Published by the Trustees under the Will of Mary
Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
By Mary Baker G. Eddy
| 1 |
A CERTAIN apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher
suits my
sense of doing good. It reads thus: "The |
| 3 |
noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting
charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a
man to dispense with
alms." |
| 6 |
In the early history of Christian Science, among my
thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian
Scientists are not
indigent; and their comfortable fortunes |
| 9 |
are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically,
spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures - once
fragmentary and
faint - now rejuvenated by the touch |
| 12 |
of God's right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap-
pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits
dove-like. |
| 15 |
To preserve a long course of years still and uniform,
amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and
tempest, requires strength
from above, - deep draughts |
| 18 |
from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said:
There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never
grows old; a Love
that is a boy, and a Psyche who is |
| 21 |
ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however,
is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of
Page x |
| 1 |
perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of
a
consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and |
| 3 |
sincere in trial or in triumph.
The opportunity has at length offered
itself for me to
comply with an oft-repeated request; namely, to
collect |
| 6 |
my miscellaneous writings published in The Christian
Science Journal, since April, 1883, and republish them
in book form, -
accessible as reference, and reliable as |
| 9 |
old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my
time
in the early pioneer days, most of these articles
were originally written
in haste, without due preparation. |
| 12 |
To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein
appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these
are most
requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the |
| 15 |
distance, - or the difference between then and now, -
in
the opinions of men and the progress of our Cause.
My signature has been slightly changed
from my |
| 18 |
Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early
years
caused me, as an author, to assume various noms
de plume. After my
first marriage, to Colonel Glover |
| 21 |
of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of
Morse to retain my maiden name, - thinking that other-
wise the name would
be too long. |
| 24 |
In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American
Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary
Baker Eddy, and
thereafter adopted that form of signa- |
| 27 |
ture, except in connection with my published works.
Page xi |
| 1 |
The first edition of Science and Health having been
copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name |
| 3 |
of Glover, caused me to retain the initial "G" on my
subsequent books.
These pages, although a reproduction
of what has |
| 6 |
been written, are still in advance of their time; and are
richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for
the race. While no
offering can liquidate one's debt of |
| 9 |
gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are
not unknown to nor unrewarded by Him.
May this volume be to the reader a
graphic guide- |
| 12 |
book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling
him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored
fields of Science. At
each recurring holiday the Christian |
| 15 |
Scientist will find herein a "canny" crumb; and thus
may time's pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.
Realism will at length be found to
surpass imagination, |
| 18 |
and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of
religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be
no battledores
to fling it back and forth. It is reason for |
| 21 |
rejoicing that the vox populi is inclined to grant us
peace,
together with pardon for the preliminary battles that
purchased
it. |
| 24 |
With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory,
through the dim corridors of years, on to old battle-
grounds, there sadly
to survey the fields of the slain and
the enemy's losses. In compiling this
work, I have tried
Page xii |
| 1 |
to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to
retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace. |
| 3 |
With armor on, I continue the march, command and
countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought
this afterpiece of
battle. Supported, cheered, I take my |
| 6 |
pen and pruning-hook, to "learn war no more," and with
strong wing to lift my readers above the smoke of conflict
into light and
liberty. MARY BAKER EDDY
CONCORD, N. H.
January, 1897
Miscellaneous Writings
CHAPTER I
- INTRODUCTORY
PROSPECTUS
THE ancient Greek looked longingly for
the Olym- |
| 3 |
piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a
star; to
him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome
of being than that foreshadowed
by signs in the heav- |
| 6 |
ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers,
said, "Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye
not discern the signs
of the times?" - for he forefelt |
| 9 |
and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated
by sinners.
To kindle all minds with a gleam of
gratitude, the |
| 12 |
new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs
to be understood. The seer of this age should be a
sage. |
| 15 |
Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition
of
Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and
strange fire from the
ashes of dissolving self, and drops |
| 18 |
the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes
only
by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness
reveals another scene and
another self seemingly rolled |
| 21 |
up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of
Page 2 |
| 1 |
advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of
Truth
and Love to heal the sick. |
| 3 |
Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the
least
wisdom or experience; and they steal from their
neighbor, because they have
so little of their own. |
| 6 |
The signs of these times portend a long and strong
determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the
flesh, and evil,
causing great obscuration of Spirit. |
| 9 |
When we remember that God is just, and admit the
total
depravity of mortals, alias mortal mind, - and that
this Adam
legacy must first be seen, and then must be |
| 12 |
subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri-
bute of Truth, - the outlook demands labor, and the
laborers seem few.
To-day we behold but the first |
| 15 |
faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that
embraces
a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and
divine
healing. The time approaches when divine Life, |
| 18 |
Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin,
sickness, and death; when God, man's saving Principle,
and Christ, the
spiritual idea of God, will be revealed. |
| 21 |
Man's probation after death is the necessity of his
immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc-
tive, therefore
evil must be mortal and self-destroyed. |
| 24 |
If man should not progress after death, but should re-
main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated.
Those upon whom
"the second death hath no power" |
| 27 |
are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil,
their mortal element, and into good that is immortal;
thus laying off the
material beliefs that war against |
| 30 |
Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine
Science.
While we entertain decided views as to
the best method
Page 3 |
| 1 |
for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritu-
ally, and shall express these views as duty demands, we |
| 3 |
shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no
supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural
than evil, and
spiritual understanding - the true knowl- |
| 6 |
edge of God - as imparting the only power to heal the
sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the
power of Truth
and Love. |
| 9 |
The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica-
ble
to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this
very purpose; and his
demonstration hath taught us |
| 12 |
that "through his stripes" - his life-experience - and
divine Science, brought to the understanding through
Christ, the
Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved. |
| 15 |
No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this
line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are
needed to aid
spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation, |
| 18 |
and mesmerism are not Mind's medicine. The Prin-
ciple of
all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind.
We have learned that the
erring or mortal thought holds |
| 21 |
in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these
states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind,
as seen in the
truth of being, antidotes and destroys these |
| 24 |
material elements of sin and death.
Because God is supreme and omnipotent,
materia
medica, hygiene, and animal magnetism are
impotent; |
| 27 |
and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-
ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity.
The tendency of
mental healing is to uplift mankind; but |
| 30 |
this method perverted, is "Satan let loose." Hence the
deep demand for the Science of psychology to meet sin,
and uncover it; thus
to annihilate hallucination.
Page 4 |
| 1 |
Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in-
structed
in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the |
| 3 |
most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth.
