0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 11 – Questions Answered

                    Chapter XI 

  	               QUESTIONS ANSWERED

 1	                     QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

  	Will the Bible, if read and practised, heal as effectually
 3	    as your book, "Science and Health with Key to the
  	    Scriptures"? 

  	    The exact degree of comparison between the effects
 6	produced by reading the above-named books can
  	only be determined by personal proof. Rightly to read
  	and to practise the Scriptures, their spiritual sense must
 9	be discerned, understood, and demonstrated. God being
  	Spirit, His language and meaning are wholly spiritual. 
  	Uninspired knowledge of the translations of the Scriptures
12	has imparted little power to practise the Word. Hence
  	the revelation, discovery, and presentation of Christian
  	Science — the Christ Science, or "new tongue" of which
15	St. Mark prophesied — became requisite in the divine
   	order. On the swift pinions of spiritual thought man
  	rises above the letter, law, or morale of the inspired Word
18	to the spirit of Truth, whereby the Science is reached
  	that demonstrates God. When the Bible is thus read
  	and practised, there is no possibility of misinterpreta-
21	tion. God is understandable, knowable, and applicable
  	to every human need. In this is the proof that Chris-
  	tian Science is Science, for it demonstrates Life, not
 
                                        Questions and Answers                        239


1	death; health, not disease; Truth, not error; Love, not
  	hate. The Science of the Scriptures coexists with God;
 3	and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"
  	relegates Christianity to its primitive proof, wherein
  	reason, revelation, the divine Principle, rules, and prac-
 6	tice of Christianity acquaint the student with God. In
  	the ratio that Christian Science is studied and under-
  	stood, mankind will, as aforetime, imbibe the spirit and
 9	prove the practicality, validity, and redemptive power of
  	Christianity by healing all manner of disease, by over-
  	coming sin and death. 


12	Must mankind wait for the ultimate of the millennium — 
  	    until every man and woman comes into the knowledge of
  	    Christ and all are taught of God and see their apparent
15	    identity as one man and one woman — for God to be
  	    represented by His idea or image and likeness? 

  	    God is one, and His idea, image, or likeness, man, is one. 
18	But God is infinite and so includes all in one. Man is the
  	generic term for men and women. Man, as the idea or
  	image and likeness of the infinite God, is a compound, com-
21	plex idea or likeness of the infinite one, or one infinite,
  	whose image is the reflection of all that is real and eternal
  	in infinite identity. Gender means a kind. Hence man-
24	kind — in other words, a kind of man who is identi-
  	fied by sex — is the material, so-called man born of the
  	flesh, and is not the spiritual man, created by God,
27	Spirit, who made all that was made. The millennium
  	is a state and stage of mental advancement, going
  	on since ever time was. Its impetus, accelerated by
30	the advent of Christian Science, is marked, and will
 
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1	increase till all men shall know Him (divine Love) from
  	the least to the greatest, and one God and the brother-
 3	hood of man shall be known and acknowledged through-
  	out the earth. 


  	                           THE HIGHER CRITICISM 

 6	    An earnest student writes to me: "Would it be asking
  	too much of you to explain more fully why you call Chris-
  	tian Science the higher criticism?" 
 9	    I called Christian Science the higher criticism in my
  	dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, June 10,
  	1906, when I said, "This Science is a law of divine Mind,
12	. . . an ever-present help.  Its presence is felt, for it
  	acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of
  	hope, faith, understanding." 
15	    I now repeat another proof, namely, that Christian
  	Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil,
  	disease, and death — all that is unlike God, good — on a
18	Scriptural basis, and approves or disapproves according
  	to the word of God. In the next edition of Science and
  	Health I shall refer to this. 

21	                                                 MARY BAKER EDDY 


  	                               CLASS TEACHING 

  	    Mrs. Eddy thus replies, through her student, Mr.
24	Adam Dickey, to the question, Does Mrs. Eddy approve
  	of class teaching: —  

  	    Yes! She most assuredly does, when the teaching is
27	done by those who are duly qualified, who have re-
  	ceived certificates from the Massachusetts Metaphysical
  	College or the Board of Education, and who have the
 
                                        Instruction by Mrs. Eddy                        241


 1	necessary moral and spiritual qualifications to perform
  	this important work. Class teaching will not be abol-
 3	ished until it has accomplished that for which it was
  	established; viz., the elucidation of the Principle and
  	rule of Christian Science through the higher meaning
 6	of the Scriptures. Students who are ready for this
  	step should beware the net that is craftily laid and cun-
  	ningly concealed to prevent their advancement in this
 9	direction. 


  	                      INSTRUCTION BY MRS. EDDY 

  	    We are glad to have the privilege of publishing an ex-
12	tract from a letter to Mrs. Eddy, from a Christian Scien-
  	tist in the West, and Mrs. Eddy's reply thereto. The
  	issue raised is an important one and one upon which
15	there should be absolute and correct teaching. Christian
  	Scientists are fortunate to receive instruction from their
  	Leader on this point. The question and Mrs. Eddy's
18	reply follow. 

  	    "Last evening I was catechized by a Christian Science
  	practitioner because I referred to myself as an immortal
21	idea of the one divine Mind.  The practitioner said that
  	my statement was wrong, because I still lived in my
  	flesh.  I replied that I did not live in my flesh, that
24	my flesh lived or died according to the beliefs I enter-
  	tained about it; but that, after coming to the light of
  	Truth, I had found that I lived and moved and had
27	my being in God, and to obey Christ was not to know
  	as real the beliefs of an earthly mortal.  Please give the
  	truth in the Sentinel, so that all may know it." 
 
                                                                Miscellany                               242


 1	                                     Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

  	    You are scientifically correct in your statement about
 3	yourself. You can never demonstrate spirituality until you
  	declare yourself to be immortal and understand that
  	you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither
 6	behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards
  	it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. 
  	Unless you fully perceive that you are the child
 9	of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demon-
  	strate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I
  	do not mean that mortals are the children of God, — 
12	far from it. In practising Christian Science you must
  	state its Principle correctly, or you forfeit your ability
  	to demonstrate it. 


15	                                      TAKE NOTICE 

  	    I hereby announce to the Christian Science field that
  	all inquiries or information relating to Christian Science
18	practice, to publication committee work, reading-room
  	work, or to Mother Church membership, should be sent
  	to the Christian Science Board of Directors of The
21	Mother Church; and I have requested my secretary
  	not to make inquiries on these subjects, nor to reply to
  	any received, but to leave these duties to the Clerk of
24	The Mother Church, to whom they belong. 
  	 
                                                     MARY BAKER EDDY
  	   September 28, 1910SHOW ALL