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth.
12 It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It
 is unreal, because it presupposes the absence
 of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent.
15 Every mortal must learn that there is neither
 power nor reality in evil.

 Evil is self-assertive. It says: "I am a real entity, over-
18 mastering good." This falsehood should strip evil of all
 pretensions. The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It
 can never destroy one iota of good. Every attempt of evil
21 to destroy good is a failure, and only aids in peremptorily
 punishing the evil-doer. If we concede the same reality to
 discord as to harmony, discord has as lasting a claim upon
24 us as has harmony. If evil is as real as good, evil is also as
 immortal. If death is as real as Life, immortality is a myth.
 If pain is as real as the absence of pain, both must be im-
27 mortal; and if so, harmony cannot be the law of being.

Ignorant idolatry

 Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be
 self-deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it
30 would be better. Since it must believe in some-
 thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity.
 The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning,


Page 187


1 having other gods and believing in more than the one
 Mind.

3 As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence,
 how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and
 of His creations.

6 Here you may see how so-called material sense creates
 its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and
 then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness,
9 it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability
 beyond itself. The beliefs of the human mind rob and
 enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive
12 personification, named Satan.

Action of mortal mind

 The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the pas-
 sage of the blood, obey the mandate of mor-
15 tal mind as directly as does the hand, ad-
 mittedly moved by the will. Anatomy allows the mental
 cause of the latter action, but not of the former.

18 We say, "My hand hath done it." What is this my but
 mortal mind, the cause of all materialistic action? All
 voluntary, as well as miscalled involuntary, action of the
21 mortal body is governed by this so-called mind, not by
 matter. There is no involuntary action. The divine Mind
 includes all action and volition, and man in Science is gov-
24 erned by this Mind. The human mind tries to classify
 action as voluntary and involuntary, and suffers from the
 attempt.

Death and the body

27 If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material
 body loses all appearance of life or action, and this so-
 called mind then calls itself dead; but the hu-
30 man mind still holds in belief a body, through
 which it acts and which appears to the human mind to
 live, — a body like the one it had before death. This body


Page 188


1 is put off only as the mortal, erring mind yields to God,
 immortal Mind, and man is found in His image.

Embryonic sinful thoughts

3 What is termed disease does not exist. It is neither
 mind nor matter. The belief of sin, which has grown
 terrible in strength and influence, is an uncon-
6 scious error in the beginning, — an embryonic
 thought without motive; but afterwards it
 governs the so-called man. Passion, depraved appetites,
9 dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into action, only to
 pass from shame and woe to their final punishment.

Disease a dream

 Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in
12 matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like
 the dream we have in sleep, in which every one
 recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of
15 mind. In both the waking, and the sleeping dream, the
 dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering
 is in that body.

18 The smile of the sleeper indicates the sensation pro-
 duced physically by the pleasure of a dream. In the
 same way pain and pleasure, sickness and care, are
21 traced upon mortals by unmistakable signs.

 Sickness is a growth of error, springing from mortal
 ignorance or fear. Error rehearses error. What causes
24 disease cannot cure it. The soil of disease is mortal
 mind, and you have an abundant or scanty crop of disease,
 according to the seedlings of fear. Sin and the fear of
27 disease must be uprooted and cast out.

Sense yields to understanding

 When darkness comes over the earth, the physical
 senses have no immediate evidence of a sun.
30 The human eye knows not where the orb of
 day is, nor if it exists. Astronomy gives the
 desired information regarding the sun. The human or


Page 189


1 material senses yield to the authority of this science, and
 they are willing to leave with astronomy the explanation of
3 the sun's influence over the earth. If the eyes see no sun
 for a week, we still believe that there is solar light and
 heat. Science (in this instance named natural) raises
6 the human thought above the cruder theories of the
 human mind, and casts out a fear.

 In like manner mortals should no more deny the power
9 of Christian Science to establish harmony and to explain
 the effect of mortal mind on the body, though the cause
 be unseen, than they should deny the existence of the sun-
12 light when the orb of day disappears, or doubt that the sun
 will reappear. The sins of others should not make good
 men suffer.

Ascending the scale

15 We call the body material; but it is as truly mortal
 mind, according to its degree, as is the material brain
 which is supposed to furnish the evidence
18 of all mortal thought or things. The human
 mortal mind, by an inevitable perversion, makes all
 things start from the lowest instead of from the highest
21 mortal thought. The reverse is the case with all the
 formations of the immortal divine Mind. They proceed
 from the divine source; and so, in tracing them, we con-
24 stantly ascend in infinite being.

Human reproduction

 From mortal mind comes the reproduction of the
 species, — first the belief of inanimate, and then of ani-
27 mate matter. According to mortal thought,
 the development of embryonic mortal mind
 commences in the lower, basal portion of the brain, and
30 goes on in an ascending scale by evolution, keeping always
 in the direct line of matter, for matter is the subjective
 condition of mortal mind.


Page 190


1 Next we have the formation of so-called embryonic
 mortal mind, afterwards mortal men or mortals, — all this
3 while matter is a belief, ignorant of itself, ignorant of what
 it is supposed to produce. The mortal says that an inani-
 mate unconscious seedling is producing mortals, both body
6 and mind; and yet neither a mortal mind nor the immortal
 Mind is found in brain or elsewhere in matter or in mortals.

Human stature

 This embryonic and materialistic human belief called
9 mortal man in turn fills itself with thoughts
 of pain and pleasure, of life and death, and
 arranges itself into five so-called senses, which presently
12 measure mind by the size of a brain and the bulk of a
 body, called man.

Human frailty

 Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the
15 grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades,
 afterwards to wither and return to its native
 nothingness. This mortal seeming is temporal;
18 it never merges into immortal being, but finally disap-
 pears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found
 to be the real man.

21 The Hebrew bard, swayed by mortal thoughts, thus
 swept his lyre with saddening strains on human existence:

  As for man, his days are as grass:
24  As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
  And the place thereof shall know it no more.

27 When hope rose higher in the human heart, he sang:

  As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness:
  I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.
  .    .    .    .    .
30  For with Thee is the fountain of life;
  In Thy light shall we see light.


Page 191


1 The brain can give no idea of God's man. It can take
 no cognizance of Mind. Matter is not the organ of infi-
3 nite Mind.

 As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than
 one Mind, more than one God, man in God's likeness will
6 appear, and this eternal man will include in that likeness
 no material element.

The immortal birth

 As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a
9 misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine
 Principle of man dawns upon human thought,
 and leads it to "where the young child was,"
12 — even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual
 sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole
 earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light,
15 chasing away the darkness of error.

Spiritual freedom

 The human thought must free itself from self-imposed
 materiality and bondage. It should no longer
18 ask of the head, heart, or lungs: What are
 man's prospects for life? Mind is not helpless. Intelli-
 gence is not mute before non-intelligence.

21 By its own volition, not a blade of grass springs up, not
 a spray buds within the vale, not a leaf unfolds its fair
 outlines, not a flower starts from its cloistered cell.

24 The Science of being reveals man and immortality as
 based on Spirit. Physical sense defines mortal man as
 based on matter, and from this premise infers the mor-
27 tality of the body.

No physical affinity

 The illusive senses may fancy affinities with their op-
 posites; but in Christian Science, Truth never mingles
30 with error. Mind has no affinity with matter,
 and therefore Truth is able to cast out the ills
 of the flesh. Mind, God, sends forth the aroma of Spirit,


Page 192


1 the atmosphere of intelligence. The belief that a pulpy
 substance under the skull is mind is a mockery of intelli-
3 gence, a mimicry of Mind.

 We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance
 upon that which is false and grasp the true. We are not
6 Christian Scientists until we leave all for Christ. Human
 opinions are not spiritual. They come from the hearing
 of the ear, from corporeality instead of from Principle,
9 and from the mortal instead of from the immortal. Spirit
 is not separate from God. Spirit is God.

Human power a blind force

 Erring power is a material belief, a blind miscalled force,
12 the offspring of will and not of wisdom, of the mortal mind
 and not of the immortal. It is the headlong
 cataract, the devouring flame, the tempest's
15 breath. It is lightning and hurricane, all that is selfish,
 wicked, dishonest, and impure.

The one real power

 Moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who holds
18 the "wind in His fists;" and this teaching accords with
 Science and harmony. In Science, you can
 have no power opposed to God, and the physi-
21 cal senses must give up their false testimony. Your in-
 fluence for good depends upon the weight you throw into
 the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you
24 the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a
 mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness
 and falls, never to rise.

27 We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by follow-
 ing the example of our Master in the understanding of
 divine metaphysics. Christianity is the basis of true heal-
30 ing. Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed
 love, receives directly the divine power.

Mind cures hip-disease

 I was called to visit Mr. Clark in Lynn, who had been


Page 193


1 confined to his bed six months with hip-disease, caused by
 a fall upon a wooden spike when quite a boy. On enter-
3 ing the house I met his physician, who said that
 the patient was dying. The physician had just
 probed the ulcer on the hip, and said the bone was carious
6 for several inches. He even showed me the probe, which
 had on it the evidence of this condition of the bone. The
 doctor went out. Mr. Clark lay with his eyes fixed and
9 sightless. The dew of death was on his brow. I went to
 his bedside. In a few moments his face changed; its
 death-pallor gave place to a natural hue. The eyelids
12 closed gently and the breathing became natural; he was
 asleep. In about ten minutes he opened his eyes and
 said: "I feel like a new man. My suffering is all gone."
15 It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon
 when this took place.

 I told him to rise, dress himself, and take supper with
18 his family. He did so. The next day I saw him in the
 yard. Since then I have not seen him, but am informed
 that he went to work in two weeks. The discharge from
21 the sore stopped, and the sore was healed. The diseased
 condition had continued there ever since the injury was
 received in boyhood.
24 Since his recovery I have been informed that his physi-
 cian claims to have cured him, and that his mother has
 been threatened with incarceration in an insane asylum
27 for saying: "It was none other than God and that woman
 who healed him." I cannot attest the truth of that
 report, but what I saw and did for that man, and what
30 his physician said of the case, occurred just as I have
 narrated.

 It has been demonstrated to me that Life is God


Page 194


1 and that the might of omnipotent Spirit shares not its
 strength with matter or with human will. Review-
3 ing this brief experience, I cannot fail to discern the
 coincidence of the spiritual idea of man with the divine
 Mind.

Change of belief

6 A change in human belief changes all the physical symp-
 toms, and determines a case for better or for
 worse. When one's false belief is corrected,
9 Truth sends a report of health over the body.

 Destruction of the auditory nerve and paralysis of the
 optic nerve are not necessary to ensure deafness and blind-
12 ness; for if mortal mind says, "I am deaf and blind," it
 will be so without an injured nerve. Every theory op-
 posed to this fact (as I learned in metaphysics) would
15 presuppose man, who is immortal in spiritual under-
 standing, a mortal in material belief.

Power of habit

 The authentic history of Kaspar Hauser is a useful hint
18 as to the frailty and inadequacy of mortal mind. It
 proves beyond a doubt that education consti-
 tutes this so-called mind, and that, in turn,
21 mortal mind manifests itself in the body by the false
 sense it imparts. Incarcerated in a dungeon, where
 neither sight nor sound could reach him, at the age of
24 seventeen Kaspar was still a mental infant, crying and
 chattering with no more intelligence than a babe, and
 realizing Tennyson's description:

27 An infant crying in the night,
      An infant crying for the light,
      And with no language but a cry.

30 His case proves material sense to be but a belief formed
 by education alone. The light which affords us joy gave


Page 195


1 him a belief of intense pain. His eyes were inflamed by
 the light. After the babbling boy had been taught to
3 speak a few words, he asked to be taken back to his dun-
 geon, and said that he should never be happy elsewhere.
 Outside of dismal darkness and cold silence he found no
6 peace. Every sound convulsed him with anguish. All
 that he ate, except his black crust, produced violent
 retchings. All that gives pleasure to our educated senses
9 gave him pain through those very senses, trained in an
 opposite direction.

Useful knowledge

 The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal
12 mind or immortal Mind that is causative. We
 should forsake the basis of matter for meta-
 physical Science and its divine Principle.

15 Whatever furnishes the semblance of an idea governed
 by its Principle, furnishes food for thought. Through as-
 tronomy, natural history, chemistry, music, mathematics,
18 thought passes naturally from effect back to cause.

 Academics of the right sort are requisite. Observa-
 tion, invention, study, and original thought are expansive
21 and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of it-
 self, out of all that is mortal.

 It is the tangled barbarisms of learning which we
24 deplore, — the mere dogma, the speculative theory, the
 nauseous fiction. Novels, remarkable only for their
 exaggerated pictures, impossible ideals, and specimens
27 of depravity, fill our young readers with wrong tastes
 and sentiments. Literary commercialism is lowering the
 intellectual standard to accommodate the purse and to
30 meet a frivolous demand for amusement instead of for
 improvement. Incorrect views lower the standard of
 truth.


Page 196


1 If materialistic knowledge is power, it is not wisdom.
 It is but a blind force. Man has "sought out many inven-
3 tions," but he has not yet found it true that knowledge can
 save him from the dire effects of knowledge. The power
 of mortal mind over its own body is little understood.

Sin destroyed through suffering

6 Better the suffering which awakens mortal mind from
 its fleshly dream, than the false pleasures
 which tend to perpetuate this dream. Sin
9 alone brings death, for sin is the only element
 of destruction.

 "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body
12 in hell," said Jesus. A careful study of this text shows
 that here the word soul means a false sense or material
 consciousness. The command was a warning to beware,
15 not of Rome, Satan, nor of God, but of sin. Sickness,
 sin, and death are not concomitants of Life or Truth.
 No law supports them. They have no relation to God
18 wherewith to establish their power. Sin makes its own
 hell, and goodness its own heaven.

Dangerous shoals avoided

 Such books as will rule disease out of mortal mind, —
21 and so efface the images and thoughts of dis-
 ease, instead of impressing them with forcible
 descriptions and medical details, — will help
24 to abate sickness and to destroy it.

 Many a hopeless case of disease is induced by a single
 post mortem examination, — not from infection nor from
27 contact with material virus, but from the fear of the
 disease and from the image brought before the mind; it
 is a mental state, which is afterwards outlined on the
30 body.

Pangs caused by the press

 The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and
 diseases among the human family. It does this by giv-


Page 197


1 ing names to diseases and by printing long descriptions
 which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A
3 new name for an ailment affects people like a
 Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one
 hastens to get it. A minutely described dis-
6 ease costs many a man his earthly days of comfort. What
 a price for human knowledge! But the price does not ex-
 ceed the original cost. God said of the tree of knowledge,
9 which bears the fruit of sin, disease, and death, "In the
 day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Higher standard for mortals

 The less that is said of physical structure and laws, and
12 the more that is thought and said about moral
 and spiritual law, the higher will be the stand-
 ard of living and the farther mortals will be re-
15 moved from imbecility or disease.

 We should master fear, instead of cultivating it. It
 was the ignorance of our forefathers in the departments
18 of knowledge now broadcast in the earth, that made them
 hardier than our trained physiologists, more honest than
 our sleek politicians.

Diet and dyspepsia

21 We are told that the simple food our forefathers ate
 helped to make them healthy, but that is a mistake.
 Their diet would not cure dyspepsia at this
24 period. With rules of health in the head
 and the most digestible food in the stomach, there would
 still be dyspeptics. Many of the effeminate constitutions
27 of our time will never grow robust until individual opin-
 ions improve and immortal belief loses some portion of its
 error.

Harm done by physicians

30 The doctor's mind reaches that of his patient. The
 doctor should suppress his fear of disease, else his belief
 in its reality and fatality will harm his patients even more


Page 198


1 than his calomel and morphine, for the higher stratum of
 mortal mind has in belief more power to harm man than
3 the substratum, matter. A patient hears the
 doctor's verdict as a criminal hears his death-
 sentence. The patient may seem calm under it, but he is
6 not. His fortitude may sustain him, but his fear, which
 has already developed the disease that is gaining the
 mastery, is increased by the physician's words.

Disease depicted

9 The materialistic doctor, though humane, is an art-
 ist who outlines his thought relative to disease, and then
 fills in his delineations with sketches from text-
12 books. It is better to prevent disease from
 forming in mortal mind afterwards to appear on the
 body; but to do this requires attention. The thought of
15 disease is formed before one sees a doctor and before
 the doctor undertakes to dispel it by a counter-irritant,
 — perhaps by a blister, by the application of caustic or
18 croton oil, or by a surgical operation. Again, giving an-
 other direction to faith, the physician prescribes drugs,
 until the elasticity of mortal thought haply causes a
21 vigorous reaction upon itself, and reproduces a picture
 of healthy and harmonious formations.

 A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed
24 by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor
 says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his
 patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the
27 weaker. Hence the importance that doctors be Christian
 Scientists.