At
this period there is a marked tendency of mortal
mind to plant mental
healing on the basis of hypnotism, |
| 6 |
calling this method "mental science." All Science
is
Christian Science; the Science of the Mind that is God,
and
of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each |
| 9 |
other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good,
not evil.
A TIMELY
ISSUE |
| 12 |
At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published
by
the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many
questions important
to be disposed of come to the Col- |
| 15 |
lege and to the practising students, yet but little time
has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight-
enment is necessary for
the age, and a periodical de- |
| 18 |
voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the
requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed
on the subject of
metaphysical healing, but in many |
| 21 |
minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so
that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth
are not
understood. |
| 24 |
It is often said, "You must have a very strong will-
power to heal," or, "It must require a great deal of faith
to make your
demonstrations." When it is answered |
| 27 |
that there is no will-power required, and that something
more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression
of incredulity. It
is not alone the mission of Christian |
| 30 |
Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal
Page 5 |
| 1 |
thought. This work well done will elevate and purify
the
race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best |
| 3 |
energies to the work.
Science reveals man as spiritual,
harmonious, and eter-
nal. This should be understood. Our College
should |
| 6 |
be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate
themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be
able to produce
perfect health and perfect morals in their |
| 9 |
children - and ministers, to heal the sick - by study-
ing this scientific method of practising Christianity.
Many say, "I should
like to study, but have not suffi- |
| 12 |
cient faith that I have the power to heal." The healing
power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the
greatest
emergencies. |
| 15 |
Materia medica says, "I can do no more. I have
done all that can be done. There is nothing to build
upon. There is no
longer any reason for hope." Then |
| 18 |
metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit,
not
matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on
the stone that the
builders have rejected, and is suc- |
| 21 |
cessful.
Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a
miracle and a
mystery to those only who do not understand the
grand |
| 24 |
reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge
an
erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat-
ter. That man is the
idea of infinite Mind, always perfect |
| 27 |
in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily
accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate-
rial beliefs. That
which never existed, can seem solid |
| 30 |
substance to this thought. It is much easier for people
to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the
mind affects the
body.
Page 6 |
| 1 |
We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a
discipline to bring man nearer to God, - even though |
| 3 |
sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from
complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as
evil. |
| 6 |
The most of our Christian Science practitioners have
plenty to do, and many more are needed for the ad-
vancement of the age. At
present the majority of the |
| 9 |
acute cases are given to the M. D.'s, and only those
cases that are pronounced incurable are passed over to
the Scientist. The
healing of such cases should cer- |
| 12 |
tainly prove to all minds the power of metaphysics over
physics; and it surely does, to many thinkers, as the
rapid growth of the
work shows. At no distant day, |
| 15 |
Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy
and homoeopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed
where error fails. |
| 18 |
Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect,
there is
no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and
Love must be perfect; and
with that basic truth we con- |
| 21 |
quer sickness, sin, and death. Frequently it requires
time to overcome the patient's faith in drugs and mate-
rial hygiene; but
when once convinced of the uselessness |
| 24 |
of such material methods, the gain is rapid.
It is a noticeable fact, that in
families where laws
of health are strictly enforced, great caution is
observed |
| 27 |
in regard to diet, and the conversation chiefly confined
to the ailments of the body, there is the most sickness.
Take a large
family of children where the mother has |
| 30 |
all that she can attend to in keeping them clothed and
fed, and health is generally the rule; whereas, in small
families of one or
two children, sickness is by no means
Page 7 |
| 1 |
the exception. These children must not be allowed to
eat
certain food, nor to breathe the cold air, because |
| 3 |
there is danger in it; when they perspire, they must be
loaded down with coverings until their bodies become
dry, - and the mother
of one child is often busier than |
| 6 |
the mother of eight.
Great charity and humility is
necessary in this work
of healing. The loving patience of Jesus, we
must |
| 9 |
strive to emulate. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself" has daily to be exemplified; and, although
skepticism and
incredulity prevail in places where |
| 12 |
one would least expect it, it harms not; for if serving
Christ, Truth, of what can mortal opinion avail? Cast
not your pearls
before swine; but if you cannot bring |
| 15 |
peace to all, you can to many, if faithful laborers in
His
vineyard.
Looking over the newspapers of the
day, one naturally |
| 18 |
reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with
disease
seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to
many
minds, to be depicted in some future time upon |
| 21 |
the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to
some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper,
at the price at
which we shall issue it, we shall be able |
| 24 |
to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought.
A
great work already has been done, and a greater work
yet remains to be
done. Oftentimes we are denied the |
| 27 |
results of our labors because people do not understand
the nature and power of metaphysics, and they think
that health and
strength would have returned natu- |
| 30 |
rally without any assistance. This is not so much from
a lack of justice, as it is that the mens populi is not suffi-
ciently enlightened on this great subject. More thought
Page 8 |
| 1 |
is given to material illusions than to spiritual facts.
If
we can aid in abating suffering and diminishing sin, |
| 3 |
we shall have accomplished much; but if we can bring
to
the general thought this great fact that drugs do not,
cannot, produce
health and harmony, since "in Him |
| 6 |
[Mind] we live, and move, and have our being," we shall
have done more.
LOVE YOUR
ENEMIES |
| 9 |
Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is
it a
creature or a thing outside thine own creation?
Can you see an enemy, except you first
formulate this |
| 12 |
enemy and then look upon the object of your own con-
ception? What is it that harms you? Can height, or
depth, or any other
creature separate you from the |
| 15 |
Love that is omnipresent good, - that blesses infinitely
one and all?
Simply count your enemy to be that
which defiles, |
| 18 |
defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should
reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates
human life, is not
an enemy, however much we suffer in |
| 21 |
the process. Shakespeare writes: "Sweet are the uses
of
adversity." Jesus said: "Blessed are ye, when men
shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all |
| 24 |
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; . .
.
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you." |
| 27 |
The Hebrew law with its "Thou shalt not," its de-
mand
and sentence, can only be fulfilled through the
gospel's benediction. Then,
"Blessed are ye," inso-
Page 9 |
| 1 |
much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace,
comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified |
| 3 |
by the purification it brings to the flesh, - to pride,
self-
ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet,
indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the |
| 6 |
Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod
into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them
refuge at last from
the elements of earth. |
| 9 |
"Love thine enemies" is identical with "Thou hast
no
enemies." Wherein is this conclusion relative to
those who have hated thee
without a cause? Simply, in |
| 12 |
that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best
friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee
good far beyond
the present sense which thou canst enter- |
| 15 |
tain of good.
