0.0 – Christian Science S&H with Key to the Scriptures – 1910 Edition – Subtitles

And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do y...e not believe me? — JESUS

But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall a...lso quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you. — PAUL.

	 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 
  	Which of you convinceth me of sin? 
  	And if I say the ...truth, why do ye not believe me? — Jesus.

  	But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
  	He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
  	your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you. — Paul. 

1	    The strictures on this volume would condemn to
  	oblivion the truth, which is raising up thousands
 3	from help...lessness to strength and elevating them from
  	a theoretical to a practical Christianity. These criticisms
  	are generally based on detached sentences or clauses sep-
 6	arated from their context. Even the Scriptures, which
  	grow in beauty and consistency from one grand root, ap-
  	pear contradictory when subjected to such usage. Jesus
 9	said, "Blessed are the pure in heart:  for they shall see
  	God" [Truth]. 

  	    In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless. Proof
12	is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers ...at
  	the application of the word Science to Chris-	                                Supported
  	tianity cannot prevent that from being scien-	                                by facts 
15	tific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated ac-
  	cording to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof. 
  	The facts are so absolute and numerous in support of
18	Christian Science, that misrepresentation and denuncia-
 1	tion cannot overthrow it. Paul alludes to "doubtful dis-
  	putations." The hour has struck when proof and demon-
 3	stration, instead of opinion and dogma, are summoned to
  	the support of Christianity, "making wise the simple." 

  	    In the result of some unqualified condemnations of
 6	scientific Mind-healing, one may see with sorrow the sad
...  	effects on the sick of denying Truth. He that	                             Commands
  	decries this Science does it presumptuously,	                             of Jesus 
 9	in the face of Bible history and in defiance of the direct
  	command of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world, and preach
  	the gospel," to which command was added the promise
12	that his students should cast out evils and heal the sick. 
  	He bade the seventy disciples, as well as the twelve,
  	heal the sick in any town where they should be hospitably
15	received. 

  	    If Christianity is not scientific, and Science is not of
  	God, then there is no invariable law, and truth beco...mes
18	an accident. Shall it be denied that a system	                       Christianity
  	which works according to the Scriptures has	                       scientific 
  	Scriptural authority? 

21	    Christian Science awakens the sinner, reclaims the
  	infidel, and raises from the couch of pain the helpless
 ... 	invalid. It speaks to the dumb the words of	                           Argument of
24	Truth, and they answer with rejoicing. It	                                   good works 
  	causes the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the blind
  	to see. Who would be the first to disown the Christli-
27	ness of good works, when our Master says, "By their
  	fruits ye shall know them"? 
  	    If Christian Scientists were teaching or practising
30	pharmacy or obstetrics according to the common theo-
  	ries, no denunciations would follow them, even if their
  	treatment resulted in the death of a patient. The people
 1	are taught in such cases to say, Amen. Shall I then be
  	smitten for healing and for teaching Truth as the Prin-
 3	ciple of healing, and for proving my word by my deed? 
  	James said: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and
  	I will show thee my faith by my works." 

 6	    Is not finite mind ignorant of God's method? This
  	makes it doubly unfair to impugn and misrepresent the
  	f...acts, although, without this cross-bearing,	                             Personal
 9	one might not be able to say with the apostle,	                     experience 
  	"None of these things move me." The sick, the halt,
  	and the blind look up to Christian Science with blessings,
12	and Truth will not be forever hidden by unjust parody
  	from the quickened sense of the people. 

  	    Jesus strips all disguise from error, when his teachings
15	are fully understood. By parable and argument he ex-...
  	plains the impossibility of good producing evil;	                        Proof from
  	and he also scientifically demonstrates this great	                        miracles 
18	fact, proving by what are wrongly called miracles, that
  	sin, sickness, and death are beliefs — illusive errors — 
  	which he could and did destroy. 
21	    It would sometimes seem as if truth were rejected be-
  	cause meekness and spirituality are the conditions of its
  	acceptance, while Christendom generally demands so
24	much less. 