Mind over matter

 Because the muscles of the blacksmith's arm are
30 strongly developed, it does not follow that
 exercise has produced this result or that a
 less used arm must be weak. If matter were the cause


Page 199


1 of action, and if muscles, without volition of mortal
 mind, could lift the hammer and strike the anvil, it
3 might be thought true that hammering would enlarge
 the muscles. The trip-hammer is not increased in size
 by exercise. Why not, since muscles are as material as
6 wood and iron? Because nobody believes that mind is
 producing such a result on the hammer.

 Muscles are not self-acting. If mind does not move
9 them, they are motionless. Hence the great fact that
 Mind alone enlarges and empowers man through its
 mandate, — by reason of its demand for and supply of
12 power. Not because of muscular exercise, but by rea-
 son of the blacksmith's faith in exercise, his arm becomes
 stronger.

Latent fear subdued

15 Mortals develop their own bodies or make them sick,
 according as they influence them through mortal mind.
 To know whether this development is produced
18 consciously or unconsciously, is of less impor-
 tance than a knowledge of the fact. The feats of the gym-
 nast prove that latent mental fears are subdued by him.
21 The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes
 the achievement possible. Exceptions only confirm this
 rule, proving that failure is occasioned by a too feeble
24 faith.

 Had Blondin believed it impossible to walk the rope
 over Niagara's abyss of waters, he could never have
27 done it. His belief that he could do it gave his thought-
 forces, called muscles, their flexibility and power which
 the unscientific might attribute to a lubricating oil. His
30 fear must have disappeared before his power of putting
 resolve into action could appear.

Homer and Moses

 When Homer sang of the Grecian gods, Olympus was


Page 200


1 dark, but through his verse the gods became alive in a
 nation's belief. Pagan worship began with muscularity,
3 but the law of Sinai lifted thought into the
 song of David. Moses advanced a nation to
 the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and il-
6 lustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed
 by immortal Mind.

A mortal not man

 Whoever is incompetent to explain Soul would be wise
9 not to undertake the explanation of body. Life is, always
 has been, and ever will be independent of
 matter; for Life is God, and man is the idea
12 of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not
 subject to decay and dust. The Psalmist said: "Thou
 madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy
15 hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet."

 The great truth in the Science of being, that the real
 man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible;
18 for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither
 inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.

 The suppositional antipode of divine infinite Spirit
21 is the so-called human soul or spirit, in other words
 the five senses, — the flesh that warreth against Spirit.
 These so called material senses must yield to the infinite
24 Spirit, named God.

 St. Paul said: "For I determined not to know any-
 thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
27 (I Cor. ii. 2.) Christian Science says: I am determined
 not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and
 him glorified.



Page 201


Chapter 8 — Footsteps of Truth


 Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants; how I do bear in
 my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith Thine
 enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached
 the footsteps of Thine anointed.
Psalms.

Practical preaching

1 THE best sermon ever preached is Truth practised
 and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness,
3 and death. Knowing this and knowing too
 that one affection would be supreme in us and
 take the lead in our lives, Jesus said, "No man can serve
6 two masters."

 We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth
 makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away
9 and "all things are become new." Passions, selfishness,
 false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirit-
 uality, and the superabundance of being is on the side
12 of God, good.

The uses of truth

 We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be
 emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when
15 the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our
 tatters close about us.

 The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour
18 in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfec-
 tion is won on no other basis.

 Grafting holiness upon unholiness, supposing that sin


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1 can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as
 straining out gnats and swallowing camels.

3 The scientific unity which exists between God and man
 must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must
 be universally done.

Divine study

6 If men would bring to bear upon the study of the
 Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so-
 called pains and pleasures of material sense,
9 they would not go on from bad to worse,
 until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but
 the whole human family would be redeemed through
12 the merits of Christ, — through the perception and ac-
 ceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian
 Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding.

Harmonious life-work

15 Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal
 man, in accord with the divine Principle of his being,
 God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days
18 of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di-
 minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the
 true way leads to Life instead of to death, and earthly
21 experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite
 capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion
 over all the earth.

Belief and practice

24 Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict the
 practice growing out of them. Error abounds where
 Truth should "much more abound." We

27 admit that God has almighty power, is "a
 very present help in trouble;" and yet we rely on a drug
 or hypnotism to heal disease, as if senseless matter or err-
30 ing mortal mind had more power than omnipotent Spirit.

Sure reward of righteousness

 Common opinion admits that a man may take cold in
 the act of doing good, and that this cold may produce


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1 fatal pulmonary disease; as though evil could overbear
 the law of Love, and check the reward for do-
3 ing good. In the Science of Christianity, Mind
 — omnipotence — has all-power, assigns sure
 rewards to righteousness, and shows that matter can
6 neither heal nor make sick, create nor destroy.

Our belief and understanding

 If God were understood instead of being merely be-
 lieved, this understanding would establish health. The
9 accusation of the rabbis, "He made himself
 the Son of God," was really the justification
 of Jesus, for to the Christian the only true
12 spirit is Godlike. This thought incites to a more exalted
 worship and self-abnegation. Spiritual perception brings
 out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught
15 but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in
 deed and in truth.

Suicide and sin

 We are prone to believe either in more than one Su-
18 preme Ruler or in some power less than God. We im-
 agine that Mind can be imprisoned in a sensuous body.
 When the material body has gone to ruin, when evil has
21 overtaxed the belief of life in matter and destroyed it,
 then mortals believe that the deathless Principle, or
 Soul, escapes from matter and lives on; but this is not
24 true. Death is not a stepping-stone to life, immortality,
 and bliss. The so-called sinner is a suicide.
 Sin kills the sinner and will continue to kill
27 him so long as he sins. The foam and fury of illegiti-
 mate living and of fearful and doleful dying should
 disappear on the shore of time; then the waves of sin,
30 sorrow, and death beat in vain.

 God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give
 him eternal Life, for God alone is man's life. God is at


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1 once the centre and circumference of being. It is evil
 that dies; good dies not.

Spirit the only intelligence and substance

3 All forms of error support the false conclusions that
 there is more than one Life; that material history is as
 real and living as spiritual history; that mortal
6 error is as conclusively mental as immortal
 Truth; and that there are two separate, an-
 tagonistic entities and beings, two powers, — namely,
9 Spirit and matter, — resulting in a third person (mortal
 man) who carries out the delusions of sin, sickness, and
 death.

12 The first power is admitted to be good, an intelligence or
 Mind called God. The so-called second power, evil, is the
 unlikeness of good. It cannot therefore be mind, though
15 so called. The third power, mortal man, is a supposed
 mixture of the first and second antagonistic powers, in-
 telligence and non-intelligence, of Spirit and matter.

Unscientific theories

18 Such theories are evidently erroneous. They can never
 stand the test of Science. Judging them by their fruits,
 they are corrupt. When will the ages under-
21 stand the Ego, and realize only one God, one
 Mind or intelligence?

 False and self-assertive theories have given sinners the
24 notion that they can create what God cannot, — namely,
 sinful mortals in God's image, thus usurping the name
 without the nature of the image or reflection of divine
27 Mind; but in Science it can never be said that man
 has a mind of his own, distinct from God, the all
 Mind.

30 The belief that God lives in matter is pantheistic. The
 error, which says that Soul is in body, Mind is in matter,
 and good is in evil, must unsay it and cease from such


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1 utterances; else God will continue to be hidden from hu-
 manity, and mortals will sin without knowing that they
3 are sinning, will lean on matter instead of Spirit, stumble
 with lameness, drop with drunkenness, consume with dis-
 ease, — all because of their blindness, their false sense
6 concerning God and man.

Creation perfect

 When will the error of believing that there is life in
 matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of
9 God, be unmasked? When will it be under-
 stood that matter has neither intelligence, life,
 nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific
12 source of all suffering? God created all through Mind,
 and made all perfect and eternal. Where then is the
 necessity for recreation or procreation?

Perceiving the divine image

15 Befogged in error (the error of believing that matter
 can be intelligent for good or evil), we can catch clear
 glimpses of God only as the mists disperse,
18 or as they melt into such thinness that we per-
 ceive the divine image in some word or deed
 which indicates the true idea, — the supremacy and real-
21 ity of good, the nothingness and unreality of evil.

Redemption from selfishness

 When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law
 of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded;
24 whereas a belief in many ruling minds hinders
 man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one
 God, and leads human thought into opposite channels
27 where selfishness reigns.

 Selfishness tips the beam of human existence towards
 the side of error, not towards Truth. Denial of the one-
30 ness of Mind throws our weight into the scale, not of
 Spirit, God, good, but of matter.

 When we fully understand our relation to the Divine,


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1 we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love,
 wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no con-
3 sciousness of the existence of matter or error.

Will-power unrighteous

 The power of the human will should be exercised only
 in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judg-
6 ment and free the lower propensities. It is the
 province of spiritual sense to govern man.
 Material, erring, human thought acts injuriously both
9 upon the body and through it.

 Will-power is capable of all evil. It can never heal
 the sick, for it is the prayer of the unrighteous; while
12 the exercise of the sentiments — hope, faith, love — is the
 prayer of the righteous. This prayer, governed by Science
 instead of the senses, heals the sick.

15 In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that
 whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with
 the loaves and the fishes, — Spirit, not matter, being the
18 source of supply.

Birth and death unreal

 Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child
 for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away
21 by death? Is God creating anew what He
 has already created? The Scriptures are defi-
 nite on this point, declaring that His work was finished,
24 nothing is new to God, and that it was good.

 Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual
 image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending
27 sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light
 immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all
 and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes
30 and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man
 to sin, to be sick, or to die.

No evil in Spirit

 There are evil beliefs, often called evil spirits; but


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1 these evils are not Spirit, for there is no evil in Spirit.
 Because God is Spirit, evil becomes more apparent and
3 obnoxious proportionately as we advance spir-
 itually, until it disappears from our lives.
 This fact proves our position, for every scientific state-
6 ment in Christianity has its proof. Error of statement
 leads to error in action.

Subordination of evil

 God is not the creator of an evil mind. Indeed, evil
9 is not Mind. We must learn that evil is the awful decep-
 tion and unreality of existence. Evil is not
 supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the
12 so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit
 secondary. Without this lesson, we lose sight of the per-
 fect Father, or the divine Principle of man.

Evident impossibilities

15 Body is not first and Soul last, nor is evil mightier than
 good. The Science of being repudiates self-
 evident impossibilities, such as the amalgama-
18 tion of Truth and error in cause or effect. Science sepa-
 rates the tares and wheat in time of harvest.

One primal cause

 There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can
21 be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no
 reality in aught which does not proceed from
 this great and only cause. Sin, sickness, dis-
24 ease, and death belong not to the Science of being. They
 are the errors, which presuppose the absence of Truth,
 Life, or Love.

27 The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things.
 The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the
 whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth.
30 Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord,
 which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real.
 The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from


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1 suppositional error, which affords no proof of God,
 Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense de-
3 fines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the
 infinite.

Seemingly independent authority

 The Scriptures say, "In Him we live, and move, and
6 have our being." What then is this seeming power, in-
 dependent of God, which causes disease and
 cures it? What is it but an error of belief, —
9 a law of mortal mind, wrong in every sense,
 embracing sin, sickness, and death? It is the very anti-
 pode of immortal Mind, of Truth, and of spiritual law.
12 It is not in accordance with the goodness of God's char-
 acter that He should make man sick, then leave man to
 heal himself; it is absurd to suppose that matter can both
15 cause and cure disease, or that Spirit, God, produces
 disease and leaves the remedy to matter.

 John Young of Edinburgh writes: "God is the father
18 of mind, and of nothing else." Such an utterance is
 "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" of human
 beliefs and preparing the way of Science. Let us learn
21 of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of
 Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, — the reign and rule of
 universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain
24 forever unseen.

Sickness as only thought

 Mind, not matter, is causation. A material body
 only expresses a material and mortal mind. A mortal
27 man possesses this body, and he makes it
 harmonious or discordant according to the
 images of thought impressed upon it. You embrace
30 your body in your thought, and you should delineate
 upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness. You should
 banish all thoughts of disease and sin and of other beliefs


Page 209


1 included in matter. Man, being immortal, has a perfect
 indestructible life. It is the mortal belief which makes
3 the body discordant and diseased in proportion as igno-
 rance, fear, or human will governs mortals.

Allness of Truth

 Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing
6 them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas,
 the life and light of all its own vast creation;
 and man is tributary to divine Mind. The
9 material and mortal body or mind is not the man.

 The world would collapse without Mind, without the in-
 telligence which holds the winds in its grasp. Neither
12 philosophy nor skepticism can hinder the march of the
 Science which reveals the supremacy of Mind. The im-
 manent sense of Mind-power enhances the glory of Mind.
15 Nearness, not distance, lends enchantment to this view.

Spiritual translation

 The compounded minerals or aggregated substances
 composing the earth, the relations which constituent
18 masses hold to each other, the magnitudes,
 distances, and revolutions of the celestial
 bodies, are of no real importance, when we remember
21 that they all must give place to the spiritual fact by the
 translation of man and the universe back into Spirit. In
 proportion as this is done, man and the universe will be
24 found harmonious and eternal.

 Material substances or mundane formations, astro-
 nomical calculations, and all the paraphernalia of specu-
27 lative theories, based on the hypothesis of material law
 or life and intelligence resident in matter, will ulti-
 mately vanish, swallowed up in the infinite calculus of
30 Spirit.

 Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to un-
 derstand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works


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1 over faith in words. Its ideas are expressed only in "new
 tongues;" and these are interpreted by the translation of
3 the spiritual original into the language which human
 thought can comprehend.

Jesus' disregard of matter

 The Principle and proof of Christianity are discerned
6 by spiritual sense. They are set forth in Jesus' demon-
 strations, which show — by his healing the
 sick, casting out evils, and destroying death,
9 "the last enemy that shall be destroyed," —
 his disregard of matter and its so-called laws.

 Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever
12 manifested through man, the Master healed the sick,
 gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the
 lame, thus bringing to light the scientific action of the
15 divine Mind on human minds and bodies and giving
 a better understanding of Soul and salvation. Jesus
 healed sickness and sin by one and the same metaphysical
18 process.

Mind not mortal

 The expression mortal mind is really a solecism, for
 Mind is immortal, and Truth pierces the error of mortality
21 as a sunbeam penetrates the cloud. Because,
 in obedience to the immutable law of Spirit,
 this so-called mind is self-destructive, I name it mortal.
24 Error soweth the wind and reapeth the whirlwind.

Matter mindless

 What is termed matter, being unintelligent, cannot say,
 "I suffer, I die, I am sick, or I am well." It is the so-
27 called mortal mind which voices this and ap-
 pears to itself to make good its claim. To
 mortal sense, sin and suffering are real, but immortal
30 sense includes no evil nor pestilence. Because immortal
 sense has no error of sense, it has no sense of error; there
 fore it is without a destructive element.


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1 If brain, nerves, stomach, are intelligent, — if they talk
 to us, tell us their condition, and report how they feel, —
3 then Spirit and matter, Truth and error, commingle
 and produce sickness and health, good and evil, life and
 death; and who shall say whether Truth or error is the
6 greater?

Matter sensationless

 The sensations of the body must either be the sensa-
 tions of a so-called mortal mind or of matter. Nerves
9 are not mind. Is it not provable that Mind is
 not mortal and that matter has no sensation?
 Is it not equally true that matter does not appear in the
12 spiritual understanding of being?

 The sensation of sickness and the impulse to sin seem
 to obtain in mortal mind. When a tear starts, does not
15 this so-called mind produce the effect seen in the lachry-
 mal gland? Without mortal mind, the tear could not
 appear; and this action shows the nature of all so-called
18 material cause and effect.

 It should no longer be said in Israel that "the fathers
 have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set
21 on edge." Sympathy with error should disappear. The
 transfer of the thoughts of one erring mind to another,
 Science renders impossible.

Nerves painless

24 If it is true that nerves have sensation, that matter has
 intelligence, that the material organism causes the eyes to
 see and the ears to hear, then, when the body
27 is dematerialized, these faculties must be lost,
 for their immortality is not in Spirit; whereas the fact
 is that only through dematerialization and spiritualiza-
30 tion of thought can these faculties be conceived of as
 immortal.

 Nerves are not the source of pain or pleasure. We


Page 212


1 suffer or enjoy in our dreams, but this pain or pleasure
 is not communicated through a nerve. A tooth which has
3 been extracted sometimes aches again in belief, and the
 pain seems to be in its old place. A limb which has been
 amputated has continued in belief to pain the owner. If
6 the sensation of pain in the limb can return, can be pro-
 longed, why cannot the limb reappear?

 Why need pain, rather than pleasure, come to this mor-
9 tal sense? Because the memory of pain is more vivid
 than the memory of pleasure. I have seen an unwitting
 attempt to scratch the end of a finger which had been cut
12 off for months. When the nerve is gone, which we say
 was the occasion of pain, and the pain still remains, it
 proves sensation to be in the mortal mind, not in matter.
15 Reverse the process; take away this so-called mind instead
 of a piece of the flesh, and the nerves have no sensation.