Whom we call friends seem to sweeten
life's cup and
to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this
cup |
| 18 |
to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in
frag-
ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its
tempting
wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar- |
| 21 |
gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con-
tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost
its flavor, we
voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and |
| 24 |
unworthy of human aims.
And wherefore our failure longer to
relish this fleet-
ing sense, with its delicious forms of
friendship, |
| 27 |
wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in
personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace?
Because it is the great
and only danger in the path |
| 30 |
that winds upward. A false sense of what consti-
tutes
happiness is more disastrous to human progress
than all that an enemy or
enmity can obtrude upon
Page 10 |
| 1 |
the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements
wherewith to obstruct life's joys and enhance its sor- |
| 3 |
rows.
We have no enemies. Whatever envy,
hatred, revenge
- the most remorseless motives that govern mortal
mind |
| 6 |
- whatever these try to do, shall "work together for
good
to them that love God."
Why? |
| 9 |
Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped
them,
and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their
God will not let them be
lost; and if they fall they shall |
| 12 |
rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good
cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble.
If they mistake the
divine command, they will recover |
| 15 |
it, countermand their order, retrace their steps, and
reinstate His orders, more assured to press on safely.
The best lesson of
their lives is gained by crossing |
| 18 |
swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments
of
evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their
strength and proven it;
insomuch as they have found |
| 21 |
their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear
is self-immolated.
This destruction is a moral
chemicalization, wherein |
| 24 |
old things pass away and all things become new. The
worldly or material tendencies of human affections and
pursuits are thus
annihilated; and this is the advent of |
| 27 |
spiritualization. Heaven comes down to earth, and
mortals
learn at last the lesson, "I have no enemies."
Even in belief you
have but one (that, not in reality), |
| 30 |
and this one enemy is yourself - your erroneous belief
that you have enemies; that evil is real; that aught but
good exists in
Science. Soon or late, your enemy will
Page 11 |
| 1 |
wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent; to
find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold. |
| 3 |
Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy,
and justice. I used to think it sufficiently just to abide
by our State
statutes; that if a man should aim a ball at |
| 6 |
my heart, and I by firing first could kill him and save
my own life, that this was right. I thought, also, that
if I taught
indigent students gratuitously, afterwards |
| 9 |
assisting them pecuniarily, and did not cease teach-
ing
the wayward ones at close of the class term, but
followed them with precept
upon precept; that if my |
| 12 |
instructions had healed them and shown them the sure way
of salvation, - I had done my whole duty to students.
Love metes not out human justice, but
divine mercy. |
| 15 |
If one's life were attacked, and one could save it only
in accordance with common law, by taking another's,
would one sooner give
up his own? We must love our |
| 18 |
enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby
we
love our friends; must even try not to expose their
faults, but to do them
good whenever opportunity |
| 21 |
occurs. To mete out human justice to those who per-
secute and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribu-
tion to God
and returning blessing for cursing. If special |
| 24 |
opportunity for doing good to one's enemies occur not,
one can include them in his general effort to benefit the
race. Because I
can do much general good to such as |
| 27 |
hate me, I do it with earnest, special care-since they
permit me no other way, though with tears have I striven
for it. When
smitten on one cheek, I have turned the |
| 30 |
other: I have but two to present.
I would enjoy taking by the hand all
who love me not,
and saying to them, "I love you, and would
not know-
Page 12 |
| 1 |
ingly harm you." Because I thus feel, I say to
others:
Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads |
| 3 |
its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us;
brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through-
out time and
beyond the grave. If you have been badly |
| 6 |
wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this
wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him
who has striven to
injure you. Never return evil for evil; |
| 9 |
and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged
when you have not been.
The present is ours; the future, big
with events. |
| 12 |
Every man and woman should be to-day a law to him-
self,
herself, - a law of loyalty to Jesus' Sermon on the
Mount. The means for
sinning unseen and unpunished |
| 15 |
have so increased that, unless one be watchful and stead-
fast in Love, one's temptations to sin are increased a
hundredfold. Mortal
mind at this period mutely works |
| 18 |
in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least
understood; hence the need of watching, and the danger
of yielding to
temptation from causes that at former |
| 21 |
periods in human history were not existent. The action
and effects of this so-called human mind in its silent argu-
ments, are yet
to be uncovered and summarily dealt with |
| 24 |
by divine justice.
In Christian Science, the law of Love
rejoices the heart;
and Love is Life and Truth. Whatever manifests
aught |
| 27 |
else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not
Love.
We should measure our love for God by our love for man;
and our
sense of Science will be measured by our obedience |
| 30 |
to God, - fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all;
imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love
to all within
the radius of our atmosphere of thought.
Page 13 |
| 1 |
The only justice of which I feel at present capable,
is
mercy and charity toward every one, - just so far as |
| 3 |
one and all permit me to exercise these sentiments
toward
them, - taking special care to mind my own business.
The falsehood, ingratitude,
misjudgment, and sharp |
| 6 |
return of evil for good - yea, the real wrongs (if wrong
can be real) which I have long endured at the hands of
others - have most
happily wrought out for me the law |
| 9 |
of loving mine enemies. This law I now urge upon the
solemn consideration of all Christian Scientists. Jesus
said, "If ye love
them which love you, what thank have |
| 12 |
ye? for sinners also love those that love them."
CHRISTIAN THEISM
Scholastic theology elaborates the
proposition that |
| 15 |
evil is a factor of good, and that to believe in the
reality
of evil is essential to a rounded sense of the existence of
good. |
| 18 |
This frail hypothesis is founded upon the basis of mate-
rial and mortal evidence - only upon what the shifting
mortal senses
confirm and frail human reason accepts. |
| 21 |
The Science of Soul reverses this proposition, overturns
the testimony of the five erring senses, and reveals in
clearer divinity
the existence of good only; that is, of
God and His idea.
This postulate of divine Science only
needs to be con-
ceded, to afford opportunity for proof of its
correctness |
| 27 |
and the clearer discernment of good.
Seek the Anglo-Saxon term for God, and
you will
find it to be good; then define good as God, and
you |
| 30 |
will find that good is omnipotence, has all power; it
fills
Page 14 |
| 1 |
all space, being omnipresent; hence, there is neither
place
nor power left for evil. Divest your thought, then, of |
| 3 |
the mortal and material view which contradicts the ever-
presence and all-power of good; take in only the immor-
tal facts which
include these, and where will you see or |
| 6 |
feel evil, or find its existence necessary either to the
origin
or ultimate of good?