  	    Anciently those apostles who were Jesus' students,
  	as well as Paul who was not one of his students, healed
2...7	the sick and reformed the sinner by their	                               Example of
  	religion. Hence the mistake which allows	                               the disciples 
  	words, rather than works, to follow such examples! 
30	Whoever is the first meekly and conscientiously to press
  	along the line of gospel-healing, is often accounted a
  	heretic. 

 1	    It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God
  	as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be His
...
 3	idea, — that is, His image. It should be	                                      Strong
  	added that this is claimed to represent the	                              position 
  	normal, healthful, and sinless condition of man in divine
 6	Science, and that this claim is made because the Scrip-
  	tures say that God has created man in His own image
  	and after His likeness. Is it sacrilegious to assume that
 9	God's likeness is not found in matter, sin, sickness, and
  	death? 

  	    Were it more fully understood that Truth heals and
12	that error causes disease, the opponents of a demonstrable...
  	Science would perhaps mercifully withhold	                                   Efficacy may
  	their misrepresentations, which harm the sick;	                           be attested 
15	and until the enemies of Christian Science test its efficacy
  	according to the rules which disclose its merits or de-
  	merits, it would be just to observe the Scriptural precept,
18	"Judge not." 

  	    There are various methods of treating disease, which
  	are not included in the commonly accepted systems; but
...21	there is only one which should be presented	                                  The one
  	to the whole world, and that is the Christian	                                  divine method 
  	Science which Jesus preached and practised and left to us
24	as his rich legacy. 
  	    Why should one refuse to investigate this method
  	of treating disease? Why support the popular systems
27	of medicine, when the physician may perchance be an
  	infidel and may lose ninety-and-nine patients, while
  	Christian Science cures its hundred? Is it because
30	allopathy and homoeopathy are more fashionable and
  	less spiritual? 

  	    In the Bible the word Spirit is so commonly applied
 1	to Deity, that Spirit and God are often regarded as syn-
...
  	onymous terms; and it is thus they are uniformly used
 3	and understood in Christian Science. As it	                        Omnipotence
  	is evident that the likeness of Spirit cannot be	                set forth 
  	material, does it not follow that God cannot be in His
 6	unlikeness and work through drugs to heal the sick? 
  	When the omnipotence of God is preached and His ab-
  	soluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the
 9	sick. 

  	    It is sometimes said, in criticising Christian Science,
  	that the mind which contradicts itself neither knows
...
12	itself nor what it is saying. It is indeed no	                               Contradictions
  	small matter to know one's self; but in this	                               not found 
  	volume of mine there are no contradictory
15	statements, — at least none which are apparent to those
  	who understand its propositions well enough to pass
  	judgment upon them. One who understands Christian
18	Science can heal the sick on the divine Principle of Chris-
  	tian Science, and this practical proof is the only feasible
  	evidence that one does understand this Science. 
21	    Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity be-
  	tween God's idea and poor humanity, ought to be able
  	to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science)
24	between God's man, made in His image, and the sinning
  	race of Adam. 
  	    The apostle says: "For if a man think himself to be
27	something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." 
  	This thought of human, material nothingness, which
  	Science inculcates, enrages the carnal mind and is the
30	main cause of the carnal mind's antagonism. 

  	    It is not the purpose of Christian Science to "educate
  	the idea of God, or treat it for disease," as is alleg...ed
 1	by one critic. I regret that such criticism confounds man
  	with Adam. When man is spoken of as made in God's
 3	image, it is not sinful and sickly mortal man	                       God's idea
  	who is referred to, but the ideal man, reflecting	               the ideal man 
  	God's likeness. 

 6	    It is sometimes said that Christian Science teaches the
  	nothingness of sin, sickness, and death, and then tea...ches
  	how this nothingness is to be saved and healed. 	                       Nothingness
 9	The nothingness of nothing is plain; but we	                               of error 
  	need to understand that error is nothing, and that its
  	nothingness is not saved, but must be demonstrated in
12	order to prove the somethingness — yea, the allness — 
  	of Truth. It is self-evident that we are harmonious only
  	as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer
15	from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error,
  	and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are no
  	vacuums. How then can this demonstration be "fraught
18	with falsities painful to behold"? 