Human falsities

 Mortals have a modus of their own, undirected and un-
18 sustained by God. They produce a rose through seed and
 soil, and bring the rose into contact with the
 olfactory nerves that they may smell it. In
21 legerdemain and credulous frenzy, mortals believe that
 unseen spirits produce the flowers. God alone makes
 and clothes the lilies of the field, and this He does by
24 means of Mind, not matter.

No miracles in Mind-methods

 Because all the methods of Mind are not understood,
 we say the lips or hands must move in order to convey
27 thought, that the undulations of the air convey
 sound, and possibly that other methods involve
 so-called miracles. The realities of being, its
30 normal action, and the origin of all things are unseen to
 mortal sense; whereas the unreal and imitative move-
 ments of mortal belief, which would reverse the immortal


Page 213


1 modus and action, are styled the real. Whoever con-
 tradicts this mortal mind supposition of reality is called
3 a deceiver, or is said to be deceived. Of a man it has
 been said, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he;" hence
 as a man spiritually understandeth, so is he in truth.

Good indefinable

6 Mortal mind conceives of something as either liquid
 or solid, and then classifies it materially. Immortal and
 spiritual facts exist apart from this mortal and
9 material conception. God, good, is self-exist-
 ent and self-expressed, though indefinable as a whole.
 Every step towards goodness is a departure from materi-
12 ality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit. Material
 theories partially paralyze this attraction towards infinite
 and eternal good by an opposite attraction towards the
15 finite, temporary, and discordant.

 Sound is a mental impression made on mortal belief.
 The ear does not really hear. Divine Science reveals
18 sound as communicated through the senses of Soul —
 through spiritual understanding.

Music, rhythm of head and heart

 Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The
21 rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He
 was a musician beyond what the world knew.
 This was even more strikingly true of Beet-
24 hoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Men-
 tal melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede con-
 scious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart.
27 Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing
 either discord or harmony according as the hand, which
 sweeps over it, is human or divine.
30 Before human knowledge dipped to its depths into a
 false sense of things, — into belief in material origins
 which discard the one Mind and true source of being, —


Page 214


1 it is possible that the impressions from Truth were as
 distinct as sound, and that they came as sound to the
3 primitive prophets. If the medium of hearing is wholly
 spiritual, it is normal and indestructible.

 If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence
6 before his material senses, he could never have "walked
 with God," nor been guided into the demonstration of
 life eternal.

Adam and the senses

9 Adam, represented in the Scriptures as formed from
 dust, is an object-lesson for the human mind. The mate-
 rial senses, like Adam, originate in matter and
12 return to dust, — are proved non-intelligent.
 They go out as they came in, for they are still the error,
 not the truth of being. When it is learned that the spirit-
15 ual sense, and not the material, conveys the impressions
 of Mind to man, then being will be understood and found
 to be harmonious.

Idolatrous illusions

18 We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts
 of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to
 fear and to obey what they consider a material
21 body more than they do a spiritual God. All
 material knowledge, like the original "tree of knowledge,"
 multiplies their pains, for mortal illusions would rob God,
24 slay man, and meanwhile would spread their table with
 cannibal tidbits and give thanks.

The senses of Soul

 How transient a sense is mortal sight, when a wound on
27 the retina may end the power of light and lens! But the
 real sight or sense is not lost. Neither age nor
 accident can interfere with the senses of Soul,
30 and there are no other real senses. It is evident that the
 body as matter has no sensation of its own, and there is no
 oblivion for Soul and its faculties. Spirit's senses are with-


Page 215


1 out pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide
 from them the harmony of all things and the might and
3 permanence of Truth.

Real being never lost

 If Spirit, Soul, could sin or be lost, then being and im-
 mortality would be lost, together with all the faculties of
6 Mind; but being cannot be lost while God ex-
 ists. Soul and matter are at variance from the
 very necessity of their opposite natures. Mortals are
9 unacquainted with the reality of existence, because matter
 and mortality do not reflect the facts of Spirit.

 Spiritual vision is not subordinate to geometric alti-
12 tudes. Whatever is governed by God, is never for an
 instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence
 and Life.

Light and darkness

15 We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real
 as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal
 sense of the absence of light, at the coming of
18 which darkness loses the appearance of reality.
 So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional
 absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before
21 truth and love.

 With its divine proof, Science reverses the evidence of
 material sense. Every quality and condition of mortality
24 is lost, swallowed up in immortality. Mortal man is the
 antipode of immortal man in origin, in existence, and in his
 relation to God.

Faith of Socrates

27 Because he understood the superiority and immor-
 tality of good, Socrates feared not the hemlock poison.
 Even the faith of his philosophy spurned phys-
30 ical timidity. Having sought man's spiritual
 state, he recognized the immortality of man. The igno-
 rance and malice of the age would have killed the vener-


Page 216


1 able philosopher because of his faith in Soul and his in-
 difference to the body.

The serpent of error

3 Who shall say that man is alive to-day, but may be dead
 to-morrow? What has touched Life, God, to such
 strange issues? Here theories cease, and Sci-
6 ence unveils the mystery and solves the prob-
 lem of man. Error bites the heel of truth, but cannot kill
 truth. Truth bruises the head of error — destroys error.
9 Spirituality lays open siege to materialism. On which
 side are we fighting?

Servants and masters

 The understanding that the Ego is Mind, and that
12 there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to
 destroy the errors of mortal sense and to supply
 the truth of immortal sense. This understand-
15 ing makes the body harmonious; it makes the nerves,
 bones, brain, etc., servants, instead of masters. If man
 is governed by the law of divine Mind, his body is in sub-
18 mission to everlasting Life and Truth and Love. The
 great mistake of mortals is to suppose that man, God's
 image and likeness, is both matter and Spirit, both good
21 and evil.

 If the decision were left to the corporeal senses, evil
 would appear to be the master of good, and sickness to
24 be the rule of existence, while health would seem the
 exception, death the inevitable, and life a paradox. Paul
 asked: "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor-
27 inthians vi. 15.)

Personal identity

 When you say, "Man's body is material," I say with
 Paul: Be "willing rather to be absent from the body,
30 and to be present with the Lord." Give up
 your material belief of mind in matter, and
 have but one Mind, even God; for this Mind forms its


Page 217


1 own likeness. The loss of man's identity through the
 understanding which Science confers is impossible; and
3 the notion of such a possibility is more absurd than to
 conclude that individual musical tones are lost in the
 origin of harmony.

Paul's experience

6 Medical schools may inform us that the healing work
 of Christian Science and Paul's peculiar Christian con-
 version and experience, — which prove Mind
9 to be scientifically distinct from matter, — are
 indications of unnatural mental and bodily conditions,
 even of catalepsy and hysteria; yet if we turn to the Scrip-
12 tures, what do we read? Why, this: "If a man keep my
 saying, he shall never see death!" and "Henceforth know
 we no man after the flesh!"

Fatigue is mental

15 That scientific methods are superior to others, is
 seen by their effects. When you have once conquered
 a diseased condition of the body through
18 Mind, that condition never recurs, and you
 have won a point in Science. When mentality gives
 rest to the body, the next toil will fatigue you less, for
21 you are working out the problem of being in divine meta-
 physics; and in proportion as you understand the con-
 trol which Mind has over so-called matter, you will be
24 able to demonstrate this control. The scientific and
 permanent remedy for fatigue is to learn the power of
 Mind over the body or any illusion of physical weariness,
27 and so destroy this illusion, for matter cannot be weary
 and heavy-laden.

 You say, "Toil fatigues me." But what is this me?
30 Is it muscle or mind? Which is tired and so speaks?
 Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the
 muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non-


Page 218


1 intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that
 which affirms weariness, made that weariness.

Mind never weary

3 You do not say a wheel is fatigued; and yet the body
 is as material as the wheel. If it were not for what the
 human mind says of the body, the body, like
6 the inanimate wheel, would never be weary.
 The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of
 repose in unconsciousness.

Coalition of sin and sickness

9 The body is supposed to say, "I am ill." The reports
 of sickness may form a coalition with the reports of sin,
 and say, "I am malice, lust, appetite, envy,
12 hate." What renders both sin and sickness
 difficult of cure is, that the human mind is the
 sinner, disinclined to self-correction, and believing that
15 the body can be sick independently of mortal mind and
 that the divine Mind has no jurisdiction over the body.

Sickness akin to sin

 Why pray for the recovery of the sick, if you are with-
18 out faith in God's willingness and ability to heal them?
 If you do believe in God, why do you sub-
 stitute drugs for the Almighty's power, and
21 employ means which lead only into material ways of
 obtaining help, instead of turning in time of need to
 God, divine Love, who is an ever-present help?

24 Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden
 dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as
 intelligent, as having sensation or power.

27 The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon the Lord
 ... shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
 and not faint." The meaning of that passage is not
30 perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue,
 for the moral and physical are as one in their results.
 When we wake to the truth of being, all disease,


Page 219


1 pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be
 unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease. My
3 method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments,
 since Mind should be, and is, supreme, absolute, and
 final.

Affirmation and result

6 In mathematics, we do not multiply when we should
 subtract, and then say the product is correct. No more
 can we say in Science that muscles give strength,
9 that nerves give pain or pleasure, or that matter
 governs, and then expect that the result will be harmony.
 Not muscles, nerves, nor bones, but mortal mind makes
12 the whole body "sick, and the whole heart faint;" whereas
 divine Mind heals.

 When this is understood, we shall never affirm concern-
15 ing the body what we do not wish to have manifested. We
 shall not call the body weak, if we would have it strong;
 for the belief in feebleness must obtain in the human
18 mind before it can be made manifest on the body, and
 the destruction of the belief will be the removal of its
 effects. Science includes no rule of discord, but governs
21 harmoniously. "The wish," says the poet, "is ever father
 to the thought."

Scientific beginning

 We may hear a sweet melody, and yet misunderstand
24 the science that governs it. Those who are healed
 through metaphysical Science, not compre-
 hending the Principle of the cure, may misun-
27 derstand it, and impute their recovery to change of air or
 diet, not rendering to God the honor due to Him alone.
 Entire immunity from the belief in sin, suffering, and
30 death may not be reached at this period, but we may look
 for an abatement of these evils; and this scientific begin-
 ning is in the right direction.


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Hygiene ineffectual

1 We hear it said: " I exercise daily in the open air. I
 take cold baths, in order to overcome a predisposition to
3 take cold; and yet I have continual colds,
 catarrh, and cough." Such admissions ought
 to open people's eyes to the inefficacy of material hygiene,
6 and induce sufferers to look in other directions for cause
 and cure.

 Instinct is better than misguided reason, as even na-
9 ture declares. The violet lifts her blue eye to greet the
 early spring. The leaves clap their hands as nature's
 untired worshippers. The snowbird sings and soars
12 amid the blasts; he has no catarrh from wet feet, and
 procures a summer residence with more ease than a na-
 bob. The atmosphere of the earth, kinder than the at-
15 mosphere of mortal mind, leaves catarrh to the latter.
 Colds, coughs, and contagion are engendered solely by
 human theories.

The reflex phenomena

18 Mortal mind produces its own phenomena, and then
 charges them to something else, — like a kitten
 glancing into the mirror at itself and thinking
21 it sees another kitten.

 A clergyman once adopted a diet of bread and water
 to increase his spirituality. Finding his health failing,
24 he gave up his abstinence, and advised others never to
 try dietetics for growth in grace.

Volition far-reaching

 The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men
27 better morally or physically is one of the fruits of "the
 tree of the knowledge of good and evil," con-
 cerning which God said, "Thou shalt not eat
30 of it." Mortal mind forms all conditions of the mortal
 body, and controls the stomach, bones, lungs, heart, blood,
 etc., as directly as the volition or will moves the hand.


Page 221


Starvation and dyspepsia

1 I knew a person who when quite a child adopted the
 Graham system to cure dyspepsia. For many years, he
3 ate only bread and vegetables, and drank noth-
 ing but water. His dyspepsia increasing, he
 decided that his diet should be more rigid, and
6 thereafter he partook of but one meal in twenty-four
 hours, this meal consisting of only a thin slice of bread
 without water. His physician also recommended that
9 he should not wet his parched throat until three hours
 after eating. He passed many weary years in hunger
 and weakness, almost in starvation, and finally made up
12 his mind to die, having exhausted the skill of the doctors,
 who kindly informed him that death was indeed his only
 alternative. At this point Christian Science saved him,
15 and he is now in perfect health without a vestige of the
 old complaint.

 He learned that suffering and disease were the self-
18 imposed beliefs of mortals, and not the facts of being;
 that God never decreed disease, — never ordained a law
 that fasting should be a means of health. Hence semi-
21 starvation is not acceptable to wisdom, and it is equally
 far from Science, in which being is sustained by God, Mind.
 These truths, opening his eyes, relieved his stomach, and
24 he ate without suffering, "giving God thanks;" but he
 never enjoyed his food as he had imagined he would
 when, still the slave of matter, he thought of the flesh-
27 pots of Egypt, feeling childhood's hunger and undisci-
 plined by self-denial and divine Science.

Mind and stomach

 This new-born understanding, that neither food nor
30 the stomach, without the consent of mortal
 mind, can make one suffer, brings with it an-
 other lesson, — that gluttony is a sensual illusion, and


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1 that this phantasm of mortal mind disappears as we better
 apprehend our spiritual existence and ascend the ladder
3 of life.

 This person learned that food affects the body only
 as mortal mind has its material methods of working, one
6 of which is to believe that proper food supplies nutriment
 and strength to the human system. He learned also that
 mortal mind makes a mortal body, whereas Truth re-
9 generates this fleshly mind and feeds thought with the
 bread of Life.

 Food had less power to help or to hurt him after he
12 had availed himself of the fact that Mind governs man,
 and he also had less faith in the so-called pleasures and
 pains of matter. Taking less thought about what he
15 should eat or drink, consulting the stomach less about
 the economy of living and God more, he recovered
 strength and flesh rapidly. For many years he had
18 been kept alive, as was believed, only by the strictest ad-
 herence to hygiene and drugs, and yet he continued ill
 all the while. Now he dropped drugs and material
21 hygiene, and was well.

 He learned that a dyspeptic was very far from being
 the image and likeness of God, — far from having "do-
24 minion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
 air, and over the cattle," if eating a bit of animal flesh
 could overpower him. He finally concluded that God
27 never made a dyspeptic, while fear, hygiene, physiology,
 and physics had made him one, contrary to His commands.

Life only in Spirit

 In seeking a cure for dyspepsia consult matter not at
30 all, and eat what is set before you, "asking
 no question for conscience sake." We must
 destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in


Page 223


1 matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and per-
 fect. Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
3 fulfil the lust of the flesh." Sooner or later we shall learn
 that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the
 illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter
6 instead of in Spirit.

Soul greater than body

 Matter does not express Spirit. God is infinite omni-
 present Spirit. If Spirit is all and is everywhere, what
9 and where is matter? Remember that truth
 is greater than error, and we cannot put the
 greater into the less. Soul is Spirit, and Spirit is greater
12 than body. If Spirit were once within the body, Spirit
 would be finite, and therefore could not be Spirit.

The question of the ages

 The question, "What is Truth," convulses the world.
15 Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance
 which comes of understanding; but more are
 blinded by their old illusions, and try to "give
18 it pause." "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
 the ditch."

 The efforts of error to answer this question by some
21 ology are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought ac-
 company approaching Science, and cannot be put down.
 They will emancipate humanity, and supplant unscientific
24 means and so-called laws.

Heralds of Science

 Peals that should startle the slumbering thought from
 its erroneous dream are partially unheeded; but the last
27 trump has not sounded, or this would not be
 so. Marvels, calamities, and sin will much
 more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted
30 claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and
 foreshadows the triumph of truth. God will over-
 turn, until "He come whose right it is." Longevity


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1 is increasing and the power of sin diminishing, for the
 world feels the alterative effect of truth through every
3 pore.

 As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the
 dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand
6 the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant
 our feet on firmer ground. Every sensuous pleasure or
 pain is self-destroyed through suffering. There should
9 be painless progress, attended by life and peace instead
 of discord and death.

Sectarianism and opposition

 In the record of nineteen centuries, there are sects
12 many but not enough Christianity. Centuries ago re-
 ligionists were ready to hail an anthropomor-
 phic God, and array His vicegerent with pomp
15 and splendor; but this was not the manner
 of truth's appearing. Of old the cross was truth's cen-
 tral sign, and it is to-day. The modern lash is less
18 material than the Roman scourge, but it is equally as
 cutting. Cold disdain, stubborn resistance, opposition
 from church, state laws, and the press, are still the har-
21 bingers of truth's full-orbed appearing.

 A higher and more practical Christianity, demonstrat-
 ing justice and meeting the needs of mortals in sickness
24 and in health, stands at the door of this age, knocking
 for admission. Will you open or close the door upon this
 angel visitant, who cometh in the quiet of meekness, as he
27 came of old to the patriarch at noonday?