It is urged that, from his original
state of perfec- |
| 9 |
tion, man has fallen into the imperfection that requires
evil through which to develop good. Were we to
admit this vague
proposition, the Science of man could |
| 12 |
never be learned; for in order to learn Science, we
begin
with the correct statement, with harmony and
its Principle; and if man has
lost his Principle and |
| 15 |
its harmony, from evidences before him he is inca-
pable
of knowing the facts of existence and its con-
comitants: therefore to him
evil is as real and eternal |
| 18 |
as good, God! This awful deception is evil's umpire
and
empire, that good, God, understood, forcibly
destroys. |
| 21 |
What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be
the
necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites
to be without
necessity. Good is the primitive Princi- |
| 24 |
ple of man; and evil, good's opposite, has no Principle,
and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good.
Thus evil is neither a
primitive nor a derivative, but |
| 27 |
is suppositional; in other words, a lie that is
incapable
of proof - therefore, wholly problematical.
The Science of Truth annihilates
error, deprives evil |
| 30 |
of all power, and thereby destroys all error, sin,
sickness,
disease, and death. But the sinner is not sheltered from
suffering from sin: he makes a great reality of evil, iden-
Page 15 |
| 1 |
tifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it, and
will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure |
| 3 |
the effects of his delusion until he awakes from it.
THE NEW BIRTH
St. Paul speaks of the new birth as
"waiting for the |
| 6 |
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." The
great
Nazarene Prophet said, "Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see
God." Nothing aside from the |
| 9 |
spiritualization - yea, the highest Christianization - of
thought and desire, can give the true perception of God
and divine Science,
that results in health, happiness, and |
| 12 |
holiness.
The new birth is not the work of a
moment. It begins
with moments, and goes on with years; moments of
sur- |
| 15 |
render to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption
of
good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration,
heaven-born hope, and
spiritual love. |
| 18 |
Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the
new birth:
eternity does this; for progress is the law
of infinity. Only through the
sore travail of mortal mind |
| 21 |
shall soul as sense be satisfied, and man awake in His
likeness. What a faith-lighted thought is this! that
mortals can lay off
the "old man," until man is found |
| 24 |
to be the image of the infinite good that we name God,
and the fulness of the stature of man in Christ appears.
In mortal and material man, goodness
seems in em- |
| 27 |
bryo. By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out
of
the mortal and material sense of man, thought is de-
veloped into an infant
Christianity; and, feeding at first |
| 30 |
on the milk of the Word, it drinks in the sweet revealings
Page 16 |
| 1 |
of a new and more spiritual Life and Love. These nourish
the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor- |
| 3 |
tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith:
In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down
to earth. |
| 6 |
But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood
of
Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very
much requisite to
become wholly Christlike, that one |
| 9 |
saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is
indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite
claims on man, and
these claims are divine, not human; |
| 12 |
and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being
His likeness and image, man must reflect the full
dominion of Spirit - even
its supremacy over sin, sick- |
| 15 |
ness, and death.
Here, then, is the awakening from the
dream of life
in matter, to the great fact that God is the only
Life; |
| 18 |
that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both
God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely
more than a person, or
finite form, can contain; that |
| 21 |
God is a divine Whole, and All, an
all-pervading in-
telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle;
and
that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly |
| 24 |
awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates
from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun
in Christian
Science. |
| 27 |
Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn-
estly
to contemplate this new-born spiritual altitude; for
this statement demands
demonstration. |
| 30 |
Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite
Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible con-
flict between
the flesh and Spirit. You stand before the
Page 17 |
| 1 |
awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the
thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to |
| 3 |
the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as
opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om-
nipotent harmony and
good, as opposed to any supposi- |
| 6 |
titious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the
flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like
the patriarch of
old, you take off your shoes-lay aside |
| 9 |
your material appendages, human opinions and doc-
trines,
give up your more material religion with its rites
and ceremonies, put off
your materia medica and hygiene |
| 12 |
as worse than useless - to sit at the feet of Jesus.
Then,
you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea
that our
great Master gave of the power of God to heal |
| 15 |
and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first
time the divine Principle that redeems man from under
the curse of
materialism, - sin, disease, and death. |
| 18 |
This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand-
ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy
of Spirit, and of
man as His likeness, whereby man reflects |
| 21 |
the divine power to heal the sick.
A material or human birth is the
appearing of a mor-
tal, not the immortal man. This birth is more or
less |
| 24 |
prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un-
timely circumstances, the normal or abnormal material
conditions attending
it. |
| 27 |
With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless,
spiritual existence dawns on human thought, - through
the travail of mortal
mind, hope deferred, the perishing |
| 30 |
pleasure and accumulating pains of sense, - by which
one
loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of
Spirit and spiritual
man.
Page 18 |
| 1 |
The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit,
develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man, |
| 3 |
and efface the mark of the beast. "Whom the Lord
loveth
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth;" therefore
rejoice in tribulation, and wel- |
| 6 |
come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the
law
and gospel of Christ, Truth.
The prominent laws which forward birth
in the divine |
| 9 |
order of Science, are these: "Thou shalt have no other
gods before me;" "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
These commands of
infinite wisdom, translated into |
| 12 |
the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou
shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every God-
quality, even in
substance; thou shalt recognize thy- |
| 15 |
self as God's spiritual child only, and the true man
and
true woman, the all-harmonious "male and female,"
as of spiritual origin,
God's reflection, - thus as chil- |
| 18 |
dren of one common Parent, - wherein and whereby
Father,
Mother, and child are the divine Principle and
divine idea, even the divine
"Us" - one in good, and |
| 21 |
good in One.
With this recognition man could never
separate him-
self from good, God; and he would necessarily
entertain |
| 24 |
habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting
evil
as a reality, and entering into a state of evil
thoughts, can we in belief
separate one man's interests |
| 27 |
from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt
to
separate Life from God. This is the mistake that
causes much that must be
repented of and overcome. |
| 30 |
Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that
aught that God sends is unjust, - or that those whom
He commissions bring
to you at His demand that which
Page 19 |
| 1 |
is unjust, - is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking,
evil speaking, covetousness, lust, hatred, malice, are |
| 3 |
always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian
Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of
God, and the
obedience demanded of His servants in |
| 6 |
carrying out what He teaches them, - these are never
unmerciful, never unwise.
The task of healing the sick is far
lighter than that |
| 9 |
of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris-
tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men
to adopt them and
bring them out in human lives. He |
| 12 |
who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually
accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine
Science, is daily
departing from evil; and all the wicked |
| 15 |
endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the
current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God,
its divine
source. |
| 18 |
But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover
iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit.