  	    We treat error through the understanding of Truth,
  	because Truth is error's antidote. If a dream ceases, it
...21	is self-destroyed, and the terror is over. When	                      Truth
  	a sufferer is convinced that there is no reality	                              antidotes error 
  	in his belief of pain, — because matter has no sensation,
24	hence pain in matter is a false belief, — how can he suffer
  	longer? Do you feel the pain of tooth-pulling, when you
  	believe that nitrous-oxide gas has made you unconscious? 
27	Yet, in your concept, the tooth, the operation, and the
  	forceps are unchanged. 

  	    Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for
30	spiritual understanding. We cannot serve both	            ...          Serving
  	God and mammon at the same time; but is	                              two masters 
  	not this what frail mortals are trying to do? Paul says:
 1	"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
  	the flesh." Who is ready to admit this? 
 3	    It is said by one critic, that to verify this wonderful
  	philosophy Christian Science declares that whatever is
  	mortal or discordant has no origin, existence, nor real-
 6	ness. Nothing really has Life but God, who is infinite
  	Life; hence all is Life, and death has no dominion. This
  	writer infers that if anything needs to be doctored, it
 9	must be the one God, or Mind. Had he stated his syllo-
  	gism correctly, the conclusion would be that there is noth-
  	ing left to be doctored. 

12	    Critics should consider that the so-called mortal man
  	is not the reality of man. Then they would behold the
...  	signs of Christ's coming. Christ, as the spir-	                         Essential
15	itual or true idea of God, comes now as of	                         element of
  	old, preaching the gospel to the poor, heal-	                         Christianity 
  	ing the sick, and casting out evils. Is it error which
18	is restoring an essential element of Christianity, — 
  	namely, apostolic, divine healing? No; it is the Science
  	of Christianity which is restoring it, and is the light
21	shining in darkness, which the darkness comprehends
  	not. 
  	    If Christian Science takes away the popular gods, — 
24	sin, sickness, and death, — it is Christ, Truth, who de-
  	stroys these evils, and so proves their nothingness. 
  	    The dream that matter and error are something
27	must yield to reason and revelation. Then mortals
  	will behold the nothingness of sickness and sin, and
  	sin and sickness will disappear from consciousness. 
30	The harmonious will appear real, and the inharmo-
  	nious unreal. These critics will then see that error
  	is indeed the nothingness, which they chide us for
 1	naming nothing and which we desire neither to honor
  	nor to fear. 
 3	    Medical theories virtually admit the nothingness of
  	hallucinations, even while treating them as disease; and
  	who objects to this? Ought we not, then, to approve
 6	any cure, which is effected by making the disease appear
  	to be — what it really is — an illusion? 

  	    Here is the difficulty:  it is not generally understood how
 9	one disease can be just as much a delusion as ano...ther. It
  	is a pity that the medical faculty and clergy	                               All disease
  	have not learned this, for Jesus established	                               a delusion 
12	this foundational fact, when devils, delusions, were cast
  	out and the dumb spake. 

  	    Are we irreverent towards sin, or imputing too much
15	power to God, when we ascribe to Him almighty Life
  	an...d Love? I deny His cooperation with evil,	                                Elimination
  	because I desire to have no faith in evil or in	                                of sickness 
18	any power but God, good. Is it not well to eliminate from
  	so-called mortal mind that which, so long as it remains in
  	mortal mind, will show itself in forms of sin, sickness, and
21	death? Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed
  	rights of disease, while complaining of the suffering dis-
  	ease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defence,
24	especially when by so doing our own condition can be im-
  	proved and that of other persons as well? 

  	    I have never supposed the world would immediately
27	witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin...,
  	disease, and death would not be believed for	                             Full fruitage
  	an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that,	                             yet to come 
30	as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and
  	temperance have received an impulse, health has been
  	restored, and longevity increased. If such are the pres-
 1	ent fruits, what will the harvest be, when this Science is
  	more generally understood? 

