Chapter 7 No.7

117:12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs

following."

The miracles of Jesus

Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-

117:15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-

tudes and parables. As a divine student he

unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-

117:18 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

117:21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,

crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the

flesh.

Opacity of the senses

117:24 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-

117:27 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

117:30 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

118:1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-

ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ

118:3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above

the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the

illustration.

118:6 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-

118:9 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

118:12 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-

118:15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-

finite power and grace. The parable may

import that these spiritual laws, perverted by

118:18 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

118:21 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

118:24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical

properties of meal.

Certain contradictions

The definitions of material law, as given by natural

118:27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against

itself, because these definitions portray law as

physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-

118:30 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.

Unescapable dilemma

119:1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,

that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we

119:3 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

119:6 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-

119:9 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

119:12 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-

119:15 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-

119:18 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

119:21 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

119:24 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

119:27 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-

119:30 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

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

120:3 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

120:6 image.

Reversal of testimony

Science reverses the false testimony of the physical

senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-

120:9 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

120:12 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

120:15 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

120:18 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-

120:21 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

120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

Any conclusion /pro/ or /con/, deduced from supposed sen-

sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness

120:27 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

120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the

globe, ignorance and superstition chained the

limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-

121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have

been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-

121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.

Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before

he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields

121:6 were incorrectly explored.

Perennial beauty

The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of

empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher

121:9 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

121:12 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

121:15 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

121:18 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

121:21 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

121:24 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

121:27 turning daily on its own axis.

As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the

action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-

121:30 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.

Opposing testimony

122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the

real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, -

122:3 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

122:6 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-

122:9 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

122:12 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

122:15 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

122:18 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

122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances

of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for

himself.

Spiritual sense of life

122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein

takes away life; but to spiritual sense and

in Science, Life goes on unchanged and

122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of

existence.

Ptolemaic and psychical error

Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul

122:30 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

123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and

Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as

123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and

Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole-

maic blunder could not affect the harmony of

123:6 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

123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in

the universe.

Seeming and being

The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that

123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,

rising above physical theories, excludes matter,

resolves /things/ into /thoughts/, and replaces the objects of

123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas.

The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by

the author to designate the scientific system of divine

123:18 healing.

The revelation consists of two parts:

1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-

123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and

through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by

the Master.

123:24 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

123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this

Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order

and continuity of being.

Scientific basis

123:30 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-

124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of

all science.

Physical science a blind belief

124:3 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-

124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.

Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,

nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect

124:9 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

124:12 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

124:15 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

124:18 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

124:21 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

124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all

things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and

124:27 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

124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and

classification.

Corporeal changes

The elements and functions of the physical body and

125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes

its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition

125:3 for organic and functional health in the human

body may no longer be found indispensable

to health. Moral conditions will be found always har-

125:6 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,

125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than

he was in the prior states which human belief created and

sanctioned.

125:12 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-

125:15 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

125:18 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

125:21 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

125:24 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

125:27 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

125:30 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

126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-

ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The

126:3 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

126:6 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-

126:9 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

126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human

mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive

sound.

Antagonistic questions

126:15 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

126:18 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

126:21 hypotheses?

Biblical basis

I have set forth Christian Science and its application

to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.

126:24 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

126:27 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-

126:30 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

127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the

word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-

127:3 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

127:6 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

127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ

Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-

ploys interchangeably, according to the re-

127:12 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,

127:15 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,

127:18 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,

127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor

sensation.

No physical science

There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth

127:24 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

127:27 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.

127:30 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-

128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of

divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not

128:3 miraculous to itself.

Practical Science

The term Science, properly understood, refers only to

the laws of God and to His government of the universe,

128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that

business men and cultured scholars have found

that Christian Science enhances their endurance and

128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,

gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an

ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human

128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes

more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes

somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-

128:15 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

128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight

and perspicacity.

An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-

128:21 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

128:24 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

128:27 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

128:30 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

129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there

are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as

129:3 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

129:6 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

129:9 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-

129:12 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

129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]

come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal

magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-

129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true

being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some

other systems.

Ontology needed

129:21 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-

129:24 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

129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its

reformatory mission among mortals. The very name,

illusion, points to nothingness.