I should have
more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, |
| 21 |
one who abides by his statements and works upon as
high a
basis as he understands, healing me, than I could
or would have in a
smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental |
| 24 |
malpractitioner.
Between the centripetal and
centrifugal mental forces
of material and spiritual gravitations, we go
into or we |
| 27 |
go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and
its results. Which, then, shall be our choice, - the sin-
ful, material,
and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving, |
| 30 |
and eternal?
The spiritual sense of Life and its
grand pursuits is
of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring.
This
Page 20 |
| 1 |
sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of
divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and |
| 3 |
physically, - exhaling the aroma of Jesus' own words,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you
rest."
CHAPTER II
ONE CAUSE AND
EFFECT |
| 1 |
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE begins with the First Com-
mandment of
the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou |
| 3 |
shalt have no other gods before me." It goes on in
perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and
in that age culminates
in the Revelation of St. John, |
| 6 |
who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves,
beheld "a new heaven and a new earth," - the spiritual
universe, whereof
Christian Science now bears testimony. |
| 9 |
Our Master said, "The works that I do shall ye do
also,"
and, "The kingdom of God is within you." This
makes practical all his words
and works. As the ages |
| 12 |
advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen
to depart from the trend of other Christian denomina-
tions in no wise
except by increase of spirituality. |
| 15 |
My first plank in the platform of Christian Science
is as
follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor
substance in matter.
All is infinite Mind and its infinite |
| 18 |
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is
the unreal and temporal. Spirit is |
| 21 |
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man
is
not material; he is spiritual." (1)
(1) The order of this sentence has been
conformed to the text of |
| 24 |
the 1908 edition of Science and Health.
Page 22 |
| 1 |
I am strictly a theist - believe in one God, one Christ
or Messiah. |
| 3 |
Science is neither a law of matter nor of man. It is
the
unerring manifesto of Mind, the law of God, its
divine Principle. Who dare
say that matter or |
| 6 |
mortals can evolve Science? Whence, then, is it, if not
from the divine source, and what, but the contempo-
rary of Christianity,
so far in advance of human knowl- |
| 9 |
edge that mortals must work for the discovery of even a
portion of it? Christian Science translates Mind, God,
to mortals. It is
the infinite calculus defining the line, |
| 12 |
plane, space, and fourth dimension of Spirit. It abso-
lutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorp-
tion, or
annihilation of individuality. It shows the |
| 15 |
impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from
one
individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve
in God's
orbits: they come from God and return to |
| 18 |
Him, - and untruths belong not to His creation, there-
fore these are null and void. It hath no peer, no com-
petitor, for it
dwelleth in Him besides whom "there is |
| 21 |
none other."
That Christian Science is Christian,
those who have
demonstrated it, according to the rules of its
divine |
| 24 |
Principle, - together with the sick, the lame, the deaf,
and
the blind, healed by it, - have proven to a waiting world.
He who
has not tested it, is incompetent to condemn it; |
| 27 |
and he who is a willing sinner, cannot demonstrate it.
A falling apple suggested to Newton
more than the
simple fact cognized by the senses, to which it
seemed |
| 30 |
to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal
cause, or Mind-force, invisible to material sense, lay
concealed in the
treasure-troves of Science. True,
Page 23 |
| 1 |
Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much;
but
Science, demanding more, pushes the question: |
| 3 |
Whence or what is the power back of gravitation, - the
intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true?
Does mind "sleep in
the mineral, or dream in the |
| 6 |
animal, and wake in man"? Christianity answers this
question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon-
strated a divine
intelligence that subordinates so-called |
| 9 |
material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves,
obey
this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake
in creation, "and it
was done"? The answer is self- |
| 12 |
evident, and the command remains, "Thou shalt have
no
other gods before me."
It is plain that the Me spoken of in
the First Com- |
| 15 |
mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris-
tian's God, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even
talk; and the
serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf, |
| 18 |
lied. Reason and revelation declare that God is both
noumenon and phenomena, - the first and only cause.
The universe, including
man, is not a result of atomic |
| 21 |
action, material force or energy; it is not organized
dust.
God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one
God, whose
reflection is creation, and man is His image |
| 24 |
and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris-
tian Science means by the word reflection. God is seen
only in that
which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love - |
| 27 |
yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats
precisely the looks
and actions of the object in front of it. |
| 30 |
All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to
natural science, God, Spirit, could not change its species
and evolve
matter.
Page 24 |
| 1 |
These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and
knowledge
of them makes man spiritually minded. St. |
| 3 |
Paul writes: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace." This knowl-
edge came to me in an
hour of great need; and I give it |
| 6 |
to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned
on the night of material sense. This knowledge is
practical, for it wrought
my immediate recovery from |
| 9 |
an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal
by
the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called
for my Bible, and
opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I |
| 12 |
read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and
the
result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after
was in better health
than I had before enjoyed. That |
| 15 |
short experience included a glimpse of the great fact
that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely,
Life in and of
Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of |
| 18 |
existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub-
ective state which it names matter, thereby shutting
out the true sense of
Spirit. Per contra, Mind and man |
| 21 |
are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense
is
illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it
cannot be true. A
knowledge of both good and evil |
| 24 |
(when good is God, and God is All) is impossible. Speak-
ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: "When he
speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, |
| 27 |
and the father of it." God warned man not to believe
the
talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing
it. The Nazarene Prophet
declared that his followers |
| 30 |
should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle
falsi-
ties or illusions, and thus destroy any supposed effect
arising
from false claims exercising their supposed power
Page 25 |
| 1 |
on the mind and body of man, against his holiness and
health. |
| 3 |
That there is but one God or Life, one cause and
one
effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science;
and to my
understanding it is the heart of Christianity, |
| 6 |
the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In
divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of
error, and that
neither one really exists, since God is |
| 9 |
Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount,
in
its direct application to human needs, confirms this
conclusion. |
| 12 |
Science, understood, translates matter into Mind,
rejects
all other theories of causation, restores the spir-
itual and original
meaning of the Scriptures, and ex- |
| 15 |
plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is
religion's
"new tongue," with "signs following," spoken of by
St. Mark.
It gives God's infinite meaning to mankind, |
| 18 |
healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the
spirit-
ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re-
iterates
the word, repeats the works, and manifests the |
| 21 |
spirit of Christ.