 3	    As Paul asked of the unfaithful in ancient days, so
  	the rabbis of the present day ask concerning our heal-
 ... 	ing and teaching, "Through breaking the law,	                           Law and
 6	dishonorest thou God?" We have the gospel,	                           gospel 
  	however, and our Master annulled material law by heal-
  	ing contrary to it. We propose to follow the Master's
 9	example. We should subordinate material law to spirit-
  	ual law. Two essential points of Christian Science are,
  	that neither Life nor man dies, and that God is not the
12	author of sickness. 

  	    The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine
  	Science accurately to human thought lies in this, t...hat like
15	all other languages, English is inadequate to	                                Language
  	the expression of spiritual conceptions and	                                inadequate 
  	propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms
18	in dealing with spiritual ideas. The elucidation of Chris-
  	tian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must
  	be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of
21	this Science. Out of this condition grew the prophecy
  	concerning the Christian apostles, "They shall speak with
  	new tongues." 
24	    Speaking of the things of Spirit while dwelling on
  	a material plane, material terms must be generally em-
  	ployed. Mortal thought does not at once catch the
27	higher meaning, and can do so only as thought is edu-
  	cated up to spiritual apprehension. To a certain extent
  	this is equally true of all learning, even that which is
30	wholly material. 

  	    In Christian Science, substance is understood to be
  	Spirit, while the opponents of Christian Science believe
...
 1	substance to be matter. They think of matter as some-
  	thing and almost the only thing, and of the things which
 3	pertain to Spirit as next to nothing, or as very	                               Substance
  	far removed from daily experience. Christian	                               spiritual 
  	Science takes exactly the opposite view. 

 6	    To understand all our Master's sayings as recorded
  	in the New Testament, sayings infinitely important,
  	hi...s followers must grow into that stature of	                          Both words
 9	manhood in Christ Jesus which enables them	                  and works 
  	to interpret his spiritual meaning. Then they know
  	how Truth casts out error and heals the sick. His
12	words were the offspring of his deeds, both of which
  	must be understood. Unless the works are com-
  	prehended which his words explained, the words are
15	blind. 
  	    The Master often refused to explain his words, because
  	it was difficult in a material age to apprehend spiritual
18	Truth. He said: "This people's heart is waxed gross,
  	and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
  	have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
21	eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
  	with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
  	heal them." 

24	    "The Word was made flesh." Divine Truth must be
  	known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind,
  	...before the Science of being can be demon-	                                 The divine
27	strated. Hence its embodiment in the incar-	                                 life-link 
  	nate Jesus, — that life-link forming the connection through
  	which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and
30	Truth destroys error. 

  	    In Jewish worship the Word was materially explained,
  	and the spiritual sense was scarcely perceived. The
 1	...religion which sprang from half-hidden Israelitish history
  	was pedantic and void of healing power. When we lose
 3	faith in God's power to heal, we distrust the	                             Truth a
  	divine Principle which demonstrates Christian	                     present help 
  	Science, and then we cannot heal the sick. Neither can
 6	we heal through the help of Spirit, if we plant ourselves
  	on a material basis. 
  	    The author became a member of the orthodox Con-
 9	gregational Church in early years. Later she learned
  	that her own prayers failed to heal her as did the prayers
  	of her devout parents and the church; but when the
12	spiritual sense of the creed was discerned in the Science
  	of Christianity, this spiritual sense was a present help. It
  	was the living, palpitating presence of Christ, Truth, which
15	healed the sick. 

  	    We cannot bring out the practical proof of Christianity,
  	which Jesus required, while error seems as potent an...d
18	real to us as Truth, and while we make a per-	                   Fatal
  	sonal devil and an anthropomorphic God our	                           premises 
  	starting-points, — especially if we consider Satan as a
21	being coequal in power with Deity, if not superior to Him. 
  	Because such starting-points are neither spiritual nor
  	scientific, they cannot work out the Spirit-rule of Christian
24	healing, which proves the nothingness of error, discord,
  	by demonstrating the all-inclusiveness of harmonious
  	Truth. 