Reluctant guests

129:30 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

130:1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-

stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-

130:3 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,

130:6 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

130:9 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

130:12 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

130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-

abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war

against spiritual facts; and these material

130:18 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

130:21 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

130:24 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

130:27 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

130:30 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

131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error

should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem

131:3 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

131:6 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

131:9 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.

131:12 THEOLOGY

Churchly neglect

Must Christian Science come through the Christian

churches as some persons insist? This Science has come

131:15 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

131:18 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

131:21 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-

131:24 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-

131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural

demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-

tions which were not understood. Jesus' works

131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In

reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"

132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works

instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this

132:3 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

132:6 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

132:9 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

132:12 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

132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained

their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'

system of healing received no aid nor approval

132:18 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

132:21 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

132:24 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

132:27 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-

132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher

once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the

Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned

133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry

to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"

Faith according to works

133:3 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

133:6 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

133:9 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

133:12 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

133:15 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

133:18 in kings' palaces.

Judaism antipathetic

Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because

Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or

133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material

system, carried out in special theories concern-

ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.

133:24 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-

133:27 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,

133:30 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

134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-

peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth

134:3 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

134:6 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.

134:9 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;

134:12 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

134:15 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-

134:18 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

134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the

natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not

because this Science is supernatural or pre-

134:24 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-

134:27 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

134:30 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

135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed

thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,

135:3 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

135:6 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.

135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of

divine power.

Fear and sickness identical

The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.

135:12 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

135:15 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

135:18 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

135:21 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-

135:24 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

135:27 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,

135:30 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.

The Christ-mission

136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission

on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught

136:3 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-

136:6 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

136:9 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

136:12 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

136:15 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

136:18 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.

136:21 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

136:24 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-

136:27 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

136:30 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

137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-

dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,

137:3 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

137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and

the grave.

Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,

137:9 "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

137:12 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

137:15 about him.

A divine response

With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his

brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou

137:18 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

137:21 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,

137:24 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

137:27 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

137:30 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/-

138:1 /world/, or the /grave/] shall not prevail against it." In

other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not

138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-

power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true

Messiah.

Sublime summary

138:6 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

138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis

Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to

outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither

138:12 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

138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion

of Love.

New era in Jesus

Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for

138:18 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

138:21 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

138:24 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

138:27 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

138:30 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

139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-

139:3 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.

139:6 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

139:9 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-

139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely

to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows

inward.

Science obscured

139:15 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

139:18 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

139:21 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

139:24 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-

139:27 come "the head of the corner."

Opponents benefited

Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are

opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-

139:30 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-

140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most

cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the

140:3 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

140:6 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

140:9 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

140:12 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

140:15 swallowing camels.

The true worship

We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship

materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-

140:18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of

matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals

are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true

140:21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in

truth."

Anthropomorphism

The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,

140:24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.

The Christian Science God is universal, eter-

nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-

140:27 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-

140:30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own

human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal

magnified?

More than profession required

141:1 This indicates the distance between the theological and

ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by

141:3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for

Christian demonstration. Few understand or

adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and

141:6 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

141:9 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-

141:12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a

royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,

Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect

141:15 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

141:18 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

141:21 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.

141:24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-

prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically

understood.

A change demanded

141:27 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

141:30 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

142:1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,

devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-

142:3 lishment and propagation.

Two claims omitted

Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured

Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;

142:6 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

142:9 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-

142:12 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

142:15 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

142:18 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

142:21 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

142:24 dwelling-places for the Most High.

MEDICINE

Question of precedence

Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was

142:27 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

142:30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs

from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth

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,

143:3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the

sick.

Methods rejected

It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,

143:6 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

143:9 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-

143:12 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,

143:15 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

143:18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but

you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,

etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by

143:21 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.

143:24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative

mind.

Impossible coalescence

Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power

143:27 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

143:30 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

144:1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make

them do so, since no good can come of it?

144:3 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.

144:6 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-

144:9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,

and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.

The more material a belief, the more obstinately

144:12 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

144:15 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

144:18 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

144:21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to

disease, "Peace, be still."

Conservative antagonism

Because divine Science wars with so-called physical

144:24 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.

144:27 When the Science of being is universally understood,

every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be

the universal panacea.

Ancient healers

144:30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired

healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or

145:1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural

musician catches the tones of harmony, without being

145:3 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

145:6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their

practice.