Jesus' only medicine was omnipotent
and omniscient
Mind. As omni is from the Latin word meaning
all, |
| 24 |
this medicine is all-power; and omniscience means as
well, all-science. The sick are more deplorably situated
than the sinful,
if the sick cannot trust God for help and |
| 27 |
the sinful can. If God created drugs good, they cannot be
harmful; if He could create them otherwise, then they
are bad and unfit for
man; and if He created drugs for |
| 30 |
healing the sick, why did not Jesus employ them and
recommend them for that purpose?
No human hypotheses, whether in
philosophy, medi-
Page 26 |
| 1 |
cine, or religion, can survive the wreck of time; but
whatever is of God, hath life abiding in it, and ulti- |
| 3 |
mately will be known as self-evident truth, as demonstra-
ble as mathematics. Each successive period of progress
is a period more
humane and spiritual. The only logical |
| 6 |
conclusion is that all is Mind and its manifestation,
from
the rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a potato-
patch. |
| 9 |
The agriculturist ponders the history of a seed, and
believes that his crops come from the seedling and the
loam; even while the
Scripture declares He made "every |
| 12 |
plant of the field before it was in the earth." The
Scien-
tist asks, Whence came the first seed, and what made
the soil?
Was it molecules, or material atoms ? Whence |
| 15 |
came the infinitesimals, - from infinite Mind, or from
matter? If from matter, how did matter originate ? Was
it self-existent?
Matter is not intelligent, and thus able |
| 18 |
to evolve or create itself: it is the very opposite of
Spirit,
intelligent, self-creative, and infinite Mind. The belief
of
mind in matter is pantheism. Natural history shows |
| 21 |
that neither a genus nor a species produces its opposite.
God is All, in all. What can be more than All? Noth-
ing: and this is just
what I call matter, nothing. Spirit, |
| 24 |
God, has no antecedent; and God's consequent is the
spiritual cosmos. The phrase, "express image," in the
common version of
Hebrews i. 3, is, in the Greek Tes- |
| 27 |
tament, character.
The Scriptures name God as good, and
the Saxon
term for God is also good. From this premise
comes |
| 30 |
the logical conclusion that God is naturally and
divinely
infinite good. How, then, can this conclusion change,
or be
changed, to mean that good is evil, or the creator
Page 27 |
| 1 |
of evil? What can there be besides infinity? Nothing!
Therefore the Science of good calls evil nothing. In |
| 3 |
divine Science the terms God and good, as Spirit, are
synonymous. That God, good, creates evil, or aught
that can result in evil,
- or that Spirit creates its oppo- |
| 6 |
site, named matter, - are conclusions that destroy their
premise and prove themselves invalid. Here is where
Christian Science
sticks to its text, and other systems |
| 9 |
of religion abandon their own logic. Here also is found
the pith of the basal statement, the cardinal point in
Christian Science,
that matter and evil (including all |
| 12 |
inharmony, sin, disease, death) are unreal.
Mortals
accept natural science, wherein no species ever pro-
duces its
opposite. Then why not accept divine Sci- |
| 15 |
ence on this ground? since the Scriptures maintain
this
fact by parable and proof, asking, "Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs
of thistles?" "Doth a |
| 18 |
fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and
bitter?"
According to reason and revelation,
evil and matter |
| 21 |
are negation: for evil signifies the absence of good,
God,
though God is ever present; and matter claims some-
thing besides
God, when God is really All. Creation, |
| 24 |
evolution, or manifestation, - being in and of Spirit,
Mind, and all that really is, - must be spiritual and
mental. This is
Science, and is susceptible of proof. |
| 27 |
But, say you, is a stone spiritual?
To erring material sense, No! but to
unerring spiritual
sense, it is a small manifestation of Mind, a type of
spirit- |
| 30 |
ual substance, "the substance of things hoped for."
Mortals can know a stone as substance, only by first ad-
mitting that it is
substantial. Take away the mortal sense
Page 28 |
| 1 |
of substance, and the stone itself would disappear, only
to reappear in the spiritual sense thereof. Matter can |
| 3 |
neither see, hear, feel, taste, nor smell; having no sen-
sation of its own. Perception by the five personal senses
is mental, and
dependent on the beliefs that mortals |
| 6 |
entertain. Destroy the belief that you can walk, and
volition ceases; for muscles cannot move without mind.
Matter takes no
cognizance of matter. In dreams, things |
| 9 |
are only what mortal mind makes them; and the phe-
nomena
of mortal life are as dreams; and this so-called
life is a dream soon told.
In proportion as mortals turn |
| 12 |
from this mortal and material dream, to the true sense
of
reality, everlasting Life will be found to be the only
Life. That death
does not destroy the beliefs of the flesh, |
| 15 |
our Master proved to his doubting disciple, Thomas. Also,
he demonstrated that divine Science alone can overbear
materiality and
mortality; and this great truth was shown |
| 18 |
by his ascension after death, whereby he arose above
the
illusion of matter.
The First Commandment, "Thou shalt
have no other |
| 21 |
gods before me," suggests the inquiry, What meaneth
this
Me, - Spirit, or matter? It certainly does not
signify a graven idol, and
must mean Spirit. Then |
| 24 |
the commandment means, Thou shalt recognize no
intelligence nor life in matter; and find neither pleasure
nor pain
therein. The Master's practical knowledge |
| 27 |
of this grand verity, together with his divine Love,
healed the sick and raised the dead. He literally
annulled the claims of
physique and of physical law, |
| 30 |
by the superiority of the higher law; hence his decla-
ration, "These signs shall follow them that believe; . . .
if they drink
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
Page 29 |
| 1 |
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re-
cover." |
| 3 |
Do you believe his words? I do, and that his prom-
ise is
perpetual. Had it been applicable only to his
immediate disciples, the
pronoun would be you, not them. |
| 6 |
The purpose of his life-work touches universal human-
ity. At another time he prayed, not for the twelve
only, but "for them also
which shall believe on me through |
| 9 |
their word."
The Christ-healing was practised even before the Chris-
tian era; "the Word was with God, and the Word was |
| 12 |
God." There is, however, no analogy between Christian
Science and spiritualism, or between it and any specu-
lative theory. |
| 15 |
In 1867, I taught the first student in Christian Science.