27	    The Israelites centred their thoughts on the material
  	in their attempted worship of the spiritual. To them
 ... 	matter was substance, and Spirit was shadow. 	                      Fruitless
30	They thought to worship Spirit from a ma-	                              worship 
  	terial standpoint, but this was impossible. They might
  	appeal to Jehovah, but their prayer brought down no
1	proof that it was heard, because they did not sufficiently
  	understand God to be able to demonstrate His power
 3	to heal, — to make harmony the reality and discord the
  	unreality. 

  	    Our Master declared that his material body was not
 6	spirit, evidently considering it a mortal and material be-...
  	lief of flesh and bones, whereas the Jews took	                   Spirit the
  	a diametrically opposite view. To Jesus, not	                           tangible 
 9	materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man's ex-
  	istence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangi-
  	ble and uncertain, if not the unreal. 

12	    Would a mother say to her child, who is frightened at
  	imaginary ghosts and sick in consequence of the fear:
...  	"I know that ghosts are real. They exist,	                                  Ghosts
15	and are to be feared; but you must not be	                          not realities 
  	afraid of them"? 
  	    Children, like adults, ought to fear a reality which
18	can harm them and which they do not understand, for
  	at any moment they may become its helpless victims;
  	but instead of increasing children's fears by declaring
21	ghosts to be real, merciless, and powerful, thus water-
  	ing the very roots of childish timidity, children should
  	be assured that their fears are groundless, that ghosts
24	are not realities, but traditional beliefs, erroneous and
  	man-made. 
  	    In short, children should be told not to believe in ghosts,
27	because there are no such things. If belief in their reality
  	is destroyed, terror of ghosts will depart and health be re-
  	stored. The objects of alarm will then vanish into noth-
30	ingness, no longer seeming worthy of fear or honor. To
  	accomplish a good result, it is certainly not irrational to
  	tell the truth about ghosts. 

 1	    The Christianly scientific real is the sensuous unreal. 
  	Sin, disease, whatever seems real to material sense,... is un-
 3	real in divine Science. The physical senses	                                    The real and
  	and Science have ever been antagonistic, and	                            the unreal 
  	they will so continue, till the testimony of the physical
 6	senses yields entirely to Christian Science. 
  	    How can a Christian, having the stronger evidence of
  	Truth which contradicts the evidence of error, think of
 9	the latter as real or true, either in the form of sickness or
  	of sin? All must admit that Christ is "the way, the
  	truth, and the life," and that omnipotent Truth certainly
12	does destroy error. 

  	    The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly
  	beliefs. It still holds them more or less. Time has not
...
15	yet reached eternity, immortality, complete	                          Superstition
  	reality. All the real is eternal. Perfection	                                  obsolete 
  	underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly
18	real. All things will continue to disappear, until per-
  	fection appears and reality is reached. We must give up
  	the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit
21	the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up
  	all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error
  	is not real, we shall be ready for progress, "forgetting
24	those things which are behind." 
  	    The grave does not banish the ghost of materiality. 
  	So long as there are supposed limits to Mind, and those
27	limits are human, so long will ghosts seem to continue. 
  	Mind is limitless. It never was material. The true idea
  	of being is spiritual and immortal, and from this it follows
30	that whatever is laid off is the ghost, some unreal belief. 
  	Mortal beliefs can neither demonstrate Christianity nor
  	apprehend the reality of Life. 

 1	    Are the protests of Christian Science against the notion
  	that there can be material life, substance, or mind ..."utter
 3	falsities and absurdities," as some aver? Why	                         Christian
  	then do Christians try to obey the Scriptures	                                 warfare 
  	and war against "the world, the flesh, and the devil"? 
 6	Why do they invoke the divine aid to enable them to leave
  	all for Christ, Truth? Why do they use this phraseology,
  	and yet deny Christian Science, when it teaches precisely
 9	this thought? The words of divine Science find their
  	immortality in deeds, for their Principle heals the sick
  	and spiritualizes humanity. 