The struggle and victory

The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not

145:9 between material methods, but between mortal minds

and immortal Mind. The victory will be on

the patient's side only as immortal Mind

145:12 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

145:15 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

145:18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-

fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects

are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery

145:21 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-

145:24 ing Mind.

Matter /versus/ matter

Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,

and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of

145:27 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-

145:30 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

146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by

his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why

146:3 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-

146:6 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

146:9 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

146:12 Christlike.

Drugs and divinity

Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of

God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.

146:15 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,

146:18 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,"

146:21 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,

146:24 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

146:27 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

146:30 all space.

Reduction to system

Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a

form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of

147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the

learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,

147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and

the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of

disease.

147:6 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-

147:9 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-

147:12 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

147:15 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/,

147:18 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

147:21 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

147:24 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

147:27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and

preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered

in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good-

147:30 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

148:1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they

had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen-

148:3 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

148:6 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-

148:9 plains the men of /men/, or the "children of

men," as created corporeally instead of spir-

itually and as emerging from the lowest, in-

148:12 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

148:15 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-

148:18 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-

148:21 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-

148:24 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

148:27 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.

148:30 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

149:1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness

as well as from sin.

Blunders and blunderers

149:3 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

149:6 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

149:9 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-

149:12 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

149:15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine

Science.

Old-school physician

A physician of the old school remarked with great

149:18 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

149:21 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

149:24 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

149:27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.

Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits

mind and body. We need to understand the

149:30 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

150:1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue

and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian

150:3 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

150:6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the

coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace,

good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised

150:9 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,

150:12 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-

150:15 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

150:18 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-

150:21 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

150:24 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-

150:27 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

150:30 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

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

151:3 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

151:6 has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its

redemption and healing.

Intentions respected

Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of

151:9 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

151:12 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-

151:15 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

151:18 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

151:21 real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human

mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no com-

trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man

151:24 maintain 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

151:27 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

151:30 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-

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

152:3 it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind

takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and

saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored

152:6 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

152:9 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 152:12 beset every material theory, in which one statement contradicts another over and over again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap- 152:15 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; 152:18 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

152:21 The author's medical researches and experiments had

prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian

Science. Every material dependence had

152:24 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

152:27 for health and happiness.

Homoeopathic attenuations

Her experiments in homoeopathy had made her skep-

tical as to material curative methods. Jahr, from

152:30 /Aconitum/ to /Zincum oxydatum/, enumerates

the general symptoms, the characteristic

signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug

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

153:3 which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms

of disease.

Only salt and water

The author has attenuated /Natrum muriaticum/ (com-

153:6 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

153:9 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

153:12 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

153:15 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

153:18 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

153:21 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

153:24 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

153:27 mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries

the infection. When this mental contagion is

understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con-

153:30 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

154:1 error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's

advocate.

154:3 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-

154:6 tains credit through association, - calling up the fear that

creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-

tation in the body.

Imaginary cholera

154:9 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-

154:12 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

154:15 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."

154:18 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

154:21 have been prevented through the opposite understanding.

Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought

the mischief.

154:24 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

154:27 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

154:30 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

155:1 hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets

all about the accident, and is at play.

Drug-power mental

155:3 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

155:6 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

155:9 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

155:12 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

155:15 The universal belief in physics weighs against the high

and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone-

ous general belief, which sustains medicine and

155:18 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

155:21 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

155:24 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

155:27 drug disappears.

Nature of drugs

Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have

diminished drugging; but if drugs are an antidote to

155:30 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

156:1 possess intrinsic virtues or intelligent curative qualities,

these qualities must be mental. Who named drugs, and

156:3 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 156:6 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 156:9 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 156:12 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 156:15 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- 156:18 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 156:21 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 156:24 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 156:27 cured.

A stately advance

Metaphysics, as taught in Christian Science, is the

next stately step beyond homoeopathy. In metaphysics,

156:30 matter disappears from the remedy entirely,

and Mind takes its rightful and supreme

place. Homoeopathy takes mental symptoms largely

157:1 into consideration in its diagnosis of disease. Christian

Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and

157:3 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-

157:6 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

157:9 Mind alone as the curative Principle, acknowledging that

the divine Mind has all power. Homoeopathy

mentalizes a drug with such repetition of

157:12 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

157:15 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

157:18 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

157:21 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

157:24 mortal mind confers the power which the drug seems to

possess.