Mental emancipation

 Truth brings the elements of liberty. On its banner
 is the Soul-inspired motto, "Slavery is abolished." The
30 power of God brings deliverance to the cap-
 tive. No power can withstand divine Love.
 What is this supposed power, which opposes itself to God?


Page 225


1 Whence cometh it? What is it that binds man with iron
 shackles to sin, sickness, and death? Whatever enslaves
3 man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes
 man free.

Truth's ordeal

 You may know when first Truth leads by the few-
6 ness and faithfulness of its followers. Thus it is that
 the march of time bears onward freedom's
 banner. The powers of this world will fight,
9 and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass
 the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science,
 heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is
12 always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth's
 standard.

Immortal sentences

 The history of our country, like all history, illustrates
15 the might of Mind, and shows human power to be propor-
 tionate to its embodiment of right thinking. A
 few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipo-
18 tence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic
 fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market;
 but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the
21 breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth. Love
 is the liberator.

Slavery abolished

 Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United
24 States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is
 a more difficult task. The despotic tenden-
 cies, inherent in mortal mind and always ger-
27 minating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out
 through the action of the divine Mind.

 Men and women of all climes and races are still in
30 bondage to material sense, ignorant how to obtain their
 freedom. The rights of man were vindicated in a single
 section and on the lowest plane of human life, when Afri-


Page 226


1 can slavery was abolished in our land. That was only
 prophetic of further steps towards the banishment of a
3 world-wide slavery, found on higher planes of existence
 and under more subtle and depraving forms.

Liberty's crusade

 The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was
6 still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of
 this new crusade sounded the keynote of uni-
 versal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledg-
9 ment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding
 that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken
 from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not
12 through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but
 through Christ's divine Science.

Cramping systems

 God has built a higher platform of human rights, and
15 He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not
 made through code or creed, but in demonstra-
 tion of "on earth peace, good-will toward men."
18 Human codes, scholastic theology, material medicine and
 hygiene, fetter faith and spiritual understanding. Divine
 Science rends asunder these fetters, and man's birthright
21 of sole allegiance to his Maker asserts itself.

 I saw before me the sick, wearing out years of servi-
 tude to an unreal master in the belief that the body gov-
24 erned them, rather than Mind.

House of bondage

 The lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the sick, the
 sensual, the sinner, I wished to save from the slavery of
27 their own beliefs and from the educational
 systems of the Pharaohs, who to-day, as of
 yore, hold the children of Israel in bondage. I saw be-
30 fore me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilder-
 ness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting
 Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land


Page 227


1 of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of
 man are fully known and acknowledged.

Higher law ends bondage

3 I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error,
 and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mor-
 tals are taught their right to freedom, so the
6 claims of the enslaving senses must be de-
 nied and superseded. The law of the divine Mind must
 end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware
9 of man's inalienable rights and in subjection to hope-
 less slavery, because some public teachers permit
 an ignorance of divine power, — an ignorance that
12 is the foundation of continued bondage and of human
 suffering.

Native freedom

 Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to fore-
15 see the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legiti-
 mate state of man. God made man free.
 Paul said, "I was free born." All men should
18 be free. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib-
 erty." Love and Truth make free, but evil and error
 lead into captivity.

Standard of liberty

21 Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and
 cries: "Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sick-
 ness, sin, and death!" Jesus marked out the
24 way. Citizens of the world, accept the "glori-
 ous liberty of the children of God," and be free! This
 is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not
27 divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs,
 crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and de-
 faced the tablet of your being.

30 If God had instituted material laws to govern man,
 disobedience to which would have made man ill, Jesus
 would not have disregarded those laws by healing in


Page 228


1 direct opposition to them and in defiance of all material
 conditions.

No fleshly heredity

3 The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncra-
 sies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact
 of being were learned, — namely, that nothing
6 inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God.
 Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin the-
 ories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the
9 right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly
 ills will disappear.

God-given dominion

 The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will
12 cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his
 God-given dominion over the material senses.
 Mortals will some day assert their freedom in
15 the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their
 own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.
 Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize har-
18 mony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material
 unreality.

 If we follow the command of our Master, "Take no
21 thought for your life," we shall never depend on bodily
 conditions, structure, or economy, but we shall be masters
 of the body, dictate its terms, and form and control it with
24 Truth.

Priestly pride humbled

 There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has
 all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dis-
27 honor God. The humble Nazarene overthrew
 the supposition that sin, sickness, and death
 have power. He proved them powerless. It should have
30 humbled the pride of the priests, when they saw the dem-
 onstration of Christianity excel the influence of their dead
 faith and ceremonies.


Page 229


1 If Mind is not the master of sin, sickness, and death,
 they are immortal, for it is already proved that mat-
3 ter has not destroyed them, but is their basis and
 support.

No union of opposites

 We should hesitate to say that Jehovah sins or suffers;
6 but if sin and suffering are realities of being, whence did
 they emanate? God made all that was made,
 and Mind signifies God, — infinity, not finity.
9 Not far removed from infidelity is the belief which
 unites such opposites as sickness and health, holiness
 and unholiness, calls both the offspring of spirit, and
12 at the same time admits that Spirit is God, — vir-
 tually declaring Him good in one instance and evil in
 another.

Self-constituted law

15 By universal consent, mortal belief has constituted
 itself a law to bind mortals to sickness, sin, and death.
 This customary belief is misnamed material
18 law, and the individual who upholds it is mis-
 taken in theory and in practice. The so-called law of
 mortal mind, conjectural and speculative, is made void
21 by the law of immortal Mind, and false law should be
 trampled under foot.

Sickness from mortal mind

 If God causes man to be sick, sickness must be good,
24 and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He
 makes is good and will stand forever. If the
 transgression of God's law produces sickness, it
27 is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should
 not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom. It is the
 transgression of a belief of mortal mind, not of a law of
30 matter nor of divine Mind, which causes the belief of sick-
 ness. The remedy is Truth, not matter, — the truth that
 disease is unreal.


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1 If sickness is real, it belongs to immortality; if true,
 it is a part of Truth. Would you attempt with drugs,
3 or without, to destroy a quality or condition of Truth?
 But if sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from
 this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health,
6 holiness, and immortality. This awakening is the for-
 ever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth,
 which casts out error and heals the sick. This is the sal-
9 vation which comes through God, the divine Principle,
 Love, as demonstrated by Jesus.

God never inconsistent

 It would be contrary to our highest ideas of God to
12 suppose Him capable of first arranging law and causation
 so as to bring about certain evil results, and
 then punishing the helpless victims of His vo-
15 lition for doing what they could not avoid doing. Good
 is not, cannot be, the author of experimental sins. God,
 good, can no more produce sickness than goodness can
18 cause evil and health occasion disease.

Mental narcotics

 Does wisdom make blunders which must afterwards
 be rectified by man? Does a law of God produce sick-
21 ness, and can man put that law under his feet
 by healing sickness? According to Holy Writ,
 the sick are never really healed by drugs, hygiene, or any
24 material method. These merely evade the question.
 They are soothing syrups to put children to sleep, satisfy
 mortal belief, and quiet fear.

The true healing

27 We think that we are healed when a disease disap-
 pears, though it is liable to reappear; but we are never
 thoroughly healed until the liability to be
30 ill is removed. So-called mortal mind or the
 mind of mortals being the remote, predisposing, and
 the exciting cause of all suffering, the cause of disease


Page 231


1 must be obliterated through Christ in divine Science, or
 the so-called physical senses will get the victory.

Destruction of all evil

3 Unless an ill is rightly met and fairly overcome by
 Truth, the ill is never conquered. If God destroys not
 sin, sickness, and death, they are not de-
6 stroyed in the mind of mortals, but seem to
 this so-called mind to be immortal. What God cannot
 do, man need not attempt. If God heals not the sick,
9 they are not healed, for no lesser power equals the infinite
 All-power; but God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the
 sick through the prayer of the righteous.

12 If God makes sin, if good produces evil, if truth results
 in error, then Science and Christianity are helpless; but
 there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or
15 material, creating and governing man through perpetual
 warfare. God is not the author of mortal discords.
 Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have
18 only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine
 Truth and Love destroy.

Superiority to sickness and sin

 To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made
21 you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To
 fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love
 and the divine Science of being in man's rela-
24 tion to God, — to doubt His government and
 distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior
 to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance
27 with divine Science. To fear them is impossible, when
 you fully apprehend God and know that they are no part
 of His creation.

30 Man, governed by his Maker, having no other Mind, —
 planted on the Evangelist's statement that "all things
 were made by Him [the Word of God]; and without


Page 232


1 Him was not anything made that was made," — can
 triumph over sin, sickness, and death.

Denials of divine power

3 Many theories relative to God and man neither make
 man harmonious nor God lovable. The beliefs we com-
 monly entertain about happiness and life
6 afford no scatheless and permanent evidence
 of either. Security for the claims of harmonious and
 eternal being is found only in divine Science.

9 Scripture informs us that "with God all things are
 possible," — all good is possible to Spirit; but our prev-
 alent theories practically deny this, and make healing
12 possible only through matter. These theories must be
 untrue, for the Scripture is true. Christianity is not
 false, but religions which contradict its Principle are
15 false.

 In our age Christianity is again demonstrating the
 power of divine Principle, as it did over nineteen hun-
18 dred years ago, by healing the sick and triumphing over
 death. Jesus never taught that drugs, food, air, and ex-
 ercise could make a man healthy, or that they could de-
21 stroy human life; nor did he illustrate these errors by his
 practice. He referred man's harmony to Mind, not to
 matter, and never tried to make of none effect the sen-
24 tence of God, which sealed God's condemnation of sin,
 sickness, and death.

Signs following

 In the sacred sanctuary of Truth are voices of sol-
27 emn import, but we heed them not. It is only when the
 so-called pleasures and pains of sense pass
 away in our lives, that we find unquestion-
30 able signs of the burial of error and the resurrection to
 spiritual life.

Profession and proof

 There is neither place nor opportunity in Science for error


Page 233


1 of any sort. Every day makes its demands upon us for
 higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power.
3 These proofs consist solely in the destruction
 of sin, sickness, and death by the power of
 Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of
6 progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law de-
 mands of us only what we can certainly fulfil.

Perfection gained slowly

 In the midst of imperfection, perfection is seen and
9 acknowledged only by degrees. The ages must slowly
 work up to perfection. How long it must be
 before we arrive at the demonstration of scien-
12 tific being, no man knoweth, — not even "the
 Son but the Father;" but the false claim of error con-
 tinues its delusions until the goal of goodness is assidu-
15 ously earned and won.

Christ's mission

 Already the shadow of His right hand rests upon the
 hour. Ye who can discern the face of the sky, — the
18 sign material, — how much more should ye
 discern the sign mental, and compass the de-
 struction of sin and sickness by overcoming the thoughts
21 which produce them, and by understanding the spiritual
 idea which corrects and destroys them. To reveal this
 truth was our Master's mission to all mankind, including
24 the hearts which rejected him.

Efficacy of truth

 When numbers have been divided according to a fixed
 rule, the quotient is not more unquestionable than the
27 scientific tests I have made of the effects of
 truth upon the sick. The counter fact rela-
 tive to any disease is required to cure it. The utterance
30 of truth is designed to rebuke and destroy error. Why
 should truth not be efficient in sickness, which is solely
 the result of inharmony?


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1 Spiritual draughts heal, while material lotions interfere
 with truth, even as ritualism and creed hamper spirit-
3 uality. If we trust matter, we distrust Spirit.

Crumbs of comfort

 Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be
 it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family
6 with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table
 feeding the hungry and giving living waters to
 the thirsty.

Hospitality to health and good

9 We should become more familiar with good than with
 evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we
 bar our doors against the approach of thieves
12 and murderers. We should love our enemies
 and help them on the basis of the Golden
 Rule; but avoid casting pearls before those who trample
15 them under foot, thereby robbing both themselves and
 others.

Cleansing the mind

 If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind,
18 the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out.
 We must begin with this so-called mind and
 empty it of sin and sickness, or sin and sick-
21 ness will never cease. The present codes of human
 systems disappoint the weary searcher after a divine
 theology, adequate to the right education of human
24 thought.

 Sin and disease must be thought before they can be
 manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first
27 instance, or they will control you in the second. Jesus
 declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was
 to break a moral precept. He laid great stress on the
30 action of the human mind, unseen to the senses.

 Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
 harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and


Page 235


1 malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
 from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
3 lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
 Better suffer a doctor infected with smallpox to attend
 you than to be treated mentally by one who does not obey
6 the requirements of divine Science.

Teachers' functions

 The teachers of schools and the readers in churches
 should be selected with as direct reference to their
9 morals as to their learning or their correct
 reading. Nurseries of character should be
 strongly garrisoned with virtue. School-examinations are
12 one-sided; it is not so much academic education, as a
 moral and spiritual culture, which lifts one higher. The
 pure and uplifting thoughts of the teacher, constantly
15 imparted to pupils, will reach higher than the heavens of
 astronomy; while the debased and unscrupulous mind,
 though adorned with gems of scholarly attainment, will
18 degrade the characters it should inform and elevate.

Physicians' privilege

 Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,
 should be models of virtue. They should be wise spir-
21 itual guides to health and hope. To the trem-
 blers on the brink of death, who understand
 not the divine Truth which is Life and perpetuates being,
24 physicians should be able to teach it. Then when the soul
 is willing and the flesh weak, the patient's feet may be
 planted on the rock Christ Jesus, the true idea of spiritual
27 power.

Clergymen's duty

 Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,
 should uplift the standard of Truth. They should so raise
30 their hearers spiritually, that their listeners
 will love to grapple with a new, right idea
 and broaden their concepts. Love of Christianity, rather


Page 236


1 than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor
 and progress. Truth should emanate from the pulpit,
3 but never be strangled there. A special privilege is vested
 in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the
 interests of humanity, not of sect.

6 Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather
 than the dignity of God's laws, which many leaders seek?
 Do not inferior motives induce the infuriated attacks on
9 individuals, who reiterate Christ's teachings in support
 of his proof by example that the divine Mind heals sick-
 ness as well as sin?

A mother's responsibility

12 A mother is the strongest educator, either for or
 against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of an-
 other mortal mind, and unconsciously mould
15 it, either after a model odious to herself or
 through divine influence, "according to the pattern
 showed to thee in the mount." Hence the importance
18 of Christian Science, from which we learn of the one
 Mind and of the availability of good as the remedy for
 every woe.

Children's tractability

21 Children should obey their parents; insubordination
 is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government.
 Parents should teach their children at the
24 earliest possible period the truths of health
 and holiness. Children are more tractable than adults,
 and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will
27 make them happy and good.

 Jesus loved little children because of their freedom
 from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While
30 age is halting between two opinions or battling with
 false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards
 Truth.


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1 A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my ex-
 planations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not
3 to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered
 ingenuously, "There is no sensation in matter." Bound-
 ing off with laughing eyes, she presently added, "Mamma,
6 my finger is not a bit sore."

Soil and seed

 It might have been months or years before her parents
 would have laid aside their drugs, or reached the mental
9 height their little daughter so naturally at-
 tained. The more stubborn beliefs and theo-
 ries of parents often choke the good seed in the minds of
12 themselves and their offspring. Superstition, like "the
 fowls of the air," snatches away the good seed before it
 has sprouted.

Teaching children

15 Children should be taught the Truth-cure, Christian
 Science, among their first lessons, and kept from discuss-
 ing or entertaining theories or thoughts about
18 sickness. To prevent the experience of error
 and its sufferings, keep out of the minds of your children
 either sinful or diseased thoughts. The latter should
21 be excluded on the same principle as the former. This
 makes Christian Science early available.

Deluded invalids

 Some invalids are unwilling to know the facts or to
24 hear about the fallacy of matter and its supposed laws.
 They devote themselves a little longer to their
 material gods, cling to a belief in the life and
27 intelligence of matter, and expect this error to do more
 for them than they are willing to admit the only living and
 true God can do. Impatient at your explanation, unwill-
30 ing to investigate the Science of Mind which would rid
 them of their complaints, they hug false beliefs and suffer
 the delusive consequences.


Page 238


Patient waiting

1 Motives and acts are not rightly valued before they are
 understood. It is well to wait till those whom you would
3 benefit are ready for the blessing, for Science
 is working changes in personal character as
 well as in the material universe.
6 To obey the Scriptural command, "Come out from
 among them, and be ye separate," is to incur society's
 frown; but this frown, more than flatteries, enables one
9 to be Christian. Losing her crucifix, the Roman Catholic
 girl said, "I have nothing left but Christ." "If God be
 for us, who can be against us?"

Unimproved opportunities

12 To fall away from Truth in times of persecution, shows
 that we never understood Truth. From out the bridal
 chamber of wisdom there will come the warn-
15 ing, "I know you not." Unimproved op-
 portunities will rebuke us when we attempt to claim the
 benefits of an experience we have not made our own, try
18 to reap the harvest we have not sown, and wish to enter
 unlawfully into the labors of others. Truth often remains
 unsought, until we seek this remedy for human woe be-
21 cause we suffer severely from error.

 Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over
 mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves
24 all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity.

Society and intolerance

 Society is a foolish juror, listening only to one side of
 the case. Justice often comes too late to secure a verdict.
27 People with mental work before them have
 no time for gossip about false law or testimony.
 To reconstruct timid justice and place the fact above the
30 falsehood, is the work of time.

 The cross is the central emblem of history. It is the
 lodestar in the demonstration of Christian healing, — the


Page 239


1 demonstration by which sin and sickness are destroyed.
 The sects, which endured the lash of their predecessors,
3 in their turn lay it upon those who are in advance of
 creeds.

Right views of humanity

 Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations,
6 which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we
 get clearer views of Principle. Break up
 cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth
9 be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views
 of humanity.

 The wicked man is not the ruler of his upright
12 neighbor. Let it be understood that success in error is
 defeat in Truth. The watchword of Christian Science
 is Scriptural: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
15 unrighteous man his thoughts."

Standpoint revealed

 To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our
 affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and
18 obey as God. If divine Love is becoming
 nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is
 then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and
21 the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show
 what we are winning.

Antagonistic sources

 Mortal mind is the acknowledged seat of human mo-
24 tives. It forms material concepts and produces every
 discordant action of the body. If action pro-
 ceeds from the divine Mind, action is harmo-
27 nious. If it comes from erring mortal mind, it is discord-
 ant and ends in sin, sickness, death. Those two opposite
 sources never mingle in fount or stream. The perfect
30 Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind. Imper-
 fect mortal mind sends forth its own resemblances, of
 which the wise man said, "All is vanity."


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Some lessons from nature

1 Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love,
 but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions,
3 sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds,
 mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers,
 and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual
6 intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hiero-
 glyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons.
 The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns nat-
9 urally towards the light.

Perpetual motion

 In the order of Science, in which the Principle is above
 what it reflects, all is one grand concord. Change this
12 statement, suppose Mind to be governed by
 matter or Soul in body, and you lose the key-
 note of being, and there is continual discord. Mind is
15 perpetual motion. Its symbol is the sphere. The rota-
 tions and revolutions of the universe of Mind go on
 eternally.

Progress demanded

18 Mortals move onward towards good or evil as time
 glides on. If mortals are not progressive, past failures
 will be repeated until all wrong work is ef-
21 faced or rectified. If at present satisfied with
 wrong-doing, we must learn to loathe it. If at present
 content with idleness, we must become dissatisfied with
24 it. Remember that mankind must sooner or later, either
 by suffering or by Science, be convinced of the error that
 is to be overcome.

27 In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay fully
 and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is finally
 brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method
30 of paying sin's wages involves unwinding one's snarls,
 and learning from experience how to divide between sense
 and Soul.


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1 "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." He, who
 knows God's will or the demands of divine Science and
3 obeys them, incurs the hostility of envy; and he who
 refuses obedience to God, is chastened by Love.

The doom of sin

 Sensual treasures are laid up "where moth and rust
6 doth corrupt." Mortality is their doom. Sin breaks in
 upon them, and carries off their fleeting joys.
 The sensualist's affections are as imaginary,
9 whimsical, and unreal as his pleasures. Falsehood, envy,
 hypocrisy, malice, hate, revenge, and so forth, steal away
 the treasures of Truth. Stripped of its coverings, what
12 a mocking spectacle is sin!

Spirit transforms

 The Bible teaches transformation of the body by the
 renewal of Spirit. Take away the spiritual signification
15 of Scripture, and that compilation can do no
 more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt
 a river of ice. The error of the ages is preaching without
18 practice.

 The substance of all devotion is the reflection and
 demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and
21 destroying sin. Our Master said, "If ye love me, keep
 my commandments."

 One's aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the
24 footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness. We
 should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is re-
 vealed; and the corner-stone of all spiritual building is
27 purity. The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all
 the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart
 see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its
30 demonstration.

Spiritual baptism

 It is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
 needle," than for sinful beliefs to enter the kingdom of


Page 242


1 heaven, eternal harmony. Through repentance, spiritual
 baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material
3 beliefs and false individuality. It is only a
 question of time when "they shall all know
 Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest."
6 Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards
 the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final
 triumph over the body.

The one only way

9 There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ
 in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no
 other reality — to have no other conscious-
12 ness of life — than good, God and His reflec-
 tion, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure
 of the senses.

15 Self-love is more opaque than a solid body. In pa-
 tient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dis-
 solve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant
18 of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, —
 which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin
 and death.

Divided vestments

21 The vesture of Life is Truth. According to the Bible,
 the facts of being are commonly misconstrued, for it is
 written: "They parted my raiment among
24 them, and for my vesture they did cast lots."
 The divine Science of man is woven into one web of
 consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or
27 superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture,
 while inspiration restores every part of the Christly gar-
 ment of righteousness.

30 The finger-posts of divine Science show the way our
 Master trod, and require of Christians the proof which
 he gave, instead of mere profession. We may hide


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1 spiritual ignorance from the world, but we can never
 succeed in the Science and demonstration of spiritual
3 good through ignorance or hypocrisy.

Ancient and modern miracles

 The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous
 viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from
6 the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion,
 can heal the sick in every age and triumph
 over sin and death. It crowned the demon-
9 strations of Jesus with unsurpassed power and love. But
 the same "Mind ... which was also in Christ Jesus"
 must always accompany the letter of Science in order to
12 confirm and repeat the ancient demonstrations of prophets
 and apostles. That those wonders are not more com-
 monly repeated to-day, arises not so much from lack of
15 desire as from lack of spiritual growth.

Mental telegraphy

 The clay cannot reply to the potter. The head, heart,
 lungs, and limbs do not inform us that they are dizzy,
18 diseased, consumptive, or lame. If this in-
 formation is conveyed, mortal mind conveys
 it. Neither immortal and unerring Mind nor matter,
21 the inanimate substratum of mortal mind, can carry
 on such telegraphy; for God is "of purer eyes than
 to behold evil," and matter has neither intelligence nor
24 sensation.

Annihilation of error

 Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no
 sense of hatred. Life has no partnership
27 with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law
 of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because
 they declare nothing except God.

Deformity and perfection

30 Sickness, sin, and death are not the fruits of Life.
 They are inharmonies which Truth destroys. Perfection
 does not animate imperfection. Inasmuch as God is


Page 244


1 good and the fount of all being, He does not produce
 moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is
3 not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error.
 Divine Science reveals these grand facts. On
 their basis Jesus demonstrated Life, never
6 fearing nor obeying error in any form.

 If we were to derive all our conceptions of man from
 what is seen between the cradle and the grave, happi-
9 ness and goodness would have no abiding-place in man,
 and the worms would rob him of the flesh; but Paul
 writes: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
12 made me free from the law of sin and death."

Man never less than man

 Man undergoing birth, maturity, and decay is like the
 beasts and vegetables, — subject to laws of decay. If
15 man were dust in his earliest stage of exist-
 ence, we might admit the hypothesis that he
 returns eventually to his primitive condition;
18 but man was never more nor less than man.

 If man flickers out in death or springs from matter into
 being, there must be an instant when God is without His
21 entire manifestation, — when there is no full reflection
 of the infinite Mind.

Man not evolved

 Man in Science is neither young nor old. He has
24 neither birth nor death. He is not a beast, a vegetable,
 nor a migratory mind. He does not pass from
 matter to Mind, from the mortal to the im-
27 mortal, from evil to good, or from good to evil. Such
 admissions cast us headlong into darkness and dogma.
 Even Shakespeare's poetry pictures age as infancy, as
30 helplessness and decadence, instead of assigning to man
 the everlasting grandeur and immortality of development,
 power, and prestige.


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1 The error of thinking that we are growing old, and the
 benefits of destroying that illusion, are illustrated in a
3 sketch from the history of an English woman, published
 in the London medical magazine called The Lancet.

Perpetual youth

 Disappointed in love in her early years, she became
6 insane and lost all account of time. Believing that she
 was still living in the same hour which parted
 her from her lover, taking no note of years,
9 she stood daily before the window watching for her
 lover's coming. In this mental state she remained young.
 Having no consciousness of time, she literally grew no
12 older. Some American travellers saw her when she was
 seventy-four, and supposed her to be a young woman.
 She had no care-lined face, no wrinkles nor gray hair, but
15 youth sat gently on cheek and brow. Asked to guess her
 age, those unacquainted with her history conjectured that
 she must be under twenty.

18 This instance of youth preserved furnishes a useful
 hint, upon which a Franklin might work with more cer-
 tainty than when he coaxed the enamoured lightning
21 from the clouds. Years had not made her old, because
 she had taken no cognizance of passing time nor thought
 of herself as growing old. The bodily results of her belief
24 that she was young manifested the influence of such a be-
 lief. She could not age while believing herself young, for
 the mental state governed the physical.

27 Impossibilities never occur. One instance like the
 foregoing proves it possible to be young at seventy-four;
 and the primary of that illustration makes it plain that
30 decrepitude is not according to law, nor is it a necessity of
 nature, but an illusion.

Man reflects God

 The infinite never began nor will it ever end. Mind


Page 246


1 and its formations can never be annihilated. Man is not
 a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and
3 sorrow, sickness and health, life and death.
 Life and its faculties are not measured by
 calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal
6 likeness of their Maker. Man is by no means a material
 germ rising from the imperfect and endeavoring to reach
 Spirit above his origin. The stream rises no higher than
9 its source.

 The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and
 gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth
12 coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, un-
 dimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and mate-
 rial, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of
15 Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright
 and imperishable glories.

Undesirable records

 Never record ages. Chronological data are no part
18 of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are
 so many conspiracies against manhood and
 womanhood. Except for the error of meas-
21 uring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man
 would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and
 still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man,
24 governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and
 grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty,
 and holiness.

True life eternal

27 Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the
 demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal.
 Let us then shape our views of existence into
30 loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather
 than into age and blight.

 Acute and chronic beliefs reproduce their own types.


Page 247


1 The acute belief of physical life comes on at a remote
 period, and is not so disastrous as the chronic belief.

Eyes and teeth renewed

3 I have seen age regain two of the elements it had lost,
 sight and teeth. A woman of eighty-five, whom I knew,
 had a return of sight. Another woman at
6 ninety had new teeth, incisors, cuspids, bi-
 cuspids, and one molar. One man at sixty
 had retained his full set of upper and lower teeth without
9 a decaying cavity.

Eternal beauty

 Beauty, as well as truth, is eternal; but the beauty
 of material things passes away, fading and fleeting as
12 mortal belief. Custom, education, and fashion
 form the transient standards of mortals. Im-
 mortality, exempt from age or decay, has a glory of its
15 own, — the radiance of Soul. Immortal men and women
 are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind
 and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness
18 which transcend all material sense.

The divine loveliness

 Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Be-
 ing possesses its qualities before they are perceived hu-
21 manly. Beauty is a thing of life, which
 dwells forever in the eternal Mind and re-
 flects the charms of His goodness in expression, form,
24 outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal
 with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches
 the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with
27 starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.

 The embellishments of the person are poor substitutes
 for the charms of being, shining resplendent and eternal
30 over age and decay.

 The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and
 more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure


Page 248


1 in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious free-
 dom of spiritual harmony.

Love's endowment

3 Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon
 its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less
 than beautiful. Men and women of riper
6 years and larger lessons ought to ripen into
 health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness
 or gloom. Immortal Mind feeds the body with supernal
9 freshness and fairness, supplying it with beautiful images
 of thought and destroying the woes of sense which each
 day brings to a nearer tomb.

Mental sculpture

12 The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in
 order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors,
 working at various forms, moulding and chisel-
15 ing thought. What is the model before mortal
 mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering?
 Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you repro-
18 ducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious
 sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all
 mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding
21 it before your gaze continually. The result is that you
 are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-
 work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline
24 and deformity of matter models.

Perfect models

 To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right
 direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect
27 models in thought and look at them continually,
 or we shall never carve them out in grand and
 noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice,
30 health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign
 within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until
 they finally disappear.


Page 249


1 Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on
 sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive
3 ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that
 one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.

Renewed selfhood

 Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear.
6 Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into
 newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor
 material power as able to destroy. Let us re-
9 joice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be."
 Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of
 Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.

12 Mind is not the author of matter, and the creator of
 ideas is not the creator of illusions. Either there is no
 omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power. God is
15 the infinite, and infinity never began, will never end, and
 includes nothing unlike God. Whence then is soulless
 matter?

Illusive dreams

18 Life is, like Christ, "the same yesterday, and to-day,
 and forever." Organization and time have nothing to do
 with Life. You say, "I dreamed last night."
21 What a mistake is that! The I is Spirit. God
 never slumbers, and His likeness never dreams. Mortals
 are the Adam dreamers.

24 Sleep and apath are phases of the dream that life, sub-
 stance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night-
 dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the
27 thoughts of mortals when awake. The night-dream has
 less matter as its accompaniment. It throws off some
 material fetters. It falls short of the skies, but makes its
30 mundane flights quite ethereal.

Philosophical blunders

 Man is the reflection of Soul. He is the direct oppo-
 site of material sensation, and there is but one Ego. We


Page 250


1 run into error when we divide Soul into souls, multiply
 Mind into minds and suppose error to be mind, then mind
3 to be in matter and matter to be a lawgiver,
 unintelligence to act like intelligence, and mor-
 tality to be the matrix of immortality.

Spirit the one Ego

6 Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no
 real entity, but saith "It is I." Spirit is the Ego which
 never dreams, but understands all things;
9 which never errs, and is ever conscious; which
 never believes, but knows; which is never born and
 never dies. Spiritual man is the likeness of this Ego.
12 Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from
 the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God.

Mortal existence a dream

 Mortal body and mind are one, and that one is called
15 man; but a mortal is not man, for man is immortal. A
 mortal may be weary or pained, enjoy or suffer,
 according to the dream he entertains in sleep.
18 When that dream vanishes, the mortal finds himself
 experiencing none of these dream-sensations. To the
 observer, the body lies listless, undisturbed, and sensa-
21 tionless, and the mind seems to be absent.

 Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking
 dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream?
24 There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal
 man is a mortal dream. Take away the mortal mind,
 and matter has no more sense as a man than it has as
27 a tree. But the spiritual, real man is immortal.

 Upon this stage of existence goes on the dance of mortal
 mind. Mortal thoughts chase one another like snowflakes,
30 and drift to the ground. Science reveals Life as not being
 at the mercy of death, nor will Science admit that happi-
 ness is ever the sport of circumstance.


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Error self-destroyed

1 Error is not real, hence it is not more imperative
 as it hastens towards self-destruction. The so-called
3 belief of mortal mind apparent as an abscess
 should not grow more painful before it suppu-
 rates neither should a fever become more severe before
6 it ends.

Illusion of death

 Fright is so great at certain stages of mortal belief
 as to drive belief into new paths. In the illusion of
9 death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two
 facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that
 they have but passed the portals of a new belief. Truth
12 works out the nothingness of error in just these ways.
 Sickness, as well as sin, is an error that Christ, Truth,
 alone can destroy.

Mortal mind's disappearance

15 We must learn how mankind govern the body, —
 whether through faith in hygiene, in drugs, or in will-
 power. We should learn whether they govern
18 the body through a belief in the necessity of
 sickness and death, sin and pardon, or govern
 it from the higher understanding that the divine Mind
21 makes perfect, acts upon the so-called human mind
 through truth, leads the human mind to relinquish all
 error, to find the divine Mind to be the only Mind,
24 and the healer of sin, disease, death. This process of
 higher spiritual understanding improves mankind until
 error disappears, and nothing is left which deserves to
27 perish or to be punished.

Spiritual ignorance

 Ignorance, like intentional wrong, is not Science.
 Ignorance must be seen and corrected before we can at-
30 tain harmony. Inharmonious beliefs, which
 rob Mind, calling it matter, and deify their
 own notions, imprison themselves in what they create.


Page 252


1 They are at war with Science, and as our Master said,
 "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom
3 cannot stand."

 Human ignorance of Mind and of the recuperative
 energies of Truth occasions the only skepticism regard-
6 ing the pathology and theology of Christian Science.

Eternal man recognized

 When false human beliefs learn even a little of their
 own falsity, they begin to disappear. A knowledge of
9 error and of its operations must precede that
 understanding of Truth which destroys error,
 until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears,
12 and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit,
 is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his
 Maker.

15 The false evidence of material sense contrasts strikingly
 with the testimony of Spirit. Material sense lifts its voice
 with the arrogance of reality and says:

Testimony of sense

18 I am wholly dishonest, and no man knoweth it. I can
 cheat, lie, commit adultery, rob, murder, and I elude
 detection by smooth-tongued villainy. Ani-
21 mal in propensity, deceitful in sentiment,
 fraudulent in purpose, I mean to make my short span
 of life one gala day. What a nice thing is sin! How
24 sin succeeds, where the good purpose waits! The world
 is my kingdom. I am enthroned in the gorgeousness
 of matter. But a touch, an accident, the law of God,
27 may at any moment annihilate my peace, for all my
 fancied joys are fatal. Like bursting lava, I expand but
 to my own despair, and shine with the resplendency of
30 consuming fire.

Testimony of Soul

 Spirit, bearing opposite testimony, saith:

 I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my


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1 likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am
 Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being,
3 imperishable glory, — all are Mine, for I am
 God. I give immortality to man, for I am
 Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love.
6 I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am
 Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am
 the substance of all, because I am that I am.

Heaven-bestowed prerogative

9 I hope, dear reader, I am leading you into the under-
 standing of your divine rights, your heaven-bestowed har-
 mony, — that, as you read, you see there is no
12 cause (outside of erring, mortal, material sense
 which is not power) able to make you sick or
 sinful; and I hope that you are conquering this false sense.
15 Knowing the falsity of so-called material sense, you can
 assert your prerogative to overcome the belief in sin, dis-
 ease, or death.

Right endeavor possible

18 If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you
 can at once change your course and do right. Matter can
 make no opposition to right endeavors against
21 sin or sickness, for matter is inert, mindless.
 Also, if you believe yourself diseased, you can
 alter this wrong belief and action without hindrance from
24 the body.

 Do not believe in any supposed necessity for sin, dis-
 ease, or death, knowing (as you ought to know) that God
27 never requires obedience to a so-called material law, for
 no such law exists. The belief in sin and death is de-
 stroyed by the law of God, which is the law of Life in-
30 stead of death, of harmony instead of discord, of Spirit
 instead of the flesh.

Patience and final perfection

 The divine demand, "Be ye therefore perfect," is sci-


Page 254


1 entific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are
 indispensable. Individuals are consistent who, watching
3 and praying, can "run, and not be weary; ...
 walk, and not faint," who gain good rapidly
 and hold their position, or attain slowly and
6 yield not to discouragement. God requires perfection,
 but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought
 and the victory won. To stop eating, drinking, or being
9 clothed materially before the spiritual facts of existence
 are gained step by step, is not legitimate. When we wait
 patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs
12 our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spir-
 itual perfection slowly; but to begin aright and to con-
 tinue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of
15 being, is doing much.

 During the sensual ages, absolute Christian Science
 may not be achieved prior to the change called death,
18 for we have not the power to demonstrate what we do
 not understand. But the human self must be evangel-
 ized. This task God demands us to accept lovingly
21 to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical the material,
 and to work out the spiritual which determines the out-
 ward and actual.

24 If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are
 in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters?
 What is there to strip off error's disguise?

The cross and crown

27 If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but
 healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms.
 Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the
30 cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it
 you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home
 is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.



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Chapter 9 — Creation


 Thy throne is established of old:
 Thou art from everlasting.
Psalms.

 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
 in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves
 also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we
 ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
 to wit, the redemption of our body.
Paul.

Inadequate theories of creation

1 ETERNAL Truth is changing the universe. As mor-
 tals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought
3 expands into expression. "Let there be light,"
 is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love,
 changing chaos into order and discord into the
6 music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of
 creation, anciently classified as the higher criticism, sprang
 from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they
9 afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by
 the divine Mind.

Finite views of Deity

 Mortal man has made a covenant with his eyes to be-
12 little Deity with human conceptions. In league
 with material sense, mortals take limited views
 of all things. That God is corporeal or material, no man
15 should affirm.

 The human form, or physical finiteness, cannot be
 made the basis of any true idea of the infinite Godhead.
18 Eye hath not seen Spirit, nor hath ear heard His voice.


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No material creation

1 Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must
 yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of ac-
3 tion, thought rises from the material sense to
 the spiritual, from the scholastic to the in-
 spirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All
6 things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the
 creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and
 Mother of the universe, including man.

Tritheism impossible

9 The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a per-
 sonal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polythe-
 ism, rather than the one ever-present I am.
12 "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord."

No divine corporeality

 The everlasting I am is not bounded nor compressed
 within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can
15 He be understood aright through mortal con-
 cepts. The precise form of God must be of
 small importance in comparison with the sublime ques-
18 tion, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?

 Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in
 the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will
21 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
 earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him,
 What doest Thou?"

24 No form nor physical combination is adequate to rep-
 resent infinite Love. A finite and material sense of God
 leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit of
27 Christianity.

Limitless Mind

 A limitless Mind cannot proceed from physical limita-
 tions. Finiteness cannot present the idea or the vast-
30 ness of infinity. A mind originating from a
 finite or material source must be limited and
 finite. Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the


Page 257


1 infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind. If
 Mind is within and without all things, then all is Mind;
3 and this definition is scientific.

Matter is not substance

 If matter, so-called, is substance, then Spirit, matter's
 unlikeness, must be shadow; and shadow cannot produce
6 substance. The theory that Spirit is not the
 only substance and creator is pantheistic het-
 erodoxy, which ultimates in sickness, sin, and death; it is
9 the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind, a soul
 governed by the body and a mind in matter. This be-
 lief is shallow pantheism.

12 Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the sub-
 stance of an idea is very far from being the supposed sub-
 stance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind
15 is not the father of matter. The material senses and
 human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into
 material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic
18 God, instead of infinite Principle, — in other words, divine
 Love, — is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the
 drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his sea-
21 son," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."

Inexhaustible divine Love

 Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus
 proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the
24 antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life
 or love sufficient to meet the demands of human
 want and woe, — to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira-
27 tions? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form,
 or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible
 Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.

Infinite physique impossible

30 It would require an infinite form to contain infinite
 Mind. Indeed, the phrase infinite form involves a con-
 tradiction of terms. Finite man cannot be the image and


Page 258


1 likeness of the infinite God. A mortal, corporeal, or
 finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of
3 limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence
 the unsatisfied human craving for something
 better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a
6 material belief in a physical God and man. The insuffi-
 ciency of this belief to supply the true idea proves the
 falsity of material belief.

Infinity's reflection

9 Man is more than a material form with a mind inside,
 which must escape from its environments in
 order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity,
12 and this reflection is the true idea of God.

 God expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop-
 ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from
15 a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in
 the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as
 the true divine image and likeness, than we know of
18 God.

 The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea
 and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses
21 have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea. The
 human capacities are enlarged and perfected in propor-
 tion as humanity gains the true conception of man and
24 God.

Individual permanency

 Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual
 man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him
27 belongs eternal Life. Never born and
 never dying, it were impossible for man, under
 the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his
30 high estate.

God's man discerned

 Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of
 divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the


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1 generic term man. Man is not absorbed in Deity, and
 man cannot lose his individuality, for he re-
3 flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli-
 tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all
 substance.

6 In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The
 divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who
 threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted
9 their lives higher than their poor thought-models would
 allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick,
 sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of
12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin-
 ciple and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the
 basis of thought and demonstration.

The divine image not lost

15 If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection,
 then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image
 of God. The lost image is no image. The
18 true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection.
 Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye there-
 fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
21 perfect."

Immortal models

 Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms
 its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works
24 spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter
 never formed a human concept. Vibration is
 not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal
27 ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by
 the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects
 error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine
30 concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious
 results.

 Deducing one's conclusions as to man from imperfec-


Page 260


1 tion instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the
 true conception or understanding of man, and make him-
3 self like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from
 an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form
 and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character
6 of Judas.

Spiritual discovery

 The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give
 way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through
9 many generations human beliefs will be attain-
 ing diviner conceptions, and the immortal and
 perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as
12 the only true conception of being.

 Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good,
 and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already
15 done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness
 desired and to bring out better and higher results, often
 hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the
18 outset.

Requisite change of our ideals

 Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve
 their models. A sick body is evolved from
21 sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death
 proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad
 physical and moral conditions.

24 Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal
 mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by
 conversation about the body, and by the expectation of
27 perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education
 is at the expense of spiritual growth. If we array
 thought in mortal vestures, it must lose its immortal
30 nature.

Thoughts are things

 If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for
 Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit,


Page 261


1 we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.
 Look away from the body into Truth and Love,
3 the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and
 immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur-
 ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these
6 into your experience proportionably to their occupancy
 of your thoughts.

Unreality of pain

 The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is
9 seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such
 absorbed interest as to forget it, the body
 experiences no pain. Under the strong im-
12 pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was
 accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and
 sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively
15 as the youngest member of the company. This old man
 was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and
 sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, — a signal
18 which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if
 he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos-
 session of his so-called senses.

Immutable identity of man

21 Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only
 a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning
 of God, or good, and the nature of the immu-
24 table and immortal. Breaking away from the
 mutations of time and sense, you will neither
 lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own iden-
27 tity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will
 rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird
 which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a
30 skyward flight.

Forgetfulness of self

 We should forget our bodies in remembering good and
 the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in


Page 262


1 which to work out the problem of being. Consecration
 to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but
3 heightens it. Neither does consecration di-
 minish man's obligations to God, but shows
 the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian
6 Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it
 ascribes to Him the entire glory. By putting "off the old
 man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."

9 We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's
 creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We
 must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find
12 life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony
 of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal
 idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God-
15 like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference
 of his being.

The true sense

 Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
18 ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo
 Job's thought, when the supposed pain and
 pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They
21 will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of
 joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,
 working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.
24 Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontane-
 ously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where
 your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Mind the only cause

27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of
 man's origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every
 concept which seems to begin with the brain
30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause
 or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter,
 in mortal mind, or in physical forms.


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Human egotism

1 Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be
 independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-
3 leged originators of something which Deity
 would not or could not create. The creations
 of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man
6 alone represents the truth of creation.

Mortal man a mis-creator

 When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence
 with the spiritual and works only as God works,
9 he will no longer grope in the dark and cling
 to earth because he has not tasted heaven.
 Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-
12 tary hypocrite, — producing evil when he would create
 good, forming deformity when he would outline grace
 and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He
15 becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a
 semi-god. His "touch turns hope to dust, the dust we
 all have trod." He might say in Bible language: "The
18 good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would
 not, that I do."

No new creation

 There can be but one creator, who has created all.
21 Whatever seems to be a new creation, is but the discovery
 of some distant idea of Truth; else it is a
 new multiplication or self-division of mor-
24 tal thought, as when some finite sense peers from its
 cloister with amazement and attempts to pattern the
 infinite.

27 The multiplication of a human and mortal sense of per-
 sons and things is not creation. A sensual thought, like
 an atom of dust thrown into the face of spiritual im-
30 mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal
 consciousness of creation.

Mind's true camera

 The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-


Page 264


1 terial earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind.
 They have their day before the permanent facts and their
3 perfection in Spirit appear. The crude crea-
 tions of mortal thought must finally give place
 to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the
6 camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spir-
 itual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading,
 finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.
9 Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm
 of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we
 must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we
12 have our being.

Self-completeness

 As mortals gain more correct views of God and man,
 multitudinous objects of creation, which before were
15 invisible, will become visible. When we
 realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of
 matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-
18 pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other
 consciousness.

Spiritual proofs of existence

 Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.
21 Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin
 is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and
 death were overcome by Jesus, who proved
24 them to be forms of error. Spiritual living
 and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can
 recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace
27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.

 When we learn the way in Christian Science and rec-
 ognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and under-
30 stand God's creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven
 and man.

Godward gravitation

 The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings,


Page 265


1 and its government is divine Science. Man is the off-
 spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of
3 Mind. Man understands spiritual existence
 in proportion as his treasures of Truth and
 Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward,
6 their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near
 the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper
 sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality
9 may be put off.

 This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for
 Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity
12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en-
 larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,
 a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent
15 peace.

Mortal birth and death

 The senses represent birth as untimely and death as
 irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a
18 flower withered by the sun and nipped by
 untimely frosts; but this is true only of a
 mortal, not of a man in God's image and likeness. The
21 truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and
 obsolete.

Blessings from pain

 Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained
24 stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after
 heavenly good comes even before we discover
 what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss
27 of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending
 path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform
 us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is
30 spiritual.

Decapitation of error

 The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away
 false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections


Page 266


1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,
 "rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of
3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,
 materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and
 destiny.

Uses of adversity

6 Would existence without personal friends be to you
 a blank? Then the time will come when you will be
 solitary, left without sympathy; but this
9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine
 Love. When this hour of development comes, even if
 you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will
12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.
 Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the
 lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for "man's extremity
15 is God's opportunity." The author has experienced the
 foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches
 mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.
18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love
 is the divine way in Christian Science.

 The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the
21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite per-
 secutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would
 deceive the very elect.

Beatific presence

24 Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstra-
 tions, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite
 Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs
27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the
 idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming
 the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He
30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers
 of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with
 God and the universe.


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The infinitude of God

1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but
 the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal.
3 The offspring of God start not from matter
 or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,
 divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The
6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,
 and specifically man means all men.

 It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-
9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must
 have had children prior to Adam. The great I am made
 all "that was made." Hence man and the spiritual uni-
12 verse coexist with God.

 Christian Scientists understand that, in a religious
 sense, they have the same authority for the appellative
15 mother, as for that of brother and sister. Jesus said:
 "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
 is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and
18 mother."

Waymarks to eternal Truth

 When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals
 present more than is detected upon the surface, since
21 inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must
 be counterfeits of Truth. Thought is bor-
 rowed from a higher source than matter, and
24 by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind,
 in which all error disappears in celestial Truth. The
 robes of Spirit are "white and glistering," like the raiment
27 of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, "let thy gar-
 ments be always white." "Blessed is the man that en-
 dureth [overcometh] temptation: for when he is tried,
30 [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life,
 which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
 (James i. 12.)


Page 268


Chapter 10 — Science of Being


 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
 which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
 and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, ...
 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,
 that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our
 fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

 John, First Epistle.

 Here I stand. I can do no otherwise; so help me God! Amen!
 — MARTIN LUTHER.

Materialistic challenge

1 In the material world, thought has brought to light
 with great rapidity many useful wonders. With
3 like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising
 towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual
 cause of those lower things which give im-
6 pulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from
 which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding
 to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from
9 matter to Mind as the cause of every effect. Material-
 istic hypotheses challenge metaphysics to meet in final
 combat. In this revolutionary period, like the shep-
12 herd-boy with his sling, woman goes forth to battle with
 Goliath.

Confusion confounded

 In this final struggle for supremacy, semi-metaphysi-
15 cal systems afford no substantial aid to scientific meta-
 physics, for their arguments are based on
 the false testimony of the material senses as
18 well as on the facts of Mind. These semi-metaphysical


Page 269


1 systems are one and all pantheistic, and savor of Pan-
 demonium, a house divided against itself.

3 From first to last the supposed coexistence of Mind
 and matter and the mingling of good and evil have re-
 sulted from the philosophy of the serpent. Jesus' demon-
6 strations sift the chaff from the wheat, and unfold the
 unity and the reality of good, the unreality, the nothing-
 ness, of evil.

Divine metaphysics

9 Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian
 Science makes man Godlike. The first is error; the latter
 is truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and
12 matter does not enter into metaphysical prem-
 ises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest
 on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves
15 things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense
 for the ideas of Soul.

 These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual
18 consciousness, and they have this, advantage over the ob-
 jects and thoughts of material sense, — they are good and
 eternal.

Biblical foundations

21 The testimony of the material senses is neither abso-
 lute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly
 on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of
24 the prophets, and on the testimony of the
 Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none.
 All other systems — systems based wholly or partly on
27 knowledge gained through the material senses — are reeds
 shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.

Rejected theories

 The theories I combat are these: (1) that all is matter;
30 (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as
 real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life.
 The first theory, that matter is everything, is quite as


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1 reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter coexist
 and cooperate. One only of the following statements can
3 be true: (1) that everything is matter; (2) that every-
 thing is Mind. Which one is it?

 Matter and Mind are opposites. One is contrary to
6 the other in its very nature and essence; hence both can-
 not be real. If one is real, the other must be unreal. Only
 by understanding that there is but one power, — not two
9 powers, matter and Mind, — are scientific and logical
 conclusions reached. Few deny the hypothesis that in-
 telligence, apart from man and matter, governs the uni-
12 verse; and it is generally admitted that this intelligence
 is the eternal Mind or divine Principle, Love.

Prophetic ignorance

 The prophets of old looked for something higher than
15 the systems of their times; hence their fore-
 sight of the new dispensation of Truth. But
 they knew not what would be the precise nature of the
18 teaching and demonstration of God, divine Mind, in His
 more infinite meanings, — the demonstration which was
 to destroy sin, sickness, and death, establish the definition
21 of omnipotence, and maintain the Science of Spirit.

 The pride of priesthood is the prince of this world. It
 has nothing in Christ. Meekness and charity have divine
24 authority. Mortals think wickedly; consequently they
 are wicked. They think sickly thoughts, and so become
 sick. If sin makes sinners, Truth and Love alone can
27 unmake them. If a sense of disease produces suffering
 and a sense of ease antidotes suffering, disease is mental,
 not material. Hence the fact that the human mind alone
30 suffers, is sick, and that the divine Mind alone heals.

 The life of Christ Jesus was not miraculous, but it was
 indigenous to his spirituality, — the good soil wherein the


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1 seed of Truth springs up and bears much fruit. Christ's
 Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing
3 in all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with
 the Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of
 God. Neither emasculation, illusion, nor insubordination
6 exists in divine Science.

 Jesus instructed his disciples whereby to heal the sick
 through Mind instead of matter. He knew that the phi-
9 losophy, Science, and proof of Christianity were in Truth,
 casting out all inharmony.

Studious disciples

 In Latin the word rendered disciple signifies student;
12 and the word indicates that the power of healing was not
 a supernatural gift to those learners, but the
 result of their cultivated spiritual understand-
15 ing of the divine Science, which their Master demonstrated
 by healing the sick and sinning. Hence the universal ap-
 plication of his saying: "Neither pray I for these alone,
18 but for them also which shall believe on me [understand
 me] through their word."

New Testament basis

 Our Master said, "But the Comforter ... shall
21 teach you all things." When the Science of Christianity
 appears, it will lead you into all truth. The
 Sermon on the Mount is the essence of this
24 Science, and the eternal life, not the death of Jesus, is
 its outcome.

Modern evangel

 Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast
27 them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity
 now, as aforetime, to learn and to practise
 Christian healing. The Scriptures contain it.
30 The spiritual import of the Word imparts this power.
 But, as Paul says, "How shall they hear without a
 preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be


Page 272


1 sent?" If sent, how shall they preach, convert, and heal
 multitudes, except the people hear?

Spirituality of Scripture

3 The spiritual sense of truth must be gained before
 Truth can be understood. This sense is assimilated only
 as we are honest, unselfish, loving, and meek.
6 In the soil of an "honest and good heart" the
 seed must be sown; else it beareth not much fruit, for the
 swinish element in human nature uproots it. Jesus said:
9 "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." The spiritual
 sense of the Scriptures brings out the scientific sense, and
 is the new tongue referred to in the last chapter of Mark's
12 Gospel.

 Jesus' parable of "the sower" shows the care our
 Master took not to impart to dull ears and gross hearts
15 the spiritual teachings which dulness and grossness could
 not accept. Reading the thoughts of the people, he said:
 "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast
18 ye your pearls before swine."

Unspiritual contrasts

 It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization
 of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce
21 of material existence; it is chastity and purity,
 in contrast with the downward tendencies
 and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity,
24 which really attest the divine origin and operation of Chris-
 tian Science. The triumphs of Christian Science are re-
 corded in the destruction of error and evil, from which are
27 propagated the dismal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death.

God the Principle of all

 The divine Principle of the universe must interpret the
 universe. God is the divine Principle of all that repre-
30 sents Him and of all that really exists. Chris-
 tian Science, as demonstrated by Jesus, alone
 reveals the natural, divine Principle of Science.


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1 Matter and its claims of sin, sickness, and death are
 contrary to God, and cannot emanate from Him. There
3 is no material truth. The physical senses can take no
 cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. Human belief
 has sought out many inventions, but not one of them
6 can solve the problem of being without the divine Prin-
 ciple of divine Science. Deductions from material hy-
 potheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science
9 because they are not based on the divine law.

Science versus sense

 Divine Science reverses the false testimony of the ma-
 terial senses, and thus tears away the foun-
12 dations of error. Hence the enmity between
 Science and the senses, and the impossibility
 of attaining perfect understanding till the errors of sense
15 are eliminated.

 The so-called laws of matter and of medical science have
 never made mortals whole, harmonious, and immortal.
18 Man is harmonious when governed by Soul. Hence the
 importance of understanding the truth of being, which
 reveals the laws of spiritual existence.

Spiritual law the only law

21 God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual
 law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose
 the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the
24 wisdom of the creator. Jesus walked on the
 waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the
 dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were
27 the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims
 of material sense or law.

Material knowledge illusive

 Science shows that material, conflicting mortal opin-
30 ions and beliefs emit the effects of error at all times, but
 this atmosphere of mortal mind cannot be destructive to
 morals and health when it is opposed promptly and per-


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1 sistently by Christian Science. Truth and Love antidote
 this mental miasma, and thus invigorate and sustain ex-
3 istence. Unnecessary knowledge gained from
 the five senses is only temporal, — the concep-
 tion of mortal mind, the offspring of sense, not
6 of Soul, Spirit, — and symbolizes all that is evil and
 perishable. Natural science, as it is commonly called, is
 not really natural nor scientific, because it is deduced from
9 the evidence of the material senses. Ideas, on the con-
 trary, are born of Spirit, and are not mere inferences
 drawn from material premises.

Five senses deceptive

12 The senses of Spirit abide in Love, and they demon-
 strate Truth and Life. Hence Christianity and the Sci-
 ence which expounds it are based on spiritual
15 understanding, and they supersede the so-
 called laws of matter. Jesus demonstrated this great
 verity. When what we erroneously term the five physical
18 senses are misdirected, they are simply the manifested
 beliefs of mortal mind, which affirm that life, substance,
 and intelligence are material, instead of spiritual. These
21 false beliefs and their products constitute the flesh, and
 the flesh wars against Spirit.

Impossible partnership

 Divine Science is absolute, and permits no half-way
24 position in learning its Principle and rule — establishing
 it by demonstration. The conventional firm,
 called matter and mind, God never formed.
27 Science and understanding, governed by the unerring and
 eternal Mind, destroy the imaginary copartnership, matter
 and mind, formed only to be destroyed in a manner and
30 at a period as yet unknown. This suppositional partner-
 ship is already obsolete, for matter, examined in the light
 of divine metaphysics, disappears.


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Spirit the starting-point

1 Matter has no life to lose, and Spirit never dies. A
 partnership of mind with matter would ignore omnipres-
3 ent and omnipotent Mind. This shows that
 matter did not originate in God, Spirit, and is
 not eternal. Therefore matter is neither substantial, living,
6 nor intelligent. The starting-point of divine Science is
 that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other
 might nor Mind, — that God is Love, and therefore He
9 is divine Principle.

Divine synonyms

 To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science,
 you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle
12 of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love,
 combine as one, — and are the Scriptural names
 for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im-
15 mortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are
 His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite
 divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His
18 wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life
 but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.

The divine completeness

 Divine metaphysics, as revealed to spiritual understand-
21 ing, shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is
 God, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience,
 — that is, all power, all presence, all Science.
24 Hence all is in reality the manifestation of Mind.

 Our material human theories are destitute of Science.
 The true understanding of God is spiritual. It robs the
27 grave of victory. It destroys the false evidence that mis-
 leads thought and points to other gods, or other so-called
 powers, such as matter, disease, sin, and death, superior
30 or contrary to the one Spirit.

 Truth, spiritually discerned, is scientifically understood.
 It casts out error and heals the sick.


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Universal brotherhood

1 Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that
 heals the sick, and fulfils these sayings of Scripture, "I
3 am the Lord that healeth thee," and "I have
 found a ransom." When the divine precepts
 are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship,
6 in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have
 one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with
 the Scriptural command: "Let this Mind be in you,
9 which was also in Christ Jesus." Man and his Maker
 are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness
 is cognizant only of the things of God.

12 The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings
 objects and thoughts into human view in their true light,
 and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony
15 in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is
 unreal and mortal.

Perfection requisite

 If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life,
18 there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.
 When we learn in Science how to be perfect
 even as our Father in heaven is perfect,
21 thought is turned into new and healthy channels, —
 towards the contemplation of things immortal and away
 from materiality to the Principle of the universe, includ-
24 ing harmonious man.

 Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never
 mingle. The latter destroys the former. Discord is the
27 nothingness named error. Harmony is the somethingness
 named Truth.

Like evolving like

 Nature and revelation inform us that like produces
30 like. Divine Science does not gather grapes
 from thorns nor figs from thistles. Intelli-
 gence never produces non-intelligence; but matter is


Page 277


1 ever non-intelligent and therefore cannot spring from
 intelligence. To all that is unlike unerring and eternal
3 Mind, this Mind saith, "Thou shalt surely die;" and else-
 where the Scripture says that dust returns to dust. The
 non-intelligent relapses into its own unreality. Matter
6 never produces mind. The immortal never produces the
 mortal. Good cannot result in evil. As God Himself is
 good and is Spirit, goodness and spirituality must be im-
9 mortal. Their opposites, evil and matter, are mortal
 error, and error has no creator. If goodness and spirit-
 uality are real, evil and materiality are unreal and can-
12 not be the outcome of an infinite God, good.

 Natural history presents vegetables and animals as
 preserving their original species, — like reproducing like.
15 A mineral is not produced by a vegetable nor the man
 by the brute. In reproduction, the order of genus and
 species is preserved throughout the entire round of nature.
18 This points to the spiritual truth and Science of being.
 Error relies upon a reversal of this order, asserts that
 Spirit produces matter and matter produces all the ills
21 of flesh, and therefore that good is the origin of evil.
 These suppositions contradict even the order of material
 so-called science.

Material error

24 The realm of the real is Spirit. The unlikeness of Spirit
 is matter, and the opposite of the real is not divine, — it is
 a human concept. Matter is an error of state-
27 ment. This error in the premise leads to errors
 in the conclusion in every statement into which it enters.
 Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immor-
30 tal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phe-
 nomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always
 erroneous.


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Substance versus supposition

1 Is Spirit the source or creator of matter? Science re-
 veals nothing in Spirit out of which to create matter.
3 Divine metaphysics explains away matter.
 Spirit is the only substance and consciousness
 recognized by divine Science. The material
6 senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for
 matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even
 as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is
9 a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-
 matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite,
 all. Spirit can have no opposite.

One cause supreme

12 That matter is substantial or has life and sensation, is
 one of the false beliefs of mortals, and exists only in a
 supposititious mortal consciousness. Hence,
15 as we approach Spirit and Truth, we lose the
 consciousness of matter. The admission that there can
 be material substance requires another admission, —
18 namely, that Spirit is not infinite and that matter is self-
 creative, self-existent, and eternal. From this it would
 follow that there are two eternal causes, warring forever
21 with each other; and yet we say that Spirit is supreme
 and all-presence.

 The belief of the eternity of matter contradicts the
24 demonstration of life as Spirit, and leads to the conclu-
 sion that if man is material, he originated in matter and
 must return to dust, — logic which would prove his an-
27 nihilation.

Substance is Spirit

 All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal
 belief. We define matter as error, because it is the oppo-
30 site of life, substance, and intelligence. Mat-
 ter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial
 if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to


Page 279


1 be substance to us, — the erring, changing, and dying,
 the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable,
3 and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly de-
 scribes faith, a quality of mind, as "the substance of things
 hoped for."

Material mortality

6 The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that
 matter, slime, or protoplasm never originated
 in the immortal Mind, and is therefore not
9 eternal. Matter is neither created by Mind nor for the
 manifestation and support of Mind.

Spiritual tangibility

 Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness,
12 and they have the advantage of being eternal.
 Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor co-
 operate, and one can no more create the other than
15 Truth can create error, or vice versa.

 In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in-
 telligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of
18 being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is
 in God. Spirit is reached only through the understand-
 ing and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and
21 Love.

Pantheistic tendencies

 Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and
 medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic
24 belief that there is mind in matter; but this
 belief contradicts alike revelation and right
 reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached
27 only through the knowledge that there are not two
 bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, —
 Mind.

30 Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God,
 seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and
 intelligence in matter.


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The things of God are beautiful

1 In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.
 Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod-
3 ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All.
 From Love and from the light and harmony
 which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections
6 of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are
 ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and
 the product must be mental.

9 Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc-
 tion. Finite belief limits all things, and would compress
 Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull bone. Such be-
12 lief can neither apprehend nor worship the infinite; and
 to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul
 and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into per-
15 sons and souls.

Belief in many gods

 Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods
 many and lords many." Moses declared as Jehovah's
18 first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have
 no other gods before me!" But behold the
 zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many
21 minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye
 shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief
 that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is
24 in finite forms.

Sensationless body

 Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient
 material form, man has a sensationless body; and God,
27 the Soul of man and of all existence, being
 perpetual in His own individuality, harmony,
 and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities
30 in man, — through Mind, not matter. The only excuse
 for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science
 of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, — ignorance


Page 281


1 which yields only to the understanding of divine Science,
 the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom
3 of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and
 supreme. Spirit and matter no more commingle than
 light and darkness. When one appears, the other dis-
6 appears.

God and His image

 Error presupposes man to be both mind and matter.
 Divine Science contradicts the corporeal senses, rebukes
9 mortal belief, and asks: What is the Ego,
 whence its origin and what its destiny? The
 Ego-man is the reflection of the Ego-God; the Ego-man
12 is the image and likeness of perfect Mind, Spirit, divine
 Principle.

 The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is
15 infinite individuality, which supplies all form and come-
 liness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual
 spiritual man and things.

18 The mind supposed to exist in matter or beneath a
 skull bone is a myth, a misconceived sense and false
 conception as to man and Mind. When we put off the
21 false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality
 have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn
 that sin and mortality are without actual origin or right-
24 ful existence. They are native nothingness, out of which
 error would simulate creation through a man formed from
 dust.

The true new idea

27 Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles,
 Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our
 false views of matter perish as we grasp
30 the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be
 cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the in-
 spiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be


Page 282


1 lost. Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals
 the sick.

Figures of being

3 The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called
 material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical
 symbols, a circle or sphere and a straight
6 line. The circle represents the infinite with-
 out beginning or end; the straight line represents the
 finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere
9 represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality
 or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in
 a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal
12 Mind and temporary material existence never unite in
 figure or in fact.

Opposite symbols

 A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a
15 curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Similarly,
 matter has no place in Spirit, and Spirit has
 no place in matter. Truth has no home in
18 error, and error has no foothold in Truth. Mind cannot
 pass into non-intelligence and matter, nor can non-intel-
 ligence become Soul. At no point can these opposites
21 mingle or unite. Even though they seem to touch, one
 is still a curve and the other a straight line.

 There is no inherent power in matter; for all that is
24 material is a material, human, mortal thought, always
 governing itself erroneously.

 Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind. Error is
27 the so-called intelligence of mortal mind.

Truth is not inverted

 Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of
 God or God's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither
30 Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the
 Father. The rule of inversion infers from
 error its opposite, Truth; but Truth is the light which


Page 283


1 dispels error. As mortals begin to understand Spirit,
 they give up the belief that there is any true existence
3 apart from God.

Source of all life and action

 Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no
 inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious
6 action. Mind is the same Life, Love, and wis-
 dom "yesterday, and to-day, and forever."
 Matter and its effects — sin, sickness, and
9 death — are states of mortal mind which act, react, and
 then come to a stop. They are not facts of Mind. They
 are not ideas, but illusions. Principle is absolute. It
12 admits of no error, but rests upon understanding.

 But what say prevalent theories? They insist that
 Life, or God, is one and the same with material life so-
15 called. They speak of both Truth and error as mind,
 and of good and evil as spirit. They claim that to be
 life which is but the objective state of material sense, —
18 such as the structural life of the tree and of material
 man, — and deem this the manifestation of the one Life,
 God.

Spiritual structure

21 This false belief as to what really constitutes life so
 detracts from God's character and nature, that the true
 sense of His power is lost to all who cling to
24 this falsity. The divine Principle, or Life, can-
 not be practically demonstrated in length of days, as it
 was by the patriarchs, unless its Science be accurately
27 stated. We must receive the divine Principle in the under-
 standing, and live it in daily life; and unless we so do, we
 can no more demonstrate Science, than we can teach and
30 illustrate geometry by calling a curve a straight line or a
 straight line a sphere.

 Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in


Page 284


1 matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite,
 but dwells in finiteness, — in matter, — or that matter is
3 infinite and the medium of Mind.

Mind never limited

 If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite
 could be circumscribed within the finite, God would be
6 corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem
 to spring from a limited body; but this is an
 impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point,
9 and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds,
 nor be fully manifested through corporeality.

Material recognition impossible

 Is God's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin,
12 sickness, and death? Can matter recognize Mind?
 Can infinite Mind recognize matter? Can the
 infinite dwell in the finite or know aught un-
15 like the infinite? Can Deity be known through
 the material senses? Can the material senses, which re-
 ceive no direct evidence of Spirit, give correct testimony
18 as to spiritual life, truth, and love?

 The answer to all these questions must forever be in
 the negative.

Our physical insensibility to Spirit

21 The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. They
 can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through
 the ear, nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit.
24 Even the more subtile and misnamed ma-
 terial elements are beyond the cognizance
 of these senses, and are known only by the effects com-
27 monly attributed to them.

 According to Christian Science, the only real senses
 of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind.
30 Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation
 nor report goes from material body to Mind. The in-
 tercommunication is always from God to His idea, man.


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1 Matter is not sentient and cannot be cognizant of good
 or of evil, of pleasure or of pain. Man's individu-
3 ality is not material. This Science of being obtains not
 alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here
 and now; it is the great fact of being for time and
6 eternity.

The human counterfeit

 What, then, is the material personality which suffers,
 sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness
9 of God, but man's counterfeit, the inverted
 likeness, the unlikeness called sin, sickness,
 and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is
12 the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite na-
 tures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is
 intelligence while the other is non-intelligence.

Material misconceptions

15 Is God a physical personality? Spirit is not physical.
 The belief that a material body is man is a false con-
 ception of man. The time has come for a
18 finite conception of the infinite and of a ma-
 terial body as the seat of Mind to give place
 to a diviner sense of intelligence and its manifestations, —
21 to the better understanding that Science gives of the
 Supreme Being, or divine Principle, and idea.

Salvation is through reform

 By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as
24 the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue
 to seek salvation through pardon and not
 through reform, and resort to matter instead
27 of Spirit for the cure of the sick. As mortals
 reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher
 sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from
30 the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ,
 Truth, as the healing and saving power.

 It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what


Page 286


1 relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek
 Truth through belief in a human doctrine is not to un-
3 derstand the infinite. We must not seek the immutable
 and immortal through the finite, mutable, and mortal,
 and so depend upon belief instead of demonstration, for
6 this is fatal to a knowledge of Science. The understand-
 ing of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual un-
 derstanding is better than all burnt offerings.

9 The Master said, "No man cometh unto the Father
 [the divine Principle of being] but by me," Christ,
 Life, Truth, Love; for Christ says, "I am the way."
12 Physical causation was put aside from first to
 last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the
 divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that
15 is real.

Goodness a portion of God

 In the Saxon and twenty other tongues good is the term
 for God. The Scriptures declare all that He
18 made to be good, like Himself, — good in
 Principle and in idea. Therefore the spiritual
 universe is good, and reflects God as He is.

Spiritual thoughts

21 God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance
 and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human,
 involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the
24 only cause, they lack a divine cause. The
 temporal and material are not then creations of Spirit.
 They are but counterfeits of the spiritual and eternal.
27 Transitory thoughts are the antipodes of everlasting
 Truth, though (by the supposition of opposite qualities)
 error must also say, "I am true." But by this saying
30 error, the lie, destroys itself.

 Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human ma-
 terial belief, and belong not to the divine Mind. They


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1 are without a real origin or existence. They have neither
 Principle nor permanence, but belong, with all that is
3 material and temporal, to the nothingness of error, which
 simulates the creations of Truth. All creations of Spirit
 are eternal; but creations of matter must return to dust.
6 Error supposes man to be both mental and material.
 Divine Science contradicts this postulate and maintains
 man's spiritual identity.

Divine allness

9 We call the absence of Truth, error. Truth and error
 are unlike. In Science, Truth is divine, and the infinite
 God can have no unlikeness. Did God, Truth,
12 create error? No! "Doth a fountain send
 forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" God
 being everywhere and all-inclusive, how can He be absent
15 or suggest the absence of omnipresence and omnipotence?
 How can there be more than all?

 Neither understanding nor truth accompanies error,
18 nor is error the offshoot of Mind. Evil calls itself some-
 thing, when it is nothing. It saith, "I am man, but I am
 not the image and likeness of God;" whereas the Scrip-
21 tures declare that man was made in God's likeness.

Error unveiled

 Error is false, mortal belief; it is illusion, without spir-
 itual identity or foundation, and it has no real existence.
24 The supposition that life, substance, and in-
 telligence are in matter, or of it, is an error.
 Matter is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the
27 objective supposition of Spirit's opposite. The five mate-
 rial senses testify to truth and error as united in a mind
 both good and evil. Their false evidence will finally
30 yield to Truth, — to the recognition of Spirit and of the
 spiritual creation.

 Truth cannot be contaminated by error. The state-


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1 ment that Truth is real necessarily includes the correlated
 statement, that error, Truth's unlikeness, is unreal.

The great conflict

3 The suppositional warfare between truth and error is
 only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spir-
 itual senses and the testimony of the material
6 senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and
 flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the un-
 derstanding of divine Love.
9 Superstition and understanding can never combine.
 When the final physical and moral effects of Christian
 Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth
12 and error, understanding and belief, Science and material
 sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated
 by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The
15 lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash
 till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the
 distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the
18 earth. As St. Paul says: "There remaineth therefore
 a rest to the people of God" (of Spirit).

The chief stones in the temple

 The chief stones in the temple of Christian Science are
21 to be found in the following postulates: that Life is God,
 good, and not evil; that Soul is sinless, not
 to be found in the body; that Spirit is not, and
24 cannot be, materialized; that Life is not subject
 to death; that the spiritual real man has no birth, no ma-
 terial life, and no death.

The Christ-element

27 Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal
 man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses.
 The Christ-element in the Messiah made him
30 the Way-shower, Truth and Life.

 The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have
 learned from error, and man's real existence as a child


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1 of God comes to light. Truth demonstrated is eternal
 life. Mortal man can never rise from the temporal débris
3 of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns
 that God is the only Life. The belief that life and sensa-
 tion are in the body should be overcome by the under-
6 standing of what constitutes man as the image of God.
 Then Spirit will have overcome the flesh.

Wickedness is not man

 A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little
9 else than the expression of error. To suppose that sin,
 lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life
 abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. Life
12 and Life's idea, Truth and Truth's idea, never make men
 sick, sinful, or mortal.

Death but an illusion

 The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still
15 overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but
 a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys
 with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this
18 shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a
 mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe
 there is no death-process.

21 The belief that matter has life results, by the universal
 law of mortal mind, in a belief in death. So man, tree,
 and flower are supposed to die; but the fact remains,
24 that God's universe is spiritual and immortal.

Spiritual offspring

 The spiritual fact and the material belief of things are
 contradictions; but the spiritual is true, and therefore the
27 material must be untrue. Life is not in matter.
 Therefore it cannot be said to pass out of mat-
 ter. Matter and death are mortal illusions. Spirit and
30 all things spiritual are the real and eternal.

 Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit, — of
 Life, not of matter. Because Life is God, Life must be


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1 eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I am, the Be-
 ing who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.

Death no advantage

3 If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of man's being
 are not in the least understood before what is termed death
 overtakes mortals, they will rise no higher spir-
6 itually in the scale of existence on account of
 that single experience, but will remain as material as be-
 fore the transition, still seeking happiness through a ma-
9 terial, instead of through a spiritual sense of life, and from
 selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite
 and physical or is manifested through brain and nerves,
12 is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
 its effects, — sickness, sin, and death. To the spiritual
 class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second death
15 hath no power."

Future purification

 If the change called death destroyed the belief in sin,
 sickness, and death, happiness would be won at the mo-
18 ment of dissolution, and be forever permanent;
 but this is not so. Perfection is gained only
 by perfection. They who are unrighteous shall be un-
21 righteous still, until in divine Science Christ, Truth, re-
 moves all ignorance and sin.

Sin is punished

 The sin and error which possess us at the instant of
24 death do not cease at that moment, but endure until the
 death of these errors. To be wholly spiritual,
 man must be sinless, and he becomes thus only
27 when he reaches perfection. The murderer, though slain
 in the act, does not thereby forsake sin. He is no more
 spiritual for believing that his body died and learning that
30 his cruel mind died not. His thoughts are no purer until
 evil is disarmed by good. His body is as material as his
 mind, and vice versa.


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1 The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unfor-
 saken, that happiness can be genuine in the midst of
3 sin, that the so-called death of the body frees from sin,
 and that God's pardon is aught but the destruction of
 sin, — these are grave mistakes. We know that all will
6 be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," when the last
 trump shall sound; but this last call of wisdom cannot
 come till mortals have already yielded to each lesser call
9 in the growth of Christian character. Mortals need not
 fancy that belief in the experience of death will awaken
 them to glorified being.

Salvation and probation

12 Universal salvation rests on progression and probation,
 and is unattainable without them. Heaven is not a local-
 ity, but a divine state of Mind in which all the
15 manifestations of Mind are harmonious and
 immortal, because sin is not there and man is
 found having no righteousness of his own, but in posses-
18 sion of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.

 "In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
 be." So we read in Ecclesiastes. This text has been
21 transformed into the popular proverb, "As the tree
 falls, so it must lie." As man falleth asleep, so shall he
 awake. As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be
24 after death, until probation and growth shall effect the
 needed change. Mind never becomes dust. No resur-
 rection from the grave awaits Mind or Life, for the grave
27 has no power over either.

Day of judgment

 No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-
 day of wisdom comes hourly and continually,
30 even the judgment by which mortal man is di-
 vested of all material error. As for spiritual error there
 is none.


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1 When the last mortal fault is destroyed, then the final
 trump will sound which will end the battle of Truth with
3 error and mortality; "but of that day and hour, knoweth
 no man." Here prophecy pauses. Divine Science alone
 can compass the heights and depths of being and reveal
6 the infinite.

Primitive error

 Truth will be to us "the resurrection and the life" only
 as it destroys all error and the belief that Mind, the only
9 immortality of man, can be fettered by the
 body, and Life be controlled by death. A sin-
 ful, sick, and dying mortal is not the likeness of God, the
12 perfect and eternal.

 Matter is the primitive belief of mortal mind, because
 this so-called mind has no cognizance of Spirit. To
15 mortal mind, matter is substantial, and evil is
 real. The so-called senses of mortals are material.
 Hence the so-called life of mortals is dependent on
18 matter.

 Explaining the origin of material man and mortal mind,
 Jesus said: "Why do ye not understand my speech?
21 Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your
 father, the devil [evil], and the lusts of your father ye will
 do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
24 not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
 he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
 and the father of it."

Immortal man

27 This carnal material mentality, misnamed mind, is
 mortal. Therefore man would be annihilated, were it
 not for the spiritual real man's indissoluble
30 connection with his God, which Jesus brought
 to light. In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus showed
 that a mortal man is not the real essence of manhood, and


Page 293


1 that this unreal material mortality disappears in presence
 of the reality.

Elementary electricity

3 Electricity is not a vital fluid, but the least material
 form of illusive consciousness, — the material mindless-
 ness, which forms no link between matter and
6 Mind, and which destroys itself. Matter and
 mortal mind are but different strata of human belief. The
 grosser substratum is named matter or body; the more
9 ethereal is called mind. This so-called mind and body
 is the illusion called a mortal, a mind in matter. In reality
 and in Science, both strata, mortal mind and mortal body,
12 are false representatives of man.

 The material so-called gases and forces are counter-
 feits of the spiritual forces of divine Mind, whose potency
15 is Truth, whose attraction is Love, whose adhesion and
 cohesion are Life, perpetuating the eternal facts of being.
 Electricity is the sharp surplus of materiality which coun-
18 terfeits the true essence of spirituality or truth, — the
 great difference being that electricity is not intelligent,
 while spiritual truth is Mind.

The counterfeit forces

21 There is no vapid fury of mortal mind — expressed in
 earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity
 — and this so-called mind is self-destroyed.
24 The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit
 divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, "The anger
 of the Lord." In reality, they show the self-destruction
27 of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the
 strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science
 brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal har-
30 mony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness
 of evil.

Instruments of error

 The five physical senses are the avenues and instru-


Page 294


1 ments of human error, and they correspond with error.
 These senses indicate the common human belief, that life,
3 substance, and intelligence are a unison of
 matter with Spirit. This is pantheism, and
 carries within itself the seeds of all error.

6 If man is both mind and matter, the loss of one finger
 would take away some quality and quantity of the man,
 for matter and man would be one.

Mortal verdict

9 The belief that matter thinks, sees, or feels is not more
 real than the belief that matter enjoys and suffers. This
 mortal belief, misnamed man, is error, saying:
12 "Matter has intelligence and sensation. Nerves
 feel. Brain thinks and sins. The stomach can make a
 man cross. Injury can cripple and matter can kill man."
15 This verdict of the so-called material senses victimizes
 mortals, taught, as they are by physiology and pathology,
 to revere false testimony, even the errors that are destroyed
18 by Truth through spiritual sense and Science.

Mythical pleasure

 The lines of demarcation between immortal man, repre-
 senting Spirit, and mortal man, representing the error that
21 life and intelligence are in matter, show the
 pleasures and pains of matter to be myths, and
 human belief in them to be the father of mythology, in
24 which matter is represented as divided into intelligent gods.
 Man's genuine selfhood is recognizable only in what is
 good and true. Man is neither self-made nor made by
27 mortals. God created man.

Severed members

 The inebriate believes that there is pleasure in intoxica-
 tion. The thief believes that he gains something by steal-
30 ing, and the hypocrite that he is hiding himself. The
 Science of Mind corrects such mistakes, for Truth demon-
 strates the falsity of error.


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Severed members

1 The belief that a severed limb is aching in the old loca-
 tion, the sensation seeming to be in nerves which
3 are no longer there, is an added proof of the un-
 reliability of physical testimony.

Mortals unlike immortals

 God creates and governs the universe, including man.
6 The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He
 evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind
 that makes them. Mortal mind would trans-
9 form the spiritual into the material, and then
 recover man's original self in order to escape from the
 mortality of this error. Mortals are not like immortals,
12 created in God's own image; but infinite Spirit being all,
 mortal consciousness will at last yield to the scientific fact
 and disappear, and the real sense of being, perfect and
15 forever intact, will appear.

Goodness transparent

 The manifestation of God through mortals is as light
 passing through the window-pane. The light and the
18 glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass
 is less opaque than the walls. The mortal
 mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that
21 one which has lost much materiality — much error — in
 order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then,
 like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides
24 the sun.

Brainology a myth

 All that is called mortal thought is made up of error.
 The theoretical mind is matter, named brain, or mate-
27 rial consciousness, the exact opposite of real
 Mind, or Spirit. Brainology teaches that
 mortals are created to suffer and die. It further
30 teaches that when man is dead, his immortal soul is
 resurrected from death and mortality. Thus error the-
 orizes that spirit is born of matter and returns to mat-


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1 ter, and that man has a resurrection from dust; whereas
 Science unfolds the eternal verity, that man is the spiritual,
3 eternal reflection of God.

Scientific purgation

 Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of
 mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for
6 the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suf-
 fering or Science must destroy all illusions
 regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense
9 and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off.
 Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a
 false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic
12 matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real,
 and eternal.

 The so-called pleasures and pains of matter perish,
15 and they must go out under the blaze of Truth, spiritual
 sense, and the actuality of being. Mortal belief must lose
 all satisfaction in error and sin in order to part with
18 them.

 Whether mortals will learn this sooner or later, and
 how long they will suffer the pangs of destruction, de-
21 pends upon the tenacity of error.

Mixed testimony

 The knowledge obtained from the corporeal senses
 leads to sin and death. When the evidence of Spirit
24 and matter, Truth and error, seems to com-
 mingle, it rests upon foundations which time
 is wearing away. Mortal mind judges by the testimony
27 of the material senses, until Science obliterates this false
 testimony. An improved belief is one step out of error,
 and aids in taking the next step and in understanding
30 the situation in Christian Science.

Belief an autocrat

 Mortal belief is a liar from the beginning, not deserving
 power. It says to mortals, "You are wretched!" and they


Page 297


1 think they are so; and nothing can change this state, until
 the belief changes. Mortal belief says, "You are happy!"
3 and mortals are so; and no circumstance can
 alter the situation, until the belief on this sub-
 ject changes. Human belief says to mortals, "You are
6 sick!" and this testimony manifests itself on the body as
 sickness. It is as necessary for a health-illusion, as for
 an illusion of sickness, to be instructed out of itself into
9 the understanding of what constitutes health; for a change
 in either a health-belief or a belief in sickness affects the
 physical condition.

Self-improvement

12 Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the
 evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real
 to this false belief, and the human conscious-
15 ness rises higher. Thus the reality of being
 is attained and man found to be immortal. The only
 fact concerning any material concept is, that it is neither
18 scientific nor eternal, but subject to change and dis-
 solution.

Faith higher than belief

 Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is
21 a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual
 evidence, contradicting the testimony of mate-
 rial sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the
24 ever-present, is becoming understood. Human thoughts
 have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are
 better than others. A belief in Truth is better than a
27 belief in error, but no mortal testimony is founded on the
 divine rock. Mortal testimony can be shaken. Until
 belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual under-
30 standing, human thought has little relation to the actual
 or divine.

 A mortal belief fulfils its own conditions. Sickness,


Page 298


1 sin, and death are the vague realities of human conclu-
 sions. Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine
3 Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in
 spiritual understanding. As a cloud hides the sun it
 cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the
6 voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot de-
 stroy Science armed with faith, hope, and fruition.

Truth's witness

 What is termed material sense can report only a mor-
9 tal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can
 bear witness only to Truth. To material sense,
 the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected
12 by Christian Science.

 Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in-
 volves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, real-
15 ity. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in
 matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense
 of pleasure and pain, hope