12	    On the other hand, the Christian opponents of Chris-
  	tian Science neither give nor offer any proofs that thei...r
  	Master's religion can heal the sick. Surely	                              Healing
15	it is not enough to cleave to barren and desul-	                      omitted 
  	tory dogmas, derived from the traditions of the elders who
  	thereunto have set their seals. 

18	    Consistency is seen in example more than in precept. 
  	Inconsistency is shown by words without deeds, which
 ... 	are like clouds without rain. If our words	                                      Scientific
21	fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that	                      consistency 
  	weakness, and out of the mouth of babes He will perfect
  	praise. The night of materiality is far spent, and with
24	the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and
  	to speak the new tongue. 
  	    Sin should become unreal to every one. It is in itself
27	inconsistent, a divided kingdom. Its supposed realism
  	has no divine authority, and I rejoice in the apprehension
  	of this grand verity. 

30	    The opponents of divine Science must be	                                  Spiritual
  	charitable, if they would... be Christian. If the	                                  meaning 
  	letter of Christian Science appears inconsistent, they should
 1	gain the spiritual meaning of Christian Science, and then
  	the ambiguity will vanish. 

 3	    The charge of inconsistency in Christianly scientific
  	methods of dealing with sin and disease is met by some-...
  	thing practical, — namely, the proof of the	                                 Practical
 6	utility of these methods; and proofs are better	                         arguments 
  	than mere verbal arguments or prayers which evince no
  	spiritual power to heal. 
 9	    As for sin and disease, Christian Science says, in the
  	language of the Master, "Follow me; and let the dead
  	bury their dead." Let discord of every name and nature
12	be heard no more, and let the harmonious and true sense
  	of Life and being take possession of human consciousness. 
  	    What is the relative value of the two conflicting the-
15	ories regarding Christian healing? One, according to
  	the commands of our Master, heals the sick. The other,
  	popular religion, declines to admit that Christ's religion
18	has exercised any systematic healing power since the first
  	century. 

  	    The statement that the teachings of Christian Sci-
21	ence in this work are "absolutely false, and the most
  	...egregious fallacies ever offered for accept-	                               Conditions
  	ance," is an opinion wholly due to a misap-	                               of criticism 
24	prehension both of the divine Principle and practice of
  	Christian Science and to a consequent inability to demon-
  	strate this Science. Without this understanding, no one
27	is capable of impartial or correct criticism, because demon-
  	stration and spiritual understanding are God's immortal
  	keynotes, proved to be such by our Master and evidenced
30	by the sick who are cured and by the sinners who are
  	reformed. 

  	    Strangely enough, we ask for material theories in sup-
 1	port of spiritual and eternal truths, when the two are... so
  	antagonistic that the material thought must become spir-
 3	itualized before the spiritual fact is attained. 	                                 Weakness
  	So-called material existence affords no evidence	                         of material
  	of spiritual existence and immortality. Sin,	                                 theories 
 6	sickness, and death do not prove man's entity or immor-
  	tality. Discord can never establish the facts of harmony. 
  	Matter is not the vestibule of Spirit. 

 9	    Jesus reasoned on this subject practically, and con-
  	trolled sickness, sin, and death on the basis of his spi...r-
  	ituality. Understanding the nothingness of	                                Irreconcilable
12	material things, he spoke of flesh and Spirit	                                differences 
  	as the two opposites, — as error and Truth, not contrib-
  	uting in any way to each other's happiness and existence. 
15	Jesus knew, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
  	profiteth nothing." 

  	    There is neither a present nor an eternal copartner-
18	ship between error and Truth, between flesh and Spirit. ...
  	God is as incapable of producing sin, sick-	                            Copartnership
  	ness, and death as He is of experiencing these	                    impossible 
21	errors. How then is it possible for Him to create man
  	subject to this triad of errors, — man who is made in the
  	divine likeness? 
24	    Does God create a material man out of Himself, Spirit? 
  	Does evil proceed from good? Does divine Love com-
  	mit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin,
27	and then punishing him for it? Would any one call it
  	wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its
  	derivative? 