Narcotics quiet mortal mind, and so relieve the body;

157:27 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

157:30 proof that Life is continuous and harmonious. Science

both neutralizes error and destroys it. Mankind is the

better for this spiritual and profound pathology.

Mythology and materia medica

158:1 It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated

in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to

158:3 heal the sick and designated Apollo as "the god

of medicine." He was supposed to have dic-

tated the first prescription, according to the

158:6 "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

158:9 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

158:12 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

158:15 upon earth.

Footsteps to intemperance

Drugs, cataplasms, and whiskey are stupid substitutes

for the dignity and potency of divine Mind and its effi-

158:18 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

158:21 prescriptions for the sick, until mortal mind acquires an

educated appetite for strong drink, and men and women

become loathsome sots.

Advancing degrees

158:24 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-

158:27 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

158:30 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-

159:1 cians insisted that it would be unsafe to perform a needed

surgical operation without the ether. After the autopsy,

159:3 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

159:6 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

159:9 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-

159:12 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

159:15 unscientific surgeons understood metaphysics,

they would have considered the woman's state of mind,

and not have risked such treatment. They would either

159:18 have allayed her fear or would have performed the opera-

tion without ether.

The sequel proved that this Lynn woman died from 159:21 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

159:24 from matter instead of from Mind. They examine the

lungs, tongue, and pulse to ascertain how

much harmony, or health, matter is permit-

159:27 ting to matter, - how much pain or pleasure, action or

stagnation, one form of matter is allowing another form

of matter.

159:30 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

160:1 should address himself to the work of destroying it through

the power of the divine Mind.

160:3 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,

160:6 for they have no innate power. Unsupported by the

faith reposed in it, the inanimate drug becomes

powerless.

Obedient muscles

160:9 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

160:12 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-

160:15 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

160:18 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

160:21 despite the mental protest?

Unless muscles are self-acting at all times, they are

never so, - never capable of acting contrary to mental

160:24 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-

160:27 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

160:30 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

161:1 elastic condition of the healthy limb, and is God the

lawgiver?

161:3 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

161:6 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;

161:9 while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous

combustion.

Restrictive regulations

In 1880, Massachusetts put her foot on a proposed

161:12 tyrannical law, restricting the practice of medicine. If

her sister States follow this example in har-

mony with our Constitution and Bill of Rights,

161:15 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

161:18 pursuit of happiness."

The oppressive state statutes touching medicine re-

mind one of the words of the famous Madame Roland,

161:21 as she knelt before a statue of Liberty, erected near the

guillotine: "Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy

name!"

Metaphysics challenges physics

161:24 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-

161:27 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

161:30 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

162:1 than does the metaphysician; for the matter-physician

agrees with the disease, while the metaphysician agrees

162:3 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

162:6 acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with

Truth. It changes the secretions, expels hu-

mors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores

162:9 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

162:12 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

162:15 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-

162:18 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

162:21 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

162:24 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

162:27 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

162:30 quote from Dr. Benjamin Rush, the famous

Philadelphia teacher of medical practice. He

declared that "it is impossible to calculate the mischief

163:1 which Hippocrates has done, by first marking Nature

with his name, and afterward letting her loose upon sick

163:3 people."

Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Professor in Harvard Uni-

versity, declared himself "sick of learned quackery."

163:6 Dr. James Johnson, Surgeon to William IV, King Of

England, said:

"I declare my conscientious opinion, founded on long

163:9 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

163:12 less sickness and less mortality."

Dr. Mason Good, a learned Professor in London,

said:

163:15 "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

163:18 famine, all combined."

Dr. Chapman, Professor of the Institutes and Practice

of Physic in the University of Pennsylvania, in a published

163:21 essay said:

"Consulting the records of our science, we cannot

help being disgusted with the multitude of hypotheses

163:24 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

163:27 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-

163:30 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

164:1 perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of

Homer's Cyclops around his cave."

164:3 Sir John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal

College of Physicians, London, said:

"No systematic or theoretical classification of diseases

164:6 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."

164:9 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-

164:12 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

164:15 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 164:18 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; 164:21 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 164:24 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 164:27 immortality [divine Science], then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (St. Paul).