Since that date I have known of but fourteen deaths
in the ranks of my
about five thousand students. The |
| 18 |
census since 1875 (the date of the first publication of
my work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
tures") shows that
longevity has increased. Daily letters |
| 21 |
inform me that a perusal of my volume is healing the
writers of chronic and acute diseases that had defied medi-
cal skill. |
| 24 |
Surely the people of the Occident know that esoteric
magic and Oriental barbarisms will neither flavor Chris-
tianity nor
advance health and length of days. |
| 27 |
Miracles are no infraction of God's laws; on the
contrary, they fulfil His laws; for they are the signs fol-
lowing
Christianity, whereby matter is proven power- |
| 30 |
less and subordinate to Mind. Christians, like students
in mathematics, should be working up to those higher
rules of Life which
Jesus taught and proved. Do we
Page 30 |
| 1 |
really understand the divine Principle of Christianity
before we prove it, in at least some feeble demonstra- |
| 3 |
tion thereof, according to Jesus' example in healing the
sick? Should we adopt the "simple addition" in Chris-
tian Science and
doubt its higher rules, or despair of |
| 6 |
ultimately reaching them, even though failing at first
to
demonstrate all the possibilities of Christianity?
St. John spiritually discerned and
revealed the sum |
| 9 |
total of transcendentalism. He saw the real earth and
heaven. They were spiritual, not material; and they
were without pain, sin,
or death. Death was not the |
| 12 |
door to this heaven. The gates thereof he declared were
inlaid with pearl, - likening them to the priceless under-
standing of
man's real existence, to be recognized here |
| 15 |
and now.
The great Way-shower illustrated Life
unconfined, un-
contaminated, untrammelled, by matter. He proved
the |
| 18 |
superiority of Mind over the flesh, opened the door to
the captive, and enabled man to demonstrate the law of
Life, which St. Paul
declares "hath made me free from |
| 21 |
the law of sin and death."
The stale saying that Christian
Science "is neither
Christian nor science!" is to-day the fossil of
wisdom- |
| 24 |
less wit, weakness, and superstition. "The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God."
Take courage, dear reader, for any
seeming mysti- |
| 27 |
cism surrounding realism is explained in the Scripture,
"There went up a mist from the earth [matter];" and
the mist of
materialism will vanish as we approach spirit-
30 uality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in
Christ's
righteousness; bathe in the baptism of Spirit, and awake
in
His likeness.
Page 31
CHAPTER
III
QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS |
| 1 |
What do you consider to be mental malpractice?
MENTAL malpractice is a bland denial
of Truth, |
| 3 |
and is the antipode of Christian Science. To
mentally
argue in a manner that can disastrously
affect the happiness of a
fellow-being - harm him |
| 6 |
morally, physically, or spiritually - breaks the Golden
Rule and subverts the scientific laws of being. This,
therefore, is not the
use but the abuse of mental treat- |
| 9 |
ment, and is mental malpractice. It is needless to
say
that such a subversion of right is not scientific. Its
claim to power is in
proportion to the faith in evil, and |
| 12 |
consequently to the lack of faith in good. Such false
faith finds no place in, and receives no aid from, the
Principle or the
rules of Christian Science; for it denies |
| 15 |
the grand verity of this Science, namely, that God, good,
has all power.
This leaves the individual no
alternative but to re- |
| 18 |
linquish his faith in evil, or to argue against his own
convictions of good and so destroy his power to be or
to do good, because
he has no faith in the omnipotence |
| 21 |
of God, good. He parts with his understanding of good,
in order to retain his faith in evil and so succeed with his
Page 32 |
| 1 |
wrong argument, - if indeed he desires success in this
broad road to destruction. |
| 3 |
How shall we demean ourselves towards the students
of
disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's
remarks on "Christ and
Christmas"? |
| 6 |
From this question, I infer that some of my students
seem
not to know in what manner they should act towards
the students of false
teachers, or such as have strayed |
| 9 |
from the rules and divine Principle of Christian Science.
The query is abnormal, when "precept upon precept;
line upon line" are to
be found in the Scriptures, and in |
| 12 |
my books, on this very subject.
In Mark, ninth chapter, commencing at
the thirty-
third verse, you will find my views on this subject;
love |
| 15 |
alone is admissible towards friend and foe. My sym-
pathies extend to the above-named class of students more
than to many
others. If I had the time to talk with all |
| 18 |
students of Christian Science, and correspond with them,
I would gladly do my best towards helping those un-
fortunate seekers after
Truth whose teacher is straying |
| 21 |
from the straight and narrow path. But I have not mo-
ments enough in which to give to my own flock all the
time and attention
that they need, - and charity must |
| 24 |
begin at home.
Distinct denominational and social
organizations and
societies are at present necessary for the
individual, |
| 27 |
and for our Cause. But all people can and should be
just,
merciful; they should never envy, elbow, slander,
hate, or try to injure,
but always should try to bless their |
| 30 |
fellow-mortals.
To the query in regard to some
clergyman's com-
Page 33 |
| 1 |
ments on my illustrated poem, I will say: It is the
righteous
prayer that avails with God. Whatever is wrong will |
| 3 |
receive its own reward. The high priests of old caused
the crucifixion of even the great Master; and thereby
they lost, and he
won, heaven. I love all ministers and |
| 6 |
ministries of Christ, Truth.
All clergymen may not understand the
illustrations
in "Christ and Christmas;" or that these refer not
to |
| 9 |
personality, but present the type and shadow of Truth's
appearing in the womanhood as well as in the manhood
of God, our divine
Father and Mother. |
| 12 |
Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be
healed by it?
This is a question that is being asked
every day. It |
| 15 |
has not proved impossible to heal those who, when they
began treatment, had no faith whatever in the Science,
- other than to
place themselves under my care, and |
| 18 |
follow the directions given. Patients naturally gain con-
fidence in Christian Science as they recognize the help
they derive
therefrom. |
| 21 |
What are the advantages of your system of healing, over
the ordinary methods of healing disease?
Healing by Christian Science has the
following ad- |
| 24 |
vantages: -
First: It does away with all material medicines, and
recognizes
the fact that, as mortal mind is the cause of |
| 27 |
all "the ills that flesh is heir to," the antidote for
sickness,
as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind's
opposite, - the divine Mind. |
| 30 |
Second: It is more effectual than drugs; curing where
Page 34 |
| 1 |
these fail, and leaving none of the harmful "after
effects"
of these in the system; thus proving that metaphysics |
| 3 |
is above physics.
Third: One who has been healed by Christian Sci-
ence is not
only healed of the disease, but is improved |
| 6 |
morally. The body is governed by mind; and mortal
mind
must be improved, before the body is renewed
and harmonious, - since the
physique is simply thought |
| 9 |
made manifest.
Is spiritualism or mesmerism
included in Christian
Science? |
| 12 |
They are wholly apart from it. Christian Science is
based
on divine Principle; whereas spiritualism, so far
as I understand it, is a
mere speculative opinion and |
| 15 |
human belief. If the departed were to communicate
with
us, we should see them as they were before death,
and have them with us;
after death, they can no more |
| 18 |
come to those they have left, than we, in our present
state
of existence, can go to the departed or the adult can re-
turn to
his boyhood. We may pass on to their state |
| 21 |
of existence, but they cannot return to ours. Man is
im-mortal, and there is not a moment when he ceases to
exist. All
that are called "communications from spirits," |
| 24 |
lie within the realm of mortal thought on this present
plane
of existence, and are the antipodes of Christian Science;
the
immortal and mortal are as direct opposites as light |
| 27 |
and darkness.
Who is the Founder of mental
healing?
The author of "Science and Health with
Key to the |
| 30 |
Scriptures," who discovered the Science of healing em-
Page 35 |
| 1 |
bodied in her works. Years of practical proof, through
homoeopathy, revealed to her the fact that Mind, in- |
| 3 |
stead of matter, is the Principle of pathology; and
subsequently her recovery, through the supremacy of
Mind over matter, from
a severe casualty pronounced |
| 6 |
by the physicians incurable, sealed that proof with the
signet of Christian Science. In 1883, a million of peo-
ple acknowledge and
attest the blessings of this mental |
| 9 |
system of treating disease. Perhaps the following
words
of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy,
afford the most concise, yet
complete, summary of the |
| 12 |
matter: -
"Mrs. Eddy's works are the outgrowths
of her life.
I never knew so unselfish an individual." |
| 15 |
Will the book Science and Health, that you offer for sale
at three dollars, teach its readers to heal the sick, - or is
one
obliged to become a student under your personal in- |
| 18 |
struction? And if one is obliged to study under you, of
what benefit is your book?
Why do we read the Bible, and then go
to church to |
| 21 |
hear it expounded? Only because both are important.
Why
do we read moral science, and then study it at
college? |
| 24 |
You are benefited by reading Science and Health, but
it
is greatly to your advantage to be taught its Science
by the author of that
work, who explains it in detail. |
| 27 |
What is immortal Mind?
In reply, we refer you to "Science and
Health with
Key to the Scriptures,"(1) Vol. I. page 14: "That which
|
| 30 |
(1) See the sixth edition.
Page 36 |
| 1 |
is erring, sinful, sick, and dying, termed material or
mortal man, is neither God's man nor Mind; but to be |
| 3 |
understood, we shall classify evil and error as mortal
mind, in contradistinction to good and Truth, or the
Mind which is
immortal." |
| 6 |
Do animals and beasts have a mind?
Beasts, as well as men, express Mind
as their origin;
but they manifest less of Mind. The first and
only |
| 9 |
cause is the eternal Mind, which is God, and there is
but
one God. The ferocious mind seen in the beast is
mortal mind, which is
harmful and proceeds not from |
| 12 |
God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with
the
lamb. Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety,
are the animal
qualities of sinning mortals; and the |
| 15 |
beasts that have these propensities express the lower
qualities of the so-called animal man; in other words,
the nature and
quality of mortal mind, - not immortal |
| 18 |
Mind.
What is the distinction between
mortal mind and im-
mortal Mind? |
| 21 |
Mortal mind includes all evil, disease, and death;
also,
all beliefs relative to the so-called material laws,
and all material
objects, and the law of sin and death. |
| 24 |
The Scripture says, "The carnal mind [in other words,
mortal mind] is enmity against God; for it is not sub-
ject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be." Mortal |
| 27 |
mind is an illusion; as much in our waking moments
as in
the dreams of sleep. The belief that intelligence,
Truth, and Love, are in
matter and separate from God, |
| 30 |
is an error; for there is no intelligent evil, and no
power
Page 37 |
| 1 |
besides God, good. God would not be omnipotent if
there
were in reality another mind creating or governing |
| 3 |
man or the universe.
Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is
made
manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw man- |
| 6 |
kind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual
facts of being.
Jesus recognized this relation so
clearly that he said, |
| 9 |
"I and my Father are one." In proportion as we oppose
the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death,
and recognize
ourselves under the control of God, |
| 12 |
spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the
animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those
words of Jesus,
"Go ye into all the world . . . heal the |
| 15 |
sick."
Can your Science cure
intemperance?
Christian Science lays the axe at the
root of the tree. |
| 18 |
Its antidote for all ills is God, the perfect Mind, which
corrects mortal thought, whence cometh all evil. God
can and does
destroy the thought that leads to moral |
| 21 |
or physical death. Intemperance, impurity, sin of every
sort, is destroyed by Truth. The appetite for alcohol
yields to Science as
directly and surely as do sickness |
| 24 |
and sin.
Does Mrs. Eddy take patients?
She now does not. Her time is wholly
devoted to in- |
| 27 |
struction, leaving to her students the work of healing;
which, at this hour, is in reality the least difficult of the
labor that
Christian Science demands.
Page 38 |
| 1 |
Why do you charge for teaching Christian Science, when
all the good we can do must be done freely? |
| 3 |
When teaching imparts the ability to gain and main-
tain
health, to heal and elevate man in every line of
life, - as this teaching
certainly does, - is it un- |
| 6 |
reasonable to expect in return something to support
one's
self and a Cause? If so, our whole system
of education, secular and
religious, is at fault, and the |
| 9 |
instructors and philanthropists in our land should ex-
pect no compensation. "If we have sown unto you
spiritual things, is it a
great thing if we shall reap your |
| 12 |
carnal things ?"
How happened you to establish a
college to instruct in
metaphysics, when other institutions find little
interest in |
| 15 |
such a dry and abstract subject?
Metaphysics, as taught by me at the
Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, is far from dry and abstract.
It |
| 18 |
is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical
application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten
and reform the
sinner, makes divine metaphysics need- |
| 21 |
ful, indispensable. Teaching metaphysics at other col-
leges means, mainly, elaborating a man-made theory,
or some speculative
view too vapory and hypothetical |
| 24 |
for questions of practical import.
Is it necessary to study your
Science in order to be healed
by it and keep well? |
| 27 |
It is not necessary to make each patient a student
in
order to cure his present disease, if this is what
you mean. Were it so,
the Science would be of less
Page 39 |
| 1 |
practical value. Many who apply for help are not
prepared
to take a course of instruction in Christian |
| 3 |
Science.
To avoid being subject to
disease, would require the
understanding of how you are healed. In 1885,
this |
| 6 |
knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad
at this early date
some grossly incorrect and false |
| 9 |
teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such
beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim;
whereas the Founder
of genuine Christian Science has |
| 12 |
been all her years |