30	    Does subsequent follow its antecedent? It does. 
  	Was there original self-creative sin? Then there must
  	ha...ve been more than one creator, more than one God. 
1	In common justice, we must admit that God will not
  	punish man for doing what He created man	                               Two infinite
 3	capable of doing, and knew from the outset	                               creators
  	that man would do. God is "of purer eyes	                               absurd 
  	than to behold evil." We sustain Truth, not by accept-
 6	ing, but by rejecting a lie. 
  	    Jesus said of personified evil, that it was "a liar, and
  	the father of it." Truth creates neither a lie, a capacity
 9	to lie, nor a liar. If mankind would relinquish the belief
  	that God makes sickness, sin, and death, or makes man
  	capable of suffering on account of this malevolent triad,
12	the foundations of error would be sapped and error's de-
  	struction ensured; but if we theoretically endow mortals
  	with the creativeness and authority of Deity, how dare we
15	attempt to destroy what He hath made, or even to deny
  	that God made man evil and made evil good? 

  	    History teaches that the popular and false notions
18	about the Divine Being and character have originated
  	i...n the human mind. As there is in reality but	                            Anthropomorphism 
  	one God, one Mind, wrong notions about God
21	must have originated in a false supposition, not in im-
  	mortal Truth, and they are fading out. They are false
  	claims, which will eventually disappear, according to the
24	vision of St. John in the Apocalypse. 

  	    If what opposes God is real, there must be two
  	powers, and God is not supreme and infinite. Can
27	Deity be ...almighty, if another mighty and	                                One
  	self-creative cause exists and sways man-	                        supremacy 
  	kind? Has the Father "Life in Himself," as the Scrip-
30	tures say, and, if so, can Life, or God, dwell in evil and
  	create it? Can matter drive Life, Spirit, hence, and so
  	defeat omnipotence? 

 1	    Is the woodman's axe, which destroys a tree's so-called
  	life, superior to omnipotence? Can a leaden bullet de...-
 3	prive a man of Life, — that is, of God, who is	                              Matter
  	man's Life? If God is at the mercy of matter,	                              impotent 
  	then matter is omnipotent. Such doctrines are "confu-
 6	sion worse confounded." If two statements directly con-
  	tradict each other and one is true, the other must be false. 
  	Is Science thus contradictory? 

 9	    Christian Science, understood, coincides with the
  	Scriptures, and sustains logically and demonstratively
  	...every point it presents. Otherwise it would	                             Scientific and
12	not be Science, and could not present its	                             Biblical facts 
  	proofs. Christian Science is neither made up of contra-
  	dictory aphorisms nor of the inventions of those who scoff
15	at God. It presents the calm and clear verdict of Truth
  	against error, uttered and illustrated by the prophets,
  	by Jesus, by his apostles, as is recorded throughout the
18	Scriptures. 
  	    Why are the words of Jesus more frequently cited
  	for our instruction than are his remarkable works? Is
21	it not because there are few who have gained a true
  	knowledge of the great import to Christianity of those
  	works? 

24	    Sometimes it is said: "Rest assured that whatever
  	effect Christian Scientists may have on the sick, comes
  ...	through rousing within the sick a belief	                                      Personal
27	that in the removal of disease these healers	                              confidence 
  	have wonderful power, derived from the Holy Ghost." 
  	Is it likely that church-members have more faith in
30	some Christian Scientist, whom they have perhaps
  	never seen and against whom they have been warned,
  	than they have in their own accredited and orthodox
1	pastors, whom they have seen and have been taught
  	to love and to trust? 
 3	    Let any clergyman try to cure his friends by their
  	faith in him. Will that faith heal them? Yet Scien-
  	tists will take the same cases, and cures will follow. 
 6	Is this because the patients have more faith in the Scien-
  	tist than in their pastor? I have healed infidels whose
  	only objection to this method was, that I as a Chris-
 9	tian Scientist believed in the Holy Spirit, while they, the
  	patients, did not. 
  	    Even though you aver that the material senses are
12	indispensable to man's existence or entity, you must
  	change the human concept of life, and must at length
  	know yourself spiritually and scientifically. The evi-
15	dence of the existence of Spirit, Soul, is palpable only to
  	spiritual sense, and is not apparent to the material senses,
  	which cognize only that which is the opposite of Spirit. 

18	    True Christianity is to be honored wherever found,
  	but when shall we arrive at the goal which that word
  	i...mplies? From Puritan parents, the discov-	                          Author's
21	erer of Christian Science early received her	                          parentage 
  	religious education. In childhood, she often listened
  	with joy to these words, falling from the lips of her
24	saintly mother, "God is able to raise you up from sick-
  	ness;" and she pondered the meaning of that Scripture
  	she so often quotes: "And these signs shall follow them
27	that believe; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick,
  	and they shall recover." 

  	    A Christian Scientist and an opponent are like two
30	artists. One says: "I have spiritual ideals,	             ...                     Two different
  	indestructible and glorious. When others see	                                  artists 
  	them as I do, in their true light and loveliness, — and
1	know that these ideals are real and eternal because drawn
  	from Truth, — they will find that nothing is lost, and all
 3	is won, by a right estimate of what is real." 
  	    The other artist replies: "You wrong my experience. 
  	I have no mind-ideals except those which are both mental
 6	and material. It is true that materiality renders these
  	ideals imperfect and destructible; yet I would not ex-
  	change mine for thine, for mine give me such personal
 9	pleasure, and they are not so shockingly transcendental. 
  	They require less self-abnegation, and keep Soul well out
  	of sight. Moreover, I have no notion of losing my old
12	doctrines or human opinions." 

  	    Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought
  	shall be real to you, — the material or the spiritu...al? 
15	Both you cannot have. You are bringing out	                               Choose ye
  	your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal	                               to-day 
  	or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you
18	try to have two models, then you practically have none. 
  	Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and
  	forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the
21	real and the unreal. 
  	    Hear the wisdom of Job, as given in the excellent trans-
  	lation of the late Rev. George R. Noyes, D.D.: — 

24	       Shall mortal man be more just than God?
  	       Shall man be more pure than his Maker?
  	       Behold, He putteth no trust in His ministering spirits,
27	       And His angels He chargeth with frailty. 

  	    Of old, the Jews put to death the Galilean Prophet,
  	the best Christian on earth, for the truth he spoke and
...30	demonstrated, while to-day, Jew and Christian can unite
  	in doctrine and denomination on the very basis of Jesus'
  	words and works. The Jew believes that the Messiah or
 1	Christ has not yet come; the Christian believes that
  	Christ is God. Here Christian Science intervenes, ex-
 3	plains these doctrinal points, cancels the disagreement,
  	and settles the question. Christ, as the true spiritual idea,
  	is the ideal of God now and forever, here and everywhere. 
 6	The Jew who believes in the First Commandment is a
  	monotheist; he has one omnipresent God. Thus the Jew
  	unites with the Christian's doctrine that God is come and
 9	is present now and forever. The Christian who believes
  	in the First Commandment is a monotheist. Thus he
  	virtually unites with the Jew's belief in one God, and
12	recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself
  	declared, but is the Son of God. This declaration of
  	Jesus, understood, conflicts not at all with another of his
15	sayings: "I and my Father are one," — that is, one in
  	quality, not in quantity. As a drop of water is one with
  	the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God
18	and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scrip-
  	ture reads: "For in Him we live, and move, and have
  	our being." 

21	    I have revised SCIENCE AND HEALTH only to give a
  	clearer and fuller expression of its original meaning. Spir-...
  	itual ideas unfold as we advance. A human perception of
24	divine Science, however limited, must be correct in order
  	to be Science and subject to demonstration. A germ of in-
  	finite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven, is the
27	higher hope on earth, but it will be rejected and reviled
  	until God prepares the soil for the seed. That which
  	when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches mankind only
30	when it is understood, — hence the many readings given
  	the Scriptures, and the requisite revisions of SCIENCE AND
         HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES.